Page 116 of The Bossy One

“…if he stopped chasing because he’s respecting your wishes or because he just doesn’t want to?”

“That,” I said. I groaned. “I’m beginning to see the appeal of breaking up via evil sorcerers who turn you into an enchanted deer.”

“Sure, keep it simple,” Molly agreed.

I laughed. Despite the heartbreak, despite the uncertainty, I laughed.

“You know,” Molly said suddenly. “I just realized. There’s no possible way to finish this book unless you come to Ireland. I’m sure of it.”

My heart lifted at the thought of going home. “Really? You think I’m doing the right thing?”

“Better. I’m doing what our book says, and listening to my gut,” Molly said. “And my gut says you need to be in Ireland right now.”

It was only after we’d hung up that I realized I’d just thought of Ireland ashome.

38

DECLAN

Two days after my fateful meeting with Seamus in a bar, I found myself in Mark O’Rourke’s hastily rented Galway office. Once upon a time he would have taken this meeting in his mansion, but I’d made sure he couldn’t do that anymore. I was working on being a better, less vengeance-driven person, but I had to admit that part still feltverygood.

Seamus sat to my right, his face nervous but resolute.

Don’t crumble now,I thought. Seamus had leapt on my plan with enthusiasm when I’d proposed it. But making a plan over pints in a pub was different from actually facing down the man who had bullied you since childhood.

Mark addressed Seamus. “I agreed to see you. Not him. He betrayed our family. And you have too, if you’re spending time with him.”

Seamus paled.

“Lovely office,” I cut in dryly, trying to draw Mark’s ire before Seamus could lose his nerve. “Not quite as good as the old place.”

Mark rose and slammed his hands on the desk. “Get out of my office, you bastard.”

I slouched in my chair, mostly because I could tell it pissed Mark off. If this was going to work, Mark needed to feel like he was truly out of options. “Originally, I planned to turn your ancestral home into a pile of rubble.”

I let that sink in.

Mark fumed.

“But Seamus has proposed another option,” I said. “One I think you’ll like better.”

Mark gritted his jaw. Glanced at Seamus. “Is this true?”

“I’d listen to him, Dad,” Seamus said.

Slowly, Mark sat back down behind his desk. “You have five minutes. Then I throw you out of office.”

Good, I thought, the predator in me sharpening its claws for the kill. Mark was listening. And that meant Seamus and I had a shot. “I’m willing to let the mansion stand, if you permanently retire and reinstate Seamus as head of the O’Rourke family business.”

Mark guffawed. “This buffoon? He drove us into the ground.He’sthe reason we have to sell.”

“He’s also the only reason I haven’t called in the bulldozers yet,” I said.

Mark hedged. “You’d sell the mansion back to me?”

I barked out a laugh. “Fuck no. You’ll never cross that threshold again, as long as I draw breath.”

Mark glared at me, furious. I held his gaze, letting him see the truth of that threat in my eyes. Until he finally understood that he had nowhere else to turn.

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