Page 166 of Stolen Hearts

Her voice is a creaky and dry whisper, like she hasn’t used it for a while. But her face is alive with pure rage and vengeance as she narrows her gaze at Castle. His jaw grinds nervously, and I see a darkness flicker briefly in his eyes.

“Megan…”

“They were yourbrothers, Chris,” she hisses quietly. “Myactualbrothers, and my love. You were supposed to have their backs!”

Anguish explodes across Castle’s face, breaking my heart when I see it.

“Megan…”

“It was an ambush!” I scream at her, my pulse racing. “They didn’t know the house was—”

“They didn’t know becausehewas fucking reckless!” Megan screeches, jabbing a finger at Castle. “Becausehedidn’t have all the intel he should have had beforehemade the call to go in there!”

Castle’s face goes white and haggard. His throat bobs.

“I…” He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Meg,” he growls quietly, his voice like sandpaper. “I’mso fuckingsorry—”

“Sorry won’t bring my brothers back,” she snaps. “Or Jason.”

Her cold eyes slide to me.

“Whatever you want, Megan,” Castle snarls. “It’s yours, okay?! Give me a phone and a fucking amount, and it’syours! But you leave her thefuckout of this!”

Megan laughs mirthlessly. “Money?” She chokes. “You think this is aboutmoney?!”

Jeremy frowns, stepping forward and glaring into her face. “Itisabout the money,” he growls under his breath. “C’mon, Meg. We’re right here. We finish this and take off. We talked about this. That was always the plan. So let’s get this done—”

“It’s always about money for you, isn’t it, Jeremy?” she says quietly, looking at him with that eerie look in her eyes again.

“It damn well is today,” he mutters. “So let’s get this—”

“Maybe that’s why you got into this much trouble to begin with. Because it’salwaysabout money for you.” Her eyes narrow. “It’s why you let them all die, right?”

Jeremy pales, his eyes darting quickly to Castle before he turns back to glare at Megan.

“You listen to me,” he growls, jabbing a finger at her. “The only reason I’ve put up with you and your crazy shit the last few months is because Jason, Matty, and Bryce were as much my family as they were yours.”

“And because you needed me.”

His eyes narrow. “No.Youneededme, Meg,” he growls. “Let’s not get confused.” He sticks his gun into his belt and yanks his phone out again. “Get your account number ready. I’ll let you do the Drakos exchange first, so you can fuck off out of my life that much faster.”

As he starts to dial a number, Megan’s face goes absolutely livid.

“It’salwaysabout the fucking money with you!” she snaps at his back. “This is ALL because of your colossal fucking greed!”

“Yeah, well, reap what you sow and all that, sweetheart,” Jeremy mutters. “If you don’t want to be fifty fucking million richer, you just pipe right up, and I’ll happily take if off your—”

“They all may have walked them into that trap!” she screams. “Butyoufucking set it!!”

Jeremy turns to stone, his face going cold. I stare in horror, watching almost in slow motion as he slips his phone into his jacket pocket and slowly slides his hand to the gun in his belt.

Then it all happens so fast, I don’t even have time to blink. In half a second, Megan’s yanked something glinting and metallic out of her back pocket, raised her arm up high, and jammed it down hard into the side of Jeremy’s neck.

I scream as blood geysers out from where she’s just stabbed him. Jeremy roars, choking and gurgling as his hand flies to the gushing wound. He drops to one knee, then both, his eyes wild and staring as he tries to turn around.

Megan screams, stabbing him in the back, then again as he falls to the ground. His face turns the color of ash as he wrenches his eyes toward Castle.

“I’m sorry brother.”

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