“All of this was because I wanted you by my side.”
“Is that why my son is dead?” I challenge.
“I want you to really think about this for a minute. Every single person involved made a choice—yer ma, Connor, Ethan, Cami, Rory, everyone. I never forced anyone to do anythin’ they didn’t want to do.”
“What about my choice?” I scream, angered he is still trying to make me believe he gives a fuck about me. But the more he speaks, the harder it is to deny the truth.
I should be dead. And the fact I’m not isn’t because of luck. Sean has stuck to his claim of wanting to rule with me since I confronted him in this very factory. I was the one who refused. There once was a time I trusted him with my life.
He was the person I went to when Connor couldn’t control his temper.
“You have every right to hate me. I killed yer ma and made ya watch. I am a monster.”
I wait for something more, but there isn’t anything else.
Sean has lied to me about many things, but he’s never lied about wanting to rule alongside me. He’s made that very clear. Has he kept me alive, hoping I would have a change of heart?
He comes to a stand, reaching into his pocket for a knife. I brace for death, but it doesn’t come. Sean instead cuts the ropes binding me, granting me freedom.
This must be a trick, but when he stands in front of me, giving me a choice, I see this isn’t a trick; this is him surrendering.
His claim that everyone made a choice is correct. No one was forced into doing anything they didn’t want to. The brutal consequences were a result of their choices. And I hate that Sean is right.
“What do you want?” I ask, keeping my hands to myself—for now.
“I told ya. Let me leave with my life, and y’ll never see me again.”
“Are you thick? You double-crossed me—again. You made a deal with Annette! You lied to me—again. Shay is dead! You sacrificed yer own grandson for yer greed!”
But another fucking plot twist is about to be dropped.
“No, Punky, he’s not dead.”
Spinning, I see Babydoll and Cian enter the factory with Alek. Sean doesn’t seem surprised to see them. What the fuck is going on? Did he call them?
Babydoll throws her arms around me, hugging me tight. “Shay is all right.”
“How?” It’s all I can vocalize right now.
“Sean.”
Gently breaking our embrace, I put her out at arm’s distance, begging her to explain. “He was wearing a bulletproof vest. Sean made sure of it.”
“What?” I gasp, looking at Sean.
“It worked for me,” he says with regret. “I knew Annette wouldn’t let him live. I had to protect him. Grady knew what to do.”
Sean saved him? No, I will not accept it.
“I don’t get it. You grew a conscience ’cause you knew ye’d lost?”
“I can’t explain it, just how you can’t explain why you can’t kill me.”
“Did he make a deal with you?” I ask Alek, who stands off to the side. I can’t wait to punch him in his fucking smug face.
“No, he didn’t. Annette was the one who did.”
This doesn’t make sense. Sean had the opportunity to finally have it all. He could have gone behind my back and made a deal with Alek, but he didn’t.
“Why was Shay there?”
“Because I needed Annette to think she’d won. This was the only way for you to assert yer control. The plan never changed. The players did, but in the end, y’ve showed the world who the real leader is. No one can win against you. No one will try.
“Not even me. Which is why I ask you to let me leave with my life. I saved yer son’s life, in good faith, and now I hope y’ll save mine.”
Sean reaches into the small of his back and offers me his gun. Is this supposed to be the equivalent to a white flag?
So many lives have been lost, and now Sean has had a change of heart because he knows he can’t win. This feels like a cop-out. All of this was for nothing.
“The choice is yours. Kill him, or let him go. What can you live with on your conscience for the rest of your life?” Alek questions with interest.
“This is a trick,” I state, but Sean shakes his head. “Yer men are waitin’ for yer command. Just like they were when blood was spilled on this very floor.”
“I have no men,” Sean confesses with sincerity. “Do you really think I’d be beggin’ for my life if I did? They don’t serve me. They never have. They serve you.”
And he is right. No one is loyal to him any longer because no one wants to follow a fallen king.
I always expected the ending to be engulfed in gunfire and bloodshed. I think that’s what we all expected. The obvious ending would be us fighting, me being near fatally wounded as I tried to protect my loved ones, only to triumph and kill the bad guys. It would be good versus evil.
But maybe this is the plot twist? Maybe there is no blood. Maybe there is only redemption.
For my entire life, I’ve sought answers. But some questions don’t have any. They just are.
“What will ya do, Puck? I’m givin’ you a choice, somethin’ you were never given before. What will you choose?”
Looking at the gun in my hand, I know what I should do—I should let him go because if I kill him, I’ll be an even bigger monster than he is. He is nothing, a pathetic shadow of who he strived to be.
That’s what I should do…
Sean sighs, relieved I’ve chosen to spare him. But that’s where he’s wrong. This started with my mum, and it’s time it ended with her. It’s time I let her go.
“Goodbye, Ma.”
Without remorse, I shoot Sean between the eyes, watching with no emotion as he drops to the ground with a hallowed thud. He’s dead; he’s dead for real this time. The gunshot echoes long after it rings out, filling the silence because it appears no one expected me to choose the way I did. But it’s a choice I’ll never regret.
Dropping to a squat, I dip three fingers in Sean’s pooling blood and strike them down the center of my forehead. I did what I promised. I killed the three men who killed my ma.
Turning to look at Alek, I smirk wickedly.
He merely yawns in response.
Coming to a stand, I point the gun at him.
“I assume our deal is off then?” he says smartly.
“You assume correctly.”
“Lucky I crossed my fingers when we made that deal then.”
I have no idea what this Russian lunatic is going on about. Honestly, I don’t care.
“I learned long ago that the first man to run into battle is usually the bravest. It takes a true leader to do that. I knew you had it in you, you just needed a little push. And I pushed you because I knew you didn’t want to give it away.
“When I heard what you did to Brody, I organized this shipment with Liam, hoping, no, knowing we would meet. I knew Liam wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut, wishing to brag about how he could fill his father’s shoes.
“Plant the seeds and watch them grow,” Alek wisely says. “Austin paid an ‘accidental’ visit to Ron, which put the idea in his head to connect us.”
“And ye couldn’t have just organized a meetin’ with me? Why did you go to all this trouble?”