Thy Kingdom Come

“Aul’ lad?” I press, shoving at his chest, the chest which no longer fills with air. “…Dad?”

Grief tackles me, and I’m transported back to that bedroom floor when I pleaded for my ma to wake up. But just like her, Co

With his blood mingled with mine, I swipe three fingers down the middle of my forehead, promising that his death won’t be in vain.

Coming to a wobbly stand, I look for Uncle Sean and see him fighting with a masked man. I clutch Babydoll by the arm and shove her into the van. She tries to fight me, but I lean inside and buckle her in.

“Drive.”

With bittersweet tears, she makes the promise I asked of her. “I’ll come ba-back to you.”

And I hope one day she will.

Slamming the door shut, I ignore the tingling in my limbs as blood gushes from me and shoot any man who stands in Babydoll’s way.

Uncle Sean turns, and when he sees me shoot, his eyes widen.

Don’t trust…Sean.

Before I leave this earth, I need to know why.

So, with my gun raised, I hobble over, demanding he give me the answers I seek. I don’t even know where Brody is, and honestly, I don’t care. All I care about is finding out why I shouldn’t trust the one man who I do trust with my entire being.

“What did ye do?” I scream, training the gun on Uncle Sean.

He shoots two men who come ru

“Why did Co

“Co

“Answer the fucking question!” I hear the van’s motor start. It’s almost over. She’s safe.

“I don’t know, lad!” Sean cries, lowering his gun, but I don’t lower mine.

“How did Babydoll know who ye were?”

“Because she told me. When she came to the house lookin’ for ya, she told me everythin’. I promised not to tell ya because I had a plan.”

“This was yer fucking plan?” I exclaim, arms out wide.

“Naw. Co

When he tries to reach for me, I recoil. His hurt is palpable, but I don’t know who to believe.

“I’ll explain everythin’, but now, we’ve got to go. If we don’t, we’ll go to prison for a very long time. That lorry is full of drugs!”

“I don’t care anymore,” I confess, everything becoming murky.

“Stop that!” Uncle Sean scolds. “We go now, and we let the Doyles take the blame. They’re here when they’re not supposed to be. It’s the perfect plan. It’s what I wanted to happen.”

“Is it now?”

Uncle Sean looks over my shoulder as the barrel of a gun presses to the back of my head. Turning around slowly, what I see changes the course of everything once more.

Brody and Liam have three people who trusted me at gunpoint, revealing no one will get out of this alive. I thought she had fled in the van. But that would have been too easy, and nothing in life ever is.

Cian, Rory, and Babydoll are their prisoners, and the only exchange acceptable is my life for theirs. They put up a fight, as they’re bloody and bruised, but it wasn’t enough.

Cian and Rory got ambushed while keeping dick—I have no doubt about that. They were only here because I asked them to, because I believed our plan would work.

“Let them go,” Uncle Sean warns, coming to stand next to me, gun pointed at Brody.

Brody grins. “Really sorry, but I can’t do that. Ya see, someone has got to take the blame for this.”

Sirens wail in the distance. Co

“And that won’t be me.”

I look at Cian, who nods discreetly. He and Rory can take Liam and Brody. But what Brody says next, seals the deal.

“If I go down, then all of ye will too; that includes yer ma, Camilla. That’s why I brought ye here. Ya were always collateral. Ye were always my get out of jail free card because I knew Puck would do anythin’ to save ya.”

Babydoll shakes her head, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

“I go to prison, yer ma gets nothin’. I will make sure she suffers, and yer little sister, well, ya saw firsthand how cruel the Doyle men can be. We like to keep it in the family. I’m sure ya came to learn that from Hugh. He punished ya, did he not?”

What does that mean?

When she lowers her eyes, ashamed, I understand that Hugh was the one who whipped her and did so much more than I expected.

“Ya bleedin’ fucker,” Uncle Sean spits, his arm never wavering from Brody.

Five men appear from the bushes, surrounding us, guns raised.

Uncle Sean closes his eyes, defeated.

This was never an ambush; this was a suicide mission. We thought we had the upper hand, but the Doyles were always ten steps ahead. This was supposed to work, and it would have if they weren’t tipped off. I still don’t know by whom.

“Okay then, let it be me.” Uncle Sean lowers his gun and raises his hands in the air.

Brody laughs, and I have no idea why.

“Naw, I think not, Sean. Somethin’ else is headed yer way.”

It happens in the blink of an eye.

Brody fires, and Uncle Sean drops to his knees before collapsing onto his front with a thud.

I stare at my uncle and my dad who lay feet apart, slaughtered by the Doyles, but the ironic thing is, they aren’t to blame—I am.

If only I’d let matters be and not pursued who killed my ma, then things would have been different. If I never went to Dublin, then none of this would have happened. But the bloodshed around us, it’s my doing.

All of it is.

So many have suffered because of me…this is my fault.

Cian elbows Liam in the stomach, but the masked men ascend on him, beating him and Rory while Brody stands back with a smile.

He wants me to see what I caused. The mayhem I brought onto the people I love.

When one of the men pulls Babydoll’s hair and yanks her head back, licking along her neck, I know what I have to do. I hurt the ones I love and it’s time I stopped it. Stopped it all.

“Ya won, Brody. Let them go,” I coolly say, standing tall, regardless of my wounds. “Promise me they’ll be all right.”

Brody orders the man who has Babydoll to let her go.

“Ye ’ave my word.”

“She gets everythin’ ya promised her?”

“I swear it.”

Babydoll tries to fight, but the man grips her waist, holding her back. “No! Let me go. Don’t do this, Punky! You’ll go to jail for a very long time.”

I ignore her and focus on Cian and Rory. “I’m sorry I got ya involved.”

“Y’ve got nothin’ to be sorry for,” Cian says, tears in his eyes. He knows we can’t win this, not with Uncle Sean and Co

Uncle Sean thought he had men on his side, but if only I’d told him sooner about Ronan and my theory about the traitors among us, he would have known the men fighting with him weren’t with us—they were against us.

“My da—” Rory starts, but is soon cut off.

“Yer da will suffer the same way as Co

This is our punishment for thinking we could outsmart a world we know nothing about.

“There is so much ye don’t know, Puck. Maybe one day I’ll tell ya.”