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Fuck.Finn forced down the ball of anxiety that formed in his gut. This wasn’t what he needed to hear, right now.
Mike’s voice was devoid of emotion as he said, “You already know I’m unhappy with you working on a case where your brother might be associated. If these rumors are proven to be true, I might have to pull you.”
Shit. That was exactly what Finn was afraid of.
“Right. Thanks for the info, Sarge.” Finn had ended the call, not needing to hear the rest of it. Mike knew about his brother’s connections to the underworld. Finn had revealed his brother’s history when he’d first made detective, knowing that keeping a secret like that could jeopardize his job. When Garrett’s namehad been flagged regarding the international drug syndicate they were investigating, Mike had been upfront with Finn, telling him that working this case may well be a conflict of interest. But the rumors were yet to be confirmed, so Mike had let it slide. For now.
Finn turned and landed his fist in the nearest tree trunk. Fuck.
His mother always lamented that he and Garrett had turned out so differently, taken such divergent paths in life, especially after they’d been inseparable in their younger years. It’d all started when their father had died. Both brothers had reacted differently in their grief. Finn had vowed to take up the mantle of his father’s memory and do something good with his life, something where he could be of service to others. Garrett had taken his grief and allowed it to swallow him up, take him to a dark place, where he mixed with the wrong crowd and used drugs and alcohol to drown his feelings. Finn had never told their mother all that he knew about Garrett. She was still blissfully unaware that one of her sons was deep into dealing drugs and criminal activities. So far, Garrett had been able to avoid getting caught, so he could continue the lie to their mother that he worked as a courier and led a normal life. She knew her two sons were no longer close, and she brought up that fact every time she saw Finn. But he kept the exact details of how deep their estrangement truly ran from her. Little did she know that her two sons were on completely opposite sides of the law. And in the end, only one of them would emerge victorious.
Finn hadn’t seen his brother in nearly four years. He’d come to visit when Kayleigh was born, holding out a present as he stood in the doorway, a hesitant grin on his face. There was no way Finn was letting Garrett anywhere near his new-born baby, and he’d told Garrett to keep the proffered present wrapped in pink tissue paper, because it would only end up in the rubbishbin. Finn had made it crystal clear he wasn’t welcome at their house and Garrett had left, striding down their front path, his face set in stony hostility, the look in his eyes one of murderous intent. In hindsight, perhaps Finn should’ve taken the proffered olive branch. For his mother’s sake, more than his own. But it was too late for that now. Even if that swift expression of hurt and utter betrayal that’d flashed across his brother’s face when Finn told him to keep the present, kept replaying in his mind. His brother had made his choices. And so had Finn.
Lost in his own world of what to do about his brother, he was startled when a horse suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision. He hadn’t been paying attention.
“Hello,” Indy said.
“Hiya,” he replied, gaze traveling the length of her legs, up her jean-clad thighs to where her hand rested easily on the pommel. Her eyes were directed forward at the cattle, and he sketched the profile of her cute, ski-jump nose and high cheekbones. He’d spent the best part of half an hour with Indy last night, standing next to her as the police searched her tent, lending his moral support. She’d watched with wary eyes as they pulled her camp bed apart and searched through her large duffle bag containing all her clothes. Both her dogs had growled and snapped at the intrusion, and Indy had a hard time calming them. Detective Sampson gave the dogs a wide berth but ordered one of his other officers to search the area around the animal’s bedding. Which was a smart decision. If Finn had wanted to hide something, that’d be the first place he’d do it. No one was going to approach those dogs without Indy knowing about it. But the inspection team came up with nothing. Even though it was exactly what Finn had been expecting, he was still relieved.
“How are you doing today?” He meant, was she still rattled by last night’s raid?
But she surprised him by asking something on a completely different tangent. “I want to know about your complicated marriage.”
It took him a few seconds to get his head around her request.
“You said it was complicated. But I didn’t give you a chance to explain. So, I’d like to know now. Tell me why I shouldn’t feel terribly guilty that I kissed a married man,” she said, refusing to meet his gaze.
“Oh. Right.” He wondered if she’d been stewing on this question all day. Where to start with the mess that was him and Chloe? If he was going to tell her the truth, then she needed to know all of it. “Let me show you something.” He stopped his bike and pulled out his cell phone. Flicking through his photos, he came to the one he wanted and handed it up to Indy, watching her face closely for her reaction.
“Oh, God. You have a daughter?” she asked faintly. “That just makes it ten times worse,” she groaned, handing his phone back, and gathering her reins as if to ride off.
“Wait, Indy,” he commanded. “You said you wanted an explanation. So, you have to stay to hear the full story.”
She cast him such a wounded look that Finn wondered if he’d done the right thing by showing her the photo of Kayleigh. But it had to be done. If she wanted the truth, then the truth was, he had a daughter. A beautiful, vibrant, funny, four-year-old daughter.
“Fine,” she said stiffly. “But let’s keep up with the cattle.” She whistled her two dogs up, telling them to stay at the rear, but keep the cattle moving forward. The dogs could practically do Finn and Indy’s jobs for them; they were that good.
The mob had drifted away, and Finn put his bike back into gear, so that he trundled alongside Indy on her horse. For the first time, he felt at a slight disadvantage on the motorcycle. Indywas a good three or four feet taller than him on Gypsy, and he had to turn his head up to see her face and gauge her reactions.
“Chloe and I got married seven years ago. She was three years younger than me, but at the time, that age gap didn’t seem to matter.” He’d been twenty-four, and she was only twenty-one. Young, ambitious, and full of life’s possibilities. “She was traveling around Australia on a gap year, when we met in a bar in Sydney. She told me she was from Ireland, and we hit it off straight away, because I was also born in Ireland.”
“You were?” she asked, pursing her lips and staring down at him, as if reassessing everything she knew about him.
“Yes. My family moved to Sydney from Dublin when I was two, so I don’t really remember much. But I like to stay in touch with my heritage. So, when I met Chloe, I was drawn to her…Irishness, if you like.”
Indy nodded for him to continue.
“Chloe stayed in Australia, and we got married a year later.” It was a typical love story. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl gives up her dreams and marries boy because they are so right for each other. “But she always missed Ireland and her family. Family is a big thing to most Irish people. And Chloe came from a large one, with two brothers and three sisters.”
“Gosh,” Indy gave a low whistle.
Finn shrugged. Six siblings weren’t unusual in an Irish Family. Add in all the aunts, uncles, and cousins, and it quickly became almost too big to keep count.
“Don’t you have any brothers or sisters?” he asked, interest piqued by her obvious surprise at the size of Chloe’s family.
“No.” She shook her head, casting him a slightly belligerent glance as if to say,and so what if I don’t?“And before you ask, both my parents are dead, too. But we’re not talking about my family. We’re talking about yours. So, please, go on.”
She was an only child. And had no family to speak of. Finn was shocked. He learned something new about this woman every day. That she was tough and independent. And perhaps a little alone. He had a brother and a younger sister of his own, and couldn’t imagine growing up as an only child. He filed it all away for further contemplation, this was a big thing, her not having any family to speak of, but he went on with his story.
