Page 171 of Dirty Eoin

I make my way back into the corridor.

It’s a proper coffee machine with regular cups and not paper ones. Given what the O’Connells are no doubt being charged for Eoin to have hands-on specialist treatment and care, it’s the least they can throw in.

Drink in hand, I glance into Eoin’s room on my way past.

It’s then I see her.

Ava.

Has she been visiting him too?

My thoughts are interrupted when she stands abruptly and starts getting animated. “He’s waking up. Quickly. Someone. Anyone.”

Am I disappointed that I won’t be the first person he sees when he wakes?

Yes. No.

CHAPTERFIFTY-FIVE

EOIN

The O’Connell Home, Darling, New York

I grimaceat the pain in my stomach.

I was discharged one week after I woke up from the coma, and that was two weeks ago now.

Opening the manila envelope that’s been left on my home desk, I stare at the Decree Absolute. The confirmation in black and white that the annulment has been processed and that our marriage is now deemed to have never taken place.

I’ve never been Jaine’s husband. She’s never been my wife. At least not in the eyes of the law. The document can’t eradicate that, in every other sense of the word, we were exactly that, even if only for a short while.

Nothing contested. Nothing requested. It was always going to be clear cut. She wanted nothing from me. And the one thing I wished from her was, in the end, the only thing she couldn’t give me.

Love.

I take my seat before flicking through the paperwork. She obviously has friends in high places given that she’s been able to turn it around within a matter of weeks and without me having to be in attendance. But then, I’m well aware of who she rubs shoulders with. I also know she excels at her job.

I should be pleased. I’ve got what I wanted. What I requested in the message I sent to her before I was gunned down, she’s delivered precisely.

I can now move on with my life without her in it. With someone else in her place.

Ava.

According to Dylan, I had a regular female visitor when I was in the medically induced coma. It can’t have been anyone else as the only female visitors that were allowed entry were family members and Ava.

It can’t have been Jaine. By all accounts, she attended on the day I was shot then stormed out and never looked back. It’s nice to know that my own wife didn’t give a fuck whether I lived or died.

Ex-wife, I should say.

I run my hand through my hair in frustration. Why couldn’t she have loved me instead of fucking hating me?

Maddening, evil woman.

Eoin:Can I see you?

Jaine:We’re currently living in the same house, so I’d say that you bumping into me is pretty much inevitable.

Eoin:I’d like to discuss this recent paperwork.

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