Page 50 of Stolen Temptation (Irish Kings #3)

Rory

Leonardo De Luca is dead and gone.

That fact, while satisfying, isn’t very important.

Why should I waste another brain cell thinking about that bastard when Kiara’s standing by my side, gazing at me with love in her eyes?

I’m the luckiest bastard in the world.

A stampede of footsteps breaks the momentary quiet that’s settled over the sanctuary. Instinct propels me in front of Kiara, but the high alarm in my chest quiets when I recognize that the soldiers pouring into the room are our own.

About forty strong.

Cian materializes to my left. “Who called for backup?”

“No idea—” I’m in the middle of responding when the influx of soldiers parts, and Shane Gallagher himself strides into the room.

“Da?” Finn’s just as confused as the rest of us.

“I brought reinforcements, but I can see you don’t need them.” Shane stands tall in the center of the fray, surveying the damage. “Thought the Russians might have put up more of a fight.”

“They did at first.” Darren nods toward the bloody, brainy altar, which resembles a set from a horror movie. “In the end, they grabbed their fallen and removed themselves.”

“Made our job easier.” Finn sounds half relieved, half concerned. “We don’t want war with them anyway.”

Cian steps over a few bodies to join Finn. “May be unavoidable now…since Rory shot their prince in the face.”

Kiara touches my chest. “ You took that shot?”

“He was standing beside my girl.” I tighten my arm around her waist.

“Good job, all of you.” Though Shane’s gruff praise is nothing to Kiara’s smile, it’s still nice to hear after this fucking mess. “It would’ve been a nightmare if this marriage was successful.”

“Get this all cleaned up,” Finn barks at the newest arrivals. “Rory, you should get back to the hospital. Looks like you pulled your stitches.”

Kiara gasps from my side, her wide eyes gawking at my chest. “You’re bleeding!”

That’s really the least of my worries. “It’s fine, I’m just?—”

“Rory.” Shane frowns at me. “You and Kiara don’t need to stay here for the cleanup. Come, I’ll take you back to the estate myself.”

Kiara and I exchange a glance, and I give her a smile. “Come home with me?”

I phrase it as a question, but if she says no, I plan to keep persuading her until she changes her mind.

“Okay,” she breathes.

I pull her closer as we follow Shane out of the sanctuary, with Finn, Cian, and Darren trailing behind.

When we reach the sidewalk near Shane’s car, a familiar voice stops me.

I turn to find Thomas Brennan hurrying toward us from the direction of the church. “Man, that shit was wild. Guess we won’t need to worry about De Luca anymore.”

Unlike the rest of us, he appears unrumpled and miraculously blood-free.

A few strides away, he pulls up short. “What do you think you’re doing? Point that somewhere else.”

Cian keeps his gun trained on Thomas’s forehead. “No, I don’t think I will. Funny thing. When I showed up early to case the place, I saw you in the parking lot headed for the church.”

Thomas blanches before forcing out a fake chuckle. “Look, I don’t know what you thought you heard, but I’m sure there’s been some kind of mistake?—–”

Cian tilts his head to the side. “Maybe you can explain then. What kind of mistake would involve you talking on the phone, saying ‘if you screw this up for me, De Luca, I swear I’ll destroy you and that piece of shit Russian.’”

My jaw falls open, Kiara gasps, and Darren mutters, “what the fuck?” which pretty much sums up my feelings too.

Thomas Brennan, who wasn’t in the loop about this offensive, who wasn’t with Shane when he and the reinforcements arrived. Thomas Brennan, an Irish Kings general. Father to the twins, and the man we’ve been reporting to since we were teenaged fledgling foot soldiers.

Thomas Brennan, Shane’s right hand.

Thomas Brennan, who was apparently approaching the De Luca-Petrov wedding venue while talking on the phone to the now-dead man running that shit show.

Sheer rage swallows me whole.

All this time…

Finn takes a few steps toward him, a vein in his neck bulging. “ You’re the mole?”

The cop bust, the fire at the club, sending Dax Moreland to kidnap Kiara in the middle of the night to ship her back to Leo. The money and respect we lost. The men who died.

This entire time, he was the one deceiving us. Betraying us.

The shock of it breaks over me again and again, like ceaseless waves crashing against the shore.

I raise my gun at the same time as Darren, pointing the barrel at the man who still stands there frozen, like he thinks we won’t see him if he pretends we’re not here. I want to blow his brains out all over the sidewalk.

But the fury in every part of my body must be nothing compared to Shane’s. He brushes past the four of us, reaching out to push down my gun.

I’ve never seen him look so…cold. The rage in his eyes is enough to make me shudder.

“So. It was you.” Shane motions with one hand, and Cian and Darren rush forward to grab Thomas by the arms, holding him still. “I don’t need to tell you what happens to traitors.”

“Why?” Finn thunders, asking the same question we’re all thinking.

But Shane holds up his hand, as though to stall his son’s anger.

“You’ll have your chance to question him.” Shane’s low, deadly voice eats up the air like fire. “All of you will.” Shane closes some of the distance between himself and his former general. “Thomas Brennan, you’ll get the family goodbye .”

Those last two words send a venomous hush across the sidewalk.

Each and every member of the Irish Kings mafia knows that the family goodbye is the highest price a traitor can pay. Only the head of the family can sentence someone to the family goodbye.

And the order, once declared, is final.

It can’t be revoked. Can’t be stopped.

Every member of the clan will take their turn torturing Thomas Brennan before Shane Gallagher does his worst and deals the final blow.

By the end of this, Thomas will be unrecognizable.

After suffering beatings from over a hundred men, anyone would be.

Dark, morbid, sadistic anticipation begins to rattle inside my chest. I can’t wait to contribute to Thomas Brennan’s demise with my bare fucking fists.

Finn cracks his knuckles beside me, gearing up for the same pleasure.

After everything he’s stolen from us, the least we can do is knock out a few of his teeth. Pluck off a few fingers, a few toes.

Not like he’s going to need them in hell.

Shane jerks his chin at the lower-level soldiers piling out of the venue.

“Take him home and lock him in the hole.”

They rip Thomas out of Darren and Cian’s hold. He kicks and struggles, angry, defiant noises grumbling out of his ugly face as they drag his ass away.

The hole is the cell in the estate’s basement reserved for the worst of the worst.

Only the people we intend to torture to death get thrown in the tiny dark enclosure.

Since Shane released that Troy asshole from the Red Hill mafia after Finn almost killed him, Thomas Brennan will have the whole place to himself.

After the traitor’s been hauled away, Shane gestures to the cars, his voice gruff with disdain. “Let’s go home.”

I squeeze Kiara’s hand. “You hear that, sweetheart? Time to go home.”