And with the knowledge that I tipped the crown off his head, I pick up my purse and begin to strut to the door. With my hand on the door knob, I turn my head over my shoulder and give my husband some parting advice.
“Those are my terms, husband. Fail to meet them, and I’ll tell the families how this treaty is null and void. You have until midnight to give me your answer. Tick tock, Tiernan. Tick tock.”
Chapter 14
Shay
I wait impatiently for Rosa to leave the room before I tear my brother a new one.
“You cannot be fucking serious, Tiernan?! The fuck are you thinking?”
My brother ignores me completely, walking over to the floor-to-ceiling window to stare at our city.
“Tiernan?! Did you hear what I just said? This is fucking insane. Even for you,” I shout, but all I get is my brother’s silence and his back facing towards me.
I turn to my sullen cousin, whose head is bowed, thinking about God knows what.
“Why didn’t you say anything, Col? You agree with me, right? This is some twisted-up shit. I mean, can you honestly sit there and tell me you’re okay with fucking Tiernan’s wife?”
His head snaps my way, rage like I’ve never seen before marring his features.
“Don’t talk about her that way. She deserves our respect.”
“Oh yeah, asshole? Then tell me, how are we showing her any fucking respect by tag-teaming her like some whore from The Pit?!”
When he begins to growl like some kind of feral animal, I know I’ve struck a nerve.
Fuck it. In for a penny, in for a pound and all that.
“What? You thought Tiernan wants us to wine and dine Rosa before we take turns fucking all her orifices?”
Colin stands up from his seat, ready to launch at me and make me swallow every last word I just uttered—even if he has to break my teeth to do it.
“You think you scare me, fucker?” I laugh, pulling out my favorite blade and toying with the handle over my knuckles. “I’d have your heart carved out of your chest before you even laid one finger on me.”
“Enough,” Tiernan calls out behind me, his tone sounding more annoyed with my shit than he is with the fucked-up deal he just struck with his wife.
“Fuck you, dheartháir. I’ll say when it’s enough. And right now, you couldn’t shut me up, even if you wanted to. This is one fucked-up scenario you put us in. Rosa, too.”
“Tell me, Shay. Did my wife look in any way bothered by the proposition I made her?”
“She didn’t jump for joy if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“But she didn’t say nol either. You heard her when she agreed to my terms. She even negotiated ones of her own. If you honestly have a problem with any of this, then I’m sure Colin can go at it alone.”
“If that was true, then why bring us both here today? Why not just pick one of us and spare the other ever knowing about this shit?”
“Maybe I wanted to increase her chances of getting pregnant.”
“The fuck you did,” I snort bitterly. “You wanted to shock her. Have her rethink your so-called solution of not wanting to father a child. You thought that by offering me and Colin up as substitute baby-makers, she would concede and not go through it. Your foolproof plan bit you in the ass, brother. And now you’re screwed. Or in this case, your wife is.”
“Are you in or out, Shay? That’s all I want to know.”
“Of course, I’m in. Someone needs to be there to make sure Rosa is okay. Or better yet, to pick up the pieces of the shell of a woman you are going to turn her into when this shit blows up in her face.”
I run my fingers through my hair, tugging at the strands, frustrated that I can’t find the right words to say to talk some sense into my headstrong brother.
“I’m not saying she didn’t fuck up when she threatened to expose you to the families. She did, okay? That shit isn’t kosher. But come on, brother. She’s just a frightened, lonely girl, not our actual enemy. She might act like she’s onboard with this shit now, but believe me, it’s her pride talking. She doesn’t want to be seen like a fucking piece of property or a doormat, and this is her way of standing up to you.”
“I don’t care what her reasons might have been. It’s done.”
I stare at my brother and wonder where the guy who used to wear the same old t-shirts and ripped up jeans for days on end, the one who always had a warm smile and a joke on the tip of his tongue, went off to.
Oh, that’s right.
He’s dead.
Died a painful death when my father handed him the keys to the kingdom five years ago.
Now all that is left is this cold, calculating, heartless corpse that parades in a fucking suit he wouldn’t have been caught dead in a decade ago.
No.
The brother I looked up to all my life started to fade away the day my other brother decided to take his own life.
“I always admired you for being fair, Tiernan. The way you lead the men and demand their loyalty is admirable. But I never knew you could be this fucking cruel.” I get up from my seat and start walking out the door, fucking done with this meeting.
“Be at The Avalon tomorrow at noon. I’ll tell Rosa this starts tomorrow,” my brother orders, using his business-as-usual tone with me.
“Fuck you, Tiernan. I hope one day she will forgive you because I never will.”
I storm out of the boardroom and head towards the elevators, Colin right at my heel, just as he always is. When the doors close, I face my taciturn cousin and shove him right in his chest.
“Thanks for the support in there, dipshit. This is wrong, and you know it. You could have at least backed me up in there.”
“The Boss had his mind made up long before we entered the room.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Can you quit being a robot for one goddamn second and think about the repercussions of this shit?” I yell in his face. “She’s a scared girl. She doesn’t have anyone here to hold her hand. And now my brother wants to send her off to be fed to the lions.”
“We’re not animals,” he counters.
“You sure?! Then what do you call fucking the same woman while her husband watches? Pretty fucking savage to me.”
“We’ve shared women before.”
“Whores! We’ve shared easy pussy before, not a woman like Rosa.”