Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Ciaran
As Max had pointed out a hundred times since I left Mara’s with him, there was no real need for me to be here. My men were capable of interrogating a traitor without me, especially as my brother Sean, the most bloodthirsty member of our organization, was with them. Though I would have preferred to spend the afternoon with Annie, I couldn’t leave this to others. I had to be the one to end this treacherous bastard’s life.
Ricky Lawson had been with my family for years, working under my grandfather and then my father before me. When I took over five years ago, I didn’t expect him to cause any issues. He’d already proved his loyalty many times. He’d sworn to follow me as faithfully as he had my father, and I believed him. Perhaps it was because I’d looked up to him as a kid that I didn’t consider him when we knew we had a traitor in our ranks. I’d been blinded by the image of an honorable man who probably never really existed.
Hearing from Max that Ricky was the one selling information to the Clearys was like a dagger to the heart. When our weapons shipments had failed to reach their destinations, he’d advised me to look among our newer recruits for a rat. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that he, himself, was responsible for the trouble we were having. But I knew Max wouldn’t have brought him in for questioning if he wasn’t certain he was our rat.
With lorries getting hijacked on an almost weekly basis, our partners were starting to worry we were no longer reliable. I needed confirmation of who was behind it. My primary suspect was Danny Mulhearn. Though Jimmy Cleary was technically still in charge of the family that bore his name, rumor had it he’d backed away from the business now he was receiving chemotherapy for prostate cancer. Hopefully, Ricky could tell us who was calling the shots.
Following Max through the warehouse we used to store electronics and other goods sold through some of our legitimate businesses, I headed for the room at the back where we interrogated prisoners. Barely bigger than a prison cell, it had a stale, unpleasant smell that no amount of bleach could mask. With the windows boarded up, the only light came from a single fluorescent strip light that cast a harsh white glow over the center of the room. Two of my men were in the room, my brother Sean and his usual partner in crime, Marcus. They were the family’s chief enforcers, both tall, muscular and tattooed over every available inch of skin. Alone, each man was enough to give someone nightmares. Together, they looked as if they could bring down Armageddon.
Ricky was in the center of the room. He hung by the wrists from manacles attached to a hook on the ceiling. From the look of him, he wouldn’t last much longer. Sean and Marcus had clearly had their fun already. Their victim’s head hung low, but I could see he’d been badly beaten. His torso was bare, revealing dozens of slash marks. Blood pooled at his feet, so much of it I was surprised he was still alive. But he was still breathing. His pained groans filled the air.
I glanced at the floor and suppressed a shudder. Though I wasn’t squeamish, I didn’t rejoice in seeing the evidence of a man’s torture, either.
“At least tell me you got what we needed from him before you cut out his tongue,” I said wryly.
“Of course.” Sean motioned for Marcus to give us the room, and the other man left immediately. My brother stepped forward and gave me a hug I could have done without since his clothing was soaked in blood, and I was wearing a white shirt. He didn’t seem to notice the red streaks he left all over me. “Have I ever let you down?”
No, he hadn’t. Both he and our brother Will had been my strongest supporters since our father’s death propelled me into leadership of our organization when I was twenty-four. They’d stood shoulder to shoulder with me through every challenge I’ve faced. While Will preferred to oversee our legitimate businesses, using his charm to facilitate deals, Sean thrived in the thick of the action, buying and selling weapons and keeping our men in line. His thirst for violence was unmatched among our men, but he was also a decent strategist.
“So, what did he tell you?”
“His boy’s an addict. He got into debt with one of Cleary’s dealers, a bottom-feeder called John Canavan. Ricky tried to pay off the debt, but they wouldn’t take cash.”
“They preferred information?” Max guessed.
“Yeah. He gave them dates and times of shipments, told them the routes.”
Anger swelled in my chest. One of our drivers had been shot a couple of weeks back when his truck was hijacked. He was still in hospital and would need extensive rehab when he got out. He was an older guy with a wife and kids. I intended to track down everyone involved in his shooting and make them pay.
“He kept babbling that he had no choice.” Sean spat on the floor, his disgust palpable.
“Bullshit!” Max scoffed. “He could have spoken to me, to Ciaran.”
“Yeah.”
“Did he deal with Cleary or Mulhearn?” I asked.
“Mulhearn. He thinks the asshole’s positioning himself to take over when Cleary dies.”
That matched up with what we already knew.
“Is Cleary sicker than we thought?”
Sean nodded. “Got weeks rather than months, apparently.”
Shit. Cleary didn’t have a son to pass his business onto, but he had a daughter. Leadership rarely passed to a woman in our old-fashioned world. I didn’t know much about his daughter, but she’d left the country a couple of years ago and seemed an unlikely successor. When Cleary died, Mulhearn would take over, and I didn’t relish that prospect. Unlike his boss, he lacked a code of honor.
“That’s a problem for another day,” I said. “Let’s deal with one thing at a time.”
