Page 24 of Vengeful Vows

But it shouldn’t matter. She’s related to Niall Murphy, so I shouldn’t be feeling any type of way about her.

She doesn’t speak much other than answering Lara and Paige throughout dinner, even though everyone else is lively. Hell, even Gray is regaling us with a story.

“Cillian and I were taking some... things .... from the warehouse,” Gray says, laughing already. “We were in my SUV, and he kept asking if I’d pull over and let him smoke.”

Lara shakes her head. “He needs to quit.”

Gray nods. “Exactly. So, I tell him I won’t, and then next thing I know, we’re whizzing by a state patrol car. I had to have been going seventy in a thirty-five.”

“Holy shit,” Paige pipes up. “So, what’d you do?”

Gray laughs. “He put on his sirens, and I took off, taking the back alleys back toward the house. I finally got rid of him, but it scared the shit out of Cillian.”

I’m laughing but I keep glancing at Bree, and she’s just sitting there, as if she’s barely paying attention.

I can’t hold back anymore, so I lean to her, putting my mouth closer to her ear. “What’s wrong?”

She doesn’t answer. Doesn’t even react at all. As if I haven’t said anything to her.

“Leave her be, Declan,” Lara warns. “She’s just having a bad day. Some days girls have bad days.”

I grumble under my breath. Seems to me that Bree has no reason to be having a bad day. After all, I’ve given her everything that she could have possibly desired since she got here.

Sure, we got off to a rough start with the kidnapping, but she has everything she needs.

“If you want anything, all you have to do is ask,” I tell Bree, and she looks up at me coolly.

“Is that so?” She narrows her eyes at me. “Then, I want to go home.”

Gray snickers. “You should have seen that coming.”

I huff out a breath, the growl, “You know what I meant. And you’re being rude at dinner.”

“Can’t seem to help myself.” She looks directly at my father. “May I be excused?”

Bree stands up.

My father raises an eyebrow at her before nodding. “Yes, of course. You don’t have to ask.”

She nods back and listlessly walks up the stairs.

I frown, excusing myself and following her, and my father throws me a wink.

“The best ones have fire in their eyes,” he comments, but I don’t respond.

He’s right, of course, but I haven’t exactly forgiven him for everything.

I open and close the door, and Bree’s lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

I stand near the door, my arms crossed over my chest. “Why are you being so sullen?”

Bree’s quiet for a moment. I think she’s not going to respond, that the fire is dimming, and something like panic rises in my throat.

She sits up slowly, staring at me. “Sullen?”

“Yes. Sullen. Like a little child who didn’t get her way.”

“My way?” Her eyes widen.

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