“Lucy.” Flint interrupts her.
The relief deepens, becoming something dangerously close to hope. I crush it immediately. Even if she wasn't unfaithful, even if she truly loved me then, it doesn't erase what her family did to mine.
"I don't need relationship advice from people who barely know Keira—or me."
Lucy steps forward. "We know enough. We know you're punishing her for crimes she didn't commit."
"You don't know what she did or didn't do," I snap.
"Actually, I do." Lucy meets my glare without flinching. "I've spent my career investigating people, Phoenix. I know when someone's lying. Keira isn't."
Flint puts a protective hand on his wife's shoulder, but she shrugs it off.
"You're so consumed with revenge, you can't see what's right in front of you," Lucy continues, her voice softening. "A woman who never stopped loving you, even when she thought you were dead."
"Lucy," Flint warns, but she ignores him.
"Your anger toward Hampton and Lana is justified. What they did to your family was unforgivable. But Keira isn't them." She gestures toward the ceiling, where Keira is presumably in her room. "You're punishing her for having the wrong parentswhile forcing her to marry you. Do you even hear how twisted that is?"
The room falls silent, my brothers and their wives watching me warily.
"You think I don't know that?" I finally say, my voice low. "You think I haven't considered the possibility that she was as much a victim as we were?"
"Then why treat her like this?" Lucy presses.
"Because this isn't a romance novel, Lucy. Not everyone gets a happily ever after."
"They could, if you'd let go of your need for vengeance,” Jenna says, apparently following Lucy’s lead for boldness.
"Some things can't be forgiven," I say, thinking of my parents' bodies, charred beyond recognition. Of my brothers, traumatized and forced into hiding. Of the decade we lost. "Some wounds don't heal."
"They won't if you keep reopening them," she counters.
I look at her, wondering why she doesn’t get it. “They’ve never closed, Lucy.” I look at my brothers thinking they must feel the same. And yet, in them I don’t see the open wound I live with. Flint is healed because of Lucy. And Blaise through Jenna. Even Ash, who I thought was more broken than me after losing our parents and Meghan, he’s whole again because of Hannah. I suppose they’d all say because of love.
I had love once. Only once. With Keira. Lucy seems to think I could have it again. But as brave as I am in a gunfight, I’m not sure I have the courage to hand her the one thing she may have squashed ten years ago. My heart.
21
KEIRA
Icollapse onto the edge of my bed, kicking off the heels that have been pinching my feet all afternoon. For a few hours, I almost felt normal. Shopping with Lucy, Jenna, and Hannah was the closest thing to freedom I've experienced since Phoenix stormed back into my life with vengeance in his eyes.
The women were kind, surprisingly so. They didn't treat me like the enemy, didn't look at me with the same contempt Phoenix does. Even so, I’m not really a part of them and can’t believe I ever will be. I'm a Kean. The name that once gave me privilege now brands me as something to be despised. The daughter of the man who destroyed the Ifrinn family. The blood of traitors runs through my veins and Phoenix won’t let anyone forget it, least of all me.
They have real marriages. Real children they love. I have a sham of a life, a groom who can’t stand me, and a daughter I can’t claim.
I move to my desk where the wedding plans are spread out in meticulous detail. The seating chart for fifty of Boston's most powerful families. The menu cards listing the seven-coursedinner. The loyalty pledge ceremony that will precede our vows, Phoenix’s way of cementing his return to power.
And somewhere in that carefully orchestrated chaos, Nanny Fiona will slip away with Brigit. The thought makes my chest tighten. I may never see my daughter again.
The house feels eerily quiet tonight. The guards Phoenix assigned to watch me have changed shifts, and the new one seems less attentive than his predecessor.
Perfect timing to check on Brigit.
I smooth my hair and straighten my blouse, preparing a plausible excuse about needing to discuss flower girl details if anyone questions me. My heart aches knowing these stolen moments with my daughter are numbered. Soon, she'll be gone, whisked away to safety while I remain trapped with Phoenix.
Just as I reach for the doorknob, it turns on its own. I step back quickly, my pulse racing as the door swings open to reveal Phoenix standing in the hallway.