I held my hand out to Sean. Because I’d planned on being with Annie, I hadn’t brought a gun when I left the house. Coming from the U.K, she probably wasn’t used to weapons, and I wasn’t ready to explain to her why I needed one. The presence of my security team already freaked her out. She didn’t say anything, but I could tell how uncomfortable she was around them. If I’d told her I was an Irish mafia boss, she’d probably have run for the hills. Well, she’d have tried to. There was no way I’d have let her go.
Sean passed his Beretta M9 to me. It was a decent weapon. I liked how it felt in my hand, solid and dependable, but not too heavy. I walked up to Ricky, wrinkling my nose at the foul stench of piss. Putting the barrel of my gun beneath his chin, I used it to tilt his head until he faced me. Fuck! My brother really had done a number on him. He was unrecognizable. His nose was broken, his eyes swollen shut. There was a lot I wanted to say to him, but I doubted a lengthy speech would have the desired impact on him. I decided to keep my last words to him short and sweet.
“You could have come to me, Ricky. I’d have protected your kid, but now….”
I let that thought drift on the air. I wouldn’t go after his son, not unless he became a problem for me, but Ricky didn’t have to know that. Let his dying moments be in fear that he’d signed his only son’s death warrant.
Suddenly animated as a surge of panic whipped through him, Ricky jerked upright. He struggled in his chains, babbling some incoherent threat he wouldn’t have the chance to carry out. Stepping back, I aimed and fired off three shots in rapid succession. I should have felt bad for the relief his death brought me, but I didn’t. On the rare occasions I took a life, it was out of necessity. Anyone who became a threat to my family would suffer the same fate.
“Have the body dumped outside Cleary’s new restaurant.” An upscale joint like that wouldn’t weather the storm of a mutilated body being found on its doorstep. “And have someone pay a visit to Mulhearn’s truck depot.”
It was time to hit back hard for the disruption they’d caused us these past few months. I didn’t have to spell out to Sean that I wanted every last truck that asshole owned blown to kingdom come. My brother would take care of it. Some of his men were ex-paramilitaries from the old country. They knew how to blow shit up.
“I’ll get my best lads on it,” Sean confirmed, following Max and I outside. “You’re still coming to the house tonight?” he asked, making it sound as if we had plans.
“What?” I furrowed my brow in confusion as I wracked my brain for what I’d apparently forgotten.
“It’s Emily’s birthday, remember? She’s making dinner.”
Shit! I’d forgotten all about that when I arranged to spend the evening with Annie. Letting my sister down wasn’t ideal, but I didn’t want to miss out on the chance to be with Annie, either.
“I can’t make it.”
“What do you mean, you can’t make it?” Sean demanded, his tone bordering on hostile. With family, he was even less compromising than I was. We both adored our younger sisters, but Sean had made it his mission in life to make sure nobody ever hurt them. His protectiveness put Will and I to shame.
“He met a girl,” Max chipped in helpfully.
Sean’s demeanor changed immediately. A grin spread across his face as he fixed an appraising eye on me. “A girl, huh? Who is she?”
“Just a woman I met.” I tried to sound casual about it. “I said I’d meet her tonight.”
“And you can’t put it off?” Sean asked.
“She’s leaving tomorrow,” Max said. “She’s from Scotland. He met her at Lola’s .”
“What was some girl from Scotland doing at Lola’s ?” Sean knew as well as I did that the place was a shithole.
Mac grinned. “She was looking for her long-lost cousin, Danny Mulhearn.”
I rolled my eyes as Max filled my brother in on the details.
Sean burst out laughing. “And you’ve fallen for this lass?” He sobered when I glared at him. “Bring her to the house.”
I shook my head. “No way. You know Emily. If I bring a woman home for dinner, she’ll be picking out bridesmaids’ dresses before the food’s even on our plates.”
“Aye,” Sean agreed, because he’d been on the receiving end of Emily’s well-intentioned matchmaking as well. “But you can’t blow off dinner. Ma’s not flying up for it and Erin’s got an exhibition in New York that’s apparently too important to miss. You can’t leave poor Em with just me and Will for company.”
I rolled my eyes at his obvious attempt at manipulation. Our sister had just Sean and Will for company most nights and so far, she’d survived just fine.
“I’ll send her something nice to make up for it.”
“Fine.”
The disapproval in that one word almost crushed me. I hated to hear such disappointment in my brother’s voice.
“But you’d better make it good,” he added. “You know flowers and shit won’t fly with Em.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ll get Marcie on it.” My personal assistant was better at choosing gifts than I was, and she’d known my sister since the day she was born.
Sean sighed dramatically, then pulled me in for another hug. “If you decide to keep this woman around, I want to meet her.”
“Sure.” I patted his back, and he released me from his embrace.
Max and I got into the back of the car we came in. Anthony, our driver, met my eye in the rearview mirror.
“My place,” I instructed him. I needed to get changed out of my now-bloody clothes before I went into the office. With Annie relaxing at the spa, I could get a few hours’ work in before it was time to meet her.
As we drove off, I reconsidered my plans. Seeing me with my family could be a good thing for Annie. If I was going to keep her, and I was sure I was, then meeting them would help ease her into her new life. Perhaps taking her to the lake house wasn’t the worst idea after all.