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His gaze grows dark, and I feel Darcy moving into position behind me.
“Don’t fucking try it, D. I’ve been manhandled enough this week that I’m liable to forget you’re my brother and add another McGuire boy to the funeral listings.”
“Piper!” Mam gasps. “How dare you speak of our dead with such disrespect?”
Da lifts his chin, makes eye-contact with my brother, and tilts his head to wave him off. When he meets my gaze, there’s nothing left of the man I once considered my father. “You’re the reason Ryan’s dead, Piper. If he hadn’t been sent to find you, he’d be alive and maybe you’d be dead.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, Da.”
My father glares at me. “Ryan is dead because you let yourself be taken by a Quinn. Where was your fight and survival instinct then?”
I scoff. “Sean scraped me off the sidewalk bloody and beaten. The Quinns were kind to me. They got me a doctor and when I felt ready to leave, they wished me well. They value the truce. They don’t want war. They don’t want to see innocents killed in their streets.”
Da shakes his head. “You’re as stupid as you are useless.”
There it is. “That’s what I’m used to—just with a little more venom because you stopped hiding your true colors.”
“You’re lucky I’m a forgiving man, Piper.” Da takes another step forward and then glances at the knife and stops. “Billy told me you’d be brainwashed by the Quinns, so I’ll let you live despite your disrespect. Get upstairs. Consider yourself confined to your room until I decide what is to be done with you.”
I blink. Does he actually think I’m still his approval-seeking little girl? “Sorry, Da. I came home to pay my respects in the wake of Ryan’s death and to look you in the eye to tell you I know what you did with the Russians. I won’t be confined in my room, and you won’t decide what’s being done with me. I’m leaving after the service, and I won’t be back.”
I cast a glance at my mother. Her expression is unreadable, but she’s not talking me out of leaving, so that says something.
“So insolent.” Da’s gaze narrows on the blade of the knife. “How long do you think you’ll survive in the world without the McGuire name to protect you? Where will you go? How will you feed yourself?”
“None of that is your concern anymore. You lost the right to be my father the moment you traded my virginity for guns. The funniest part is I’m not a virgin, so I’m not sure if I even qualify as your party favor.”
Da’s expression blanches. It’s the most emotion I’ve seen in him since this confrontation began. His gaze shifts to my mother. “What is she saying? You assured me she was a virgin.”
“Sheis. She’s lying.”
I laugh. “I’m not lying. Why would you think you know better than me? I’m not a virgin. Despite your hovering, I’ve had amazing sex and countless orgasms, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. Does that make your contract fraudulent? I wonder what the Russians will think about that. I’m sure they won’t appreciate you lying to them.”
Da looks like he’s about to have an aneurysm, and I take that as a win.
My mother is standing now, and she looks like she might faint. “Shut up, Piper. Get upstairs to your room.”
Apparently, I’ve struck a nerve.
In my head, I hoped that my mother might still side with me once she found out what was done to me.
Now I’m more certain than ever that she knew the plan and went along with it. The pain of that realization is numbing to the point of dizziness.
Mam points at the stairs, and I consider that my cue to take my leave. I don’t rush. I take my time climbing to the top of the stairs, go into my room, and close the door quietly behind me.
When the lock clicks into place, I take my first deep breath in the past ten minutes. The knife is still clutched in my hand, and I make a concerted effort to release my fingers and allow the circulation to begin again.
I did it.
I didn’t plan to draw such an aggressive line in the sand, but when he came at me, I grabbed the blade purely on instinct.
A few deep breaths with my back against my bedroom door and the shakes settle. I’m fine. I stood my ground and had my say.
I’m on the other side of it.
All I need to do now is to attend the funeral and then walk away. I scan the room that has been my personal space for two decades. Everything looks exactly the way I left it last week, but nothing is the same.
This will be the last time I set foot in this room.
