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A tower of pizza boxes teetered on the table in my brother Mac and his wife Katie’s kitchen as we gathered around it. Logan set a box on the table, opening it and grimacing.
‘Who the fuck ordered the pineapple?’
‘That’s mine!’ Katie exclaimed, leaning across the table to claim it. As she sat back down, Mac’s hand slid over her waist, pulling her gently toward him before whispering something in her ear that instantly made her blush. Logan’s wife, Valentina, popped a bottle of champagne open as Maeve and Cam walked into the room, tossing their coats over the back of a seat.
‘It feels like forever since we got together,’ Maeve said, messing up my hair on her way past me.
‘It’s only been a few weeks,’ I said, running a hand through my hair. The dinners got more insufferable as they went on. They were all so sickeningly enamoured with their partners. And I hated being the third—no—the seventh wheel. I should have brought Alfie.
‘Who has the olives?’ Cam said, opening another pizza box.
‘That’s mine.’ At least the pizza would be good. The place local to Mac and Katie’s house was epic. Silver linings.
‘I wish Esther was here,’ Maeve said, taking a seat. She hated that our sister lived in Spain with her hubby and two wee ones. While she understood why they made their home there, being the only sister close by in our band of brothers annoyed her. At least Valentina and Katie, my sisters-in-law, had somewhat appeased her need for a girl gang. Maeve had taken over our syndicate when Logan no longer wanted to, and she also assisted in running her husband, Cam’s, side. Her day-to-day life was largely filled with men from all walks of organised crime. And from what I’d heard, her adopted kids were being typical teens, and a pain in the ass.
‘She’ll be back soon enough for Logan’s birthday,’ Mac said before taking a bite out of his pizza, the mozzarella making a long string from the slice to his mouth.
‘What are we going to do about the rats infiltrating our nest?’ I asked.
Maeve groaned, and Cam threw a balled-up napkin at my head. ‘No work at the table.’
‘Playing happy families won’t make it go away.’
‘We’re not playing. We are happy,’ Valentina said before Logan pulled her onto his lap and kissed her neck.
‘Och! He’s just a grouch because he needs to get laid,’ Mac said.
‘Caring about someone fucking with our business doesn’t make me a grouch.’
‘Tell your fucking face, mate.’ Mac said, and I glowered.
Maeve sighed and put her piece of pizza down. ‘He’s right, though. Whoever it is started small but is getting bolder. Shipments have been damaged and stolen, and our guys are turning up dead. Someone has a vendetta, and we’re going to need to find out who.’
‘What about the one Ewen caught the other day?’ Logan asked.
‘Got nothing out of him,’ I said.
‘Maybe we need someone less heavy-handed with the torture?’ Maeve suggested.
‘I wasn’t heavy-handed.’ Well… not out of the realms of ordinary torture, anyway. ‘He didn’t know anything. Whoever’s behind it isn’t leaving a trail.’
‘I’ll get our hackers on it,’ Cam said, resting a hand on Maeve’s back when she smiled down at him.
It was a start.
EIGHT
CORA
The short dress I’d taken from Ruby’s work wardrobe left me feeling flustered. Lashings of ribbons that formed tantalising ladders down my sides mostly held it together. I’d seen Ruby wear it and had always imagined myself in it. I’d never worn something designed purely for decadence over function.
Getting into it was proving altogether more difficult.
I grunted as I struggled to tie the ribbon under my left arm, twisting my torso to reach it. Every time I did, the material shifted, leaving me lopsided.
‘God damn it,’ I muttered, feeling hot and bothered by the faff.
‘Arms up. I’ll sort you out,’ Molly ordered as she came into the dressing room. When I paused, she rolled her eyes and pushed my arms up over my head to make adjustments to the dress. The fabric clung to my skin, leaving little to the imagination, yet the rows of bright red ribbons along my sides gave it a hedonistic edge. I couldn’t help but wonder what it might feel like to have someone undo them.
