Chapter 1 - Rhiannon
5 months later
Rhiannon's fingers flipped through the papers in her father's office. Invoices, bills, statements… her teeth bit into her bottom lip, and she let out a mutter of discontent. Where was it?
Almost by accident, her eyes landed on an envelope just a few feet away. She didn't know how she'd missed it. Maybe the non-descript color, and because it had been placed between the books on his mahogany shelves.
Darting toward it, Rhi grabbed and opened the envelope, flicking through its contents as quickly as she could until she found what she was looking for.
Bingo.
Savage glee lit up her face for a moment that quickly turned for the worst when she heard voices coming down the hallway—specifically, her father's voice.
Shit, shit, shit. She chanted the thoughts, scrambling toward the locked door. With a flick of her fingers, the lock was undone, and she cracked it open to peek through.
Her father was standing a few feet away in an Italian suit, with his cell phone to his ear and a distracted expression on his face. His hair, longer than her mother normally allowed it to be, was dark like hers but with a scattering of silver in uneven places. Almost rusty-looking in appearance.
Pressing closer to the crack, Rhiannon listened in as he spoke. "Is everything good for this afternoon?"
This afternoon? Her face fell into a puzzled frown, and she combed through her thoughts in an attempt to figure out what he was talking about. Nothing came to mind; his schedule was clear, or so she'd thought. His schedule, but not the rest of theirs. Her brothers, then? Was that who he was speaking to?
"That's fine; I'm not too concerned about that," he said to the person on his phone. "We can deal with them later. Just make sure the shipment goes out on time."
Oh, realization struck at that thought, and Rhiannon almost face-palmed. The weapons deal. How on earth had she forgotten?
Footsteps pulled her from her thoughts as her father started to pace further away, nodding his head and muttering a few yesses and nos. Likely finalizing the plans. There was no better time for her to escape.
Keeping an eye on him, Rhiannon waited until his back was toward her, and then she darted away, her footsteps near silent as she wound her way around the house and toward the back, where her car was waiting. Almost there… Rhiannon climbed into the driver's seat and—flinched as her phone started to ring.
"Damnit!" she cursed, and with one hand, she started the car while the other reached toward the console where she'd left her phone earlier.
It was just her luck that her father's name flashed across the screen.
"Dad!" she greeted over the purr of the Maserati. "How's y—"
"What were you doing in my office?" he demanded, not even bothering to say hello.
Swallowing her irritation, Rhi shrugged and replied in a succinct voice that hadn't failed her yet. "What do you mean? I wasn't in your office. Don't tell me you had a break-in, Dad. You're holding on to the blueprints for the new club, and—"
Today must really not have been her day because her words got cut off as her father roared, "DON'T PLAY FUCKING DUMB WITH ME!"
Silent, Rhiannon waited, breath hitched and heart racing. Up ahead were the gates to her father's estate, and she hoped they'd let her out. She hoped he hadn't had enough time to stop her from leaving because she was running low on time, and getting stuck at her father's was not on the plan for the day.
With a rattling sigh, her father seemingly composed himself, and his voice, albeit still tight with rage, had lowered. "Whatever you're up to now, Rhiannon, you better have a good explanation."
"Dad, I'm serious. I wasn't in your office." She took a deep breath and softened her tone, hoping it sounded innocent enough. "I just stopped by to borrow Mom's classic Louboutins," she claimed, praying he would buy the ridiculous excuse. "You know I have that party coming up, and those are vintage. I couldn't find them anywhere else."
The shoes sat in the back of her car, waiting for when she got home.
Rhiannon gave a short, sweet smile to the guards at the gate. Her palms were slick with sweat, but they let her pass without a second glance, so she revved her car and sped out of there as her father continued his argument.
"You expect me to believe that?" he snapped. "So help me, Rhiannon, if I catch you doing something that could endanger this family—"
"Endanger? Dad, I'm just going to a party with friends! It's harmless!" Rhi argued, her voice rising in frustration.
"Harmless? Do you have any idea how many eyes are watching us at any given time? Do you know what stress I've been dealing with? Is this a fucking game to you, Rhiannon?" he retorted furiously, and Rhi felt the familiar sting of his disappointment.
"I can take care of myself, you know that! This isn't the 1950s anymore, where you have to protect me from everything!" she replied, her chin lifting. "You treat me like a child."
Everyone else in the family was able to come and do as they pleased. They knew what was going on within the Callaghan mafia, and they weren't questioned anytime they visited the estate. As proven by the weapons deal this afternoon. Rhi had to be cunning to get that information out of her father's men, and she still wasn't entirely sure if they'd told her the right information or given up something else to get her off their backs before the Skipper, her father, came home.
"I treat you like a child because you act like one, Rhiannon!" he barked, and Rhiannon's face darkened.
Always. He'd always treated her like this, but what was worse was that it wasn't just him. It was the rest of her family, too.
