Chapter 41
CHAPTER 41
ELARA
“You’re lying!” I shout at Jerry. “Gran, please tell him!”
I stare at her.
Waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting for her to deny it.
But it never comes.
And my world? It comes barreling down, and there’s no way to come back from that.
No way at all.
“No! No! Why!”
She couldn’t have done that. She loved Mom!
I can’t be here. I…I need to get away.
My snivels wrack me and my fingers curl at my back, wanting to rip through the zip ties and run from here. From her. From him.
I just want Tynan. I want my husband. I just want to crawl into his arms where it’s safe. Where I’ve always been safe. The people I trusted were the ones who were lying to me. He’s the only one who was actually honest with me. He never hid his intentions. He told me who he was. While my own family kept their true identities hidden my entire damn life!
“How?” I sob. “How could you do that to her? Why?” I shout with a deafening cry. “Tell me what she could’ve done to make you hate her this much!”
“Elara…”
She tries to reach for my face, but I flinch, anger radiating from my every pore.
“Very well.” She sighs dramatically, returning to her seat. “Your mother was going to turn us in to the feds when she found out that your father sold you to the Eights. She was a mess.” She tsks. “I tried to reason with her. I told her I would get you out of it, but she wouldn’t listen.” She stares absently, as though remembering, before she looks back at me. “I had no choice,. I ordered your father to do it. And once I found out you killed him in retribution, that was when I realized that one day you’d be ready to take over for me.”
I laugh wildly. Like one of those insane laughs, because what she just said was the craziest thing I’ve heard. Or maybe not the craziest. Maybe tied with everything else she’s told me.
I swallow the bitter taste in my mouth. “You’re insane, Gran. If you think that I’d ever run your gang or want anything to do with you after this, you’re crazy.”
“Elara, sweetheart, your grandpa and I love you. This is just who we are.”
“Don’t bring Grandpa into this!”
She’s the one laughing now. “You think he wasn’t in the business with me? Honey, come on.”
“I don’t care. He’s not well anymore. You need to stay away from him!”
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s my husband. I’ll see him when I want.”
“No you won’t, Gran. When Tynan finds out what you did, you’ll have to run, or he will kill you.”
“And you’re just going to let him do that?”
“You make it sound like I have a choice.” I look at her with revulsion. “You had Mom killed for betraying you, and she was family. You’re nothing to the Quinns. Once they find out what you did, they’ll want payback. And right now, I wouldn’t object.” Bile rises up my throat. “I will never forgive you.”
“See, this is why I didn’t want you to find out.” She narrows her gaze at Jerry, and he shrugs nonchalantly.
Of course he doesn’t care. He lives to tear people apart, physically and emotionally. But as much as it hurts, I’m glad I finally know the truth.
“What was your plan, Gran? Keep me here until Jerry’s guys are done screwing Tynan over? Then what? We run? Do you think Tynan would just let me go?”
“Once Jerry’s men tell him that they have the weapons, Rogue is gonna feel out the situation and figure out if Tynan suspects me. If not, we return like nothing happened. Jerry won’t talk, because if he does, he will die.” Her mouth curls as she gives him a quick glance. “I have it all figured out. This plan benefits both Isaac and us.”
“And what makes you think Jerry’s people could overpower Tynan and his family?”
Jerry marches forward, pointing his gun in my face again. “Are you trying to say we’re weaker?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“You little?—”
“Enough!” Gran shouts. “Lower that gun before I shove it up your ass.”
Her face turns icy. I’ve never seen her this way.
“Tynan is calling.” Rogue stares at the phone.
“Answer it.” Gran places a palm on his arm. “Just like we practiced.”
He nods. “One word from you…” he says to me. “And I kill you.”
Gran tsks. “She won’t say anything. She’s smarter than that.”
I ball my hands as he answers the call, but I have to keep the faith that Tynan is tracking me and maybe already here.
“Sir?” Rogue answers, pausing as he listens to whatever Tynan says. “Elara is fine. She went to visit her grandma, and I’m right outside.”
He stares at me without blinking, his mouth twisting.
Tynan won’t believe it. He’ll go searching for me and realize I’m not there.
“Fuck… Okay, yeah, I’ll bring her back when she’s done. Bye, sir.” He drops the call and looks over at Jerry. “Bad news. Your guys are dead.”
