Page 150 of Shattered Veil
I kiss her forehead. “Still, you can turn away.”
“Tell me, will it make it better if I watch?” Her question silences the room. “Will it give me the closure I need?”
“No,” Eoghan answers. “I shot a man who tried to rape Jillian and she watched. She has flashbacks and panic attacks.”
This is something he never mentioned.
“Eoghan, hold her for me,” I say. “I kill him. Not you.”
He immediately takes my Ella into his arms, tucking her head against his chest. “Just a few more moments, lass. It will all be over.”
My first kill will be for the woman I love. The first and last.
I take the gun and with the clearest head I’ve ever felt about anything, I stomp over to Michael Wesley Brennan and unload my clip into his chest.
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
Balor
Afew days later, I bring Ella to her father’s apartment. I see it as his and not hers because she lives with me. She will live with me, forever.
The kind of disaster we found ourselves in requires a lot of cleanup. Dealing with this apartment is one.
Lachlan’s team took Brennan’s body, chopped it up, and buried the pieces farther north of Beacon in several open fields and lakes. His parents are dead, and it turns out his father probably murdered his mother. Wesley was an only child and the end of a line of serial abusers.
Good riddance.
The police department will look for him since he’s an active member of service. He’ll just end up being one of the millions who are never found.
He’s dead, and I have the love of my life at my side, pregnant with my babies.
Today, we’re collecting the rest of Ella’s things from the apartment and will meet with a realtor about selling it.
It’s mortgaged to the hilt and was about to be sold at auction in a foreclosure. But Eoghan stopped it and paid back the bank so we could sell it free and clear. Hopefully at a profit, money that will go to Ella to spend as she chooses.
Ella chokes up at hearing all these messy financial details when Jillian brings us the paperwork.
I press my lips against Ella’s forehead. “I settled whatever your father owed. It’s a clean slate.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers.
“Nothing to be sorry for. None of this is your fault. All I want is for you to be free of this.”
Nodding, she walks around, touching items here and there. “I don’t even know what to keep. My mother’sgone. Now he’s gone, Balor.”
Elegant souvenirs from around the world decorate the living room. Leather-bound books sit unread on the shelves in lower bookcases that stretch from one wall around the fireplace. I peeked at Snow’s closet; his suits were both tailor-made and designer brands.
He could have sold off all this to pay his gambling debts. Instead, he chose to terrorize the world. And left his daughter in ruin.
“Hmmm,” Jillian says, looking at her phone and reading a text. “Oh boy, your brother is going to lose his shit.”
I glance at her. “Why? Did you like a post from a guy?”
“Please don’t get me started on that.” She shakes her head. “His credit card got denied again. I had to give him mine. You can guess which embarrassment he hates more.”
“Something tells me Eoghan would happily change his name to Diamond for you.”
“Only because it’s my dad’s name and he didn’t have a son.” She smiles. “There’s plenty of O’Rourkes and—” Her phone rings, and with an eye roll, she answers it. “Hi. Slow down. What’s going on?”