Page 123 of Ruined Wrath
“And what exactly have I done, Cormac?”
“Do you want me to list everything like some fucking eulogy?”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to it. After all, the Sullivan name is my legacy too.”
“You lost the right to the Sullivan name the moment you carved our father’s name into a bullet,” I spit.
Lorcan doesn’t even flinch. Instead, he simply laughs, a harsh bark that echoes off the concrete walls.
He shakes his head. “After all these years, you’re still chasing ghosts.”
“You really thought we wouldn’t?”
“Your father wasn’t the saint you painted him out to be.”
“I never said he was, but that doesn’t mean he deserved to die.”
“You always did think with your emotions, Cormac. You get that from your mother.”
“Don’t youdaremention her.”
Brennan pushes off the wall and takes a step closer, ready to step in if I lose my cool.
But I rein myself in. I refuse to give Lorcan the satisfaction of getting under my skin.
I walk around so I’m back in his direct line of sight. “You must think you’re clever.”
“Iamclever.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be sitting here.”
Lorcan’s mouth slowly breaks out into a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Or maybe I am clever enough to know when to walk into a situation willingly.”
“You’re lying,” I say a little too quickly.
“Perhaps… Or maybe you’re not the only one capable of double-crossing.”
I stop pacing.
Is he referring to himself, or someone else?
I think of Fiona without meaning to. Of the way she stood in the doorway earlier, Aubrey tucked against her chest, completely unaware that the sight of them together had knocked the air from my lungs.
For the first time in my life, the idea of another child hadn’t felt like a liability. It felt like a future.
And that future is currently being held in the hands of the man in front of me.
Lorcan must sense where my thoughts are going as his lip curls back from his teeth.
“You like to pretend you’re different from me, Cormac, but for all your righteous fury, you’ve built your life the same way I built mine. Endless secrets stacked on top of lies. The only difference is you wrapped yours in the illusion of morality.”
“You don’t get to talk about my life,” I say quietly.
I reach into the inside pocket of my jacket and pull out an envelope.
“Let me guess, that’s my birth certificate ready to go?”
“This ends right here, Lorcan. I have everything here that proves you were behind Seamus’s death.”
