He sobs once. “I was awful to you when we were young. I’m sorry, I was an idiot!”
“You weren’t even a kid. You just liked abusing one. And you know what’s funny about all this?” I lean in close, my lips pulling back into a big smile. “I’m the one who killed Shane and Redmond. It was me and Finn the whole time.”
Dermot jerks back in pure shock. He looks at me then at Finn. My husband stands nearby, watching. His eyes are hooded and dark. I can see the lust on his face, how badly he wants to torture Dermot the way Dermot must’ve tortured him. Except this one’s all mine.
“You two? But… but why?”
“You really have to ask? After what you did to me? After the hell you put him through? This is your sin catching up to you.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Caroline, I’m sorry?—”
“Not good enough. I hope there’s something after this, mostly so you can rot in fucking hell where you belong.”
I jerk the knife. He gags in shock as I dig the blade in deep, sawing and cutting. There’s so much blood. It spurts out in thick gouts as I slice my brother’s throat open. I keep going, screaming as I do it, wild and out of control, hating him for what he did to me and Finn and Mom, hating him so much it spills out of me like black oil. I only stop when Finn puts a hand on my shoulder and Dermot’s not moving anymore. He’s a pile of pale, sticky flesh.
“Good job,” Finn says and pulls me against him. I let out a cathartic sigh and close my eyes.
There’s a mechanical click from back toward the door.
Finn goes tense. I don’t recognize the sound but it’s clear he did. Slowly, he turns and forces me to look with him.
Malachy’s standing ten feet away, a gun aimed at Finn’s head.
My oldest brother looks steady. His face is shockingly calm. I expected to find a manic, psychopathic, paranoid mess, but it’s like he’s back to himself. I’m almost happy.
Except Mal keeps the gun trained on Finn. “Drop your weapon.”
“I don’t know what you think is happening here?—”
Mal grips the gun with his free hand, steadying his aim. “Count of three or I kill my sister and then I kill you. One. Two?—”
Finn drops his gun. It clatters to the floor. “Don’t shoot her.”
I cling tightly to my husband. I feel sick. My heart’s a hammering mess. This can’t be happening. How much did he hear?
But it’s clear from the look on his face that he knows everything.
God, I’m so stupid. If I hadn’t made that damn speech, we might be able to spin this. Make Mal think we killed Dermot to help him.
Instead, I ruined it all.
“Hands behind your head. Both of you.” Mal steps sideways. “There’s a car waiting downstairs. You’ll get in the back. You won’t say a word.”
“Doesn’t have to be like this.” Finn stares at my brother. He’s filled with latent violence and the threat of more to come. “Dermot’s gone. That leaves only you.”
“That’s right. Just me left to cross off your list.” Mal jerks his head. “Start walking.”
Finn hesitates, but when Mal aims the gun at me again, he moves to the door. We shuffle past him awkwardly, Finn with one arm around my shoulders, hugging me tight against him protectively. Mal stays close and the gun never wavers.
“I should’ve known from the start,” he says quietly as we walk down the stairs. “Who else had the access and the motive? Poor little Caroline. Always crying because her big brothers were so mean to her. And look at you, Finn Whelan, still as pathetic and weak as ever. What kind of man holds on to a childhood grudge like this?”
I cling tighter to him. Finn’s body is a coiled spring ready to break. “Leave her out of this,” he says through his teeth. “She didn’t do anything. I’m the one that put her up to it. Without me?—”
But he gets cut off as we approach the elevators. The doors slide open and my father’s standing there waiting.
He raises his gun.
“Enough of that,” he says very calmly. “The only reason you’re both still alive is you’re more valuable to me breathing. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to go down through that lobby, and the doorman’s going to ignore us. He’s smart and he likes getting paid. Then we’ll drive back to my office, and we’ll hash this out together. Do you understand?”