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It’s strange how many times I visited this place as a welcome guest, and yet today, while I may be welcomed, what I’m about to do would have once been unthinkable to me. But that was a long time ago.
“You okay, bro?” Conor asks, snapping me from my thoughts.
“Yeah,” I say, the word catching in my throat. “I knew she hated her, Con, but I can’t believe she’d do this.”
“It’s fucked up, bro,” he says with a sigh.
“If she’d succeeded…”
“She didn’t though, and this is not on you. None of it.”
“So why the fuck do I feel so fucking guilty?” I swallow hard.
“Because despite the grumpy asshole exterior that you have going on, which you have down pat by the way, you’re really a big pussycat, aren’t ya?”
I know he’s trying to make me feel better about what I’m about to do and I love him for it. I give him a half-smile. “Asshole,” I grumble.
He unclips his seatbelt and together we climb out of the car. I walk up the familiar porch steps while Conor heads to the back of the house in case she makes a run for it.
I ring the doorbell, my heart racing in my chest as I wait to see if she has the front to answer and pretend like she didn’t try to have my wife and unborn children kidnapped and murdered.
A familiar shadow at the door confirms my suspicion that she’s going to try and front this out. I have no doubt she’ll be in tears within five minutes.
She opens the door and I suck in a deep breath.
“Shane?” She blinks at me as though she’s surprised by my presence. She’s a good actress, I’ll give her that. But then she always was adept at lying.
“Erin?” I say as I place my hand on the door. “Can I come in?”
She looks past me, no doubt wondering where my brothers are. I push against the wood with force causing her to stumble backward.
“Shane!” she whines as I step into her house and close the door behind me.
“I didn’t realize you were back in the States?”
“I came back last week,” she whimpers. “I didn’t think you’d want to see me.”
“Well, you’re right about that,” I snarl. “But you’re lying about how long you’ve been here, Erin. I had a chat to some of your Russian friends earlier.”
Her face pales but she stands tall, glaring at me in defiance. “I don’t have any Russian friends,” she insists.
“Well, you’re probably right about that too,” I agree, running a hand over my jaw as I enjoy watching her squirm. She is a smart woman and I can almost see the cogs working in her brain as she tries to think of a way out of this. No doubt she has at least half a dozen excuses ready to trip off her tongue. “They threw you under the bus at the first opportunity so I guess to call them your friends is a bit of a stretch. Your acquaintances, then?”
I step closer to her and she backs away from me toward the wall.
“I – I don’t know what you’re taking about,” she stammers.
“Really? You don’t know Hayden Chambers either?” I scowl at her.
“No,” she shakes her head. “Whoever has told you that I do is lying to you Shane. I don’t know what this is about, but I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“Liar!” I snarl.
“Shane, please listen to me,” she pleads as she places a hand on my arm and I shrug it off.
“I have to admit, I would never have suspected you in a million years. You played it so well. But it all makes perfect sense now. You worked for the Ivanovs years ago. You have the contacts. You also have the know-how to make sure those contracts needed all of our signatures and I have no doubt you used some of your old legal contacts to make sure that meeting with our new lawyers happened on the date and time that was convenient for you.”
She glares at me but she doesn’t speak so I go on.
