Page 82 of The Celtic Resolution
“What a fucking pain you turned out to me,” Domenico snarls, rolling up as sleeves as he lazily approaches.
“Why?” I scream, doing what I can to shield Sarah with my body. “Why are you doing this? What the fuck do you even want?”
35
BRUNO
“Are we meeting up with the security squad?” How amazing it will be to have armed men on my side for a change.
“No,” Rocky replies tightly, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles are white.
“We’re… not? But you sent them to Sarah’s GPS.”
“Yes, because her GPS isn’t moving and—” He chokes suddenly as if the words are paining him as they rush out of him. “If what you said is true, and I’m not saying it’s not, but if he knows then he’s either killed her and dumped her where her GPS is, or she’s still with him.”
I glance across at Rocky’s phone attached to the dashboard and it suddenly clicks in my mind. “You’re tracking Domenico’s GPS.”
“Exactly. Because either she’s with him, or I’ll reach him in time to know whether I’m going to kill him immediately or not.” Rocky’s teeth clack together when he snaps his mouth closed and breathes deeply. “Now, I need you to tell me everything from the very beginning.”
“Didn’t Sarah already?—”
“Tell me!”
So I do. As we race toward wherever Domenico’s GPS will end up, I fill Rocky in on every single detail of everything I know. From hearing the Del Prete name in prison and becoming convinced that my father was being set up, to starting my own investigation and bumping into Saoirse. I tell him what I know of her own investigation while emphasizing why she was keeping it a secret. There’s little hope that Irish and Italian alliances can be reforged now, but I have to let him know that she was being delicate, not conniving. As the tale turns to my own issues with blindly trusting my father, Rocky is surprisingly understanding.
“I loved him like a father,” Rocky spits out. “He was always in my corner, even when Sarah was being hunted by a serial killer. He was always on my side, I thought. He was the kindest man I knew. I can’t stomach the thought that all this time was…” Rocky shakes his head. “Continue.”
It’s hard to vocalize everything I did while fearing for Mary’s life, but I owe the victims that much. I tell him all about the disaster with Saoirse and how I tried to fix it, how I ended up in hospital and my belief that my father shot me to make the situation better for him. Then I tell him of the missing women, my father’s admittance and the terrible situation I found myself in where one toe out of line would result in Mary’s death. And then I tell him about Saoirse and Cian. Every detail, including Saoirse giving up because she believed Cian to be dead. And then I tell him about the baby just as the lighthouse comes into view.
“He came here?” I lurch in my seat. “Oh, no, no, no, no—fuck!”
“Hey, take it easy,” Rocky snaps. “He’s only a few minutes ahead of us and—” He pauses as text flashes up on his phone from the security team. “Sarah must be with him. Look, I’m not going to make you feel better about your role in this,” Rocky says, accelerating the car further. “But it sounds like you’ve donewhat you can to keep people alive and in this life, sometimes it’s all we can do. I need you to keep a level head, though, because if anything happens to my wife, I swear I will kill you for putting her in danger.”
“I’d expect nothing less,” I reply.
We race into the parking lot and Rocky brings us to a screeching halt with his headlights glaring right at Domenico. He stands over Saoirse who’s cowering over Sarah. Blood spreads over the ground beneath them and the sight stops my heart dead in my chest.
Oh, no.
Rocky’s out of the car quicker than I am, but Domenico’s gun over the two of them keeps him back at the car.
“Dom,” Rocky calls out, his voice strained. “Tell me it’s not fucking true.”
“You just—” Domenico glances over his shoulder at us, his face twisted with rage. “I’m sorry you had to see this, Rocky. Your wife should have kept her nose out of it. Just stayed in her lane, happily married. Where’s the trust, huh?”
“Trust?” I bark out. “Are you insane?”
“Watch your language!” Domenic roars suddenly. “I gave you chance after fucking chance and this is how you repay me?”
“Why?” Rocky takes a restrained step forward, his gaze fixated on Sarah’s motionless form on the ground. “Just tell me why, Dom. Human trafficking? Killing ourownpeople? Destroying the peace with the Irish? Why?”
“Why?” Domenico, my father, spins on his heel and throws his arms outward. “Look around you, Rocky. What do you see? What do youreallysee?”
I edge an inch away from the car and my heart catches in my throat as Saoirse slowly turns toward me with a whimper. She holds one arm across her stomach and her face is streaked with tears.
I have to save her. Ihaveto.
“I see the man I trusted with my life betraying me right before my eyes,” Rocky spits. “That’s what I fucking see.”
