Chapter 4 - Secrets in the Rose GardenThe Callahan estate gardens were breathtaking. Rows of blood-red roses lined cobblestone pathways that wound around a massive, weeping willow tree. Murphy trotted happily ahead, sniffing at the hydrangeas, while Mave walked closely beside Marin, her gray tail giving a hesitant, tentative wag.
Ronan walked beside Marin, his hands buried deep in his overcoat pockets. For a long time, the only sound was the crunch of gravel under their shoes.
"Why did you really pull her out?" Ronan asked suddenly, breaking the silence. "You didn't know whose house it was. You didn't know what was inside. It was a suicide mission."
Marin looked down at her bandaged hands, remembering the intense heat, the cracking timber, the terrifying roar of the flames.
"When I was twelve years old, my family lost everything in a house fire," Marin whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "My parents didn't make it out. I stood on the pavement and watched our entire life turn to ash while neighbors stood around watching. Ever since then... when I see something trapped, something helpless burning... my body moves before my brain can stop it."
Ronan stopped walking. He turned to look at her, the usual cold armor in his eyes melting away, replaced by something raw and deeply human.
"Fion was my younger brother," Ronan said quietly, his voice barely audible over the wind. "When our parents died, I swore I would protect him from everything. The cartels, the betrayals, the blood debts. But I couldn't protect him from his own ambition. He wanted out of the syndicate. He wanted to marry a civilian girl and disappear. A week later, his car went off an overpass."
"You think it wasn't an accident," Marin realized, looking up into his stormy eyes.
"I know it wasn't," Ronan replied, his jaw tightening into a hard line. "And the men who killed him are the same men who set fire to that house to destroy his private journal—the journal containing the names of every traitor in my inner circle. The same men who thought Mave and the evidence would burn together."
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Ronan stepped closer to her, closing the distance between them until Marin could feel the heat radiating off his body.
"You didn't just save a dog, Marin," Ronan murmured, lifting his hand and gently brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. His fingers brushed her cheek, sending a sudden, electric shock straight down her spine. "You saved the key to my vengeance."
