40. Cormac
Chapter Forty
CORMAC
The Blackthorn is packed to bursting when I arrive and reeks of stale beer and cigarettes. Somewhere in a corner, someone is playing an out-of-tune piano that grates on my nerves.
I find Aiden in a booth toward the back of the pub, nursing a half-empty Guinness. My eyes flick from the strained look on his face to the hefty envelope in front of him, and my stomach sinks.
I slide into the booth across from him without saying a word. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Sure you don’t want to order a drink first? You might need it.”
I shake my head. “I need to keep a clear head.”
“It’s your funeral.” Aiden pushes the envelope toward me. “I didn’t want to send this digitally. It would be too easy to misinterpret.”
I stare down at the envelope, but I make no move to touch it. Once I open it, the Fiona I thought I knew, the one I was falling for, will become nothing but a stranger. And despite everything I’ve learned about her in the past twenty-four hours, I’m not sure I’m ready to let the fantasy of her go.
Aiden picks up his beer and drains it. “I reran all the footage multiple times from every angle. Let’s just say I was hoping to prove myself wrong, but the timelines add up.”
“And?”
“I’m not wrong, Cormac.”
My jaw tightens. “You don’t know that.”
“I do, because if there was another explanation, I would have found it. You know that. You just don’t want to admit it.”
“Of course, I don’t want to admit it! So, if there is another explanation for her being caught up in some shit with my uncle, I will find it.”
“I’ve tried.”
“Try harder.”
Aiden sits back against the torn leather of the booth and folds his arms across his chest. He’s never been one to crack a smile, but today his expression is even more grave.
“She could have been manipulated,” I say eventually. “Lorcan’s good at that.”
“From the pictures, it doesn’t look like it.”
I clench my hands into fists under the table. “So, what. You’re telling me she walked into this willingly?”
Aiden doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he pulls the envelope back toward him and slides his thumb beneath the lip.
“I’m telling you she wasn’t surprised to see him, which makes me think this isn’t the first time they’ve met.” He pulls out a stack of photos. “If this doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.”
He tosses the photos on the table, and I stare down at the screenshots taken from CCTV footage of Fiona standing outside what looks like her apartment door, talking to?—
“Lorcan,” I growl as I pick up another picture taken from the opposite end of the hall where I can clearly see Fiona’s expression.
She doesn’t look exactly happy to see my uncle, but there’s also a significant lack of fear in her eyes.
She was expecting him.
My chest tightens painfully at the realization.
I squeeze my eyes shut briefly, then force them open. “How long has this been going on?”
Aiden hesitates.
“How. Long.”
“Long enough to suggest that he sent her knocking on your door.”
“You don’t know what they were talking about.”
If Kieran was here, he would slap me around the back of the head for how naive I’m being, but I just can’t bring myself to accept that Fiona has been double-crossing me all this time.
Maybe if Scout wasn’t involved I would feel differently, but he’s bonded to her. And now I’m going to have to rip her out of his life.
This was exactly what I didn’t want to happen.
“No, I don’t know what they were talking about. But I do know they met before she ever interviewed with you, which tells you everything you need to know.”
Silence stretches between us as the reality of my colossal fuck-up sinks in.
“I’m sorry, Cormac. I wanted to be wrong. I don’t like bringing this to you.”
I laugh once, but the sound is bitter and cold. “That didn’t stop you.”
“I’m thorough. And I’m not easily fooled.”
That’s what finally breaks something in me.
Aiden isn’t emotional. He doesn’t jump to conclusions. He doesn’t chase ghosts. If he’s saying Fiona is a traitor, then I have no choice but to believe him.
“She’s been in my house. With my son.” My voice is shaking with rage.
Bile burns my throat as I think of all the times I left Scout in Fiona’s care.
How much of it was an act? Did she ever care about him, about me, or were all of those nights we spent together, all of those meals shared, just the three of us, nothing but a lie?
I shove the photos back into the envelope, my hands shaking now.
Aiden stares at me. “What are you going to do?”
“I need proof.”
“You have proof.”
I growl, “No. I have pictures. But it’s not enough. I need to know what she’s done. What she’s taken. What information she has fed to my uncle?—”
My phone buzzes in my pocket.
The sinking feeling in my gut when I see Kieran’s name on the screen has me immediately answering the call.
“Talk to me.”
“Are you at the house?”
The urgency in his tone has my back straightening.
“I’m at The Blackthorn. Why, has something happened?”
“I’m not sure.”
My blood runs cold.
“What do you mean you’re not sure?”
“I just got a motion alert that someone entered the upstairs office.”
“So? It could have been Brennan. He’s still at the house with Scout. Or one of the girls.”
