After a few quick seconds, I remembered the date. I blinked at Donal, a sadness overtaking me as I gave him a sympathetic smile. “It’s been nine years since Carolina passed, hasn’t it?”
He startled, his eyes widening. “You remember?”
I nodded very seriously. It was hard to forget. I hadn’t known Donal’s daughter well because we’d never beenfriends, per se, but she’d always been special to him. She’d died of a drug overdose, and it’d changed Donal in a lot of ways. Even now, around his constant joy, there was a haunted look in his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
The corners of his lips tipped upward, and he patted me on the cheek gently. “Thank you, Fionn. It means a lot. Now, I’ve got business to attend to. If I was you, I’d head upstairs before anyone else comes in.”
I nodded. “It was nice to see you, Don.”
His entire face softened. “You too, Fionn.”
Then, he left, and I watched him go. He was right. If I didn’t get upstairs soon, others would come in and gossip about me, and I didn’t want that. I’d talk to Daire later.
3
DAIRE REARDON
I had a first-class ticket to hell, I was sure of it. I’d have front-row seats and be known as the sinner of all sinners. Well... maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it didn’t seem that great, either.
If I closed my eyes, I could still see Fionn crying yesterday.
Subtle tears broke the walls of his lashes to slide delicately down his pale cheeks, only to drop to their death from his sharp chin. His plump lips trembled as he stared up toward the ceiling, so close to the breaking point that only a thin tether of control kept him where he was. I’d never seen such an erotic sight. Fionn’s beauty was breathtaking already, but his vulnerability made him damned near irresistible.
Groaning, I shook my head and stared at myself in the full-length mirror in my bedroom. I wore a black suit, custom designed to fit my body perfectly, with a red tie that I’d stuffed into a black vest. My shoes were freshly polished and my hair was styled. I appeared professional, like a Company man. Sloan expected us to always look our best, and as second-in-command—or third, if you counted Fionn as the apprentice—I needed to impress, to be the man who caught everyone’s attention as Istrolled down the sidewalk like I owned it, because in a way, Idid.
The Killough Company controlled the East Coast, and a large portion of that power was given to me to wield. When Sloan wasn’t around, it was my job to manage our many employees and business partners.
Last night’s meeting hadn’t been anything unusual. Sloan had updated us about Reyes’s movements and what we could expect from the Cartel. They were one of our biggest rivals, along with the Russians. Sloan had always hated Thiago Reyes, and it was for good reason, too.
Bang.
I froze and went on high alert when something clattered downstairs in my condo. The hair on my arms rose as I stalked to my closet and grabbed the gun I kept on a shelf. After checking to make sure the chamber was loaded, I clutched the Glock firmly as I snuck out of my bedroom and down the black steel stairs, taking each step carefully and quietly. I paused to glance around the corner into the kitchen, exhaling through my nose as I readied to shoot if need be, but the moment my gaze fell on a familiar back, I grunted and dropped the gun to my side.
“What are you doing here?” I strode the rest of the way toward the kitchen and placed the Glock on the round glass dining table. “Do you have a death wish? Sloan banned you from New York.”
Aodhan, my older brother, turned from where he stood in front of the counter and grinned. Wearing a white dress shirt, he had his tie draped around his neck. His suit jacket hung over the back of a chair near the table, and he looked cocky as usual. “Did he? I can’t remember that. Oh, wait.... Yeah, I do remember, but I just don’t care.”
I rolled my eyes and rubbed my forehead in frustration. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”
Aodhan shrugged and moved his head from side to side, the ugly sound of his neck cracking making me wince. I fucking hated when he did that shit, and he knew it. “It would be fun to see him try.”
I kicked out one of the chairs at the table and took a seat. Peering at my brother carefully, I studied the hard lines of his face. Aodhan and I looked alike in a lot of ways. There was no mistaking we were related. Unfortunately for me, Aodhan was taller and wider, with a more defined jaw and thinner mouth. His messy dark hair was only one of his many features that had women and men swooning, and as far as I was aware, Aodhan could have anyone he wanted.
And he did.
He had no quarrels with fucking anything that moved. I knew for a fact he’d fucked Ardan, at the very least, and probably a few more guys in the Company.
“Why are you here?” I asked again, leaning back against the chair and throwing a leg over my knee. “The only reason you’re alive right now is because Sloan respects me.”
Aodhan laughed abruptly. “And here I thought he respectedme.”
I sighed. “Aodhan . . . .”
He blatantly ignored me, continuing with what he was doing before I’d come downstairs, and I took a moment to consider him. He was messing with one of my favorite mugs, stirring whatever was inside it with a spoon. He hummed a tune quietly.
“At least tell me what you’re doing.”
