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We operated like ghosts in this city because everyone was in our pocket.
Didn’t matter what department it fell under, didn’t matter worth a damn. We were untouchable. But she kept on forgetting it.
It was my turn to growl as Aela asked, “You’re a detective?”
Dunbar dipped her chin. “Of a sort. I’m an agent with the FBI. I’ve been keeping an eye on you.”
Ha.More like surveilling her.
I could see from the tension in Aela’s face, the rigidity of her posture, that she didn’t believe that either. She knew a pig always stank, and it didn’t matter if it looked like they were on your side or not—they never were.
She did us proud as she demanded, “Why? What do you think I know?”
Seamus, his gaze whipping between the two women, questioned, “Mom? What’s going on? Why is Caro here?”
“She’s not here to babysit you, butt face,” Aela replied calmly, but her gaze was stony as she stared at Dunbar.
“She worked her way in as a babysitter?” Conor hissed. “Well, that’s a new low.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“I’m here to help,” Dunbar insisted, her arms spreading wide with entreaty. “There was chatter about you, and I wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“You’d only hear the chatter if I was on someone’s radar, and if you were trying to keep me safe, then you’d have told me I was on a radar in the first place.” Aela’s mouth turned down at the corners, but I saw a flash of grief whisper across her features, one that told me she was upset. Not just about what had happened, the safety scare, but also the fact that she’d liked Caro.
Had maybe trusted her?
I got the feeling Aela didn’t trust many people with her son. Somehow, and I had no idea how it was possible, but she’d managed to keep Seamus under wraps. Not a single article I’d read about her had included the information that she had a son. Not a single one. And with a rep like hers? That was impossible.
She was an artist, sure, but she wasn’t a starving one. If anything, she was rich, and well renowned for her work, to the point where I’d admit I was even proud of everything she’d achieved. But somehow, she’d kept Seamus out of the limelight. I knew that was because of us. The second a picture of him flashed online, it was more likely we’d spot it and spot him. Declan and Seamus’s likeness was incredible. There was no doubting his heritage.
She’d evidently paid to keep Seamus safe, what with all the security on hand in the house… so to let Caroline Dunbar into her life, to allow her access to Seamus, I knew she had to be close to the woman.
But that was the trouble with our world. You couldn’t trust anyone unless they were family, and even then, that didn’t always stick.
Case in point—the police hadn’t cornered anyone in the house during their sweep, which meant there was a Five Pointer roaming the streets of Rhode Island right now with a set of crosshairs between the eyes because he’d be dead before tomorrow was out. We’d been betrayed, according to Seamus’s observations, and we dealt with traitors swiftly and harshly.
Of course, he wasn’t the first traitor in recent times, so maybe we’d need to deal with this one differently. Really ram home the message that the O’Donnellys didn’t take mutiny kindly.
“Seamus, why don’t you go with the officer and tell them what happened?” Dunbar directed my nephew, but being the smart kid he was, he scowled and shook his head.
“No. I’m not leaving my mom.”
Dunbar’s mouth tightened, and she looked to Aela for backup. Only, there was none to be had.
The trouble with Caroline Dunbar was that she was persistent. A little like a bulldog. And even though I loved bulldogs, I had to admit, they weren’t always the smartest dog in the pound. She’d had the brains to realize that the way to get close to Aela was her son. But she hadn’t grasped that if she’d leveraged Seamus’s safety, then she’d have figured out a way to get information out of Aela.
By lying to her, getting close, and then letting her figure out the truth of her identity the way she had, she didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting a word out of Aela.
Something I was glad for, because I’d have hated to have to kill the love of my brother’s life too.
