Page 18

"I know, Ro. You're being framed."
The word rocks me. "Framed?"
Seamus nods, and I sit back in my seat.
"But how..."
"My guess is an enemy of your brother."
My eyes widen. "How do they know I'm related to him?"
"That, I think, is something we need to find out. Who else knows that you're a MacAntyre?"
If I could take away my ability to emote, right then and there, I would.
Because the second Seamus sees my face, he sighs. He leans down and picks up the radio.
"Bring De Luca in."
4
MARCO
This isn'thow it's supposed to go.
It's been a fucking whirlwind of a forty-eight hour time. I've gone from the cold, early January landscape of upstate New York to the dreary gray of an Irish January, and I still have no fucking plan about how I'm going to testify in this hearing.
I don't know how to protect everyone. My family. My legacy.
Roisin.
The whole flight, my heart practically burned every time I thought of her name. I went back and forth on what to do. Part of me wanted to walk into this hearing and immediately tell all of them that she's a liar. That she's a MacAntyre, one of the most hardened crime families in Ireland.
Then, I would feel guilty. Awful.
Like a fucking piece of shit.
Because exposing Roisin as a MacAntyre would clearly screw over whatever life she's trying to build for herself.
She never told me why or how, but I also know that she doesn't exactly have a great relationship with her brothers.
Well.
The dead one, anyway.
I know that Liam didn't live with her and Kieran during his childhood. She was raised with Kieran, if the rumors that I've heard are accurate.
And Kieran was one nasty motherfucker.
I don't know why I expected Roisin to be... different.
Well. She did choose a life with Interpol over a life with her brother, so I guess I did expect something different from her.
I wrestled with all of it through the flight. Through the ride to the cottage. Through touching the gate that I fixed for her. Through everything, I couldn't figure out what the fuck I was going to do...
But I was still drawn to her.
After feeling the emptiness at my family's holiday, Roisin called to me like a lighthouse.