Page 77 of Arranged Devotion
He directs that last word at me.
It takes a lot of effort to hold myself back. I know he’s goading, trying to make me do something stupid. If I attack Max, that’ll give his men the excuse to take me and Finn down. Sure, it’ll happen in public, and it’ll be a huge problem, but they had noother choice, right? It’s maddening, not being able to kick Max in his smug fucking teeth.
But Finn gestures at me sharply. “Come on. We have a lot to discuss on the way back.”
I pull myself from the bench and follow my boss through the crowd. Max’s leer trails like coal down my shirt. I’m itching to do something, anything, by the time we reach the relative quiet of the paths leading back toward the park exit.
“So it’ll be war then,” Finn says softly, sounding regretful.
“Did you think it’d be anything else?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I hoped the Baranovs would show up with some way to pull out of this tailspin, but—“ Sunlight dapples his face in leaf patterns. “No such luck.”
“There’s only one way this ends.”
Finn nods unhappily. “I’m aware.”
“We have to destroy them. All of them. Every single Baranov. Burn them all to the ground. Otherwise, they can use whatever they’ve learned about Regan’s family to hurt us.”
“Pull the weeds out by the roots.” He stops at the curb and turns to me. Light streams through branches. “And we’ll start tonight.”
CHAPTER 21
REGAN
Ialways get a pang of anxiety walking through the front door of my father’s house. Even after all these years, it still bugs me, like a jolt straight to my core. Mom’s in the kitchen filling a glass of wine and she looks up when I hurry toward her.
“I heard about what happened.” I hug her tightly. She pats my back.
“Oh, hun, it’s fine, everything’s okay.”
“How can you say that? There was an attack. Dad and Luke?—“
“Are bothfine.” She emphasizes her favorite word. They’re fine, the world’s fine, everything’s fine, even if the sky’s raining ash and fire, it’s fine, don’t worry.
I am relieved to hear that though. I hug her again and pull back since I know too much physical contact will make her uncomfortable. I was the same way for a while, but being with Liam is shifting something in me in a strange way.
“Do you know what happened?”
She hugs herself and drinks her wine. The look she gives me is pitying. “No darling, and you don’t either. That’s not our place.”
“Mom—“
“No, honey, listen to me. I know you married that Liam man, and it makes you feel like you’re a part of family business now, but you aren’t. That isn’t how it works.”
Anger slices into me. I maintain my calm facade though. “How does it work then?”
“You get on with it. They do what they do, and you don’t ask too many questions. That’s how you survive. You know this, sweetie.”
“I haven’t been asking questions for a long, long time, and where has that gotten me? Seriously, Mom, where? Married to a stranger? My fiancé cheated on me and stole from my family. I never asked any questions, and here we are.”
“Don’t be that way, Regan. It won’t go well for you.”
“Mom—“
“Chin up, darling, back straight, soldier on. Nothing fazes you, remember? You’re a Corrigan.”
I grit my teeth, watching her, and realize she’s too far gone. I’ll never pierce through the armor she’s layered overtop herself these long years. I wonder if she was like me when she first married Dad, naive, pissed off, looking for answers, and if he ground her down.