“What?” he snaps, barreling toward him.
“That’s what he said. He knows you tried to rob him, and he’s coming after you with the Russians.”
“The Russians!” Jerry starts scrambling, pulling at his hair. “My father is going to lose his mind!” He aims his gun at Gran. “You told me this would be easy! That all we had to do was take the truck and go. You never told me we were stealing from the Russians too!”
“Didn’t I?” She grimaces. “You know, I’m getting old. Sometimes I’m a little forgetful.”
Before I can take my next breath, she whips out her own gun from her handbag, aiming it at him. And seeing her like this, I don’t even recognize her.
Who is this woman?
Did I ever really know her?
Was she pretending the entire time?
“Gran, don’t!” I shout, realizing I don’t want her to die. Not even after what she did.
But she ignores me, both of them staring each other down.
“Your time is coming to an end, you old bat.” Jerry laughs.
And just as they’re about to shoot each other, there’s a knock on the door.
His eyes widen, and he gestures for one of his men to go see what’s going on.
My heart punches in my chest. I hope it’s Tynan coming to save me. But when I register the door opening, it’s a woman’s voice that I hear.
“I’m sorry. Can you help me? My tire is flat, and my boyfriend just broke up with me.” She starts to cry.
“Wrong house. Leave now,” the guy tells her.
“Please. I’ll do anything if you could just change my tire. I can pay you a grand. I have one in the trunk. I just don’t know how to do it myself.”
Rogue’s vision connects with mine.
He knows. Of course he knows.
He’s gonna ruin everything.
“For fuck’s sake!” Jerry hollers, rushing for the door, Rogue on his tail. “Get the fuck out of?—”
But his words die in his throat, and the rest happens in a blur.
Gunshots fire off, and Gran frantically rushes out of the room for a few seconds. When she returns, she’s hurrying toward me, cutting off my zip ties with a knife.
“We need to go! Now!” She tries to grab my arm, but I fling it away, knowing help has arrived.
Because the woman at the door was Iseult.
“I’m not going anywhere with you! Get away from me!”
“Elara, we have to?—”
“You heard her, Gran.” Iseult comes marching toward us, dragging a bloody Jerry by his shirt.
But he’s still very much alive.
Though Rogue? He’s not with her…
She gives me a little wink, her red-painted lips curling, not a single red hair out of place. “You hurt?”
I shake my head. “Is he here?”
Every cell in my body craves to see him. To throw my arms around him and never let go.
“He’s here.” She grins wider, just as a few more shots fire. “He’s just taking care of some loose ends outside.”
She drops Jerry on the floor and presses her foot over his chest, digging her high-heeled boot into his sternum.
“You know…” she tells Gran. “I admire a woman boss. Running her own shit. It’s too bad we’re gonna have to kill you. You know, for fucking us over.” She shrugs a shoulder. “No hard feelings, right?”
Gran’s eyes narrow. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Oh?” Iseult grabs a chair and settles into it, folding her arms across her chest. “Do tell.”
When Jerry groans, she digs her heel in deeper. “Shut up down there. Women are talking.” She slices a hand through the air. “Please, do go on. Can’t wait to hear all about how we shouldn’t kill you.”
The thought of them killing Gran makes me physically ill. Yet when I think of what she did to Mom, I want her to suffer. Does that make me a monster?
Gran sighs. “Who told you I was involved?”
“There’s always someone who squeals. You should know that from your line of work.”
“You have to understand,” Gran says. “I only gave them the information about the deal because I knew there was no way they could win. I wanted you guys to kill them and get rid of the problem. You all certainly stood a better chance than I did.”
Iseult chuckles, throwing one long leg over the other. “So you were doing us a favor? Is that it?”
“In a way, yes. I wanted to ensure Elara’s safety and mine. Your family’s too. The Eights, they’re unstable and rash. They don’t think logically. So I knew if I presented them with a chance to get the weapons from you, they’d jump at the chance.”
“Wow!” Iseult slow claps. “You have some balls. But I’ll be honest, you’re still gonna die.”
My stomach drops.
“Elara?” Tynan calls. “Elara, baby, where are you?”
He comes barreling in, breathing heavy, hair a mess.
My mess.
