Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
“Unfortunately, Lennox’s oldest son didn’t like the idea. He also didn’t like the fact that O’Shea was next in line.”
“Let me guess. He had O’Shea killed,” I grumble.
“Aye, that day would come. O’Shea met and married during one of his visits to America. He brought his wife and daughter back to Scotland with him. Not one of them was Scottish born, but the clan was going to O’Shea.
“O’Shea was killed in a car accident when Raven was nineteen, going on twenty. Raven and her mother returned to America. However, Lennox was pissed and determined to stick it to his sons. The other three hadn’t helped Archie, but they hadn’t stopped him either.
“Raven wasn’t Scottish born or a McDougal by blood, fine. He placed a ton of assets in her name that still served the Alliance in the end. Same for Deja. Angus met and married her mother soon after she was born. Deja’s mother was widowed, losing her active-duty husband,” Logan says.
“But Ciara is a Walsh through and through. She has McDougal blood in her veins, as does Ciarán,” I say as I start putting the pieces together for myself.
“Aye, she is the true heiress. The McDougal clan belongs to her. The will names her as Lennox’s successor.
“That was Grandda Ian’s big fuck ya to Oland. He may have been dying from cancer, but everything was in place for us. I promised him we would see it through. The Alliance comes to life from Ciara’s inheritance and succession.”
“Oland had her mother and father killed in hopes he’d get to her too,” I breathe in the knowledge as the pieces finally lock in.
“Aye. Theo Young was supposed to kill her and her brother, not raise them as his own. However, once he learned of their inheritance from their mother and father, he kept them and forged documents to steal their money.
“Our dear oul grandda accounted for everything except me. I started the rumor that ya were in the will. Ciara would only gain it all after an arranged marriage to ya. Instead of killing Theo Young for his disobedience, Oland paid him to keep her away from us, especially ya, until he could figure out how to use ya to gain control of the estate.
“That brought us the time we needed to find the true will that somehow disappeared after O’Shea’s death. Lennox had placed it in O’Shea’s wife’s possession right before he died from a heart attack. Queeny handed it over to Orla Murphy for safekeeping once Donald and Angus turned up dead.”
“And ya didn’t tell me all of this. Ya gave me half of the truth because ya knew I would find and kill that son of a bitch.” I seethe.
“Aye, we didn’t have the will until today. Theo Young has played a bigger part in all of this for a while. We couldn’t wipe him off the board until we were sure he hadn’t found the will himself to manipulate the situation.
“We hadn’t known the full story of why Oland chose him and allowed him to live for so long. What we did know was that he had already tried to bargain with empty hands. As for Ciara, he hasn’t counted his losses yet.
“He believes he still has options. There’s been a lot of back-and-forth; the McDougal clan has kept him thinking they don’t care for her safety, although they’ve warned us to keep her safe.
“They wouldn’t allow her to take her rightful place without the will or the original Alliance argument. Ciara’s surviving uncles aren’t against her taking over if the will says so.
“They plan to honor the Alliance as well. They just want proof. Ken has kept things going in her absence. Orla was a fierce woman herself, and she was adamant that they all honor their father’s wishes.
“I get the feeling she didn’t know what all was hidden in the black box she had in her possession. However, she trusted me to keep Raven, Ciara, and Deja safe from all of this,” Logan replies.
“Ya knew, ya fucking knew what they meant to us. Why not tell us?” Cole says, sounding lost.
“The only people who knew were those who needed to know. We didn’t want to place them in more danger. Oland had been trying to find a way to get to them and hurt them.
“He needed control of them or their assets. He didn’t care if that meant dead or alive. I fucking fell in love with her. He killed Raven because she was the least valuable to him and because I’ve always defied him and it would fucking gut me.”
“Ya motherfucker, ya let me believe this was all my fault,” Brooklyn growls.
“It is. Ya fucking hothead,” Logan snarls. “She’s dead because ya took things into yer own hands.”
“Fuck ya.” Brooklyn takes a swing at Logan, and all hell breaks loose.