But her father wasn't done. As Rhi pulled onto the highway leading home, he hissed, "If I catch you doing anything foolish again, I will remove you from the accounts. You'll be out on your own, and you'll have no one to blame but yourself."
Her heart raced as she gritted her teeth. "Fine, do what you want. We all know you've been wanting to do that for ages." Slamming her finger on the phone screen, she cut the call as silvery tears started forming in her eyes. That asshole.
"I'm not going to sit around and let him control my life," she whispered in the resulting silence. "I'm not a fucking idiot."
Rhi parked her car in its usual spot, her glare cutting across the rapidly moving waters of the Chicago River. Fuck them. Fuck them all.
She grabbed the things from the backseat and then got out. Her mother's Louboutins and that envelope. But as she took a step in the direction of her apartment, Rhi spotted her brothers lingering on the stairs. Her irritation flared again.
"What are you two doing here?" she snapped as she crossed the car park and headed straight toward them. The twins, Ash and Cian. Her father's pride and joy. He'd raised them just like him, but she didn't know them too well. They'd hardly spent their childhoods together.
"Just making sure you're safe," one of them replied—Cian maybe, she wasn't too sure, but she knew that their concern was misplaced and no doubt an excuse to make sure she wasn't up to something.
She was, but they didn't need to know that. "Why wouldn't I be?" she blinked innocently, making sure her mother's Louboutins were visible as she waved her hand. "I'm just going to a party."
"What kind of party?" Ash asked, and it had to be him, but she wouldn't know for sure unless she could see their ink. All of her father's men were given Celtic knots, but everyone always chose a different place to put it. Symbols of their loyalty and a mark that labeled them family.
Rhi's unblemished skin was clear of tattoos, and that had never stung more than when she had to witness her brothers choosing theirs. The only good thing that came out of it was knowing that Cian had his on the right of his chest while Ash had asked for his to be placed on his hip.
"None of your business. I don't need a babysitter!" Rhi shot back, annoyance seeping into her words. "I'm perfectly capable of handling myself."
"Are you really?" Cian asked, crossing his arms, and that, along with her father's blatant disregard for her, stirred her temper like nothing else.
"Stop treating me like I'm some sort of China doll!" she hissed, striding up to them both with a glare that could and had scared off lesser men. "I'm not weak. I can do just as much as you guys can." Maybe even more, but she kept that to herself.
"You better only be going to a party, Rhi," Ash pressed, shaking his head. Always the nicer brother.
Meanwhile, Cian's eyes were hard, and he wasn't as subtle as he lowered his head to warn her. "We aren't going to help you out again if you get in trouble."
Rhiannon wouldn't have asked them to even if she was in trouble, but just hearing him say that after her father had said something similar made her clench her teeth to ignore the blunt pain in her heart. She'd had enough of being tossed aside at every opportunity, of being treated like a child.
"Get lost," she told them before making her way up to her apartment, and she looked back only once to make sure they were gone. At the top of the stairs, as she was about to open her door, Rhiannon turned around and found the car park empty.
Not a soul in sight.
Though that was why she liked this area so much, she told herself as she entered the apartment and closed the door behind her.
A surge of determination flooded her veins as she looked around at her minimalistic home. Always the bare minimum. It was something she'd started to prefer after having gifts shoved at her just to keep her docile. Expensive clothes, toys, cars… her family had only ever given her things that could be taken away when she didn't obey the rules.
But Rhiannon was done being underestimated and locked away. She could earn her place in their world, prove her brothers wrong, and finally break free from her father's oppressive control. The thought of the upcoming weapons deal filled her with resolve; she would not let this opportunity slip away.
She placed her mother's shoes on the kitchen counter and hid the envelope under a loose wooden floorboard in her bedroom. Whatever was in there had to be important to get her father that angry. She'd read through it when she got back later.
Getting up off the floor, Rhi stepped into her closet and pulled out a pair of black pants and a matching top. Always black. She'd stopped wearing color long ago after one of her uncles had made a comment about who her father would choose to marry her off to when she was older.
Fuck that, Rhi had thought then, and she thought it every time she pulled open her cupboard and dressed in black. Then she went to the living room and sat down on her couch, waiting.
A few hours later, after a chime from her phone alerted her it was time, Rhiannon let out a breath and steeled herself as she left her apartment and headed toward the nondescript black car that no one knew belonged to her.
The weapons deal was taking place at the docks, and Rhi smirked as she parked a few streets away, then slipped through the fence unnoticed. She didn't mind that they'd already gotten started without her because the information had been good, and she was finally going to prove herself.
"Hello, gentlemen," she purred, a sway in her step as she approached the shipping containers. And maybe if she hadn't been as excited as she was, then she would've noticed the men standing in the shadows. "Are we ready to get started?"
Her smile slipped through when a heavy weight landed on her head, and Rhiannon blacked out unceremoniously.