29. Bree

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"She's nothing to me."Declan's words are running inside my head on an endless, hurtful loop from hell.

I've never been so devastated in my life. I've never been in love before, and I didn't know it could hurt this much.

"He doesn't mean it." Lara reaches for me, but I'm already running back up the stairs to the guest room I've been sleeping in.

I slam into a wall of man, though, and arms go around me.

I try to fight, thinking it might be Declan, but I look up into faded gray eyes.

Patrick.

My lip starts to tremble, and he gathers me into his arms, and I can't help starting to sob, burying my face in his broad chest.

He rubs my back, singing something in a different language—Gaelic, I suppose. It's comforting, and I lean against him, sniffling.

Finally, I pull away, and he smiles down at me.

"Why don't you come into my office?" he asks softly, and I worry for a slight second that he may be angry with me.

It's not like mobsters tell you outright that they're going to kill you.

But at this point, does it even matter?

I follow him into the office, and he gestures to the couch.

I sit down, pulling my legs up beneath me.

"You know what I've done. Who I am."

"Yes." Patrick nods. "I do."

"Are you... are you going to kill me?"

Patrick snorts. "No, no, a'stor. Nothing like that. Not over this."

"I know how this kind of stuff works."

"Do you, now?" Patrick gives me a slight smile and raising a silver eyebrow. "Please, enlighten me."

I sigh. "Someone betrays you; you get rid of them."

"Maybe that"s the way Niall Murphy does things, but you get more than one chance in the Burke clan."

"Really?" It seems crazy to me that he wouldn't be brutal and swift with his punishment.

"Speaking of Murphy…" He takes his phone to slide across the desk toward me. "You can call him, if you want."

I stare at him, starting to tremble. "You don't mean that."

"I do. All I ask is that you stay in this room while you talk to him."

I just keep looking at the phone, and finally, I pick it up and dial my father's number.

"Hello?"

There's a lot of background sound, like he"s throwing a dinner party or something.

My blood starts boiling.

"Daidí?"

"Bree," he breathes. "Where are you? Have the Burkes let you go?"

"No," I state. "And I don't want to go."

My father pauses for a long moment. "What was that?"

"I said I don't want to go. I know what you did. They told me what you did to their family, and I don't want anything to do with it or you."

He snorts. "Oh, so they've filled your pretty head with lies, have they? I didn't know you"d turn traitor so easily, Bree." He pauses and then mutters something I can barely understand under his breath, but I know it's about my mother.

"What did you say?"

"I said you are just like your mother."

"What are you talking about?" I stand up. "Did… did you do something to her?"

I don't want to believe he could stoop so low, he could be this much of a monster. But he killed Declan's mom knowing who she was. Could he have done the same with mine?

He wouldn't, right?

He loved her.

My head spins.

"Did. You. Do. Something. To. Her?" Ice and fire run through my veins. I need this answer, but I'm not sure I'm ready for it.

He's silent on the other line for a long moment.

"Same thing I do to all traitors."

My world crumbles as my heart shatters. I can hardly breathe, but he will not get the satisfaction of witnessing me break. "Is that supposed to be an answer or a threat?"

"It's a warning, wean. I love you, but I won't hesitate to kill you before you become a Burke, a dog traitor."

"Too late," I hiss. "You should have rescued me like you were supposed to. Back then, my eyes were still blinded to who you are. Now, it's too late. I'm not a Murphy anymore. I disown you. I'm a Burke now, and I'll be the first in line to make sure you get everything coming to you, Niall Murphy."

I hang up the phone, sliding it back across the desk and putting my face in my hands, sobbing. My mother didn't abandon me at all. She was hurt, maybe killed, by Niall Murphy.

He really is the monster Declan claims he is. He is the snake.

And all this time, I've been a pawn in his fucking chess game.

Patrick comes around the desk to crouch and comfort me, drawing me into his arms.

"I"ve ruined everything!" I sob into his chest, and Patrick chuckles, stroking my hair.

"Declan will calm down, a'stor. The truth of the matter is… I don't really blame you, and once he stops being a hothead, he won't, either. You were taken from your family, from everything you ever knew."

"Y-You mean it?" I stutter. "You're not like, lulling me into a false sense of security so you can stab me in the back?"

He laughs out loud. "By god, you're a suspicious soul. I like that about you. It'll keep Declan on his toes. No harm will come to you over this." He pauses, looking at me with a small smile on his face. "You're perfect for Declan, you know?"

I shrink back, withdrawing into myself.

"He hates me."

"There's a very thin line between love and hate, Bree. He's upset with you right now, upset with himself, but he doesn't hate you. If he did, he wouldn't be losing his mind right now. He loves you. Just like you love him."

"I do love him," I whisper, and Patrick smiles wider.

"I know you do, sweetheart. And he knows it, too. He'll come around. It'll all work out."

I stand up, my legs a bit shaky, and Patrick gives me one last hug before I walk out of the office, still sniffling.

Lara meets me in the hallway, holding a champagne glass that appears to be full of orange juice.

"How about mimosas and a horror movie on the big screen?" she suggests.

I blink at her. "You don't... hate me? Don't you know what I did?"

She scoffs. "You did the same thing any of us would have done in your position. Declan's being a dick about it, but he'll get over it. You're our sister, Bree. Of course, we don't hate you."

