“I will kill your man, Fitzpatrick, don’t think I won’t!” Albescu’s fingers tighten on Paddy’s throat. Fuck.
“Safe passage out of -.”
A gunshot rings out, my words cutting off, the air silent and still around the reverberating sound.
Albescu drops, blood spilling from his head and the large hole where his right eye used to be. I’m looking around wildly, trying to figure out where the fuck the shot came from when I see Paddy, who is staring in horrified fascination at my feet.
Looking down, I stare in shock at Tig sitting up, blood pouring from her right shoulder, my gun gripped in her left hand, raised, pointing at Paddy, where she’s just shot her fucking father through the eye to save Paddy’s fucking life.
“That was a fucking risky shot, Tiggy,” Paddy breathes, staring down at her. My fucking wife smirks up at him, though it’s more of a grimace through the pain of the fucking bullet wound in her shoulder.
“Less risky when you don’t care if you miss,” she drawls, smiling at Paddy, who stares at her for a beat and smiles back at her. The first genuine smile the lad has ever bestowed on her.
“Good point.”
He nods, crossing to where Niall has moved to staunch the blood flow at her shoulder.
“Through and through,” Niall grunts, whipping off his T-shirt to wrap around her shoulder. Once the bullethole is covered, Paddy helps me lift her so we can get her to a fucking doctor.
Chapter Twenty-One
TIGGY
They take me to Sean Fitzpatrick’s house. Again. Apart from one dinner party, the only times I’ve been here is because my father organized for me to be injured. Not great for building fond memories of the place.
The doctor they summon isn’t Sean Fitzpatrick's lover but a surgeon. I have never been shot before – and hope I never am again – but I think this might be overkill.
He pokes and prods me, examining the wound and the front and back of my shoulder, and affirms Niall’s opinion that it was a through and through.
I grip Seamus’s hand tightly as the surgeon stitches me up. He also dopes me up on painkillers, which makes me feel removed from reality.
As I’m spacing out, lying on the sofa, Seamus’s fingers swirling circles over my hand, the rest of the lads come in. Seamus made them all leave when the surgeon cut my shirt off. Niall, Paddy, Seamus, and I are now all wearing shirts Sean Fitzpatrick has provided, as all our clothes were blood-spattered. Sean and Darragh follow them in, so I know I’m not about to be allowed to drift off to sleep. Boo.
“What happened, Tiggy?” Sean asks, taking a seat in a wing-backed chair across from us. Darragh is standing behind him, Paddy sitting in another armchair while the rest of the lads stand around the room.
I tense, and Seamus sighs, lifting me into his lap and cradling me, my head resting against his shoulder as his fingers stroke through my hair and his lips skim my hairline.
“There was a bang in the backyard, and Liam went to look at it. He told me to stay where I was, and I had my kitchen knife. It was I-Ivan.” My voice wavers, and Seamus’s grip tightens on me. “He told me that my marriage to Seamus was over, and it was time I went back h-home.”
A low, angry growl rumbles out of Seamus, his face flashing with darkness. Sean throws him a warning look, and he grits his teeth, burying his face in my hair.
“What happened next,leannán?” Seamus murmurs.
I grimace. All the blood. That’s what happened next.
“I told him I wasn’t going anywhere. He didn’t like that and tried to grab me. I was h-holding the knife….”
My voice trails off, the silence in the room broken by Niall.
“Why was your handprint on the cabinet?”
The scene flashes in front of my mind, and bile rises in my throat. I take a deep, shaky breath and nod, Seamus’s lips pressing a kiss in my hair above me.
“I cut his arm and then grabbed it. I wanted to distract him. He grabbed at me again, and I stabbed his leg. I fell over and landed against the cabinet.”
“And they took you?” Sean prompts. I nod, sniffling as a tear leaks from my eyes.
“They knocked me out, and I woke up in the warehouse with my father.”