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“He treats us equally. You know that.”
I did, actually.
Even before I’d known what I was to him, he’d always treated me like I was blood. It was what had made me believe him when he told me I was his son.
I didn’t need a paternity test, just had to realize that for years, I’d been kidding myself. Aidan Sr. didn’t have faith in me. He would never have trusted someone who wasn’t in the family with the secrets I knew.
“You’re his heir,” I rasped, finding myself in the weird position of wanting to comfort Aidan.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t it?” I rubbed the back of my neck.
“You having an existential crisis?”
“Maybe. I just… I’m sorry?”
“For what?”
Though I heard his confusion and knew it was genuine, I muttered, “For being born?”
Aidan snorted. “Get that shit out of your head. Thought we handled this at Christmas over the baptism by fire?”
My lips quirked as I thought about St. Patrick’s Church going up in flames. “I’m walking proof, I guess,” I mumbled, words waning.
“Proof that Da’s no angel?” He scoffed. “Like I needed proof. Finn, you and me, we were blood before I knew about Da’s wandering dick. I’d prefer for him to have cheated than for you not to exist at all and that’s the truth.
“Anyway, Ma donked him over the head as punishment, and only God knows what else during their marriage… She’ll have made him pay.”
Payback.
I’d kept Lena’s secret for years now, had protected her over Aoife, but I wasn’t perfect—I’d resented her. I’d resented her for what she’d done and what I’d had to do to keep my family together.
I hadn’t stopped loving her. Even though loyalty dictated I should. But our past made it impossible.
She’d taken me in when she didn’t have to, when I was nothing more than her son’s friend to her. Regardless, she’d brought me into the fold and had raised me like I was hers, never letting the difference between me and her kids shine through.
That wasn’t gratitude talking either, but the truth.
Those first few months, she’d fed me twice as much as the others. Had made sure I wore clothes as good as the rest. She hadn’t skimped or tried to make me feel like the poor relative...
How couldn't I love her for that?
Fuck, what a mess. Such a fucking mess.
“Finn? You there, bro?”
“Yeah. I’m here,” I rumbled tiredly.
“Does it matter if the Five Points helped Davidson become president?”
“What if your da is ECD too?” There it was. The kicker.
“No fucking way,” he disagreed. “Da can’t take orders from the Internal fucking Revenue Services, never mind some fucker in jail in Ireland.
“He wants the motherland united and free from British tyranny but let’s face it, he’ll be donating to legitimate fronts so that’ll be a nice tax break for him too. Bastard’s never even been to Ireland. It’s not that big of a cause to him.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, wishing I could trust that, but he didn’t know about his ma’s involvement in my mother-in-law’s death. And none of us knew what the ECD’s terms of blackmail were…
