Page 9 of The Irish Reaper

No, he hasn’t.

It’s been over a week since Enzo was killed, and I’ve tried to steer clear of Cillian every step of the way.

He caught me once in the kitchen, stalking me like a wild animal until I actually fled him.

I’m still upset with myself for not standing my ground.

Nonetheless, Cillian terrifies me. He’s a loose cannon, and Papa doesn’t rein him in. My brother has openly stabbed people out in public because he didn’t appreciate something they said, and I’m no different than a stranger to him. There’s never been any brotherly love, as he’s never protected me from being teased as a child for wearing glasses that were a little too big for my face or the boys that would taunt me for a taste.

Cillian actually tried locking me in a closet with one of hisfriendswhen I was sixteen.

He’s cruel, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he would’ve grabbed one of the butcher knives, sliced my throat open with it, and still expected me to talk.

Several meetings have been held in Papa’s study over the course of the last several days but I don’t notice who the men are nor do I really care. My brain has been conjuring up other plans lately.

One that will probably get me in so much trouble I’d wish I were dead.

“Haven, are you okay?”

I glance over at Taylen and try to force a smile, but I can’t. I’ve been having nightmares of that night. I wake up startled and sweating, thinking that the O’Clery man is in my room about to make good on his word.

I’m hiding his demons and his secrets at the cost of my sanity.

“I…” I shake my head because I don’t know what to say. So I run my fingers through her hair and stare into her golden brown eyes that are the same as Mama’s. Freckles line the bridge of her chin as well as peppered along the crown of her forehead. “I know Papa is scared of what the Bianchis are going to do, and it leaves me uneasy.”

“I understand. It was an awful night for you.”

She’s the first person that has admitted that I’ve suffered something traumatic that night. I definitely was aware that Papa and Cillian weren’t going to care.

“Was it scary?”

Terrifying.

Yet, I don’t want Taylen to worry about me.

“A little. It all happened so fast,” I reply.

“Papa said that if you remember anything else to tell him.”

My brows pinch. “For me to tell him or you?”

“Me,” she says simply and I’m instantly annoyed. It’s as though he knows I’m holding information from him, and I don’t know how. Maybe it was stupid of me to think that I could get away with not remembering much.

The door to my bedroom flies open then, startling Taylen and me as one of Papa’s burly men stands cryptically in the doorway. Instantly, I clutch my sister’s hand in case I need to get in front of her because Papa’s men don’t treat us with any respect at all. We’re as good as regular people, so why he’s here?

“Your father requests your presence in his study immediately,” he drawls, then gestures for me to follow. “C’mon.”

Great.

Slowly sliding from my mattress, I hesitantly amble forward toward him. The man moves aside, and I can’t even tell you his name because Papa cycles soldiers out every day.

Regardless, I’m still irritated that he didn’t knock on my door but, instead, barreled inside.

I don’t wait for him to lead the way or come with me. I obviously know the way and make my way down the flight of stairs leading to the first floor. When I get through the foyer and across the white-marbled floors, I pause a few feet from Papa’s domain.

It’s then that I decide that I really don’t want to go in there. That nothing on the other side of that wooden door is going to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

But there’s no way I’m getting out of this.

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