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“You’ve never even let me try,” she snaps, heat finally cracking through her composure.“You kept me locked away like I was some secret.Some weakness.”

“That’s not what this is about.”

“Yes, it is.”She keeps her eyes locked on mine.“I want in.And I want to be with Eamon.”

The air in the room shifts—heavy, volatile.

My hand curls around my glass, knuckles whitening.“You want what?”

“I’m not choosing between love and loyalty,” she says, quiet but fierce.“I’ve played the obedient sister long enough.I won’t do it anymore.”

Anger flares white-hot in my chest.“He’s dangerous.”

“So am I,” she says, with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

I stare at her, trying to bite back the heat rising in my chest.She doesn’t flinch.Doesn’t look away.The girl I used to protect with everything I had isn’t sitting across from me anymore.This woman, this version of her, is fire and defiance wrapped in velvet.

“You think he sees you as an equal?”I ask, voice low.“That man doesn’t love you, Aoife.He sees a Quigley.A tool.A weakness to use against me.”

“If that’s what he sees, then maybe we understand each other better than you think.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.For once, I don’t have the right words to fix this.

“You’re throwing away everything we built.”

She doesn’t blink.“No.I’m building something of my own.”

Before I can stop her, she steps back, brushing her phone off the table.“Excuse me,” she says smoothly.“I need the loo.”

And just like that, she turns and walks away.

I sit there in stunned silence, the weight of her words crashing down around me.My little sister.My last piece of family.Already halfway out the door, and I’m not sure there’s a damn thing I can do to stop her.

Minutes pass.Too many.I start to wonder if she used this as an opportunity to slip out the back.I take another slow sip of my beer, unease creeping in, my instincts humming.

Just as I shift to glance over my shoulder, someone stumbles past, knocking into my chair.I barely register the movement before I feel it—a quick, sharp prick at my neck.

I jerk, reaching up, but it’s already too late.

A familiar voice murmurs near my ear.“I’m sorry, Ri.”

My vision sways, my limbs going sluggish.I force my head to turn, to see for myself who it is.

Aoife stands holding the syringe.

“What the hell—” The words barely leave my mouth before the world tilts, the edges of my vision darkening until everything goes silent.

Aoife

The quiet rumbleof the engine fills the space between us.In the back seat, my brother lies unconscious, his hands bound, his chest rising and falling in deep, steady breaths.

I did this.

The thought should break me.

It doesn’t.

It coils around my spine, cold and sharp, like a blade I never meant to wield.But I did.I pressed it to the soft belly of loyalty and sliced clean through.