Thy Kingdom Come

“Should we head?” Liam asks as the sirens get closer and closer.

“That’s up to yer brother.”

Cian and Rory look between us slowly, confused. But I don’t have the time to explain.

“Aye, head on. I’ll deal with the peelers.”

“NO!” Babydoll cries, ru

“Who are they going to believe, I do wonder?” I say, looking at Brody. “And I don’t do this, yer ma, she dies. I won’t allow that. Y’ve a chance to help her, and I’ve a chance to make this right.”

“I’ll n-never stop fighting for y-you,” she cries, throwing her arms around me.

I hug her back, allowing myself this comfort because I won’t feel it ever again. “I’m doin’ this so we’re even. But I don’t want to see ye again. No matter what ye did, ya lied to me, and now I have the deaths of my family on my hands. I ca

I gently push her away, gesturing to Brody to take her away.

“Punky?” she questions, violently ripping free when one of the men try to drag her toward the van. “This isn’t your fault!”

But I don’t want to hear it.

“Ya save her fuckin’ ma,” I order Brody. “Whatever money she needs, ya give it to her. If she dies, I’ll tell the peelers everythin’.”

Brody nods. “And Belfast? Who rules now?”

Cian and Rory avert their gazes because even though they and their dads are involved, this business only succeeded because of the Kellys. Now that the Kellys are no more, they know it won’t be the same. Look what Brody was able to achieve with Co

With them dead, the strongest links in our chain, we don’t stand a chance.

“It’s yours.”

Brody tips his face toward the heavens, inhaling in victory because this is what he has always wanted—Belfast.

I’ll never find out who his partner was, but it doesn’t matter. The people I love are dead. This is the only thing I can do to ensure that the ones left standing don’t suffer because of me.

“Punky, we’ll find a way,” Cian says, rushing forward and hugging me. “I love ye, brother.”

I hug him back numbly. “Look after the twins for me.”

Look after the twins for me…

I now understand why Co

And I would have.

He allowed the traitor to bring our kingdom down, brick by brick, and him going to prison was the punishment he would accept for his crimes. But he never anticipated that something he thought he wasn’t capable of would bring him down—his love for me.

His death, Uncle Sean’s death; they’re on me.

“My dad will get his lawyer—”

“No,” I argue, consciousness slipping away. “Ye leave it be. Too much blood has been shed and for what? You live yer life, the life ye deserve, away from this, away from me. Mind this for me.”

Digging into my pocket, I give him my ma’s brooch. I don’t need it anymore.

“I won’t let ye rot in prison!” Cian shakes his head stubbornly, as does Rory, but after today, I won’t see them ever again. They’ll fight me, but after a while, they’ll forget.

And I want them to.

Rory puts his arm around Babydoll, who sobs violently, offering the comfort I ca

“I’ll be seein’ ye then,” Brody says, snapping his fingers.

Everyone hustles to command.

Cian and Rory don’t fight as they know the war is over. The corpses around us confirm this. “Ye make sure they get a grand burial.”

Cian nods, a tear trickling down his cheek when he looks at my da and Uncle Sean.

The remaining men disappear into the bushlands while Liam forces Cian, Rory, and Babydoll into the van. If this were some romance film, she’d turn over her shoulder to look at me. But this isn’t, so she doesn’t.

This is real life. My life which I fucked up by my own hand.

Brody is the last to leave. “I promise ye, when the time is right, I’ll tell ya everythin’.”

“Fuck you,” I reply, not interested in anything he has to say. “Keep those I love safe. That’s all I want from ya.”

Brody smirks as he lights a cigar. “Ye really are a Doyle.”

“Naw.” I shake my head with a grin as I steal his cigar. “I’m not. Ye may be my dad, but I’ll always be a Kelly. Don’tcha ever mistake me for anythin’ but that.”

Brody’s confidence simmers, as he reads the warning for what it is. If he crosses me, I will tell the peelers everything. Blood or not, I’m hunting him.

“Aye. I understand. Yer to make sure yer dead to the life ya once knew. No visitors, no contact with anyone. This is the only way it’ll work. For me to start afresh, y’ve got to be gone.”

What he means is for our colleagues to want to deal with him, they have to know I’m not coming back and that he’s the only one in charge.

“How can I trust y’ll keep to yer word?”

“I’m sure y’ll hear otherwise if not.”

He’s right. I’m sure the officers would love to tell me how my loved ones died by the hands of a Doyle if that ever happened.

“Fair play.”

“If I hear y’ve gone back on yer word, they’ll all pay. That includes those wains Co

“I heard ya the first time,” I reply firmly, but he has nothing to worry about. I’m doing them a favor by removing myself from their lives. I wish I could see the twins grow, but I ca

He nods, understanding this as goodbye. I don’t know what he has pla

When I can no longer see it, I hobble toward the lorry and boost myself into the back and take a seat. The vegetables behind me are hiding £200,000 of drugs. The sirens grow closer before eventually, I see a convoy of cars coming over the hill.

I calmly smoke my cigar, awaiting my doom.

“Hands where I can see them!”

“Fucking hell, it’s a massacre.”

“We’re go

That’s all I hear as I sit, laughing maniacally at the carnage I caused.

“Get on yer knees!” Chief Constable Moore orders as he yanks me from the lorry.

The arsehole who was manhandling Babydoll at the party is on my other side. “Now ya know who I am, ya dirty wee hallion,” he says, spitting on me. “Check the lorry, boys. See what’s onboard.”

“I’ll tell ya what’s onboard,” I say as I’m forced to my knees. “Drugs, and a quare amount.”

“Are ye thick, lad? Why would ya tell me this?” asks the chief constable.

When the peelers look at Co

“That’s not what we heard.”

“Well, ya heard wrong. D’ye see anyone else here? D’ye see anyone left standin’?” I pose with a grin.

Chief Constable Moore knows I’m lying, but a haul such as this will make his name notorious. And with no one else to blame, this closed case means an easy win for him and the police. He put an end to the infamous Kellys and their illegal dealings.

There is no justice in this world, just survival of the fittest.

“Puck Co