28. Angie/Connor #3
“You should reload,” Marcus says, picking up a rifle. One of the dead men dropped it. “There’s still fighting inside.” He tosses me the gun.
I catch it and stand. Blood drips from my clothes. “We go in through the back. Kill everyone. My family is the priority.”
I stalk forward into hell.
Angie
The stink of smoke slips in from somewhere in the house. Mom’s barely conscious. Rowan’s leaning against Danielle, eyes fixed on nothing. Cathal can’t seem to sit still.
“Don’t worry, we have our own air,” he says, trying to smile at me, but he doesn’t seem comforted. “We’ll be safe unless the Gallaghers have a nuke.”
He doesn’t sound sure at all and I don’t have the energy to argue.
The gunfire slows but doesn’t stop. Somewhere in the house, people are still fighting.
Where is Connor? How did this happen? I close my eyes and see Colm’s head explode.
I have his blood all over me. I’m slick with it.
Slick with poor Colm’s gore. I cover my mouth to keep from retching and sit with my hand on my belly, worried for my family, for my baby. Afraid for my husband.
What if he’s dead already? What if he rushed home only to get ambushed?
Nobody talks for what feels like an hour, but it can’t be more than a few minutes. There’s a banging from outside the doors and Rowan whimpers, gripping tighter to Danielle. Something clicks, beeps, and the door disengages.
“Stay behind me,” Cathal says, facing the room.
Thin smoke billows in.
Deck is standing alone in the closet, a gun resting on his shoulder. “Everyone alive in here?”
“Thank fuck, Deck.” Cathal steps forward. “Are you alright? Where’s Connor? Are the Gallaghers still fighting?”
Deck holds a hand out to stop him. “You’d better stay in there, Cathal. It’s not safe out here.”
“Then why the fuck are you opening the door?”
Deck’s eyes settle on me. And I know, deep in my bones, that something is wrong. Something is very wrong.
“Angie, you’re with me, sweetheart.” Deck’s smile isn’t remotely reassuring.
“Now wait a second.” Cathal gestures for me to stay. “Why the hell do you need her? If it’s not safe, she should stay here.”
“Orders are orders. Angie’s with me, everyone else doesn’t move.”
“That makes no sense. We should stay together?—“
Deck slams the butt of his gun straight into Cathal’s face. Cathal grunts and falls backward, crashing into the rack of food. Deck lowers the barrel and aims it at me.
“On your feet.”
“What are you doing?” Danielle says. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Deck?!”
“Give me an excuse to shoot you, bitch, go ahead. I’ve always wanted to.” Deck hasn’t taken his eyes off me. “You’re with me now, Angie. Come on, fucking move.”
“Don’t, damn you.” Cathal struggles to get up. Blood’s pouring from his broken nose. “What the hell is going on, Deck? Don’t you move, Angelina!”
I rise to my feet. “It’s fine. He won’t hurt you all if I go with him.”
“That’s right,” Deck says, nodding. “They’re my family too, you know. My real family. Unlike you.”
“Deck, you fucking shit, what did you do?!”
“It’s okay.” I take a step forward. “Watch out for my mom, okay? And tell Connor I said I’m sorry.”
“No, Angie! Stop it!”
I move to Deck’s side. He pokes the gun against my ribs. “Smart girl.”
It’s the only way to keep them safe. Deck probably doesn’t want to kill them but I can’t take the chance.
Rowan watches in horror and Danielle holds her tighter and Cathal’s fighting to his feet, and I can’t let them do something stupid for me.
Like always, it’s on me to help them, not the other way around.
“It’ll be okay,” I say and hit the button to shut the door.
It locks with a dull thud.
“I thought you were a stupid, selfish bitch when we first met,” Deck says, gripping my wrist and dragging me back through the house. The smoke is worse as we get toward the main stairs. “Now I think you’re only stupid.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere else. Don’t worry, I don’t need to kill you, not yet anyway.
You’re worth more alive. I need to make everyone see how Connor’s lost his damn mind, how he’s putting our people in danger for a worthless bitch like you, and then I’ll make it all right.
Hell, maybe you and him can go live somewhere else far from here. Who knows how it’ll shake out?”
I’m sobbing as he leads me downstairs. Crying because there’s no far from here, no somewhere else. Connor would never let it happen. When he finds out what Deck’s doing, he’s going to lose his mind, and probably his life, and I don’t know what I’ll do when he’s gone.
Break, I think. I’ll break.
Men circle around us. I think they’re enemies, but none of them move to stop us. Deck drags me on, toward the back of the house, toward the sliding doors looking out at the yard?—
And comes to a stuttering halt.
Smoke billows all around. The fire must be near here in one of the back rooms. Probably the kitchen. I feel sick for Lisa. I hope she got out alive.
“Son of a bitch,” Deck says quietly, yanking me closer against him.
Standing straight ahead, outlined in the light streaming in from outside, is my husband, drenched in blood and gore, looking like a demon straight from hell, the most beautiful monster I’ve ever seen, a horror from the pit, a nightmare, a savior, and death walking.
Connor
Deck holds Angie tight against him, and for a few seconds, I think she’s safe.
I almost call out. Send her over here, Deck, and help me clear the place. I could laugh with relief.
Until I see the gun he’s got aimed at her ribs.
Pieces fall together. Tumblers click into place.
Deck calls out, “Don’t move, Connor.”
“Why?” I step into the wreckage of the great room. The couch is a bloodied pulp. Corpses are strewn all over. I recognize most of them: men I’ve worked with for years, men I’ve laughed with, drank with, ate with. Gallaghers are scattered around too. All this pain. All this ruin.
“You made this happen, Connor.” Deck shoves the gun against Angie harder.
She winces, eyes pleading with me. Don’t, please don’t.
I keep my gaze locked on my cousin. “Don’t you see it?
You threw it all away for this meaningless girl.
You burned an alliance. You got our people killed and more were going to die if I didn’t stop you. She’s not worth it. She never was.”
“Angie is my wife.” I take another step toward him, gun aimed at his head. Can I make the shot? Can I kill Deck? What’ll happen if I do? Gallagher men are in the hall behind him, but his body’s between us. “Let her go now. You don’t need to make it worse.”
“The Gallagher family is royalty but this bitch is only a goddamn accountant. You ruined us, Connor! You ripped us apart!”
“No, Deck. Look around. You know these men. You cared about them, and you killed them all.”
His snarl is fierce. “Fuck you, Connor. You always thought you knew best, you arrogant fuck, but you’re wrong. You’re wrong! I’m right! Don’t come closer or I swear I’ll shoot your fucking baby from her belly.”
“They’re dead because of you.” Another step. Another. I keep Deck’s attention fully on me. “Let Angie go. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to go all the way.”
“It’s too goddamn late for that.” Deck’s teeth grit together.
Marcus comes charging from the kitchens, smoke billowing behind him, a dozen loyal Maguire men at his back. Deck shouts in surprise as the Gallaghers react, raising their guns, and my cousin shoves Angie hard.
Another moment. Another beat. But this time I’m deep in my body feeling every inch of myself as I sprint to my wife, but it’s like wading through quicksand.
Marcus and our fighters start shooting and the Gallaghers retreat with Deck in their midst and Angie’s coming to me, she’s coming, as bullets scream through the air around us?—
Then she’s in my arms. I shield her, wrapping my arms around my wife and my baby as I hug her to my chest, and I feel the punches slam into my back, but nothing else matters, nothing else in the world as I hold her, the woman I love, my entire reason for breathing, our future growing inside of her, and we topple to the floor in a flurry of gunfire, blood, and smoke, her name on my lips as we collapse together.