Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
WEST
Shamrock’s was an old Irish pub in the middle of a strip mall on the outskirts of DC. Where O’Brien was relegated to south Philly with his tiny force, Seamus Byrne liked to run his empire from one of the booths in the middle of the bar, surrounded by his underlings, in our nation’s capital.
The place was covered in dark wood, from the paneling on the walls, to the scarred floors, to the bar top that stretched along the entire back wall.
The stools and booths were covered in deep red leather that was eerily the same color of drying blood, and the air smelled like a combination of a million different cheap colognes and whiskey.
The shades over the windows were drawn, the only light coming from a few can lights in the ceiling and the dark glass pendants hanging over the bar.
The bit of sunshine that came through the door when I opened it and stepped in with Linc, Hunter, and Xander at my back, blinked out like a switch flipping off as soon as the door closed behind us.
Even for noon on a Tuesday, the place was suspiciously empty, and the moment we entered, all conversation came to an instant stop as everyone in the place turned to look at us.
The guy who came off his stool and started in our direction stood an inch or two beneath six feet, with no neck, and ridiculous muscles that made it impossible for him to lower his arms all the way at his sides.
“Think you might have stumbled into the wrong bar, friends.” Stopping in front of us, he crossed his meaty arms over his chest as best he could.
“You need to move on down the road,” he warned in a thick, overdramatic Irish brogue.
“Titus, sit back down.” The order came from the man sitting at the booth in the middle of the room.
His shock of white hair and heavily lined face probably fooled most people into thinking he was nothing more than a helpless old man, but there was a cunning behind those cold blue eyes, and you’d be a fool to underestimate him.
“These men are my guests and they’ll be treated as such. ”
He lifted his gaze from the crossword puzzle he’d been working on, a pair of reading glasses perched on the end of his nose. “Please, make yourselves comfortable.”
Linc and I took the bench across the table from him while Hunter moved to one of the stools close to Titus, and Xander stood sentry at the door.
He lifted the highball glass that had been resting next to the newspaper and brought it to his lips, casually sipping the whiskey inside. “I trust, given your reputation, that you were wise enough to show me the respect of entering my establishment without any weapons.
Leaving my Glock behind in the glove compartment of my truck was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do, but walking into a known hangout for the Irish mob with a gun at my waist would have only made an already tense situation that much worse.
“We’re unarmed,” Lincoln confirmed. “But you’re free to have your man check if it would make you more comfortable.”
I saw Hunter tense from the corner of my eye, but he managed to keep his cool.
He knew Lincoln was just playing the game, and like the rest of us, he trusted his boss to have his back in all things.
That didn’t mean the man wasn’t still keyed up; we all were, but just like when we’d gone to Stella’s old apartment, it was more than usual.
Something was eating at him, and as far as I’d been able to gage, he hadn’t said a word to anyone about it. Not even Bryce.
Seamus lifted his hand in the direction of his man Titus to keep him in his seat before resting back and adjusting his tie, the picture of calm and comfortable.
Interlocking his fingers and resting his palms on his stomach, he said, “I believe that’s unnecessary. May I offer you and your men a drink?”
Lincoln gave a curt shake of the head. “If it’s all the same to you, we’d like to get down to business.”
That made the old man smile. “I must say, I was intrigued when you requested this meeting. I’ll admit, I did a little digging, as I’m sure you did. The reputation of Alpha Omega is widely known. I’m curious, what is it I can help you with?”
It was my turn to take the lead. “We have a bit of a problem with one of your men.”
Seamus arched a single brow, but gave nothing away. “Oh?”
“Grady O’Brien.”
His mask slipped then. It was so subtle most people wouldn’t notice, but I caught the tensing of his jaw and the slight flare of his nostrils before he schooled his features once again. “I see. And what kind of trouble is my dear nephew causing you?”
“Seems your nephew got played in a low-level con a while back, and is having trouble letting it go,” I informed him. “He’s been paid back what he lost in full, but that doesn’t seem to be good enough.”
Seamus inhaled deeply, considering everything I’d just said before asking, “And you’ve been pulled into this how, exactly?”
“Because the woman he had his man attack in the middle of a dark parking lot is mine,” I said on a growl.
“That’s not possible,” Seamus demanded. “Grady knows that we don’t target women.”
A criminal with a moral code. How refreshing.
“Then he seems to have forgotten that particular edict, because his man beat my woman unconscious. We requested this meeting to ask that you stress to your nephew the importance of backing off. Stella Ryan and her family are under the protection of Alpha Omega. They aren’t to be touched.
I understand his pride took a hit, but he’s recouped everything he lost. He needs to forget the Ryans exist.”
