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A missed period.
The constant nausea.
I could no longer deny it.
“Evie?” Sean shook me slightly on my shoulder, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Um, I hardly know him,” I answered quietly.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I’m not sure I know what love is, Sean. Let’s not complicate this.” But it was already complicated, and as I looked into my brother’s eyes, I saw my own fear reflected.
“Then why did you marry him?” he continued.
“I never would have if I knew Patrick needed me to marry Cormac. No one told me.”
“Patrick should never have expected you to marry him. He was wrong to make that promise. So was father.”
“Iwillfix this,” I pleaded.
“No, stay away from the Sullivans. They are dangerous and will be even more so now. Let us handle it.” His palm cupped my chin. “You deserve to be loved, Evie, and he loves you.”
“Who?”
“Keir Wilson. I saw the way he was looking at you.”
I laughed, and it came out low and sardonic. Monsters don’t know how to love. He all but told me himself. “Keir isn’t in love with me. Men like him don’t fall in love.”
“Then why would you marry him? It’s just so unlike you,” he asked again.
“Leave it alone, Sean.”
It didn’t matter if he loved me or not. Nor if I loved him. There was someone else to think of now.
Or something else.
And it terrified me. Though there was one thing, I knew I needed to do. I needed to protect it at all costs.
Because no one else would.
* * *
Deception isa building block for betrayal. It sneaks into life, settling into small cracks where it grows until those cracks become large crevasses. Cold and icy and void of light. I had been deceived by my father and brother. Lied to and betrayed. Now I was about to become the deceiver. I was about to go behind their backs and become the liar.
Cormac called the next day, asking me to meet him. My brothers were all at the pub, so I agreed he would pick me up. If I could convince him how sorry I was, perhaps his father would come around. The five million dollars was still in the off-shore account. I could offer it to them as a kind of restitution.
He pulled up in his BMW, and I got in.
To say he looked like hell was an understatement. A sheen of clammy sweat covered his forehead, and his eyes were sunk into his skull.
At least he didn’t pretend to be concerned about me but came right out with the real reason for the meeting.
“What the fuck?” he shouted, pulling into the afternoon traffic. “What was that thing?”
“Cormac, what are you talking about?” I asked calmly. I had prepped myself for this type of reaction.
“Oh n-n-no, you’re not going to play dumb with me. I know you s-saw it.”
