Page 76 of The Irish Arrangement

No one approached, and I didn’t bother waiting for the butler to call for them or to announce that they had a visitor. With the dark mood I was in, I was no visitor. I was an executioner. A deliverer of bad news.

I found them in the kitchen, catching the husband and wife in the middle of what seemed to be a heated argument. Keira shut up at once, scowling at my presence as she pushed Shane in front of her. She no doubt recalled how I’d handled my last conversation with her.

Knowing she’d slapped Cara pushed me to nearly losing my temper, but she wasn’t worth a hit in return. The message I had to share with her would be the ultimate punishment for a selfish, shallow bitch like her.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

I stalked forward and grabbed the front of Shane’s shirt. He flinched, wrestling to get free as I slammed him into a chair at their table. When I turned to his wife, I glowered and pointed at the next one. “Sit your ugly ass down.”

“This is?—”

I lost my control. I lifted my hand to smack her, but I stopped. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t stoop to her level. I had my wits, and I knew she’d suffer more from what I was about to explain.

She crouched, bracing for the hit as she slunk to sit next to her husband. Shane reached for her hand to hold it, but she snatched it out of his reach. “Now what did you do?” she sneered, assuming I was here because of her husband’s actions.

I was. But I had no clue how else he might have fucked up since he'd coerced Cara to marry me.

He was an idiot. A cheat. He owed me money. He had dues with other families, like whatever incident happened last time when Keira begged me to help him out. No one could ever help this dumbass, and I would never want to.

“Did you ever intend to cover the medical debts for Nora Gallagher?” I demanded.

As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt stupid. Of course, he never intended to pay up for the “favor” he’d expected of his eldest daughter. Just like he never intended to pay my father back. Or anyone else.

Courtesy of what I heard at the gala, I also knew that he and/or Keira framed that rumor about my marrying into a distant, illegitimate relation of the Boyles in hopes that they’d kill me and avoid having to pay me back after I reneged and told them that they still owed every cent.

“What?” Shane paled. His mouth hung open. His eyes were wide with panic.

Keira reacted differently. She scowled like a bad taste wouldn’t leave her mouth. “She told you?”

“Did you?” I demanded. I didn’t care how cold and brutal I was. They deserved all my hatred.

Shane shook his head, slowly but then too vigorously like he couldn’t stop from trembling. “No. I, uh, well, I…”

“No,” Keira answered, clearer and firmer. She crossed her arms. “Never.”

“No?” I asked her, tilting my head to the side as I considered slapping that smug expression off her face.

“No. I never want to acknowledge her at all. All this time, it’s been a stain on my life that he had to admit she was his daughter at all.”

“But you didn’t hesitate to acknowledge her and use her when it was for your benefit,” I said.

She nodded. “I would never let my daughter be with someone like you.”

“Someone strong? Successful?”

That prissy huff made her even uglier. “Cara was nothing more than the daughter of a whore. Being with you is all she deserved.”

I leaned forward, gripping both of their necks and squeezing them tightly. “And do you know what you deserve?”

Shane spluttered, clawing at his neck. Keira fidgeted, staring at me with complete loathing.

“You will pay back every penny owed to my father. To me. And from this day forward, you will never interfere with my wife’s life ever again.”

I tightened my fingers.

Shane nodded.

Keira merely pressed her lips tighter together, damned to agree.

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