Ten-1
2115 Words
I watch Babydoll walk away with a lump in my throat as I can’t help but think she won’t be back.
I f****d up, so I did.
I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was so very wrong. I should have told Babydoll the truth as hearing it from her father and Sean was the worst possible way she could have found out. I hurt her, and she has every right to hate me.
I suppose whatever fate is headed my way, I’ll accept, as I’ve brought this onto myself.
“Bout ye, Darcy?” I ask as I walk up the drive.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call first,” she says, brushing a strand of hair behind her ears. “But I heard about The Craic’s 90. I wanted to make sure yer okay, but I can see that yer not.”
When she reaches out, attempting to examine the stitches across my eyebrow, I recoil. It’s a force of habit with anyone, bar Babydoll.
I don’t want to be rude to Darcy as she’s the reason I’m a free man. But I can only offer her friendship. “I’m fine. I’ve got to go, though. I’m sorry.”
Darcy pretends my brush-off doesn’t affect her and smiles. “That’s all right. Is there anything I can do to help?”
I’m about to tell her no when I get an idea.
“Do ya think ye’d be able to get information on the real estate Brody owns?”
Darcy smirks. “Absolutely. I’ll get it to you today.”
Another thought occurs. “What about abandoned properties? Or buildings which should be abandoned but yer da turns a blind eye to?”
Darcy nods. “Aye, I can get that organized for ya. Why would ya be wantin’ that?”
She is helping me, so I do owe her an explanation. “’Cause there’s someone besides Brody I’m huntin’,” I explain, not wanting to reveal too much. “I need to know if he’s using any of yer da’s buildings as his own personal headquarters.”
Sean is somewhere close. I know it. The best way to find out where he is, is by having a list of possible locations. I can’t wait for him to call Ronan with the next meeting details. I need to strike now.
“I’ll get everything over to ya as soon as I can,” Darcy says, knowing better than to press.
“Thanks. I really appreciate it. I don’t want to scare ya, but…be careful, will ya?”
“I don’t scare easy, but I will,” she replies, getting into her car. “I’ll be in touch once I have everythin’ ya asked for.”
Nodding, I watch as she starts the engine and descends the drive. Once she’s gone, I sigh as I’m already knackered, and it’s not even ten o’clock yet. My phone sounds, and I see it’s a text from Brody.
Noon. Come alone.
Ironically, I trust Brody because we want the same thing, but working with him kills me. To get what I want, I have to trust the man I hate just as much as Sean. But Brody is less dangerous. Sean has the ability to cause irreparable damage.
He already has.
Walking into my empty house, I send Hannah a text and bend to her wishes of decorating my home however she wishes. I don’t expect Babydoll to be back, but just in case.
Hannah texts back an array of happy emojis.
I know she’ll work her magic, and when I return, I won’t recognize the place.
I shower and get ready for my meeting with Brody, not that I can prepare for the unexpected. Even though I doubt I’ll need it, I reach into the chimney of the brick fireplace where I’ve hidden the bag of weapons and grab the flick knife.
Placing it into my boot, I leave my credit card for Hannah in the bedroom and lock up. She has her own key, so she can come over when she’s ready. Jumping into my truck, I commence the journey I never thought I’d travel again.
I’m on edge, checking my surroundings to ensure I’m not being followed. Sean’s ballsy attack proves he’s not afraid to make his motivations very public. But I think he’s laying low, waiting and watching to see how I respond to his attack.
I too am waiting as today’s meeting will determine the future.
The moment I turn down the deserted road, a flood of emotion overwhelms me. It was here, a new chapter commenced. It’s not changed much in the past ten years. I begin to think about the day that changed my life forever.
I would have done so many things differently, like not trust Sean. But he is a master manipulator, making me believe he actually gave a f**k about me. I wonder when my ma found this out for herself. I clench the steering wheel at the thought.
Her memory has faded over time, and I don’t know if the things I do recall are genuine memories or if it’s my mind making up accounts of her. But something that hasn’t faded is the need to avenge her, and at this moment, I realize it’s to avenge Connor as well.
He took his last breath here trying to protect me.
“Don’t trust…Sean.”
He went to the grave not privy to the fact that Sean is my real father. He believed it was Brody, or whoever else Sean brainwashed him into believing it could be. But something twigged at the last minute for him to use his last dying breath to utter those words.
It has me wondering if that’s why he left nothing to Sean in his will.
There is only one man who can answer that, and he’s the reason I pull up behind the black BMW parked on the side of the road. I don’t want to be here, making a deal with the devil, but he’s merely a means to an end—a bloody end where those who wronged me, and those I love, pay with their lives.
The door opens, and out limps a wounded Brody Doyle. The sight pleases me immensely.
He reaches into the car, and when he retrieves a cane, I smile. This fucker suffering is not even a sliver of what he deserves. But his karma is coming…
I exit the truck and meet Brody halfway as he continues hobbling along the gravel road. Folding my arms across my chest, I remain poker-faced because I can’t guarantee that both of us will be standing by the end of this conversation.
Brody’s dark sunglasses hide his eyes, but they don’t conceal the small red wounds all over his face. They’re too small to be stitched up, but they’re obvious enough for me to see he too suffered as I did. However, I thankfully don’t need a cane for assistance.
