Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, she was murdered the same night. The prick killed the mother; Fiona intervened and jumped him in an attempt to stop him. According to her report, he turned his hunting knife on her, and somehow she got it from him.”
“Poor Fiona,” Kane murmured beside him, chewing on the side of his thumb.
“That’s so scary,” Clare agreed.
The rest of the room awkwardly came into view as Kieran was reminded he wasn’t alone. This conversation was anything but private. Kieran didn’t feel any calmer now that he knew; instead, his mind was reeling. “I don’t understand. She’s so sweet. How can someone go through that and not be completely fucked up? This has to be a mistake. There has to be more to the story.”
“If I walked in on someone hurting Ma, guaran-fucking-tee they wouldn’t be walking out of that room alive, and I wouldn’t give it another thought,” Rory spoke up.
“Even hypothetically, let’s not paint murder scenes about me,” Dee interjected. “But I’m with Rory on this one, Kieran. She’s still a sweet girl who just happens to have a messier background than you thought.”
“She is,” Seamus added. “Your mother and I knew about her past before we let her move in, and we didn’t have an issue with it.”
“You knew, too?” Kieran turned to his father in confusion.
Seamus shrugged. “You know I wouldn’t let anyone in our house I hadn’t checked out first. Some of my contacts looked into her, and I felt confident that her version of the event was accurate. I also think it was a fluke that he ended up dying from it; she seemed to just be trying to stop him. Plus, I’m not really in a place to judge people for their past behaviors, and I didn’t raise any of you to be like that, either. You certainly shouldn’t be, Kieran.”
Kieran was reminded of his father’s background with the Mafia but was surprised that he’d known this information about Fiona’s past but had never said anything to him. He’d never even treated Fiona differently; he’d been nothing but kind to her, from what Kieran had seen. Seamus had even helped him get Shea into a great school. Right then and there, Kieran decided he was going to do the same thing as his father.
He was not going to judge.
Fiona had hidden her past from him, had even been upset at him for doing the same thing. She’d pushed him away again and again since the first day they met, and now he knew the real reason why. He saw the shame on her face when she’d fled the room moments before. She was refusing to allow herself to find happiness, because she didn’t think she deserved it.
But she was wrong. She deserved everything, and he was going to be the one to give it to her.
Chapter 24
A crashing sound came from the back of the house almost as soon as Fiona had closed the front door of her mother’s house behind her. Frowning, she glanced at her watch. She was about thirty minutes later than when she’d promised to pick up her little sister, but she couldn’t imagine Shea would be so upset about that that she’d be having a tantrum already.
Truthfully, she was a bit annoyed she had to come at all—her mother knew how hard she was working to make her flower shop successful. She’d opened it only a month ago, and the thought of paying back that bank loan was already terrifying. Fiona had a weak spot when it came to Shea, though, so if their mother needed help, she would be there.
Plus, tonight was for a good reason. Fiona pulled her coat off and tossed it onto a chair by the front door as she thought about her stepfather. Her mother swore she was finally kicking him to the curb tonight. Fiona spent as little time as possible around him, mainly because of how crude and unkind he was when he was drunk. And he was drunk all the time.
Another crash sounded, and maybe…a scream?
Fiona’s muscles tensed as she paused and glanced around the empty living room. “Mom? Shea?”
No one answered her calls until a second scream resounded from the back room. Her body burst to life as she raced through the house, stopping short when she found Shea sitting in front of her mother’s open bedroom door, crying. She was angled partway between the wall and the door, with her knees held tight against her chest and her arms wrapped around herself.
“Shea? What’s wrong?” Fiona started to ask, but the moment she reached her sister, she saw what was going on in the bedroom. Her mother was flat on the bed, their stepfather kneeling over her. His hands were gripped around her throat, and her hands were scratching at his arms in an attempt to get free. Her flailing legs were kicking all of the nightstand’s contents to the floor.