Page 1 of Sweet Vengeance (Sins of the Father #2)

Cillian

Thirteen years old

I can’t believe she’s in that box.

Organ music plays in the background, everyone in church wearing black.

I’m in the front row on the right, near the aisle.

I’m the second one in the pew, the first being my best friend Rory, and to my right, there’s Tiernan—my cousin and other best friend.

My uncle Sloan is next, followed by Aunt Fia and Tiernan’s sister Aislin.

The rest of the pew and the one behind us are filled with other members of our chosen family… of our organization.

My father is nowhere to be found.

Rory shifts his leg closer to mine, pressing our thighs together.

It helps my tight muscles relax, even if it doesn’t calm the ache in my chest. They didn’t say it to me, but I know Rory and Tiernan are flanking me to offer support because my mom is dead, and my dad is just…

gone. The second she took her last breath, he walked out of the room, and that was five days ago.

We haven’t seen him since. The only reason we’re having this service right now is because Aunt Fia organized it.

I heard her talking with Uncle Sloan. He’s been in contact with my dad.

I tried reaching my dad too, but he hasn’t returned my calls. I stopped trying after day two.

The service feels like it lasts a hundred years. The only reason I don’t get up and run out is because of Rory and Tiernan, who act like my guardian fucking angels at my sides. That, and I don’t want to leave my mom on this day. She already doesn’t have my father with her. I won’t leave her too.

Aunt Fia gets up and talks about her, since clearly, neither Dad nor I can handle it.

She talks about how loving Mom was, her love of the piano and her family, how strong she was, how no one could keep it together quite like Moira O’Shea could.

She’s right, of course. My father is a lot of things—a criminal, a killer, calculating, tough, brave, smart—but she was his rock.

She carried some of his strength. His burdens were hers.

He depended on her, was fiercely loyal to her.

He loved her.

I’m still trying to figure out if he loves me.

When the service is finally over, we walk out of the church, Rory and Tiernan still with me.

Everyone approaches me, hugging and kissing me and telling me they’re sorry for my loss.

Every set of eyes darts around the church stairs, where I’m stuck waiting for this deluge to end, and I know they’re all looking for my father.

Where is the great Rian O’Shea after his wife died and when his son is alone?

But then, I’ll never be truly alone, will I? Not as long as I have Rory and Tiernan.

My skin starts feeling itchy, my heart beating too fast. My chest gets tight, like there’s a fist around my lungs, cutting off my airflow. I need to get the fuck out of here, need away from all these people before I explode.

When the next person approaches me—an unfamiliar woman with a sweet smile—Tiernan speaks before I have the chance. “Leave him the fuck alone,” he spits out.

She freezes, mouth hanging open like a dying fish.

Rory grabs my arm. “Get out of the way,” he says to everyone in our path as he drags me down the stairs and away from there.

Because they know I need it. They can read me as well as I can read them.

Fia calls after us, but we don’t stop, just keep going down the block, decked out in our best suits.

We head straight for one of the waiting cars that’s bringing us back to Tiernan’s house, where the reception is being held.

Mom always loved big events, loved parties, and especially hosting.

She would play the piano at most of them, and she taught me how to play.

It’s one of the things I’ll miss the most—playing the piano with her.

The driver leans against the vehicle, pushing off when he sees us and immediately opening the door. The three of us get in, and he heads around to the driver’s seat. “Should I wait for—”

“Drive the fucking car,” Tiernan interrupts.

“Yes, sir.” The man is triple our age, but he won’t deny Tiernan anything. At thirteen, he’s one of the most powerful people in Massachusetts, all because of who his father is. Because Sloan is the boss of our organization, and no one fucks with him, which means no one fucks with us.

The driver raises the divider between the front seats and the back, giving us privacy.

“I’m sorry,” I tell Tiernan because I’m sure Sloan will be pissed about this. It’s all about appearances with him, and Tiernan walking away with me… To Sloan, it makes me weak, and he’ll be angry with Tiernan for being a part of it.

“I don’t care. Fuck him. My concern is you,” Tiernan replies, knowing exactly where my worries lie.

Rory threads his fingers through mine, holding my hand as I drop my head against his shoulder.

Our main concern is always the three of us—well, Aislin too.

We’re a unit, best friends, brothers. Family is supposed to be everything in our world, but it doesn’t feel like that’s really the case—not with everyone else, at least, but it is with us.

We would take on the world for each other, and nothing will ever change that.

I couldn’t make it through this without them.

