Page 136 of Lawless Rivals

He returns my gaze with the patience of a man who always wins. “He pushed me to sign it when it actually needed your signature. You own it.”

For a moment, my breath stalls in my chest, and I swallow hard.

“What do you mean I own it?” I ask, my brows tugging together.

“You’re a Harrington, Keira. Fionn and you will inherit all this someday. I just pressed fast forward on the ownership of that piece of land.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“The land Saint is fighting over belongs to you, Keira.”

I draw a tight breath, my gaze flicking to Fionn, who’s chewing lamb, expressionless. “Since when?”

My father’s chuckle is low, built for rooms full of people who respect his authority and would bow if asked. “Since he took my daughter, thinking he’d get one over on us.”

A heat starts under my ribs and spreads outward. I lose focus on the guests at the table, my peripheral vision going fuzzy. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I’m not part of the game, sweetheart. I’m the game master. I make the rules.”

Saint’s face comes back to me, not the version my father wants me to imagine, furious, humiliated, outmaneuvered. I see him at the old mobile, silent and unreadable, alone after sending me away because he thought I’d played him.

“You used me.”

My mother whispers my name. “Keira.”

I refuse to look at her, my ribs tightening, then push my chair back and stand. “You put the land in my name before the deal was signed, but you didn’t come for me.”

The room stiffens.

I lean forward, my palms flat on the tablecloth. “You knew where I was.”

“Keira,” Fionn warns.

My father holds my gaze over the candlelight. “Sit down.”

“Why didn’t you send someone for me sooner, father?”

My mother empties the last of her champagne and sets the glass down with a small click.

“I sent Riley,” he says.

The lie is so neat it almost earns respect.

Almost.

I turn my head toward Fionn. He’s sitting back in his chair, sipping whiskey.

“No, you didn’t,” I say. “Fionn sent Riley.”

I look back at my father. “Not you.”

Fionn lowers his glass and cocks a brow at me, not used to his sister standing up for herself like this in public.

My father smiles. “I didn’t need to send anyone.”

The room seems to lose a degree of warmth.

“What does that mean?”