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“What?”
She shrugged at my splutter. “It’s nice to walk into a room and for people to understand you’re a loose cannon.”
“That’snice?”
Eoghan raised his tumbler to her. “I know where she’s coming from.”
“That’s because you look like you play golf for a living, Eoghan,” Declan drawled.
“Impostor syndrome,” Finn teased.
“Being underestimated is overrated,” was all he said, sinking a sip of his whiskey back and sighing as it hit his bloodstream.
“Go on then. Tell us what you think you know about us,” Brennan prompted.
“You collect rare coins. Not just rare, in fact. So unique that most of your collection consists of coins that are either one of a kind or have circulations of ten or under.” To Declan, she said, “There was a rumor that you were involved with the Isabella Stewart Gardner heist.”
He chuckled. “I wasn’t involved with the heist. I was too young for it. Just enjoyed the spoils, but that’s interesting you know that. Who did you get to? One of my dealers?”
“I pick up information like the garbage men collect trash.
“I know the CO Eoghan shot before he left the army will never walk again thanks to a particularly well-placed bullet in his lower spine. I also know that wasn’t why he was dishonorably discharged, and I know that Finn’s father-in-law is the President of the United States.” Hellfire lit up her eyes. “But as I told Conor earlier, I’m keeping him—”
“And I’m keeping her,” I inserted with a grumble.
“—so you’re under no threat from me.”
Finn scratched his jaw but the look he shot me was accusing. “How did you know about Alan Davidson?”
“As I said, I have my methods. I already knew that first time I tangled with your family.” She peered at me. “I have no idea why Conor feels the way he does for me. I don’t understand it, but I’m not going to argue about it. Even without Conor stating facts, I knew that you wouldn’t have given your other sisters-in-law the third degree, but I accept that I’m different.”
“You’re not,” I argued.
“I am. I come with baggage, Conor,” she reasoned quietly. “And that’s fine. I respect them for loving you and for wanting the best for you. That’s what you deserve.”
As my brothers watched her watch me, it was Aidan who broke into the conversation with a soft, “Conor indicated there is a new plan underway to resolve this situation with the Sparrows.”
Acceptance—she shouldn’t have had to earn it, but she’d received it nonetheless. That he invited her to join the conversation and didn’t request for her to leave the man cave made that clear.
Fuming on her behalf, we continued staring at each other, the links between us strengthening and deepening as we stood in this safe space where lives were threatened and the promise of death were machinations in a wider game that no one knew they were playing.
I was a powerful man.
Surrounded by powerful men.
And yet, in this place, Star held her own.
Shoulders back, spine straight, no fear in her gaze, expression calm.
This, did she but know it, was a culmination of years of work on her part.
In this very house, we were affecting change.
Wewouldchange the world.
She was a part of the future now.
Not just entangled with the past, trying to free herself from the bonds that had caged her, but breathing life into a world riddled with poison.