She takes my arm. "Now. Paige is waiting for us. She says she needs this one last night here with the three of us together, and she'll start her new life tomorrow."

Tears spring to my eyes all over again, but this time, I manage to fight them back and let Lara lead me into the entertainment den.

Paige already has a slasher queued up, and she grins at me.

"You're here!" she exclaims. "I thought she'd never talk you out of bed."

"She didn't. Your father did."

"Knew the old man was good for something."

I sip my mimosa, and she's already pouring more in my glass. I pull my glass back a little, but Paige frowns.

"If anyone needs this, you do," she says, and I nod after a moment.

"I guess you're right."

Champagne doesn't tend to give me the headache that wine or liquor does, so I suck down my mimosa and let her refill it.

Two hours later, the movie is over and I'm laughing, doubled over, at Paige's impression of one of the dead teenagers.

"Thought I'd never hear that laugh again," Lara comments, and I smile at her, sobering somewhat. My vision is doubling but I feel lighter and freer than I have in a long time.

Everyone knows what I did, and the world didn't end.

I know Declan hates me, and I know I deserve it. He'll probably hate me forever.

The only thing keeping me going now is the hope that Patrick might be right.

He might never love me again, and I don't know if he'll ever forgive me, but I'll do everything I can to show him that I'm sorry. I'll do everything in my power to make it up to the Burkes.

I'll show Declan, show all of them, that I belong with them. That this is where I want to be. That I am worthy of being a Burke. If they'll have me.

"I'm glad you became a Burke, Bree," Paige squeezes my hand, a little tipsy, and I smile at her.

"I"m happy that I did, too." And I mean it.

My life was a lot emptier before the Burkes took me from my father, and I was living a lie. I didn't know the kind of monster my father truly was, and now that I know, I know that I don't want anything to do with him.

Talking to him on the phone had only exacerbated that truth.

He is a snake, just like Declan always said. The problem is, Declan thinks that I'm one, too.

"Don"t start getting glum," Lara warns.

"I can't help it," I mutter. "Declan's so mad at me."

"He gets mad at the drop of a hat," Paige scoffs. "He'll be over it in a couple of days."

I hum, not so sure about that. "I don't even know why I did it."

"Because you were scared," Lara suggests. "I'd be scared if I was alone in enemy territory. You didn't know that we were good people."

"I don't even know if we're good people," Paige jokes, and I can't help but bark out a surprised laugh.

"Morality is pretty gray around these parts," Lara agrees, and she flips through the streaming service to find the sequel to the slasher. "Now, drink up. Every time you hear a scream."

I chuckle and we go back to watching and drinking.

By the time the movie is over, Paige is passed out on the chair, and Lara and I are fading fast.

"Why don't you stay in my room?" Lara suggests. "You shouldn't be by yourself right now."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not." She pauses. "Besides, I have to get you to help me carry Paige to bed."

I laugh, and we help Paige up, getting her to her room. Paige snorts, but she's snoring as her head hits the pillow.

Lara leads me into her bedroom, and it's just as neat as I had imagined. We've been in Paige's fairly messy room a lot, but I don't know if I've ever seen Lara's.

She has portraits up of the Burke family on the wall, and there's a huge bookcase in the corner.

"You read all these?"

"Not yet." She smiles. "But some of them I've read a dozen times."

"I know how that goes. I have my favorites, too."

Lara hums, tossing me a shorts set to wear to bed. It's a little long on me because she's taller, but it fits well. I slide into the bed and moan at the feel of the silk sheets.

"Nice, right?"

"It's wonderful," I mumble, the alcohol finally getting to me and making my head spin. "Lara?"

"Yeah?"

She flips off the light and gets into bed.

"You really think Declan will forgive me?"

"I think he already has. I just don't think he knows it yet."

I murmur something under my breath and I'm not even sure what it is, and then I'm drifting off into sleep.

It's not dreamless, though.

I stand on a beach, my toes in the sand, my butt on a beach towel.

"Baby?" someone calls, and when I turn my head, it's Declan, his blue eyes fond and soft as he looks at me.

"How'd we get here?" I look around. I have no idea where this is.

The ocean air feels good on my face, the sun beating down on my shoulders. I can feel everything so vividly I wonder if I'm awake or asleep.

"I'm not sure." He is smiling. "But aren't you glad we're here?"

I look down, and I'm wearing a wedding dress, not the pretty dress that Paige loaned me on my wedding, but a real wedding dress, with a train and embroidered shapes on the skirt.

I look over at Declan, and he's wearing a tuxedo.

"I thought we already did this."

"Not for real."

And then instead of sitting, we're standing under an arch, and he cups my face in his hand and kisses me. "Mrs. Burke,"

"Declan?"

His voice sounds farther and farther away, and his hands are slipping from mine.

Panic rolls through me.

"You'll never be a Burke," he snarls, and now he's ten feet away from me.

Now twenty.

Now thirty and I can barely see his face, but I can hear his voice loud and clear. "You'll always be a Murphy snake."

"Wait!" I cry out as he starts to disappear, but then he's gone, and all I can feel is the tears on my face.

I wake up with a start, and Lara rolls over, still sleeping.

My heart beats out of my chest.

Are Lara and Patrick right?

Or is my dream a prophecy of sorts?