This has made Brody weak, something he no doubt hates.
“Is Camilla all right? She will not answer my calls,” he says, which surprises me because it sounds like he actually cares for her well-being.
“Do ya blame her?” I counter, shrugging. “All y’ve done is hurt her.”
“Ach, I know that,” he spits, angered. “But with two of my children now dead, she and Liam are all that I have left.”
“Ya should have thought about that before ye used her for yer own sick games.” I’m not touched by his newfound revelation. It shouldn’t take the deaths of his kids to realize this. Does he really think she’ll forgive him after everything he’s done?
He clenches his jaw but doesn’t retaliate.
“Yer dad is going to pay for what he’s done,” Brody promises, gripping the gold topper of his cane.
“Finally, somethin’ we agree on. Let’s hope it’s not too late.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, for Sean to be able to blow up yer pub, he’s in deeper than I thought. It won’t be long until he takes ya down.”
Brody curls his lip, livid, but he knows I speak the truth. “So what do ya suggest I do?”
“First, yer goin’ to answer some questions, and yer goin’ to be honest.”
Brody reluctantly nods.
“Before Connor was killed, he said there was a deal made between ye? I want to know what it was.”
“We had a deal. Why would ya break it? Why now?”
That’s what Connor said to Brody before s**t hit the fan. I want to know why Connor would make a deal with Brody. It’ll help me understand him better. It’ll also make me feel a little less guilty for doing the same thing.
“Connor came to me after yer ma…died.” He decides to use the less gruesome term, knowing I will rip out his tongue for the fact that she was murdered because of him. “He didn’t want any more bloodshed, so we made a deal—he would not seek retribution for Cara only if I promised to stay out of Belfast forever.
“Our families have been at war for generations, but Connor had power like no other Kelly we’d seen before. I knew if he found out the entire truth, he’d put an end to the Doyles for good. That’s why I agreed to help Sean deal with yer aul’ man.”
On instinct, I punch him straight in the jaw.
Brody’s head snaps back with a crack, and I rein in the urge to punch him again. “Don’t you dare speak so casually ’bout what ye did,” I warn, ensuring he knows my threat isn’t empty.
“Ya wanted the truth, so here it is,” he says, spitting out a mouthful of blood. “Connor would be fine with me f*****g his wife, but if he knew I was workin’ with Sean, that would be unforgivable. Sean had that over me.
“But I agreed because I knew it would hurt Connor, and after he hurt my family for generations, I was more than happy to give him what he deserved.”
Clenching my fists, I take three calming breaths. I wanted the truth, and no matter how painful it is, I need to know it. “Why would ya trust Sean? He is a Kelly, after all.”
“Sean offered me a partnership, and I couldn’t say no. Once yer ma was gone, Sean took a step back. I think he was worried yer da would find out he was the one who organized it. But his greed could only lay dormant for so long.
“The rest, ya know how that goes. We worked together as we were stronger. We could put our differences aside as working with Sean was more profitable than him being dead.
“But then he got greedy.”
“Ya both did,” I amend, disgusted with them both. “I can’t believe the aul’ lad didn’t see it. How did he not know Sean was goin’ behind his back?”
“Sean is a very good liar,” Brody says. “He’s also a f*****g psychopath.”
“So he is,” I agree. “I suppose I didn’t see it either.”
“No one did. People are just playthings to him. Once they stop being valuable, he disposes of them like nothing but rubbish. That’s what he was planning on doing to me.”
“Ack, dry yer eyes,” I spit, not interested in his sob story. “Ya made yer choice. Ya got in bed with the devil once ya agreed to kill my ma. Sean had that over ya. He’s always been ten steps ahead of us all.”
Brody’s nostrils flare because the truth hurts. “I don’t trust ya, bucko.”
With a chuckle, I reply, “Good, ya shouldn’t.”
I want to make that clear. Just because we’re forced to work together doesn’t mean he’s going to leave this with his life intact. Once I get what I want, he’ll go down too.
“If this is going to work, then we both need collateral on the other,” he wisely says. “So what happened with Sean won’t happen with you.”
“All right, sounds fair.”
Brody smirks, and I know what he’s about to say next will change the course of everything. “So, whose life do ya want to gamble with?”
Money, land, and possessions are all meaningless to us because this collateral has to be one worth fighting for.
It seems fairly obvious what choice I’ll make. “Mine.”
Brody’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline, surprised by my choice. “Yers?”
“Aye, no life is more important than mine,” I reply firmly. This is true to some degree. But I’m not prepared to gamble with the lives of those I love.
“If I double-cross ya…and ya catch me,” I add with a smirk. “Then I won’t fight ya. A’ll go down without a fight.”
Brody doesn’t seem too happy with this bargain, but too bad. This is my final offer. However, I don’t plan on getting caught.
“I’m just meant to trust ya, is it?” he asks, incredulous. “Ye killed my son and my brother, and God knows who else. I need more.”
“There is no more, Brody. My life for yers. Seems fair as ya took the life of my ma. A life for a life.”
Brody weighs over my demands, realizing there is no room to negotiate. “If ya f**k me over, lad, y’ll pay.”
- Writer