Tears fill my eyes as soon as I see him, and I’m running toward him with all the strength I can muster.
“Tynan!” I cry, throwing my arms over his shoulders as he lifts me up in the air, my legs twining around his hips, his palm clasping the back of my head.
Everyone else disappears. All I focus on is him.
“Fuck,” he whispers into the crook of my neck, emotions wafting through his voice. “I thought I’d lost you.”
He pitches back, brows drawn in pure anguish.
“I’m okay.” I hold his face with both hands. “I’m okay now.”
With a rough breath, he clasps my cheek to his chest, and we stay that way for a minute, ignoring everything around us.
My arms grasp tighter around him—this man who feels like my home. The only place I belong. The only place I want to be.
He wrenches back, searching my gaze before he captures my mouth with his, hands in my hair, clinging like he never wants to let me go.
I melt into him, my heart beating right out of my chest.
“Fuck, Elara. I’m so sorry,” he breathes, lips skimming mine.
“No.” I shake my head. “This isn’t your fault. It’s mine. You didn’t do anything.”
His jaw clenches, his glare sliding behind me, and I know he’s looking at Gran. He kisses me one more time before he’s putting me down, clasping his hand with mine.
Fionn and Cillian walk in, dragging Rogue, his wrists zip-tied in front of him, face bloody.
Is this really over? Will I finally be done with the Eights for good?
“What are you gonna do with them?”
In his eyes, I find a hungered beast. “ Everything .”
And I feel that word. I feel it in my marrow, knowing that’s his oath to me. For all the wrongs I’ve endured.
“Take her away,” he tells Iseult.
“No!” He doesn’t understand how badly I need to see Jerry dead.
“Elara…” His eyes soften. “I don’t want you to have to watch this.”
“I don’t care. I need to see it.”
“If that’s what you want, I won’t deny you.”
More footfalls draw closer. When we look in that direction, we find Konstantin and another guy who looks very much like him walking in.
Konstantin drops someone on the floor.
Isaac .
“Guess who my men found hiding in one of the cars outside.” He smirks.
My heartbeats quicken as I stare at the men who ruined my life, neither one saying a word.
Isaac’s one eye is swollen and his mouth bloodied. And from the appearance of Konstantin’s knuckles, it’s likely he’s the one who did it.
“Sit them up,” Tynan tells his siblings, and they pull the men to a seated position.
Jerry grins wryly, and I find that one of his teeth is missing.
Tynan removes a knife from his ankle holster and nears the tip to Rogue’s throat. “I trusted you. We trusted you…” His body reverberates with rage. “And you betray us? You put my wife at risk? Why?”
Rogue drags his face up and stares at him. “What would you do if my father killed yours?”
Tynan grabs the back of his neck, nearing his face toward him. “This.”
With one quick jerk, he sinks the blade into his eye.
I gasp, looking away while Rogue roars in pain…
Tears burn behind my eyes. This is all too much.
“I’m not done with you yet. I’ll drag this out. Each one of you will suffer.” He kneels in front of Jerry. “I will enjoy every fucking second of watching you die.”
Jerry’s upper lip curls. “Fuck you, you cock-sucking bastard.”
“You really shouldn’t have said that.” He glances at Cillian. “Give me another knife.”
For a brief second, real fear flashes before Jerry’s eyes, and before I know what’s happening, Tynan pushes him down flat on the floor while Fionn and Cillian hold him down.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jerry tries to fight them, but it’s no use.
“Let my son go! You can have me.”
Tynan ignores Isaac’s plea, prying Jerry’s mouth open. And when he slices his tongue off, I cover my mouth to stop from hurling, squeezing my eyes shut.
Muffled cries fill the air while Isaac curses, swearing to kill him. Though that’s laughable, really. He won’t get away.
“Load them all in the trunks. We’re bringing them to the barn.”
“I’d be more than happy to dispose of them for you,” Konstantin offers. “My pigs get very hungry.” His vicious sneer makes me shiver.
His pigs? He feeds them human remains? Is that what he meant?
I’m gonna be sick.
“I may take you up on it.” Tynan isn’t even fazed.
I forget that Gran is here for a moment…until she tries to sneak away, backing up slowly, planning her escape. Our eyes connect, and the part of me that still loves her wants her to get away. But the other part, the one that can’t reconcile the fact that she was the reason Mom died? Well, that part wants her dead.
