Page 50 of Vengeful Vows

DECLAN

I wake up before Bree and get into the shower immediately, trying to clean off the sweat and dirt from yesterday. I told her the truth when I told her that I was only relaying messages to Renno, it was his men that didn’t get the memo.

But there is still something I need to do. And it’s the last thing I want to do in my honeymoon, but this was a last-minute assignment Da threw at me.

And I’m already so tired. I just want this all to be over, but as long as people keep disobeying my father, I’ll have this kind of thing to do.

I kiss Bree on the forehead before I leave. It’s barely daylight, and she doesn’t even open her eyes.

I walk down to Finn’s room. Sean will be staying to protect Bree. Finn’s a little bigger than his brother, and more intimidating looking with his close-cropped dark hair, where Sean’s is long and reddish blond.

He’s Irish coming around a corner, but Finn isn’t. And I don’t want us to be recognized. As soon as Ronan Sullivan sees us, he’ll know he’s caught, and he’ll fight like the cornered animal he is.

Finn comes to the door immediately, freshly showered and wearing comfortable clothes—just jeans and a T-shirt. I’m dressed similarly. We need the element of surprise.

“How many?” Finn asks as we head down to the valet.

“Two, maybe three,” I tell him. “Sullivan works in small groups.”

“Do we leave any of them alive?”

I shake my head solemnly. “They knew what they signed up for when they sided with a thieving rat.”

Finn nods. “Where are we meeting them?”

“We’re going to surprise them at the warehouse. They should have had a shipment last night—guns, probably AKs. They won’t be loaded, so they’ll just be armed with their handguns.”

“He’s skimming off the top?”

“Enough that Da couldn’t not notice.”

Finn whistles. “Your da lets a lot slide.”

I think sometimes Da lets too much slide, but that’s Gray’s problem, not mine. Gray’s going to inherit everything, not me. I don’t think I’m built for this life, really, built for this amount of violence.

We head to the warehouse, and I park a couple of blocks away.

We step out of the car, and I start walking with Sean as if we’re just going on a morning stroll. The drop-off was supposed to be at daylight, so they should still be at the location.

I catch sight of a few crates as we get closer, and I grab Sean and pull him behind them. I draw my gun, and Sean follows suit as we walk up closer, hiding behind the crates here and there.

There are two guys laughing and taking things from crates as Sullivan supervises next to them.

One’s a young guy I’ve never seen before, couldn’t be more than twenty.

Fuck.

I hate killing kids, even if they’re technically adults. But this kid knew what he was getting into. And if you work with the Burkes, you don’t break your word.

I come out from behind the crates and shoot the kid in the head, giving him a quick death, before Sean shoots the other guy next to Sullivan, another man I don’t recognize.

Sullivan’s eyes bug out of his head, and he drops to his knees, clasping his hands together in front of me. “Please, boss. Please, don’t kill me, I’m sorry. I got five kids, I?—”

I shoot him point blank, and his body slumps to the floor.

“Jesus,” I mumble, looking over at Sullivan’s body twitching. “Wish we could’ve brought Sean.”

“You’re telling me.” Finn shakes his head and goes to search their pockets. When he finds some car keys, he tries them and one of them is an SUV.

---