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“What happened was going to happen anyway,” Kate said. “And you gave us most of the information we would have gotten from Neil, assuming he would have given us anything atall.”
He would have given us everything,Declan thought.Because I would have hurt him until hedid.
He kept silent. Beth felt bad. Kate had forgiven her. Declan had to do thesame.
“What’s it look like at Ferguson’s place?” Declanasked.
Clay’s expression turned sheepish. “Surprisingly normalactually.”
“Any signs of a ramp up?” Ronan asked. “Added security? New people in andout?”
Clay shook hishead.
Julia’s brow furrowed. “I don’t get it. Why take out Jimmy Ryan and call it done? Connor Ferguson can’t be sure Beth knows anything about his partnership with Neil, but it doesn’t seem like he’s in the mood to takechances.”
Beth stood. “I’ll go check on thekids.”
“Sorry,” Julia said to Kate when Beth had goneinside.
“It’s not your fault,” Aiden said. “She’ll have to find a way to live with what shedid.”
Declan squeezed Kate’s hand. She didn’t say anything, but he knew she worried about Beth, knew she was balancing the scales of forgiveness and residual anger. Aiden was just more upfront about his struggle to forgive Beth for what she’ddone.
“So what now?” Nick asked. “Keep eyes and ears on Ferguson? Wait for him to signal he’s getting ready to make amove?”
“No way,” Declan said. “We don’t know what his plans are for WMG, and once he pulls the trigger, there will be too much press to make amove.”
He didn’t say the other thing stoking his need for justice: that Ferguson had killed Mac Walsh, had taken him from Kate and Griffin, had enlisted someone close to them to turntraitor.
Neil might have made the deal with Jimmy Ryan. He might have pulled the strings with Beth. But he’d been a puppet too, and the man holding the strings had been ConnorFerguson.
He had to pay, like all evil men had topay.
“He’s right,” Ronan said. “If we wait, we accept that we may never get him. A hostile takeover of WMG by a high-profile figure like Ferguson will get wall-to-wall coverage. He might as well be living under a spotlight after that. We won’t be able to get within ten feet of him without getting caught. It’s now ornever.”
“Then it’s now,” Declansaid.
“We’ll pay you,” Aiden said. “Ferguson was a few steps removed from the hiring of Jimmy Ryan. I know it’s not a risk you’d normallytake.”
“We don’t want your money. This is about family.” Declan looked from Aiden to Ronan to Nick, silently daring his brothers to object. They were getting further and further from MIS’ mission of meting out justice in only clear-cut cases, cases where the law had already tried andfailed.
He didn’t care. Not when it came to Kate and Griff, just like Ronan hadn’t cared when it came to Julia and Elise and Nick hadn’t cared when it came toAlexa.
Justice was justice. Declan would save the existential questions forlater.
Ronan looked from Aiden to Kate. “And this is what you want? Because you can’t come back from it, and it’s not always as satisfying as you think it’s going tobe.”
“It’s not about satisfaction,” Kate said. “It’s about what’sright.”
“The law would disagree.” Alexa spoke softly. “I’m not saying I disagree, just playing devil’s advocate in the interest of fulldisclosure.”
“I don’t care about the law right now,” Kate said. “Connor Ferguson killed my father, and he did it for business. If we let the law handle it, he’ll never pay, not with Jimmy Ryandead.”
Jimmy Ryan had been the link between Neil and Ferguson. The Feds might be able to work with the FEC to run down insider trading violations, but Jimmy’s death had put a nail in the coffin of any hope Ferguson would pay for Mac’smurder.
“I agree,” Aiden said. “But I know you’re taking a risk, that this isn’t normally how you do business, which is why I’m offering to pay yourfee.”
“Any move against your family is a move against ours.” Ronan’s blue eyes were cold. “This one’s on thehouse.”
“So we take Ferguson at the brownstone,” Nick said. “Nice and quiet, before he can move onWMG.”
Declan nodded. He didn’t care how they did it. All that mattered was that Declan’s face was the last one Ferguson saw, that Ferguson knew he was paying for what he’d done to Kate, that he would never be able to hurt her — never be able to take anything from her —again.