“I can’t believe I almost had to kick an old lady’s ass,” Rory jokes. His words do exactly what Rory was going for, making me chuckle. He’s good at being funny or acting like an idiot when we need it.

“She could have taken you,” Tiernan jokes back.

“Fuck off. I may be smaller, but I’m the best fighter out of the three of us,” Rory says, indignant.

And I add, “The biggest liar, you mean.”

We chuckle, and somehow, I feel a little better.

“I’m sorry he’s not here.” Rory dances the fingers of his free hand over the top of mine that he’s holding.

We’re not more than friends—any of us. Tiernan is bisexual.

He’s always been like an adult in a kid’s body, so he figures stuff out before me and Rory.

I might be bi too. Who knows? I haven’t thought about it all that much.

Even if I am, I wouldn’t do stuff with them.

That’s just not how we are. The closeness between us goes beyond anything sexual, like we’re this truth written into the stars.

I shrug. “It is what it is.”

“He loves you,” Tiernan says.

Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. He’s not an asshole to me like Sloan is to Tiernan, so I guess that counts for something. “I don’t care about him,” I lie, then lean my head against Rory again, wishing I could wake up and find out this has all been a terrible nightmare.

That my mom isn’t dead and that my dad cares about me after all.

*

Ollie

Sixteen years old

I watch as Dad holds Mom’s cold hand, sitting in a chair at her bedside, bent over with his face against the mattress, and sobs.

We’re in what used to be our dining room, but it was turned into Mom’s room a long time ago.

It’s filled with hospital equipment, everything we’ve needed to take care of her for years, ever since the traumatic brain injury that changed our lives.

She loved hiking. She was more outdoorsy than both me and Dad, but we would all spend a lot of time in nature because she enjoyed it so much. It was her love of the outdoors that got her hurt—one wrong step, one slip, and she was tumbling down rocky terrain and hit her head.

She couldn’t walk anymore after that, couldn’t talk. Our whole world had been flipped upside down, and Dad never left her side once. We took care of her, protected her, loved her, and now she’s gone.

“Ollie, come here,” he says, and I walk over to him.

Dad wraps an arm around me in the tightest of hugs. The other hand is still holding hers, building a connection between the three of us, this bond that has always been there and always will be.

“I’m so sorry she’s gone. She loved you so much. You were her pride and joy.”

I nod, my eyes filling with tears, wetness brimming over, tears chasing each other down my face.

She did love me. I know that. Mom loved her family more than anything in this world, just like my dad does.

We sit with her for as long as we can, crying and hugging and telling stories.

How funny she had been, how much she loved birthdays and playing pranks, which Dad and I would sometimes pretend to be annoyed about.

Maybe we had been annoyed at the time, but these last three years since her accident, I’m sure he would have done anything for one of those pranks, same as I would have.

When they take her body away, it’s one of the hardest moments of my life, my tears hardly stopping for even a moment.

Dad and I keep ourselves busy, planning the service together, picking all her favorite things for the reception afterward.

The house feels empty when everyone leaves and it’s just Dad and me again.

“She would have thought today was beautiful,” he tells me, and I smile.

“Yeah, she would have.”

Dad sits beside me on the couch of our small home. He wraps an arm around me. “We’ll be okay, Ollie.”

He’s not talking about money, though that’s going to be an issue. Both my parents are…were teachers. Money has never been something we’ve had a lot of, and now we’re in debt because of Mom’s treatment.

“I know.”

And we are okay. It’s not easy, and we miss her all the time, but Dad and I are good about talking about her, keeping her memory alive.

I almost don’t apply for colleges outside the state when the time comes. I don’t want to leave Dad alone. We’re each other’s best friend, and I can’t imagine him home in Michigan without me.

But Dad insists. He wants me to follow my dreams, and I’ve always wanted to go to Ashford University. They have a fantastic pre-law program, and ever since I was in first grade, arguing on behalf of a student who got in trouble for something he didn’t do, I’ve always known I wanted to be a lawyer.

“She would want this for you, Ollie. I want this for you too.”

I bet everything on Ashford. It’s the only out-of-state college I apply to. If I don’t get in, I’ll take it as a sign that I should stay home.

When I finish reading my acceptance letter, Dad wraps his arms around me, lifting me and trying to jump with me in his arms. I laugh and cry because it’s perfect and scary and everything in between.

“You did it! I’m so damn proud of you!” He puts me on my feet again.

I’m going to Ashford.

With a lot of scholarship money.

My hard work has paid off. All the hours studying and AP courses and lack of a social life were worth it, and I won’t ever do anything to risk this chance I’ve been given.