Page 56 of Ruthless Reign

He did it to save you.

As if that makes it okay.

I shook my head, inhaling so deeply on my next drag that I coughed long and hard, starting to shake in the sudden chill as the rain came down harder.

I tapped the message from Aodhán on my phone, but seeing his name reminded me of another time I’d seen it.

On his driver’s license that first time I met him. When he’d pulled up in his Impala and offered me a ride. It’d been different, I remembered. Weird. With accents and letters that when pressed together didn’t look like they’d make sense if I tried to pronounce them.

My skin prickled and my stomach turned again, threatening to spill whatever remained there.

With frantic fingers flying over the phone keys, I typed out my question, but I already knew what the answer would be when I asked, ‘What is O’Sullivan in Gaelic.’

O’Sullivan comes from the Irish Ó Súilleabháin.

His name was Aodhán Ó Súilleabháin.

Oh my god. It’s his son.

Rationally, I knew it could be a nephew or even a distant cousin but as soon as the thought crossed my mind, it started to take root and I knew it was true. Aodhán was Séamas’ son.

Even if he’d proven he didn’t want me to be caught in the crossfire, it didn’t forgive everything else.

He’s the enemy.

And if his life could buy our freedom—could save Hardin and Kaleb—I needed to be willing to offer it up. The memory of him in the supply closet at CalArts came rushing back and I held my breath against the swell of an emotion I wouldn’t dare name trying to grow in my chest.

No.

Aodhán chose his side.

And I chose mine.

“Hey,” Ava Jade said, stepping out beside me in the rain. “You okay, babe?”

I shook my head, letting her see the weight of it all.

Her calculating eyes latched onto every knot and crease and hollow in my face. “Fuck,” she said. “It’s bad, huh?”

“I think I really fucked up, Aves.”

I hated how my voice broke, but my best friend didn’t look at me with anything but understanding. “Don’t we all? Come on.” She took the remnants of the cigarette from my trembling fingers and tossed it into a gilded bucket next to the door before wrapping an arm around me to lead me inside. “I bet it isn’t as bad as you think.”

She had no idea.

She never replied. Not that I expected her to.

Word among my Da’s ranks was that Damien’s sons left town with her this morning, but that was where our intel ended. There was a police roadblock set up that very conveniently stopped our tail just long enough for him not to be able to catch up once he was waved through the ride check.

There’d been no word on their return and honestly? I hoped they all stayed away for the pass off in the canyons. Something was wrong.

Da ordered me to attend the meet.

I kept the windows of my Impala rolled up tight as I drove the canyon roads, kicking up tawny sand and dust in my wake as my knuckles turned white against the wheel.

Da would only blow my cover for one of two reasons.

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