42. Cormac
Chapter Forty-Two
CORMAC
Lorcan killed my father.
It wasn’t an accident. He didn’t let someone else pull the trigger while he looked the other way. He engineered the entire damn thing.
Suddenly, memories of my father start to become clearer. Looking back, there were decisions my father made that never sat right with me, deals he took that felt reckless instead of calculated.
At the time, I thought he was losing control. But now it seems that Lorcan was positioning him.
The proof sits in front of me, impossible to ignore.
My hands curl into fists against the edge of the desk.
The grief that hits me is suffocating, filled with emotions I don’t want to feel.
Anger that I didn’t see it sooner, and shame that I didn’t push harder when I realized who Lorcan truly was.
But most of all, I regret that my relationship with my father turned into something brittle and distant instead of fixing it when I still had time.
I always assumed there would be time. Now my father will never get to see the man I’ve become, and the father I’m trying to be.
But worst of all, Scout will never know his grandfather, and that loss will follow him whether he knows it or not. And that’s on me.
I should have tried harder. I should have swallowed my pride and my resentment toward my father and forced us to reconcile for Scout’s sake. Instead, I let silence do what it always does.
It finished the job.
I drag a hand down my face, suddenly exhausted in a way sleep won’t help.
The office feels too small, like the walls are starting to close in. Because that’s not the worst of it.
If Lorcan has been working with Adrian Smirnov all this time, does that mean he knows about Scout?
The question roots itself deep in my chest, sending a surge of panic through me.
I’ve buried Scout’s origins carefully, making sure there were no records of him, no paper trail that leads back to Nadia or the Smirnov name.
But Lorcan is patient, and what’s worse is, he’s family. He knows how we hide things. He knows where to dig to look for the information we want buried the most.
“What have you told him?” I growl, turning on Fiona.
Fear flashes in her eyes. “N-nothing.”
“It’s not worth your life to lie. What you told him about me, I don’t give a shit about, but I need to know if Lorcan knows about Scout.”
“I didn’t tell him anything about Scout, I swear.” Fiona’s voice cracks, and I can see it in her eyes that she’s telling the truth.
Then again, this is the same woman who’s been lying to my face for weeks, and I had no idea.
It seems I’m not as good a judge of character as I thought.
“If any harm comes to him because of you, so help me, you’ll wish Lorcan was here to end it.”
“I would never hurt Scout.”
“And I used to believe you.”
Fiona flinches, but she doesn’t deny it.
She looks wrecked. Her eyes are red and swollen, and she’s twisting her hands together in the way she does when she’s worried.
“Cormac, please. Just…tell me what you’re thinking.”
I don’t answer, because what I’m thinking would destroy what little control I have left.
When Fiona takes a step toward me, I immediately step back.
“Don’t. You believed him because it made betraying me easier.”
Her silence is answer enough.
“You watched me with Scout. You saw how careful I am with him. How everything I do is about keeping him safe.”
“I know. That’s why I stopped.”
I shake my head slowly. “You didn’t stop. You got caught. There’s a big fucking difference.”
“I was trying to fix it. I—I never would have hurt him.”
“You already did. You just haven't seen it yet.”
“Is that it, then? After everything I showed you? After what Lorcan did to your father? I’m the villain here?”
I turn to her fully now, letting her see the rage in my eyes.
“My father being murdered doesn’t erase what you did. And it doesn’t make you innocent. You lied to me for weeks. I brought you into my house, into my life, because I thought you were worth it. I thought that we could…”
I cut myself off before I say anything more.
“I never meant for it to go this far,” Fiona whispers.
“And yet, it did. You got the best of both worlds. You would have paid off your debt to Lorcan and got to live out your days in my penthouse apartment while I pay you a salary you could retire on in a year.”
“You think I care about the money?” she explodes. “Take it all back, I don’t want it!”
“You seemed pretty eager to take it when I offered you the job at my company.”
“I had no choice. Lorcan forced my hand because if I didn’t deliver what he wants, Amber is going to pay the price.”
“What’s Amber got to do with this?”
“He has her doctor on his payroll.”
I curse under my breath. “He’s using her as collateral.”
“Now do you see why I had no choice? I couldn’t risk Amber not getting the treatment she needs. Believe me, I’ve been trying to find a way for all of us to get out of this alive.”
“Even after everything Lorcan has done, he still finds a way to become even more of an evil bastard,” I say through gritted teeth.
Even I know not to call his bluff. If he’s threatened to cut Amber’s access to treatment, he’ll do it. To him, a human life means nothing unless it brings value to him, even if that life belongs to an innocent child.
“I’ll make sure nothing happens to Amber.”
“What?” Fiona asks, startled.
“I’m not as much of a monster as Lorcan. So, regardless of everything between us, I’ll make sure nothing happens to your niece."
“You would do that?”
“You have my word. And unlike yours, it means something.”
Fiona’s lower lip trembles, and she bows her head so that her hair falls in front of her face.
For a beat, neither of us speaks, but I can see from the way her shoulders shake that she’s crying.
I have to force myself not to reach out and comfort her.
At this point, it’s an instinct, but one that I need to kill because it’s got me in enough trouble as it is.