Cunning flashed in his eyes, the monster behind the man swimming to the surface for a moment.
“I see. And why, may I ask, should he do that? My nephew may be a bit of a loose cannon from time to time, but it seems to me these people fought above their weight class. Now they’re suffering the consequences. ”
I pulled out the file I’d prepared just for this meeting and tossed it onto the table. Seamus slowly dragged it to him before adjusting his glasses and flipping the cover open. I saw it in the way his body locked up tight the instant he realized what he was looking at.
“Because if he doesn’t, that could be very bad for business,” I stated plainly.
“It would be a shame if the police raided your warehouse in Baltimore. Or the one down at the port.” Seamus’s face started to grow red, but it was the only outward sign that he was anything but cool and collected at that moment.
Part of the reason his “businesses” had survived this long was because no one knew where he was running his drugs and guns out of.
Until now. It had taken master-skill-level hacking, but that was just one of the things Alpha Omega was known for, and in short order, we’d managed to find the location of every single one of his operations. And then some.
“And I’m sure you’d hate it if the list of politicians and law enforcement you have in your pocket were to be leaked. I imagine that would put a serious fucking strain on your distribution schedule, having the feds cracking down on you.”
The man cleared his throat, his eyes having gone cold and beady. “What do you want?”
“It’s simple,” I explained. “I want your nephew to forget the Ryans exist.” I lifted the aluminum case that contained every dollar of interest Stella and her family had managed to collect to pay down their debt.
“As a gesture of good faith, this is $475,000. This is in addition to what O’Brien has been paid back.
If he sees reason, we forget everything we found, and everyone goes back to business as usual. ”
Seamus let out a curse beneath his breath. Pulling a handkerchief from the inside of his blazer, he patted at his forehead. “That boy’s always been more trouble than he was worth,” he grumbled.
“I can imagine. So do we have a deal?”
The man’s shrewd gaze darted between Lincoln and me. “How do I know you’ll honor your side?”
“The last thing we want is to start a war,” Lincoln expressed.
“I just want my woman and her family safe. You keep your word, we keep ours. We have no interest in your business. If we can clear this up today, by tomorrow we all get to go back to forgetting the other side ever existed.”
“We give you our word,” Lincoln confirmed. “And if you’ve researched us the way you claim, you know that means something.”
I found myself holding my breath as I waited.
Finally, the old man nodded his head. “I’ll see to it my nephew understands the importance of forgetting he ever crossed paths with this family.
You have my word, he’s done causing problems for your woman.
But hear this, if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain, a war is exactly what you’re going to get. ”
He extended his hand, and I reached out to clasp it in mine, surprised at how strong his grip still was. “And if you don’t hold up your end, we’ll blow your fucking world apart,” I warned.
“Then it seems it would be best for both of us that we honor our agreement.”
As I’d expected, Seamus Byrne was a businessman above all else. He understood the benefits of making this deal and how it trumped loyalty to blood. Especially when that blood tended to fuck up everything he touched.
“It’s been a pleasure, gentleman, but if you don’t mind, I think it’s time for this meeting to end. Don’t you agree?”
I couldn’t agree more. Linc and I pushed out of the booth and started for the exit.
Hunter fell in line behind us, and Xander was there to kick the door open as soon as we got close enough.
As soon as we stepped out into the sunshine, I pulled in my first full breath.
It was over. Stella and her family could finally rest easy.
Thank Christ.
“You think he’ll honor our deal?” Xander asked after the four of us had piled into my truck and started out of the lot, headed in the direction of Hope Valley.
“I do,” Lincoln assured him, and his certainty was good enough for me.
We were halfway home when my cell started to ring, Hayes’s name flashing across the screen. I hit the button on my steering wheel to engage the call. “Hey, brother. What’s up?”
“Where are you?” Hayes asked without preamble, his tone a combination of things I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
“A little less than an hour outside town. Why? What’s wrong?”
“I’m just gonna start this off by saying everyone is totally fine.” He sounded like he was trying to choke back a laugh.
I felt my chest getting tight, visions of Stella being hurt or worse playing through my head like a goddamn highlight reel. “What the fuck are you talking about? What’s going on?”
“Okay, well, Stella and Sage got into a bit of a car accident. But they’re both fine. Just some bumps and bruises—”
“What the fuck?” Xander barked from my back seat as my right foot grew heavy, pressing harder on the gas pedal.
“We’re on our way,” I barked, my heart in my fucking throat as I disengaged the call and floored it.
The drive from DC to Hope Valley wasn’t a short one, but we made it there in record time.