I point my gun at Shane and I look into his eyes. My hand trembles but my voice doesn抰。
揑 despise you! I hate you more than I have ever hated anyone in my life.?I hear his brothers?gasps at the venom in my voice, but I block them out and keep my eyes fixed on Shane. 揑 know that you think that I love you, but you are deluded. I could never love you. You make me sick. My skin crawls when you are anywhere near me. When I think about the times you have touched my body, I want to tear off my own skin!?The tears are running down my face now as I spit out all of the hatred and venom that I have been storing for years.
揑f you ever touch me again, I would die from the agony of having to endure it. You disgust me!?I shriek and he just stares at me and takes it all.
But then I see it, from the corner of my eye, what I抳e been waiting for. Paul drops his hand to his side as he enjoys the show. Me turning on his nephews is what his delusional mind had been hoping for. I hate guns, but I have a perfect fucking aim.
I spin and squeeze the trigger and Paul Ryan drops to the floor before he even had time to realize that I抎 moved. My only regret is that he didn抰 see it coming. The remote he was holding clatters to the floor and I walk over to his body. He took a bullet straight between the eyes, but I have tried to kill this ghost before. This time, there will be no doubt in my mind that he is gone. I unload the remaining five bullets into his body, which jerks as each sliver of metal tears through it. And with each shot fired, the tears fall down my face faster and harder. When the chamber is empty, I keep pulling the trigger as I stare at his lifeless body, until I feel strong arms around me.
揌e抯 gone, sweetheart,?Shane whispers in my ear.
I turn in his arms and cling to him. 揑 wasn抰 talking to you,?I sob.
揑 know,?he soothes as he hugs me tightly to him. 揑 know.?
After Conor checks I抦 okay, reprimands me for sneaking out of bed, and then hugs me tighter than I have ever been hugged before, he and Shane tell me to go with the twins while they stay behind to take care of things, which I know is code for disposing of Paul抯 dead body. Seemingly unable to even look at their oldest brother after recent revelations, the twins don抰 argue and together the three of us walk out to the Audi they drove here in, leaving the beat up Land Rover for Shane and Conor.
Liam sits in the back with me with an arm wrapped around me as Mikey drives us back to the house. We are all quiet. There is so much to say that it seems like there is no good place to start.
揧ou think he always knew??Mikey eventually breaks the silence.
揑f he did, then he抯 not the man I thought he was,?Liam replies with a sigh.
揌ow could he not tell us??Mikey slams his hands down on the wheel of the car.
揑 don抰 know. I think of all the conversations we had about how much Patrick hated us and he never once told us why.?
揧ou think it抯 even true??Mikey asks.
揑 don抰 know. Shane said it was, didn抰 he??
揃ut if it is, then厰 Mikey doesn抰 finish his sentence.
揑 know,?Liam looks down at me with tears in his eyes. 揑抦 sorry, Jessie.?
揇on抰 even!?I say as I look away and snuggle against his chest. 揕et抯 talk about all of this when we all get back to the house. There is no use in speculating and driving yourselves crazy until then.?For now, I just want to sit in this car next to Liam抯 warm body and cherish this feeling of being safe and loved before we deal with the fact that the man who has made my life a living hell could be the father of two of the men I love more than anything in this world.
揌mm,?Liam agrees and Mikey turns up the radio and we listen to it for the rest of the way home.
Chapter 35
Conor
I wipe a bead of sweat from my forehead before it rolls into my eyes making them sting even more. It抯 only early morning but already the July sun is beating down on us, and chopping up a dead body with an axe isn抰 as easy as it sounds.
揊uck!?Shane hisses as a splatter of congealed flesh and blood hits his t-shirt.
I grin at him. 揑 told you to take that off.?I look down at my bare chest which is covered in blood too.
揂ll right, Rambo. Let抯 just get this over with so we can get cleaned up and back to the house.?
揟here are showers at this new club we got, yeah??
揧ep,?he nod as he wipes his brow and stands straight, wielding an axe in his hand like the grim reaper wields his scythe.
With a final blow, I chop through the last part of Paul抯 leg, detaching his foot, and he lies before us in over half a dozen pieces. Now all we have to do is feed them to Farmer Murphy抯 feral pigs. Jack Murphy has been offering this service for as long as I can remember. There is nothing his pigs won抰 eat. He charges a small fortune for the privilege, however, out of respect for our dearly departed father, who was his best customer over the years, he has given us this one for free. He asks no questions and has no idea it抯 our uncle his swine are about to feast on.
As soon as we got Paul抯 body out of his house, Shane torched the place. Nothing but bad memories there. Then we called Jack Murphy in the middle of the night and drove straight here. We have both been focused on getting the job done as quickly as possible and have barely spoken other than to discuss the task at hand. Both of us are avoiding any mention of the two huge issues that are waiting for us when we get back to the house. The fact that Jessie snuck out of the goddamn house and could have gotten herself killed, and our uncle claiming to be Liam and Mikey抯 father. But as we get closer to the finish line, the air becomes thicker with the tension of all the things we抮e not saying.
揑t抯 a pity he wasn抰 alive while we were doing this,?Shane snarls as he tosses our uncle抯 arm into the pig pen.
揝ure is. Cunt!?I snarl as I toss his foot in after. Smelling the fresh meat, the pigs squeal up a frenzy and we throw in the remainder of Paul抯 body parts, saving the head for the last. Shane picks it up by his hair, and then kicks it into the pen like a football.
After showering in The Peacock Club and changing into fresh clothes, we are on our way back to the house. Back to Jessie and our brothers. Shane is driving, anything to keep his mind occupied, but I can抰 bear the tension any longer.
揝o. when did you find out about the twins??
揂bout a week before Alexei took Liam.?
I understand why it was hard to tell the twins, especially if he didn抰 even know if it was true, but it hurts that he didn抰 trust me. We have never kept any secrets from each other, at least that抯 what I抎 always thought. 揥hy didn抰 you tell me??
揌ow could I, Con? I hated knowing. Why the fuck would I want to put you in that position, too??
揧ou should have told us all,?I say with a sigh.
揧ou think??he snaps.
I turn and look out of the window.
揑 know I should,?he says. 揑 wish I had, Con. But I had no fucking idea things were going to pan out like this. If I had厰
揧eah, well nobody could have predicted this.?
揑 should have,?he sighs deeply.
揥hat? How??I frown at him.
揑t all makes perfect sense now. We knew Paul was a hired gun.?
揧eah, but there are hundreds of them all over the world. The Wolf wasn抰 just any hired gun.?
揥e didn抰 hear from him for years and then he resurfaces just as Jessie came into our lives??
揧eah, because his cunt of a brother was dying? At least that抯 what he said, and maybe it was because of that? You couldn抰 have known this was going to happen, Shane.?
揝o why do I feel like I抳e let everyone down??he says and I hear the words sticking in his throat. He puts so much fucking pressure on himself.