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“I don’t know! I need to hang up now.”
Before he can protest, I disconnect the call and use the app, which gives me a lifeline to Rory. I’m not the praying type, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and I call on everything holy that Rory is where he said he would be—my gaff.
But he’s not.
He’s at his flat. Why?
I almost hit an oncoming car as I pull a U-turn and speed down the road toward Rory’s.
Nothing else matters but finding him so he can explain. So he can assure me that my father is once again playing with my emotions like only he knows how.
I pull up at Rory’s, not even bothering to close the door as I race toward Rory’s flat. When I get to his door, I don’t knock. It’s locked, but that doesn’t stop me as I kick down the door.
“Rory!” I shout, racing through the flat to find him. When I catch him frantically packing his bag, I realize my worst fears have come true.
He desperately reaches for a gun on the nightstand and points it at me. But it’s going to take a lot more than that to stop me.
“Where is she?” I snarl, walking toward him slowly as he backs away.
“Away from you!” he replies. “Away from us both.”
“So help me God, if ya don’t tell me where she is, I’m going to—”
“To what?” he cuts me off, eyes narrowed. “Kill me? Go ahead. Y’ve already torn out my heart. Both of youse have.”
“Just tell me where she is, Rory. I know ya. I know ya don’t want to do this.”
“Ya know nothin’!” he shouts, spittle flying from his mouth. “If ya did, ya would have just stayed in prison. We could have been happy. But her love for ye always stood in the way! I fucking loved her, but it didn’t matter.Ididn’t matter the moment you were free.”
“What did ya do?” I ask, my heart in my throat.
“I did everythin’ ya think I did,” he replies, siphoning the life from me.
“Why?” I cry, not understanding any of this. “Ya hate me that much? Ye hateherthat much?”
“Aye,” he answers without missing a beat. “Ye destroy everythin’ ya touch. Ya both do.”
“So ye handed her over to Sean, knowin’ he would use her to get me to do whatever he wants? She’s not fucking chattel ya can exploit! None of us are. Do ya have any idea what y’ve done?”
I look into the eyes of a stranger because this man isn’t the boy I grew up with. The lad who had my back no matter what. This person has been poisoned by Sean Kelly as Sean preyed on his weakness.
“What did he offer ye in exchange for her? A part in his business?”
Rory scoffs, his red-rimmed eyes darting around the room. “I want none of it! I want to get out of this fucking country and start over. Northern Ireland is riddled with ghosts, ones I want to escape.”
Lifting my chin, I stare at the ceiling as tears fill my eyes. “Y’ll be one them, so I suppose I’ll never be able to escape ye.”
Rory sold out Babydoll for greed—Sean offered him money in exchange for her life. Rory wanted to hurt us in the worst possible way—just how we hurt him. And now, he must pay…with his life.
The trigger squeaks as Rory’s finger dithers, but I’m a man hell-bent on revenge. I deliver a roundhouse kick, knocking the gun from Rory’s hands. He’s caught unaware, allowing me to punch him in the face.
He staggers back, cupping his bleeding nose, but that doesn’t stop him as we charge for the other. He knows how to fight and is able to connect with my ribs and stomach, but I grip him by the collar and slam his head through the plaster.
Yanking him back out, I knee him under the chin, sending him careering backward and into the hallway. He dives for me, but I kick out and break his kneecap, which has him collapsing to the carpeted floor, howling in pain.
“Why, Rory? I don’t understand it. Ya knew she wasn’t my sister?”
Rory crawls away from me, desperately searching for something to fend me off. “I knew. I wanted more time with her but proposed when I found out ye were gettin’ out of prison. I thought it would have been enough.