“There’s no reason for Riley or Ciara to go in there, and Ronan is stuck at the office meeting with the head of security.”
I glance down at the envelope of pictures and immediately know who it was.
“You know what? I’ll give Brennan a call,” Kieran says.
“No. I’ll head over there now.”
“But—”
“I’ll handle it, Kieran.”
I hang up and stand, grabbing the envelope of pictures and tucking them into the inside pocket of my jacket.
I turn to Aiden. “Call me if you find anything else.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I know what I should do.”
I just don’t know if I have the strength to do it.
The drive back to Washington Heights is agony. Every red light feels like a slap in the face. Every second that ticks by, the feeling of dread that coils in my chest becomes almost suffocating.
By the time I pull into Kieran’s estate, my hands are steady again, but only because a terrifying sort of calm has washed over me.
Fiona is the spy. She’s been working with Lorcan this entire time and has offered up my family, particularly my son, as bait, in order to pay off her sister’s debt.
I feel sick to my stomach when I realize how blinded I was.
After working so hard for years to keep Scout safe, how could I have let myself lose sight of what’s important and welcome the enemy straight into my arms?
If something happens to Scout because of this, I’ll willingly hand myself over to Smirnov because I won’t be able to live with the guilt.
I find Fiona in the living room, curled up on the couch.
The sight of her so at home in my brother’s house, surrounded by pictures of our family, once made my chest swell. But now that I know it’s all a front, it makes me want to explode with rage.
“Hey,” Fiona says when she looks up, but her expression quickly turns to fear as I storm over to her, and grab her by the wrist, and yank her to her feet.
“Cormac?”
“Come with me.”
She looks panicked. “Come where? Cormac, you’re hurting me!”
I ignore her cries of protest as I drag her out of the room.
She should be grateful I’m dealing with her myself and not bringing in my brothers, because I know Ronan and Kieran wouldn’t waste time with explanations, not when their infant children are in danger with every second they spend in Fiona’s presence.
“Where are we going?” She tries to pull herself free, but I only tighten my grip on her wrist.
“To Kieran’s office.”
I don’t miss the slight stumble Fiona takes as we head up the stairs, which gives her away.
So, my hunch was right, it was her who decided to go snooping around my brother’s office.
The only question is why? What did Lorcan want her to find?
I kick open the door to Kieran’s office and scan the room.
Nothing looks out of the ordinary. None of the drawers are open, and the furniture is in its usual place, which makes me pause.
Doubt creeps in despite myself as I finally look down at Fiona.
She swallows hard as the color drains from her face.
She’s not looking at me, but I can see the guilt in her eyes as she looks over at the desk.
I follow her gaze, noting the stacks of files piled on top.
“What did you take?” I demand.
“I—I didn’t take anything.”
“Don’t lie to me!”
Her eyes glisten with tears as she finally looks up at me. “Cormac?—”
“What did you do?” My voice is deadly calm despite the ringing in my ears.
She exhales shakily as she looks back over at the desk. “I accessed the laptop. I—I…tampered with it.”
The words echo in the room like a gunshot.
“You did what?”
I release my hold on her wrist as if it burns me. I can’t even bear to look at her, let alone touch her.
There is no reason for her to go anywhere near Vasil Smirnov’s laptop unless Lorcan ordered her to, which means she’s been in contact with him while sleeping under Kieran’s roof.
“I didn’t delete anything. I swear. I just… I needed to see?—”
“See what? What could you possibly need that is on that laptop?”
A sob escapes her lips as she looks away, tears streaming down her cheeks.
But I don’t feel sorry for her. She chose her side of the bed, now she has to lie in it.
“Was your niece even sick?” I ask coldly.
She looks back at me. “What?”
“Amber. Was she ever sick, or was that just another lie you told?”
“Of course, she was sick! Why would I ever lie about something like that?”
“You seem to be able to lie about everything else.”
“I… Cormac, I swear?—”
“Quite frankly, Fiona, your word means nothing to me. Not when you’ve been secretly working for my uncle since before I even met you.”
Fiona’s mouth snaps shut as she stares at me in horror. But what cuts even deeper is the fact that she doesn’t deny it.
I reach into my jacket and pull out the envelope of pictures that Aiden gave me and toss it onto the desk. “Have you got nothing to say?”
“You have to understand…”
“Understand what? That you’re a lying traitor? That part has been made very clear.”
Fiona flinches as if I struck her.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
She nods as the tears run down her neck. “Yes.”
“And Lorcan told you to find it.”
When Fiona says nothing, something inside me completely breaks.
That’s when I know, there was never another ending for us.