Chapter 6 - The Father Behind the Shadow
Rowan had no memory of her father after the age of eleven.
Only fragments.
A blue truck.
A silver watch.
A voice saying, “Don't trust anyone who smiles when they're lying.”
She had believed those were childhood memories.
Now she realized they were warnings.
Declan and Rowan returned to Ashgrove.
Bridey revealed a second secret.
Rowan's father, Patrick Sheehan, had been one of the architects behind the smuggling network before turning against it.
He had tried to expose Liam.
Liam betrayed him.
But Patrick disappeared before he could testify.
Finn had spent years searching for him.
The truth was devastating.
Patrick had been alive.
Watching from a distance.
Protecting his children without ever telling them why.
Then came the revelation that changed Rowan's relationship with Declan.
Declan's father had known Patrick was alive.
He had protected him.
The two families had secretly been working together to dismantle the criminal network.
That was why Declan had inherited Ashgrove.
That was why Liam needed Declan ruined.
Rowan looked at Declan.
“You knew none of this.”
“No.”
“You thought your father betrayed everyone.”
“So did you.”
“And now?”
“I think my father spent his last years trying to fix what he helped create.”
The two stood in the library.
For the first time, Rowan saw Declan not as a mafia heir but as a man carrying the consequences of decisions he had never made.
She reached for his hand.
He looked down.
Then back at her.
“Don't,” he whispered.
“Why?”
“Because I don't know how to do this halfway.”
“I don't either.”
He kissed her.
It was not gentle.
It was honest.
The kind of kiss born from fear, relief, anger, and months of unsaid things.
When they separated, Declan pressed his forehead to hers.
“This ends badly.”
“Then we'll make it end differently.”
The next morning, they found Patrick.
He was living in a remote coastal town under another name.
Finn was there.
Alive.
Rowan ran into her brother's arms.
For a while, nobody spoke.
Then Finn whispered, “I'm sorry.”
She hit his shoulder.
Hard.
Then hugged him again.
“You let me bury you.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
“I did.”
May you like
He looked toward Declan.
“Until now.”