“Now, where do you think you’re going, Gran?” Iseult grabs her arm just as Tynan zeroes his attention on her too. Iseult points a weapon at her chest. “You’re coming with us.”
Gran grunts, knowing she has no other choice.
Fionn and Cillian grab Jerry and Rogue, pulling them up and dragging them out the door, while Konstantin removes Isaac.
“What were you thinking, coming without me?” Tynan turns to me, his brows knitted. “I could’ve lost you.”
His eyes, they swim with pain. So much of it, I ache.
Tears pierce my vision, and I sniffle back, everything hitting me at once. That I could’ve died. That Gran betrayed me. That Mom died because of her.
“I’m sorry.” I throw my arms around him, holding on to him with every fiber of my being.
He inhales deep, his palm gripping the back of my head. “It’s okay, baby. Don’t cry. It breaks my heart when you cry.”
He lets me anyway, holding me as I do. And for a moment, all that worry and fear slips away. Because he’s here and he’s got me. But when he perches back, the look of vengeance in his gaze returns.
“I wanna get you home.”
“What are you gonna do with them? With her…” I whisper, needing Jerry and Isaac dead.
I need that closure. Need to know they’ll never come after me again. But Gran? That hurts. I don’t think I can watch him do that.
“I’m gonna do what I promised. I’m gonna make them all suffer. Then I’m gonna kill them.”
Tears trace my cheeks.
“I’m an old woman,” Gran interrupts. “Are you really going to do that to me?”
Tynan’s breaths howl out of him. “You’re the worst of them. You were her family, and you betrayed her.”
He grabs my hand and squeezes it while I fall apart inside, knowing that I’m gonna lose another family member. Grandpa will be all I have left, and he doesn’t even know me.
Was he just as bad as her? Did he know about Gran ordering Mom’s death? He had to know. But how can I be mad at him now that he’s someone else? What would be the purpose?
“Get her out of here,” Tynan tells Iseult, and she grabs her arm, shuffling Gran out of the room until we’re alone. “Come on, babe. We’ve gotta go.”
I’m grateful to finally get out of here. Grateful that I’m alive.
He walks us out of the house.
Gran looks back at me, her expression pained. “Let me say goodbye to her. Please.”
His jaw clamps, and he looks at me as I nod, letting him know I need this. I need to let her go. I need closure, no matter how I get it.
“I’ll be right next to you.” With his hand still clasped to mine, we take a few steps toward her, Iseult not leaving Gran’s side.
“I’m sorry, Elara. I’m sorry I took your mom from you.” Tears fill her eyes, her words sincere. “I’m sorry about all of it. I never meant for it to come to this.”
I don’t know what to say except that I don’t forgive her, so I say nothing at all. How can I after what she’s done? My mother’s death. Betraying me and Tynan. It would take time, and even then, I don’t know if I can trust her ever again.
Her eyes press shut, and for a second it seems like she’s going to cry.
But she gives me a hug instead, and as she does, she whispers, “I’ll see you on the other side, sweetheart.”
Tynan lets out a groan. “Fuck.”
I jump back, eyes wide when I find blood.
So much blood.
On his hands.
His stomach.
“T-T-Tynan? Oh my God! Help!”
My heartbeats explode in my chest, unable to comprehend what just happened. That Gran’s holding the knife with his blood on it.
Her mouth curls.
His men come rushing.
“How could you?” I shout. “How could you do this?”
But she doesn’t respond.
“You bitch!” Iseult whips out a gun and shoots her right in the head.
She falls on the ground.
Oh, God. Gran’s dead.
I can’t process it all right now.
“Tynan!” My heart is literally breaking as the men pick him up. It’s all too much.
“Move!” Iseult screams at the guys. “Get him in the car and let the doc know we’re on our way!”
I’m right by his side, grabbing his hand, looking into his eyes and praying that he doesn’t die.
“I’ll be fine, mo chuisle. Don’t worry about me.” His voice…it’s low. Tired.
Please, please don’t let him die.
“Of course you’ll be fine.” A silent cry slips from my mouth.
Because I don’t know if that’s true.
I don’t know if he’ll make it through this.
And I wonder if this is it.
If our story is going to end before it ever truly had a chance to begin.