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Growing up the youngest in a brutal Irish mafia family with two older brothers who committed the worst acts of betrayal imaginable meant that I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it came down pretty damn often, like a fucking lead brick.
They’re gone now, but their legacy still haunts us. I grit my teeth, the gut punch of Niall’s traitorous moves still hitting as hard as it did a few years back when I found out the truth about him and his twisted plans for our family.
I can’t believe how much has happened, what we’ve lost and can never get back.
My brother Patrick runs things now. He keeps tabs on our businesses and has built a successful weapons trafficking organization out of his nightclub, Risk. Our brother-in-law Matteo is a partner and we keep everything in the family.
I handle security since maiming is my specialty, and if ignorant fuckers try and mess with our cash flow, they answer to yours truly.
I keep shit in order and so far, nobody’s been stupid enough to cross us.
It’s just the two of us left here in the city—the last Mulligan brothers standing. Heaven and her husband Matteo spend most of their time in Las Vegas with their family.
Aunt Maura still runs Molly’s Pub, named after my cousin. She makes sure I’m fed and hydrated with stuff other than beer and Jameson. I’ve got a crew to keep shit tight here in Hell’s Kitchen. It took a while to rebuild after our lives got sucked into a funnel cloud, then spit out on the other side.
But the guilt still eats at me. My oldest brother Conor was a drugged-out alcoholic who was a lost cause from the second he was born. But Niall… Niall could have been saved.
If I’d only been paying more attention. I should have read between the lines, asked him more questions, tailed him that night, and grabbed him before he made the worst fucking decision of his life.
I bring a hand to the back of my neck and turn to look at the guys battling over the basketball. They’ve all become close since they started this program, and it’s given them so many things they don’t get at home, like hope and humor and self-esteem. They all have it rough—broken families, no money, sometimes no food.
Sportsocity gives them the sense of family they’re missing. We take care of the kids however we can, whenever they need a boost. Money, clothes, meals. But most of all, they always know they have each other for support.
Massimo looks around the gym. “I was thinking we should have a group dinner this week at Molly’s. What do you think? Davis has been having a rough time since his dad split. I figured it’d be good to get them together for a night out. We can take them to a movie afterward. I know they all want to see that stupidSuper Mariowhatever the hell movie that just came out.”
My eyes fly open. “Stupid? Bro, you really need to get a PlayStation. You sound like a fucking old-ass dinosaur when you talk about pop culture shit.”
“I’ve got more important things to deal with than video games.” He lifts an eyebrow. “Maybe if you didn’t play as much of that crap as you did, we’d have another nightclub up and running already. You waste talent on the wrong things, Q.”
“My talent is beating the fuck out of people who get in my way.” I waggle my eyebrows at him. “You know it.”
“Is that all you want to do? Bust kneecaps for the rest of your life? And run away from the big things?”
“The big things take a lot of work. I like to get in and out fast.”
“If you stuck around for a while, you’d learn things. You’d get a chance to make your own rules and call your own shots.” Massimo leans against the gym wall. “But you don’t. You like causing chaos.”
“That’s right. It’s how I leave my mark.”
“Your mark is gonna get you killed if you don’t watch your ass.” Massimo leans toward me. “There are different groups moving into the area. They wanna take over what we’ve built. If you keep running around torching shit, they’re gonna come for you. Take you out of the game for good.”
“They’ll never get me.” My eyes narrow. “I’m better than them. And I’m not like Conor or Niall. I won’t fold, and I’d never betray Patty.”
“You might not get that choice.” His voice is dark, his eyes clouded by knowledge that something ominous is coming.
But in my life, my world, I’m literally drenched in everything ominous.
“You’re too reckless. It’s gonna come back to bite you and threaten your organization.” He takes a quick look around. “They’re watching you. They’re watching all of us. One wrong move and they’ll attack.”
“Look, Mas, I bleed for my family. For Sportsocity. For you and Patty and the kids. Nobody will ever fuck with what’s ours with me watching out for it all.”
“You take too many risks.”
“I keep things protected.”
“And what about you? One day, you’re gonna—” Massimo recoils and pulls back. “Oh, shit.”
The door to the gym slams shut. I twist, my jaw dropping when I see Davis limp across the floor. The knees of his tattered jeans are torn, his arms scraped up and bleeding. A thin trickle of blood streams out of the side of his mouth.
