Page 65 of While You Sleep

“I needed to talk with you, privately,” he said, still blocking the door.

Unease settled behind my ribs. What the hell was going on here? “Then you should have called. Not lied to me about my brother.”

“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want. I’m the head of this family—”

“Yet you’re hiding in your son’s bedroom so one of Cillian’s men doesn’t hear you—”

He stepped forward, his hand flying back—

“You mark my face and Cillian will end you,” I fired at him. Shock rocketing through me. He’d never even tried to hit me before. I felt sick.

He dragged in several breaths and dropped his hand. “God, I’m so sorry, Sophia. I don’t know what came over me…I’m under a lot of stress.”

“What the hell is going on?” I’d never seen him like this, and he’d never in my entire life apologized to me for anything.

“You need to listen to me, trust me.”

“You’re scaring me.”

His gaze hardened. “Your time married to Cillian O’Rourke is over. I’ll come for you tonight. Wait until he’s asleep, then come outside. There’ll be a car waiting down the street for you behind the house, be there by two.”

I froze. “What?”

“He’s going to kill me, Sophia. Can you live with that? With your father’s death on your conscience? I’m organizing an annulment now. I know a judge, he owes me. You can walk away. You don’t have to stay with a man who murdered his own brother. You’re not safe.”

An annulment? What was he doing? And he hadn’t cared about my safety when he’d planned to marry me off to someone with Adam’s reputation or Cillian’s for that matter. “Why would he want to hurt you?” I was done staying quiet and doing what I was told.

His jaw tightened. “He’s about to find out about some…deals I’ve been doing in his territory.”

“You betrayed the O’Rourkes again? What were you thinking?”

“I’m looking out for our family, and I’m not giving that fucker a dime of my money.”

Oh fuck. “Dad—”

“Things are about to change, and you won’t be a goddamn O’Rourke when they do.”

“What do you mean, change?”

“That’s none of your concern. You’ll do what you’re told and that’s the end of it.”

My hands shook with anger, that he was doing this to me again. “I need to leave. Danny will come looking for me soon.”

His dark eyes were locked on me. “The car will be waiting for you at two, and if you tell Cillian, if you don’t come, what happens next will be on your head.”

The dread swirled higher. “What will happen?”

His gaze darkened. “He will kill me when he finds out what I’ve been doing, Sophia. You know he will. He’ll kill Celeste…and he’ll kill Tommy.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” I bit out.

“You have no idea what he’s done, what he’s capable of. I do. I’ve seen it, things that would give you nightmares, make you sick to your stomach.” My father was a manipulator and a liar, but the fear in his eyes, it seemed real.

I shook my head, my stomach twisting, my mind flashing to the blood on Cillian’s shirt, the gun, the knife. He’d never hurt a child. He’d never hurt Tommy. But my father, Celeste…

He grabbed my arm and shook me. “Even if he doesn’t kill your brother, who’s to say Tommy won’t get caught in the crossfire? Or that he’ll be forced to watch both his parents executed in front of him. Cillian isn’t called the O’Rourke monster for nothing, you have to know that by now.” He gave me another shake. “Be ready tonight.” Then opened the door and walked away.

I stood frozen. I wasn’t stupid, I knew what Cillian was. He wasn’t like other people, he didn’t have much of a conscience, if he had one at all. He’d told me that he’d been prepared to kill my father for his betrayal to Seamus, that first night in Dad’s office. That was how his world worked. My father had been given a second chance because of me, because of our alliance, and he’d squandered it. He’d thrown it back in Cillian’s face. Cillian couldn’t let that go. He was the head of his family now, he couldn’t show weakness.

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