Page 132 of Toxic

He lets out a long breath. "Okay. Say I believe you. What do you know about Niall and Shamus?"

My stomach flips then dives, then flips again. I put my hand on it, swallowing down bile. I can't even think anymore and admit, "Darragh had Sean, Niall, and Shamus working together."

"Doing what?"

It's a question I wish I knew how to answer. For too many years, I tried to figure out what, but I wasn't involved in the family business. Sean kept me away from it all. I reply, "I don't know everything. It had to do with the Rossis. I overheard them talking one night. I asked Sean about it, but he wouldn't tell me. He said it was clan business and to forget I heard anything."

Finn leans closer. "What did you hear?"

"Not a lot. Niall and Shamus were at the house. Fiona was struggling to sleep, and I just got her down. I went out to the kitchen, and I heard the name Rossi. Sean told me to go to bed." Another wave of nausea hits me, and I focus on the ground.

Brenna squeezes my hand, softly asking, "Then what happened?"

It's like Pandora's box opens. I can no longer hold in the truth. Everything is crashing around me, and I answer, "A few weeks passed. Sean was gone a lot at night, but it wasn't anything new. There were always times he'd be out late. H-he came home with a new dress and told me to put it on. Said he made a reservation and arranged for your mom to watch the kids for the night." Visions of Sean giving me the dress, getting ready, and dropping the kids off at Finn's mom's house fill my mind. I continue, "We were at dinner, and I kept asking him if everything was okay. He seemed...distant. He wasn't himself."

Finn and Brenna stay quiet as I struggle with my guilt.

I shift in my seat, staring at the floor. Somehow, words flow out of my mouth. "We were in the car on the way home. His beeper went off, and I got a horrible feeling. He turned it off and pulled the car over." I wipe my face, but it's pointless. The dam has broken, and I don't know how it'll ever stop. I look at Finn. "He told me if anything happened to him, I was to come to my father's with the kids. He said I wasn't to stay in Chicago."

Finn arches his eyebrows. Confusion fills his expression, mimicking how I've felt all these years about so many things regarding that night. He asks, "Why?"

I swallow my sobs. "He wouldn't tell me. I begged. He made me promise. Then he drove to an abandoned warehouse and said to pick up the kids and go straight home."

Finn's fists clench on the arms of the chair. "Who else was there?"

I nod from the memory of it all as if it were yesterday and years haven't passed. "No one. I didn't see anyone and tried to stop him. But he yelled at me to go. So I did, but I didn't get very far."

"Why? What happened?"

I twist my fingers in my lap, wishing for the millionth time I never left him and could redo that night. "I thought I was going to get sick. I-I knew I shouldn't be leaving him. So I turned around and went back. When I pulled in, Shamus and Niall were there. They had guns pointed at Sean, b-but they weren't alone."

The color drains from Finn's cheeks. "Who was with them?"

I swallow hard. "Three other men. I recognized Lorenzo Rossi."

"What did you do?" Finn questions.

My voice shakes, mimicking my insides. "One of the men shot my tire. They dragged me out of the car. Sean was screaming for them to let me go. They..." I turn away, and my body collapses in convulsions.

Brenna pulls me to her, trying to calm me, but I don't know if I'll ever feel sane again. It's been too many seconds of living in grief and lies.

I choke out words I've never spoken. Pain shoots through my heart as I admit, "They raped me—all of them—while they made Sean watch. They had him tied to the hood of a car. The lights were on and pointed at me. I-I still hear Sean screaming. I kept blacking out. Th-they kept asking me if I liked Bailey or Rossi dick better." I lose it again, unable to look at either of them. The scent of sweat, garlic, alcohol, and lavender flares in my nostrils. The sound of their voices and Sean screaming fills my ears. And I realize I'm never escaping it. No matter how much time passes, I'm never getting them out of my memories.

Suddenly, Finn's strong arms are around me. He softly says, "I'm so sorry."

I meet his gaze. "I don't know how long it lasted or how many hours I was out of it. At some point, I woke up, but I was in my house. Niall and Shamus were there. They said I was to get my kids from your mom's and not say a word to anyone about last night, or they would kill them."

Finn tightens his arms around me. "Do you know who else besides them and Lorenzo was there?"

I shake my head. "No. I kept asking for Sean, but they wouldn't tell me where he was. I-I already knew he was dead, but I didn't want to believe it."

Finn asks, "Then what happened?"

I sniffle, taking staggered breaths, hoping my heart doesn't explode from the intense pain racing through it. I confess, "They threw me in my shower. They tossed clothes at me and told me to get my kids or they would." I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing it would all just go away. Yet, I know it won't. It's impossible, so I divulge, "They followed me. When I got back home, they made the kids go into the backyard and play. They drank beer on my deck while they told me the new rules."

"The rules?" Finn questions.

"As soon as the funeral was over, I was to leave town. The kids and I were no longer to be O'Malleys. I was to have no contact with anyone. If I uttered a word before I left or after about what happened, the Baileys and Rossis wouldn't just come after me but the kids, too." I take a few broken breaths. "They said they would sell the kids in an auction. I would go to one of their whorehouses. And they warned me not to go to Darragh. There were more Baileys in the O'Malley clan than just them, they said."

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