I have no idea how I’m going to tell my brothers that Fiona has been spying on us all this time.
Any progress I’ve made with my brothers over the past couple of years, particularly with Kieran, is about to be shattered.
It will be a miracle if he doesn’t immediately try to put a bullet in her, considering she’s been living under the same roof as his wife and newborn daughter, all while having contact with the one man who wants us all dead.
A dull ache is starting to build at my temples.
Right now, I need to make sure Fiona is contained, and then call a meeting with my brothers to discuss the file that proves Lorcan orchestrated our father’s death.
I pinch the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. “I need a drink.”
“Cormac?” Fiona says softly.
“What?” I snap, glancing over at her.
Her blue eyes are red and bloodshot, and her cheeks are flushed and wet with tears.
“I…love you, Cormac,” she chokes. “I just…wanted you to know.”
Once upon a time, those words would have sent me to my knees. But now, as I look at her, all I feel is pain.
“You don’t love me. You love who you thought I was. And you proved that when you chose Lorcan over me and my son.”
She sobs. “I didn’t choose him!”
“You chose to lie. Every damn day, you lied to my face.”
“I chose to survive.”
“And I chose to trust you. And that is a mistake I will have to live with.”
“You can trust me.”
“How can you say that after everything you’ve told me?—”
I’m cut off as a piercing scream rips through the house, desperate and raw with terror.
Scout.
My heart lurches violently as panic floods my system so fast it makes me dizzy.
I don’t think. I don’t breathe. I just move.
I’m running before the echo of his scream has even faded, my boots pounding against the floor as I tear down the hall and take the stairs two at a time, my blood roaring in my ears.
“Scout!” I shout, my voice breaking. “Scout!”
Silence.
My eyes scan the foyer, but when they land on the open front door, my stomach bottoms out.
“No,” I breathe.
The cold night air slams into me as I burst outside, the world narrowing to the floodlit drive and the surrounding shadows.
I can hear Fiona right behind me, but nothing else exists to me right now beyond the horrifying absence of my son’s voice.
“Scout!” I roar. “Scout!”
“Scout!” Fiona yells.
The answering silence is so much more terrifying than hearing him scream.
“He was right here,” I say, more to myself than to Fiona.
“H—he can’t have gone far.”
“Scout!”
Footsteps sound behind me, and for a split second, I think it’s my son.
I whirl around but curse when I see it’s only Riley in the doorway, half asleep and carrying Aubrey in her arms.
“What’s going on?” she asks, looking panicked.
“Is Scout with you?”
“No…”
Understanding suddenly dawns on Riley’s face as she comes stumbling out of the house onto the front steps.
“Get back inside!” I order. “Now.”
Her eyes are flying all over the place as her arms tighten around her baby. “Cormac, where’s Scout?”
“Riley, please, get back in the house. I don’t know what’s out here?—”
“Cormac,” Fiona chokes.
“What?”
“It’s…Brennan.”
I turn around and scan the drive, and that’s when I see him.
“No…”
He’s sprawled awkwardly on the ground near the edge of the drive, a dark patch blooming on the gravel beneath his head.
For half a second, my brain refuses to process what I’m seeing until Riley’s cry of panic slices through the air.
I’m at his side in seconds, dropping to my knees and pressing two fingers to his neck, praying I can find a pulse.
A nasty gash pouring blood runs from his temple to his ear, matting his dark hair to his head, and under the floodlights, his complexion looks almost gray.
I grit my teeth. “Come on, come on. Don’t you dare fucking die on me, Brennan.”
“Oh, god.” Fiona sobs from behind me.
I move my fingers slightly, desperately trying to feel for a sign of a heartbeat. When I finally feel a faint pulse, I hang my head and exhale. “He’s alive. But barely.”
“What can I do?” Fiona asks.
I pull my gun out of my pocket and tuck it into the waistband of my pants before shrugging out of my jacket and holding it to the wound on Brennan’s head.
“I need you to put pressure on this while I call my brothers.”
“I’ll call them,” Riley offers.
I hadn’t noticed her approaching, and the sight of her holding Aubrey and looking so vulnerable makes my blood turn to ice.
“Get inside the house.”
Thankfully, she doesn’t argue with me.
I watch her disappear inside just to make sure she’s safe before turning back to Brennan.
Fiona’s eyes turn to me. “Cormac… What about Scout?”
“Scout!” I roar again. “Scout, answer me!”
Nothing.
The silence is unbearable.
“Cormac, where is he?” Her voice cracks.
I look at the open gates, and something inside me fractures completely.
“I don’t know.” I stagger back a step as my mind races, replaying every decision, every mistake that led to this moment.
Brennan should have been enough to protect him, but Lorcan has proven time and time again that he doesn’t play fair.
This wasn’t a random attack. This was a message, and it was meant for me.
I clench my fists at my sides.
Rage and terror tangle so tightly in my chest that I can barely tell them apart as I realize my son is gone, and I might never see him again.
TO BE CONTINUED
Cormac and Fiona’s story continues in Book 6 of The Sullivan Mafia Series, Ruined Wrath…