Chapter 14 Liam
I took my seat at the oak table, which was practically groaning under the weight of tonight’s spread.
There was the usual roast with carrots and cabbage, lamb stew, three different types of bread, and heaving platters of mashed potatoes, plus the various cold salads contributed by various women in the family.
My da sat just two seats away at the head of the table, flanked by my two older brothers, Tommy and Pat.
Around the table, various uncles and cousins were mid-argument about a shipment delay, voices overlapping, somebody's kid shrieking with laughter from the next room. Normal chaos. The kind of noise I used to find comforting.
Tonight it just made my head pound.
I caught Declan watching me from across the table, one blonde eyebrow raised over his wine glass, and something about the look made the hair on my arms rise before I could name why.
"You look like hell," Declan said, not unkindly. He'd always had an easy way about him. He was older than me by six years, quick with a joke, the cool cousin who taught me how to throw a punch and how to talk my way out of needing one. Growing up, I'd have trusted him with anything.
"Long week,” I said, trying to keep my voice low.
"Trouble in paradise?" He tipped his glass toward the empty seat beside me, the one that should've held Roxy.
He knows, I realized with a sigh. If Declan knew that Roxy was back in town, the rest of my family was about to find out, too. For the sake of my sanity and dignity, I decided it was best if they heard the news from me.
“Hey everyone. I have some news to share.”
Tommy banged his fist on the table for everyone’s attention.
“Thanks,” I muttered from the corner of my mouth. Then, I cleared my throat, speaking up a little louder, “I thought everyone should know that Roxy is back in town. And…uh…well, we’re getting a divorce.”
All conversation ceased as every person at the table fell completely silent.
“You’re just going to let her go, then? Just like that?” Da said.
“We both decided it’s for the best,” I said.
I expected my da to make a comment about the sanctity of marriage, or how his grandparents were married for over fifty years. But what he actually did was worse, which was not speak at all.
I decided to let it go. Which was a good thing because Sean texted me under the table not ten minutes later, three words that made my stomach drop straight through the floor.
Found the suit.
I excused myself before dessert, mumbling something about an early morning, and sat in my car in Niall's long gravel driveway with my phone gripped so tight my knuckles ached, waiting for Sean to pick up.
"Talk to me," I said the second the call connected.
"Traced him through a buddy who does security for that hotel by the marina.
Guy's a private contractor, does discreet work for people who don't want their names on paper.
Goes by Lance." A pause, the sound of Sean shifting, lowering his voice like he didn't trust the walls even from wherever he was standing.
"He's been paid twice in the last fourteen months for jobs involving your wife.
First time, locating her. Second time, more recent was surveillance only, no contact.
Somebody wanted eyes on her, not a conversation. "
"Who's paying him?"
"That's the part you're not gonna like." Sean exhaled hard. "Payment traces back through two shell accounts, and that’s as far as I could dig. It’s gonna take some more time."
I sat there a long moment, staring through the windshield at the warm gold light spilling from my father's windows, at the shape of my own family laughing and eating and carrying on like nothing in the world was wrong, and felt something in my chest go hard and still, the way it always did right before I did something I couldn't take back.
I thought about the AC casino, the one Roxy had mentioned so casually, like it was just one more stop on her long list of odd jobs. I thought about the timing. Lance first hired right around when that casino folded, then hired again the moment Roxy resurfaced in Northridge.
It wasn't about her at all, I realized slowly, ice sliding down my spine. Or not only about her.
It was about whatever she might know, and it was related to the casino.
"Whoever’s behind the payments doesn’t want to be found. Keep digging," I told Sean. Then, as a reminder, I added, “Quietly.”
I hung up and sat there another minute, hands tight on the wheel, watching my breath fog faintly against the cold glass. Somewhere behind me, through lit windows, my family carried on with dessert and easy laughter.
And somewhere across town, Roxy was home alone, no idea that the danger circling her didn't have my face on it at all.
Remembering the call I’d received earlier, I looked at my phone again and saw that she’d left a voicemail. I leaned back in my seat and hit “play.”
“Liam! I got a bone to pick with you!” her tiny voice blared out of my phone speaker.
Despite her tone, I couldn’t help but smile. God knew I needed a reason to smile at that very moment.