Page 18 of Montana Falls
“I loved you.” She hissed as she hit the sideboard, catching herself from smacking the floor at the last second. “I fucking loved you and missed you and hated everythin’ that happened to you. But that wasn’t enough, was it? You don’t care that I did nothin’ wrong because you are as sick and twisted as dad ever was for selling you to a predator.”
It wasn’t polite to hit your sister, but she deserved it. She deserved the hard slap of my hand across her cheek and the hatred hissing from my tongue, as I dropped the shotgun without thought, watching it land by her feet.
I should have noticed. I knew better than to be foolish. Careless.
She could kill you. She could shoot you right now, Cassie.Even the cursed woman knew that I had messed up, but I had no patience to listen to her either.
I was in charge. Cassie O’Malley. The real me. The first me. The worst and best one all wrapped up in a bundle of hatred and anger and vengeance.
“You fucked John’s wife.” I replied to my sister as I headed towards the kitchen, finding the keys to the backdoor. “You fucked her, and he found out. Then he killed our parents and took that revenge from me. That is enough of a reason for me to have the satisfaction of killing you, even without you mentioning thatthingwho called himself a father.”
I hated my father. Hated him more than anyone in the world. Even the first Montana man that broke me into a thousand pieces then set them all on fire.
My father made it start. He made it all happen.
Parents were supposed to love their children. I knew the cursed woman loved the ones she had. She loved them so much it hurt her each time she thought of them. That her tiny, pathetic heart cracked just a little when she thought of her daughter, or her sons and all the things they didn’t know about the world.
All the monsters that could take them.
She loved her children, and I knew what that was like. So even now, years after he was buried in the filthy ground, I could not understand why my father didn’t love me.
“That’s it?” Shannon coughed. “I loved a woman, and she loved me. That’s what you have a problem with?” Shannon spluttered harder. “You’re in love with a woman, too. I guess being a sinner runs in the family.” She laughed through her coughs even as I listened to the sounds of her body collapsing against the floor.
Keys in hand, I twisted them in the lock, enjoying the soft breeze that blew against my face when the door opened wide.
I’d spent more years in Ireland with the rest of the O’Malley clan than I cared to admit. And though I preferred a warmer climate now, there was something to be said about the familiarity of the gray and cold of the United Kingdom.
“I’m not in love with her.” I corrected Shannon, unable to help myself even if I really had to go. “I don’t want to make love to her or marry her, or anything of the sort. The only thing I want is to keep Maggie safe and with me. That’s all.”
Listen to her Cassie. She’s right. We already killed Maggie.
We killed her.
We hurt her.
We ruined her first. Already. Years and years ago.
We’ve already lost her.
“Her name is Sapphire.” She spluttered loud enough for me to hear. “You killed Maggie already. You fucking slaughtered her on her wedding day because she didn’t love you the way youloved her – she loved that man of hers and chose him, which wasn’t how your ridiculous fantasy wanted to go.”
My head shook, hands going to my ears as I blinked away all the noise. All the voices and nonsense and that stupid cursed woman who was yelling at me to listen and calm down with my temper so that I could leave.
Always calm down. Always saying no. Don’t do it. Leave it. Leave them. Run away before I was caught. Before anyone found me here and things became so much worse…
But I didn’twantto stop. Didn’twantto leave anyone.
I wanted them all dead. Dead and buried and broken, just like me. Every Montana. Every O’Malley who had been there when things had gone wrong for me.
Every single person who had ever so much as looked at me wrong…
I was going to do it. I decided then and there, as the cursed woman’s attempts at catching my attention were thwarted, and I vaguely remembered something John had said once.
‘O’Malley’s don’t fear hell. We bring it to earth. We bring it to our enemies and light all the bastards up.’
I could do it. Easily. I could bring hell to earth and make sure that nobody I despised ever escaped again.
With a sigh, I stepped outside, ignoring Shannon’s last moments of coughing and insults as I whispered to myself more than her.
