Page 12 of Forbidden Bond

On instinct, she put herself between him and Lachlan. “If you’re going to shoot someone else, make it me. Please.”

“No one is shooting anyone,” Lachlan stated. “Put the gun down, Dad.”

“I can’t.” Rather than put it away, he raised it toward the ceiling, shaking it, emphasizing his dominance. “Our lives hang in the balance.”

“Why’s that?” she asked. “Because you took Manzani money and didn’t deliver? Or because you murdered the head of the McDade family?”

“Murder?” Lachlan asked. “He’s dead? Why did you ask me if—”

“If you haven’t heard from him and he’s not here, death is a given.” She took his hand. “We need to get out of here before we’re next.”

“I need to know what’s going on.”

Part of her wanted to run for the door, to just get the hell out of there in a hurry. Lachlan meant something to their father, father wouldn’t murder son, would he? That wasn’t a reliable measure. If pressed, she’d have guessed father wouldn’t kill grandfather.

“We were in bed,” she said to her brother though her focus was on their father. “Conn and me. It was the middle of the night. I got a call from Dad, he said I had to meet him at Grandpapas, that your life depended on it.”

“Alone. I told you we had to meet alone! You brought him. He was there because you—”

“I know that! Don’t you think I know that? Connel was in that room because of me. You put a bullet meant for me into him.”

“Wait a fucking minute,” Lachlan said, heavy anger in his slow tone. “You took a shot at your daughter?”

“It’s only thanks to Conn I’m here.” He’d given his life for hers. “Don’t be shocked, brother,” she said, folding her arms. “Turns out Ronald here is responsible for Grandpapa’s murder too.”

“What?”

“Sersha!”

“If you’re only going to shoot me anyway, someone has to know the truth. Yes, Lach, our father killed our grandfather; that is why I want to get the hell out of here.”

“No, no, it can’t…”

“It can,” she said, not envying Lachlan the shock. “Please, trust me.”

“I trust you, I can’t…”

As Lachlan dropped to sit on the end of the bed, she missed the stability of his stable form. Throwing something like that at him, a fact that shook the foundations of his world, wasn’t fair.

“Your sister doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” their father asserted.

Sitting by her brother, she held his hand and stroked his forearm. “This is a lot, and I’m sorry, I… I learned my lesson about keeping secrets. The only way we get through this is if everyone knows everything. And now I know I can’t trust him, I don’t want you to take the risk of doing the same.”

Her brother’s head came up fast. “Sersha’s attack, did you know?” The gun in their father’s hand descended to his side as the man averted his gaze. “You did, didn’t you? Everything Sersha said was true. You tried to get that information from her for Silvio Manzani. When that didn’t work, he sent his guys after her. You let me think it was—you put it on Ire—”

“It was his fault! She was in his territory!”

“You didn’t know about their relationship then,” Lachlan said. “You didn’t know she was under his protection.”

“No one was supposed to touch her there, it wasn’t meant to happen that night. That wasn’t the plan.” That there had been one at all was shocking enough. “Silvio had people watching her, monitoring her movements, who she talked to.”

Because watching her was easier than following Ire McDade. She’d been the oblivious fly caught in Silvio Manzani’s web.

“What changed?” Lachlan asked. “What did she do to deserve—”

“She was refused entry that night. At Stag. They turned her away. We didn’t expect that.” Both men looked at her though her father quickly returned his appeal to Lachlan. “The McDades blocked her… Silvio’s men told him what happened and he decided that was the time, the moment. I wasn’t consulted. Silvio Manzani doesn’t ask my permission before making decisions.” Though her father wouldn’t mind people thinking he had that kind of sway. “I asked, I demanded to know what happened.”

“And?”

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