Page 61 of Into Temptation

The moment I turn down the deserted road, a flood of emotion overwhelms me. It was here, a new chapter commenced. It’s not changed much in the past ten years. I begin to think about the day that changed my life forever.

I would have done so many things differently, like not trust Sean. But he is a master manipulator, making me believe he actually gave a fuck about me. I wonder when my ma found this out for herself. I clench the steering wheel at the thought.

Her memory has faded over time, and I don’t know if the things I do recall are genuine memories or if it’s my mind making up accounts of her. But something that hasn’t faded is the need to avenge her, and at this moment, I realize it’s to avenge Connor as well.

He took his last breath here trying to protect me.

“Don’t trust…Sean.”

He went to the grave not privy to the fact that Sean is my real father. He believed it was Brody, or whoever else Sean brainwashed him into believing it could be. But something twigged at the last minute for him to use his last dying breath to utter those words.

It has me wondering if that’s why he left nothing to Sean in his will.

There is only one man who can answer that, and he’s the reason I pull up behind the black BMW parked on the side of the road. I don’t want to be here, making a deal with the devil, but he’s merely a means to an end—a bloody end where those who wronged me, and those I love, pay with their lives.

The door opens, and out limps a wounded Brody Doyle. The sight pleases me immensely.

He reaches into the car, and when he retrieves a cane, I smile. This fucker suffering is not even a sliver of what he deserves. But his karma is coming…

I exit the truck and meet Brody halfway as he continues hobbling along the gravel road. Folding my arms across my chest, I remain poker-faced because I can’t guarantee that both of us will be standing by the end of this conversation.

Brody’s dark sunglasses hide his eyes, but they don’t conceal the small red wounds all over his face. They’re too small to be stitched up, but they’re obvious enough for me to see he too suffered as I did. However, I thankfully don’t need a cane for assistance.

This has made Brody weak, something he no doubt hates.

“Is Camilla all right? She will not answer my calls,” he says, which surprises me because it sounds like he actually cares for her well-being.

“Do ya blame her?” I counter, shrugging. “All y’ve done is hurt her.”

“Ach, I know that,” he spits, angered. “But with two of my children now dead, she and Liam are all that I have left.”

“Ya should have thought about that before ye used her for yer own sick games.” I’m not touched by his newfound revelation. It shouldn’t take the deaths of his kids to realize this. Does he really think she’ll forgive him after everything he’s done?

He clenches his jaw but doesn’t retaliate.

“Yer dad is going to pay for what he’s done,” Brody promises, gripping the gold topper of his cane.

“Finally, somethin’ we agree on. Let’s hope it’s not too late.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, for Sean to be able to blow up yer pub, he’s in deeper than I thought. It won’t be long until he takes ya down.”

Brody curls his lip, livid, but he knows I speak the truth. “So what do ya suggest I do?”

“First, yer goin’ to answer some questions, and yer goin’ to be honest.”

Brody reluctantly nods.

“Before Connor was killed, he said there was a deal made between ye? I want to know what it was.”

“We had a deal. Why would ya break it? Why now?”

That’s what Connor said to Brody before shit hit the fan. I want to know why Connor would make a deal with Brody. It’ll help me understand him better. It’ll also make me feel a little less guilty for doing the same thing.

“Connor came to me after yer ma…died.” He decides to use the less gruesome term, knowing I will rip out his tongue for the fact that she was murdered because of him. “He didn’t want any more bloodshed, so we made a deal—he would not seek retribution for Cara only if I promised to stay out of Belfast forever.

“Our families have been at war for generations, but Connor had power like no other Kelly we’d seen before. I knew if he found out the entire truth, he’d put an end to the Doyles for good. That’s why I agreed to help Sean deal with yer aul’ man.”

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