Page 70 of Vengeful Vows

“All right, son. I’ll tell her everything. If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure. She needs to understand.”

Gray frowns, and Paige’s eyes are filled with tears. Lara shoulders slump.

I think everyone, even Gray, hates that we have to tell her this.

Lara puts an arm around our baby sister, and Paige sobs into her shoulder before pulling away.

“Don’t break down, a’stor,” my father warns. “This isn’t our burden. It’s hers.”

“It's ours, too,” Lara interjects. “But we’ll try to keep it together.”

My father nods.

“I’ll make sure she’s there,” I grumble, and walk upstairs, waiting outside the bedroom door.

Strange, gagging noises reach me. Is she throwing up?

My heart drops.

I hate this for her. I really do. If I was told my father did the things Niall Murphy did... well, I’d be devastated.

The door swings open, and Bree stands there, her makeup washed off, her eyes red and puffy.

“I’m ready,” she rasps, and I put my hand on the small of her back and lead her down the stairs.

I guess I really must care for her, because I wish I could shoulder all her pain, make it so she never finds out about this, about what a monster her father really is.

I wish I could take her pain and make it mine, and what is that if it isn’t love?

18

BREE

Walking into the living room, Declan’s hand on my lower back feels half like support and half like he’s forcing me forward. I’m still so conflicted about my feelings for him and the rest of the Burkes, and now I’m terrified of what they’re going to say.

I know that my father is a criminal. Hell, so am I, just based on how I’ve kept up the books.

Declan and Patrick, Gray and Lara, even Paige—they're all in the life too. So, why is it that my father is so hated?

I can’t imagine it being anything but petty issues with shipments or something like that—but what if it’s worse? What if it’s something.... unforgivable?

The very fact that I’m worried about it means that I’m aware my father is capable of it. I was just never forced to face that fact.

I keep my tears at bay, walking downstairs, and the Burke family seems to have been waiting for me.

Paige and Lara share the big chair in the corner, cuddled up together. Paige looks upset, tucked into her older sister’s body. Patrick sits in the recliner, and Gray is on the couch, his blue eyes downcast, which is weird. Declan sits next to Gray, leaving me on the other end of the couch, watching Patrick.

Patrick keeps my gaze, not looking away.

“This is a long story, a’stor, so sit tight,” he drawls.

I nod, keeping eye contact even as tears threaten at the backs of my eyes.

Declan keeps his hand on my back, rubbing small, comforting circles.

“I guess it starts back in Ireland when the Burke clan started up. My father and my grandfather before me lived in Dublin, and it wasn’t until I took my young wife…” His voice falters, and he takes a deep breath. “The mother of my children, of course, to America, that the trouble started.”

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