Page 100 of Ruined Wrath
Joe exhales sharply before dropping into his chair.
Gritting his teeth, he runs his hands over his face. “I see your point. Maybe I’ve been too harsh. I just… I wanted to protect them.”
“Fiona is part of that protection, not a threat to it. She’s been through a lot, just like you have. She’s not here to take anything from anyone. She’s here to give those girls the love they need.”
Joe looks up at me, and for a beat, I see the worn-out father beneath the layers of anger, the one who lost his wife and is trying to keep his children’s world from crumbling.
I know that man because I was him. I know what it means to fight for your family until you have nothing left. And Fiona does too.
She sacrificed her own happiness to protect those girls, and Joe’s too deep in his grief to recognize it.
Hell, I was too. But I see it now.
And I won’t let anyone, including him, stand in the way of it ever again.
Chapter Twenty-Three
FIONA
“Auntie Fi, we’re thirsty!”
“Ok, let me get you girls something to drink.”
I don’t want to see Joe. Especially since I have no idea where Cormac went, but I guess this is it.
I have to face Joe sooner or later, and the girls need their drink.
As I head there, Cormac’s voice carries down the hallway from the kitchen, and there’s an edge to it that tells me all I need to know.
I don’t need to eavesdrop on his conversation with Joe, the tone of Cormac’s voice is clear enough that it roots me to the spot.
My skin prickles at the unspoken warning in Cormac’s voice, but I can’t help but feel a sense of relief. It means more than I would ever be able to express that he is willing to protect Amber and Skye.
My breath leaves me in a shaky exhale.
I press a hand against my chest, as if I can hold my heart in place.
After everything that’s happened, after what I’ve put him through, the fact that Cormac can have my back like this meanseverything. It gives me hope that we’ve finally moved through this mess with Lorcan and have come out the other side even stronger.
I glance at the kitchen door, swallow past the lump in my throat, and force myself to walk into the kitchen.
Cormac shifts instantly, glancing over his shoulder to catch my eye. He doesn’t look happy, but that doesn’t surprise me. Spending any amount of time with my brother-in-law is enough to suck the soul out of you.
I peel my eyes away from Cormac long enough to take in the sight of Joe sitting at the table, noting the dark circles under his eyes and the empty liquor glass beside him.
“You look like hell.”
He sneers. “Come to collect your guard dog, have you?”
Cormac stiffens, but before he can do something stupid, I step to his side and gently run my hand down his arm.
“The girls are thirsty,” I say to Joe. “I take it you have something other than coffee or booze?”
“Don’t insult me in my own fucking house.”
I don’t even flinch.
After facing down Lorcan Sullivan and losing Cormac in the process, nothing scares me anymore. I’ve already been to hell and come out the other side.
