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“Down!” Emily yelled. I threw myself under the table and covered my head with my arms as all hell broke loose.

ChapterSeventeen

Ciaran

Fear like I’d never experienced before gripped me as we drove back to the lake house. We’d gotten halfway to the city when an alert pinged on my phone, warning me of a breach in security. I realized immediately that the fire was a diversion to get me and my brothers away from the house. Thank fuck I’d left Will behind, so the women weren’t entirely unprotected.

Not knowing what was happening drove me wild. I should have been able to access the security cameras, but the app wouldn’t work. My tech guys would answer for that. I thought I’d hired the best in the business, but apparently not. I’d tried calling Will and Emily’s cellphones and the satellite phone in the safe room repeatedly but couldn’t get through on any number. Hopefully, my brother had gotten the women in there before anything could happen to them. If either of them were harmed, heads would roll.

As we entered the property, through gates that shouldn’t have been open, Max’s car, which was behind ours, stopped. He got out to check whether any of the men lying in the driveway were still breathing. Sean and I continued to the house. Checking my gun, I jumped out of the car. Three vehicles sat in the driveway, none of which I recognized.

My brother followed as I entered the house as quietly as possible. We scanned our surroundings for signs of an intruder as we slowly made our way toward the kitchen. The safe room was the first place I wanted to check. When we got closer to the kitchen, I heard voices. Sean must have too, as he signaled for me to stop.

“Em?” Sean mouthed.

I nodded. Though I couldn’t make out what she was saying, it was my sister speaking. We moved forward cautiously and stepped into the kitchen. The scene that greeted us stunned me. It was a bloodbath. Five bodies lay on the floor, clearly dead. A sixth, that asshole Danny Mulhearn himself, writhed around, squealing like a pig. Emily stood over him, wielding an AR-15 like a pro.

Annie crouched next to Will by the pantry door, talking to him in soothing tones as she pressed a sterile pad to a bloody wound on his shoulder. As she realized someone had come into the room, Emily raised her weapon. She lowered it the moment she saw it was me and Sean.

“You took your sweet fucking time,” she grumbled.

“Got here as fast as we could.”

“Looks like we missed the fun.” Sean nudged her shoulder as he walked past her to see Will.

He knelt on the floor next to Annie. They exchanged a few hushed words and then she got to her feet, allowing Sean to take over. She wiped her hands on her jeans and stared at me for a moment. Then she ran to me. I caught her as she leapt into my arms.

“Thank fuck you’re okay,” I murmured as I hugged her tightly.

A noise in the corridor behind us caught my attention. I swung around and blew out a breath as my youngest sister walked toward me, an icepack pressed to her red, swollen cheek.

“Might have known you’d be among the chaos.” I let go of Annie and pulled Erin in for a hug.

“What are we doing with this asshole?” Emily demanded, giving Mulhearn a vicious kick.

“Oh, Mr. Mulhearn can look forward to a slow and painful death.”

“Fuck you and your little whore!” he spat.

“On second thought. . .” I raised my gun and put a bullet between his eyes.

Annie gasped. She shook her head and ran from the room. I turned to go after her, but Sean called out. “Give her a minute.”

Nodding, I made my way through the chaos to where Sean was tending to will. As I passed the back door, it opened, and Max came in.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed as Emily pointed her gun at him.

“Sorry. Thought you might be another lowlife prick who needed to be put out of his misery.”

“Cute,” Max growled. He turned to me. “Three dead, one critical. Doc’s bringing a team.” He looked down at Will. “What happened here?”

“Took two of the assholes out then got hit.” Will’s voice was shaky. His skin had taken on a grayish hue. The medics needed to get here fast.

“And the others?” I asked, impatiently.

“Erin got one. Emily took care of the rest.”

Max, Sean and I exchanged looks of shock. My little sisters had killed men tonight.