Chapter 55
fifty-five
My keys jangle as I shove them in the lock.
Turning the key, I grip the handle, and nudge the door open.
Balancing groceries is not something I wasever good at.
Ava keeps telling me about how I can order groceries to be delivered now, but the thought of some random stranger knowing where I live doesn’t sit well with me.
My daughter also tells me that I don’t need an apartment of my own. There is plenty of room in the new home Matthias has bought for them. The man not only purchased their home, but every home for several city blocks. He tore most of them down to rebuild them into god knows what.
I gratefully decline the invitation. Living that close to my daughter and her new husband is not my idea of a good time.
Not that I don’t want to be near her, and her offer comes from a good place, but I spent the last ten plus years under constant watch, able to hear and feel everything without the ability to do shit about it.
Sighing, I set the groceries down on the marble island. The apartment is small, but cosy, with large floor-to-ceiling windows and a sizeable balcony.
It is enough to keep me from feeling stifled and closed in. Matthias offered me a job at his security company, which I gratefully accepted. The money from the McDonough estate is enough to tide me over for a decent amount of time.
The bulk of my father’s fortune was squandered by Sheila and Remus over the years and it looks as if whoever is behind their extracurricular activities of selling women has taken that money and run with it.
Not that I wanted it.
The McDonough mafia is done for. I flew back to Boston to hand over the seat of power to one of my father’s men who was exiled for questioning Remus.
He was my father’s second for nearly thirty years and deserves to take it over.
There isn’t much left, but he is confident that he can build it back up to what it was.
I know my family’s legacy is in good hands.
Pain pierces my heart when I think about the darkness that has woven its way through my family for generations.
I can’t fault Remus and Marianne for the pain they felt at being cast aside or even at my mother for harboring such hate toward my father and grandmother.
It is how it all comes about that disgusts me.
That, and the fact that my mother so easily cast me aside for being the chosen twin.
It is in no way my fault for being born a minute earlier than my sister.
“Hello, Kat.”
A cry of surprise erupts from my throat, and I turn to face who has spoken.
He is sitting in one of the overly plush chairs I stuffed into a corner, half covered in shadow.
Hazel eyes shoot icy daggers at me. His body is relaxed, one ankle thrown carelessly over the opposite knee, a gun in his hand, the barrel pointed straight at my chest.
His voice is all smoke and gravel, almost hoarse.
Why does it sound so familiar yet also so foreign?
I haven’t turned any of the lights on, so the only source of light comes from the windows which makes it hard to see his full form. As if sensing this, he reaches a gloved hand out toward the standing light and with a soft click, a warm glow fills the darkened space.
My lips part slightly, eyes widening in recognition and horror when his face is revealed. He looks different from when I last saw him, then again, he was burned to death after being shot.
At least he was supposed to have been.
Noah Kelly.
Fear surges through me unbidden, and goosebumps break out over my skin, causing me to shiver slightly. The left side of his face is a scarred mess of skin. His lips on that side are missing causing a permanent sneer and his left eye is glassy and unmoving.
Clenching my jaw, I swallow back the bile that threatens to rise in my throat. “Noah.”
The right side of his face lifts into what is no doubt supposed to be a smile but resembles more of a grimace.
“What a surprise to find you alive after all these years,” he waves his gun at me. “You’re as beautiful as I remember.”
“Can’t say the same for you.”
I am not going to be pulling any punches. Not with this monster.
Sparks of anger flicker in his steely eyes, but they quickly diminish as if they never exist in the first place. He was always quick to anger when we are younger. Constantly getting in fist fights and striking out. We were engaged once, but I was in love with Liam.
That is when everything changed.
“How cruel the years are to both of us,” he inclines his head.
“If you’re trying to bond with me over shared trauma,” I sniff haughtily. “It isn’t going to work.”
He chuckles.
“Oh, little Kat.” His words slither around me like a snake, and I can feel my skin crawling.
“We have so much to bond over, but first,” he stands from the chair and saunters toward me.
I shuffle back, trying to keep distance between us, but am stopped when I hit the immovable force of the island.
Noah smirks, his large body crowding mine against the cold marble.
He leans down until his lips are at my ear. “You are going to do something for me.”
I shake my head unable to speak with how close he is. Lightning fast, his gloved hand grips my chin in a bruising hold, his fingers digging into my cheeks as he forces me to look at him.
“This isn’t a negotiation, kitty-kat,” he snarls menacingly, venom dripping from his words.
“You are going to do exactly as I say, or I’ll put a bullet through your ex-lover’s head.
” He tilts his head to the side, eyes lighting with fire.
“Or maybe I will put one through your daughter’s and watch her burn. ”
“Go to hell,” I hiss through clenched teeth.
Noah simply laughs and releases the grip on my chin, but he doesn’t step back. He continues to crowd me, his dark essence washing over me like a wave crashing upon a sandcastle on the beach. With one pull of the trigger, he can wash me away.
“I’ve been there, Kat,” he shrugs. “They didn’t want me, but I want something from you.”
“And what is that?” I ask, afraid of the answer.
“Revenge.”