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I hesitantly pulled out of her embrace, sniffed in her lovely scent, and then turned to the front door to hold the loaded revolver right in front of me.

My hand trembled slightly, but I opened the door very slowly anyway, and then, looking at Cathan's startled face, exhaled my collected air.

"Are you completely crazy now!" he snapped at me and grabbed the revolver to steal it from me with a skillful grip. He walked past me into the house, gave Mandy a quick, derogatory look, and then turned his sights on me again. "What is she doing here?"

I frowned in irritation and looked at Mandy, who you could literally see how uncomfortable and insecure she suddenly felt in his presence.

"She's my girlfriend," I replied confidently afterwards and he immediately came closer to me to examine me intently.

"And at the same time the reason why my granddaughter disappeared," he whispered menacingly, but I wouldn't let him blame her.

Why did he always have to be so shitty to the women in our lives in the beginning? Even Keeva he made life hell at first!

"It's not her fault! Her ex-husband-"

"He's right," Mandy suddenly interrupted me, coming towards us both to give me an apologetic look. Her eyes were glassy and it broke my heart to see the same guilt in her beautiful irises that I carried with me for years. "If it wasn't for me, Esme would still be here."

"I see it the same way," Cathan agreed coldly and immediately I grabbed his collar out of sheer anger, which made him glare at me angrily.

"Enough! For years I've been told there always has to be someone to blame, but that's not true! Sometimes terrible things happen and you can't undo them!"

He tore himself away from me and took a deep breath so as not to bother to look at us anymore. Cell phone in hand, he walked towards the kitchen and then spoke to someone on the phone in Irish, but I ignored him and instead pulled Mandy tightly into my arms, who was already shaking slightly.

"Just ignore him. He's just scared, too," I tried to calm her down, feeling her delicate arms clutching my back begging for security.

"I know, and he has every reason to be. Fiore is so heartless. I have a feeling he might be going too far," she whispered, and I took a deep breath, just hoping that Rian and Odran would follow with good news would come home.

The hours passed and it felt like years in which the three of us took turns pacing up and down the living room nervously while I kept making new coffee in between.

"You should have been back by now," I finally interrupted our silence and stared at the clock over the door while Mandy sat at the table and Cathan looked out into the darkness.

"Keeva won't stop looking," Cathan replied, and I guess I had to agree with him.

As long as she could find something to eat, Odran wouldn't come back home either. Rian was different. He certainly managed to stay in control despite everything and was probably trying to think calmly about what they could do next.

"Shall I make you something to eat?" Mandy turned to me and I gave her a slightly lost nod. Sure they had to eat something when they got home, but whether they wanted to eat anything at all was another matter.

"I'll help you," my father suddenly said, completely unexpectedly, and even Mandy gave me an irritated look at his words, which showed only too well that she too was overwhelmed by his mood swings, but she couldn't think about it for a long time do more because we all held our breaths tensely as we heard several cars pull into the driveway.

I immediately wanted to open the door, but Cathan banged on the table, so that I looked at him in horror while he shook his head and looked at me intently.

"If it's you, I'm sure you have a key!"

We waited tensely and when, thank God, I heard someone insert the key into the keyhole from the outside, I exhaled in relief and smiled at Mandy, whose eyes suddenly became huge.

Then everything happened very quickly...

That sound of gunshot echoed off all the walls several times as I lost myself in Mandy's eyes and she let out a scream from her lips that pierced my bones.

Just like in slow motion I looked down at myself and saw the blood slowly oozing from a wound in my side and then looked up right into the eyes that belonged to him...

"No one lays hands on my wife!", I heard him and a sack was pulled over my head and I could only see black, while I heard Cathan curse and the pain in my side became more and more intense.