Page 104 of Dublin Brute

I nod. “It was a bit of a shock, to say the least.”

“But as much of a shock again for him to find out whoyouare.”

There’s no judgement in his comment. If anything, it sounds like Finn finds the whole mess amusing.

“Nora? I didn’t realize you were stopping by tonight.” Tag’s voice is warm if not a little strained. I suppose I can’t blame him. I’m the daughter of the man out to get him and I’m standing within his private sanctum.

“It was unexpected. I, uh…Brendan and I have something important to tell you. He rushed off to gather everyone.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Laine steps deeper into the living room and takes a seat in one of the wide club chairs. Now, in her seventh month of pregnancy, the baby is really making its presence known. The woman is much rounder than the last time I saw her three weeks ago. No less beautiful, but she definitely has more waddle to her walk.

Before I can respond, Brendan is back with Sean and?—

“Oh my god.” I stare at the two of them side by side and my mouth drops open. “Brendan told me he’s a twin, but wow.”

Piper snorts. “It’s crazy, right?”

“So, if you were to kiss one of them right now, which one would it be?” Finn asks, chuckling.

Thankfully, I know what Brendan was wearing when we arrived, and I point to the right one. “Wow.”

Brendan saunters over and waggles his brows. “And before you get any hot and sexy ideas about a twin sin sandwich, I’ll warn you that I don’t share. Not even with my other half.”

Heat flushes my cheeks, and I look around. “I can’t believe you just said that and mortified me in front of your whole family.”

Brendan slides a hand around me and gestures to the family in question. They don’t even seem fazed. “It’s fine. They’ve learned to ignore me most of the time, anyway.”

“And yet here we all are.” Tag’s tone is patient but tense. “Care to share why we’ve been gathered to the living room?”

The atmosphere thickens with unspoken tension as all eyes turn toward us. Brendan squeezes my hand and his expressiongrows somber. “Nora learned something that hits us at the core. If it’s true, it changes everything that’s happened over the past year. And if it’s not, someone has a truly sick sense of humor.”

Tag slides his hands into the pockets of his black slacks. “Explain.”

“The task force has evidence that Da didn’t die of a heart attack—he was poisoned.”

Cora and Laine gasp, piper curses, and the brothers grow deadly still, each of them looking murderous as Brendan continues.

“And if I’m right, I know who fucking did it.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Brendan

There’s something therapeutic about spending time working in the garage. The mixed scents of rubber, gasoline, and chrome polish are my version of an aromatherapy candle. Bent over the hood of my Dodge Charger, I tweak the engine of my baby and my mind drifts—as it always does lately—to thoughts of Nora.

After I dropped the bombshell about Da being poisoned, Nora forwarded us the copy of the coroner’s report and a file outlining Siobhan’s testimony against Tag.

In the days that followed, Finn has verified the legitimacy of the coroner’s report and discovered that Jordan Kelly’s boss was the one who sealed the findings and kept us from finding out.

We’re guessing he wanted to pin that on Tag and wipe us off the playing field.

No such luck.

And once we knew that, it didn’t take us long to check back through the security logs at the gate to find out the only personin the house the day Da died, other than family, was none other than Siobhan fucking Daley.

May her rotten soul swallow her up and drag her to the depths.

Our money is on her working with Mad Mattie or Declan and killing Da as a power play to take the north. No one thought Tag could hold the territory.

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