Page 29 of Vengeful Union

RORY

I walk into the foyer,my father’s voice coming to me from the dining room.

“The Burkes have been a pain in our side for generations,” my uncle Paul says.

“This is a way to do away with them,” my father says. “Taking his daughter will start the war, and he’s not well enough to win.”

The laughter between them makes me sick to my stomach.

I know my father isn’t a good man, but I’ve never thought of him as an outright monster until now.

I walk into the dining room without announcing myself, and my father looks at me stiffly.

“What did you find out?”

“She won't talk," I lie.

I know now this was never about Bree being brought back safe. Or even if she is okay. After all, she is a traitor in his eyes.

I have to play this the right way, make him think it’s his idea instead of mine.

“We have ways to make her talk,” Paul says, looking over at me with cool blue eyes.

My blood runs cold. I’ve only known Lara for a few hours, but the idea of someone hurting her doesn’t sit right with me. It isn’t her fault who her father is, no more than it’s my fault who mine is. "I think I have a way to make this turn in our favor.”

My father lifts one of his eyebrows at me but remains silent.

“What if we just pay them back in the same coin?”

My father frowns. “We already have.”

“Yes, but they forced Bree to become a Burke, so maybe we could do the same to her…”

“You mean have one of usmarryher? Are you craz— Wait. That actually might piss off Burke more than anything else.”

I plaster on a smile. “Exactly. We turn her into a Murphy. It’ll drive him crazy.”

Paul walks up to me and shakes my hand. “You've got a smart boy here, Niall.”

“Don’t I know it,” my father says, as if he’s ever given me a kind word in his life.

My stomach churns.

I hate having to do this, but it’s the only way I can see that both Lara and Bree will be safe.

I’m not just doing this out of the kindness of my heart. I’m doing it for Bree, too.

“Very well. You’ll marry her, then.”

I have to play this right, so I feign shock. “Me?”

“Yes. I want you to marry the Burke bitch. That is the ultimate revenge. She will become my daughter-in-law. Can you just imagine Patrick’s face when he knows this?” My father laughs, and my skin crawls.

“As long as it is only until the war is over. She’s cute enough. I think I can manage."

“Looks like her mother," my father says quietly, and my eyes shoot to his, but he won’t look at me.

“When do you want to have the wedding?” Paul asks, and I look at him curiously.

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