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Mycourtyardgateopensan hour later, and I reach for my piece, wondering who my guard, Calder, would let in without alerting us.
From the window in my office where my brothers and I have been discussing business, I see slender legs and high-heel shoes step onto the gravel from a white Escalade.
Shea.
“How did she get here so fast from the Hamptons?” I ask Riordan. “In the summer.”
“She took the bird.” He reminds me we have a helicopter.
“Right.”
Clicking heels on the hardwood floors leading to my office echo in the hallway, and Lachlan jumps to open the door. He picks her up and twirls her around. “Come ‘ere,mea stór.”
Histreasuresqueaks in his rough hold, but he adores her. We all do.
We haven’t seen her in a while.
Her sweet voice calms me as she goes from brother to brother, reaching me last.
“Alo, Shea.” I hug her, as well, just not as enthusiastically as Lachlan. “Thanks for coming on short notice. I know you’re busy.”
“The president is busy. I’mdrowning.” She takes a glass of whiskey Balor hands her and sits in the chair Lachlan vacated across from my desk. “What’s so urgent that you flew me here from the Hamptons?”
My father warned me years ago, when I took over for him, to keep Shea far from our business. It’s for her protection. He didn’t want his daughter, his jewel, in danger. Now, I’m pulling her into this wicked game I started.
I glance at Riordan, who shakes his head, signaling he didn’t give her a heads-up. Exhaling, I say, “I made a deal with Gabriel Parisi. I’m marrying his daughter.”
“What?” The tumbler in her hand stops part way to her lips. “When?”
“When Ma and Da are back. I need you to plan it.”
She swallows the whiskey in one gulp, making me proud. Putting the glass down, she groans. “It’s the summer, Kieran. In New York City. I may be able to get you into the VFW on Ditmars.”
Lachlan chuckles.
“Very funny.” I’m the most feared man on the streets of this city, yet my siblings poke fun at me. Something I don’t want Isabella to see and think she can do the same.
“Hang on.” Swiping through her phone, Shea says, “You are one lucky groom. I just had an engagement implode after the bride was caught cheating. I figured I’d lose the room since it’s only a month away. How many people?”
“Balor?”
He rolls his eyes and opens his laptop. “This is a show, right?”
“Aye,” I say, grinding my molars. “How many people does the venue hold, Shea?”
“Small. One hundred.”
The idea of working up a security dossier for one hundred people—other villains like me who will want to see my prize—churns my stomach with worry. My parents will be there. My sister. My…wife.
Shea taps her manicured nails on her phone’s screen. “Do you want the room at the Orchid or not?”
“TheOrchid?” Jaysus, that place costs a fortune, but it will send a message: I don’t fuck around. Nodding, I say, “Aye. But not for one hundred people. That’s a security nightmare. Balor, fifty, tops.”
“Got it,” he says and starts backspacing on his laptop.
“Shea, can you put this together for me?”
She leans a delicate elbow on my mahogany desk. “I had a huge waiting list of interns for this season. We’ll get a few more on board so I can do this for you, big brother.” She smiles at me. “The short time frame means I won’t have to work on it for very long.”
