Page 69 of Líadan's Code

“Come on then,” Brendan says. “You said your piece. We still think you’re all shit humans for the record, though. It’s time to go.”

“I didn’t know!” Aine screams, her composure shredding as I finish in the shower and turn off the water.

Brendan grabs me a towel, handing it to me silently.

“I don’t know anything about you, and now I have to go back and explain this to the family,” she says, gasping for air. “How am I supposed to tell my ninety-year-old father about this?”

“Hand me the phone, I can give him all the details,” I say dully as I begin drying off. “I can’t be emotionally manipulated, Aine. I’m not built for it. You can’t force me to see things from your side, because for the most part, I don’t have empathy for others. I see a sad woman who fucked up. Take your regrets somewhere else. I don’t have time for it.”

“Don’t call her a bitch, because she’s not,” Brendan growls as I wrap the towel around my body.

“I wasn’t going to,” Aine says as I walk past her.

Jordan is sitting on the bed, clothes already laid out for me. “Her goon is sitting outside on the balcony, nursing his stab wound,” he says.

It’s freezing outside. My lips twitch as I think about him becoming a popsicle. I guess that’s just one of the dangers of the job. Oh well.

“I was going to say that I don’t blame you for your words,” Aine says, crossing her arms over her chest as I get dressed. “How are you going to get any of these people to pay attention to you?”

“Their planes are grounded,” Jordan says. “The international people can’t leave. The Irish families were told they had to report to Chicago the moment that Líadan called for them.”

“I really think that blowing up a building with all of them in it is the easiest,” Brendan says.

“So be it. Jordan, go through your portfolios of each person, and make me a list. Those are the people we’ll invite to speak to,” I say softly, putting on my panties. My nudity is no longer bothering my aunt, and she listens intently as I speak.

I wouldn’t normally bother with underwear, but I need some clothing between us. “I’ll speak to them, and as I leave, you can blow up the building. We can make it one of the warehouses where we know there won’t be too much fallout.”

“Just like that?” Aine asks, almost appalled.

“Yep. I’m ready to live my life, Aine. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder every five seconds,” I state. A comfortable blue long-sleeved tunic goes over my head next, warm and soft against my skin.

Jordan has really great instincts himself when it comes to what I want or need. “It’ll be a warning to anyone else in the family who decides to continue selling humans like they’re animals as well.”

“From there, we’ll police things in house,” Brendan states. “The family has procreated like rabbits, and it’s difficult to keep them in line. Time to cull.”

“I’ve been killing them for the last five years, and they’re still out of control,” I murmur. “As you said, they’re evil. Do you really have an issue with this plan of action?”

“No. It’s just hard hearing someone so young discuss murder as if they’re talking about the weather,” she says. “I’ll go home to my father and tell him you have it handled.”

“What, no threats?” I ask, pulling on my leggings. These will be comfortable to travel in as we make our next move. Fuck it, maybe we should head home today. The train wouldn’t be terrible to travel by night to Chicago.

I don’t really want to go to the airport right now.

“No, no threats. I’ve lived a long time by being able to recognize the largest predator in the room,” she says. “You’re definitely it.”

“I love hearing that,” I say with a smirk, grabbing my suitcase to pack. Brendan does the same, while Jordan shrugs.

“I never really unpacked,” he says. “I’m ready to go.”

“I guess I’ll collect Kellen then,” Aine says. “Be safe, Líadan. I’m sorry we all failed you in so many ways. Maybe we can talk another time.”

Zipping up my bag, I glance at her as Brendan goes to the bathroom to grab anything else.

“I don’t know that we’ll need to without opening a mess of scars that I’d rather leave alone,” I say.

Brendan packs up the items we need from the bathroom and the sex toys we bought earlier, and I ignore the look Aine makes when she catches sight of a large dildo. We may have had a lot of fun buying new shit.

“So, this is a completely nosy question, and you can tell me to go to hell,” she says slowly.

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