Chapter Twelve
DUBLIN, IRELAND
I made it to Dublin right after securing Ekaterina’s assurance that she would indeed be marrying me.
While the very thought was enough to make me ill, I could and would do this until I could put the rest of my plan into action.
I supposed it wouldn’t be too hard, as she was a better piece of ass than I thought she’d be.
Truthfully speaking, she had gotten my dick hard, and kept it that way well after we’d fucked that night.
With the sex being so good, I’d make the rest work until I no longer had to.
That period was what was stressing me out.
Well, that and the meeting I’d called both my grandfather and cousin to.
Instead of making either return to New York City, I’d made the decision to come to Ireland.
Ekaterina was back at my Irish digs while I was at the main house, and Nolan was there to keep an eye on her in case she decided to do anything foolish.
The very thought of punishing her now for past and current sins was appealing, but not as much as this meeting with my grandfather would be.
I can’t wait to stick it to you, old man.
Of course, he valued no one else’s time but his own, so he had yet to make it to the study.
Cillian hadn’t either, although I was sure he was busy sleeping off his latest bender.
At the Daniro party, he seemed a lot more put together, but I knew it wouldn’t last. These periods of time for him never did.
I had no idea what had one day driven the younger Brannington to the bottle, but I also didn’t care.
I got up from the chair and walked over to the bar in the corner.
My grandfather had the most expensive liquors in all the world proudly displayed like a work of art.
The corner of this room reminded me a lot of the Irish pubs I grew up going to, only this was not open to the public.
As I ran two fingers along the gold edge lettering of this thirty-two-year-old bottle of single malt Irish whiskey, I decided to indulge in that.
After all, I was his grandson and not some random crew member.
I’d just finished pouring about three fingers into a glass when the sound of footsteps caught my attention.
Quickly slamming the drink back, I looked to the door in time to see Cillian walk through it.
He seemed lucid enough at the moment, but as he made a beeline for the very place I stood, I knew it was just a matter of time.
“You want some of this?” I asked him as I dangled the bottle in front of him.
“No,” he said, then walked around the back of the bar and grabbed an imported water from the refrigerator. I eyed him suspiciously.
“You give up drinking again?”
“Something like that,” he replied before moving away from me and over to the chair where I’d just been sitting.
“That’s great,” I told him as I took a seat in the one next to him.
Cillian looked disinterested in being here, and I couldn’t blame him.
I had summoned him with no indication of what it entailed, and I was sure he had much better things to do with his time than wait here with me.
What I had to announce was important, though.
It affected him every bit as much as it did me.
“So, are you going to tell me what this is all about?” my cousin finally asked.
“I’d like to know that myself, Garmhac. I don’t appreciate being summoned like one of your men,” my grandfather said as he joined us.
When he reached Cillian and me, he turned and motioned with his hand for his right-hand man to leave, and once the door closed completely, he looked straight at me.
“If you have something to tell us, then do it.”
“Very well. I’ve given your ultimatum a lot of thought,” I began, and I didn’t miss the way Cillian instantly sat up straighter in his seat. “And I think you’ll be pleased to know that I’m taking a wife.”
Those words sounded so foreign to my own ears, and mostly because marriage wasn’t something I had ever been interested in before.
If it hadn’t been for my grandfather’s ridiculous demands, I wouldn’t have even considered it now.
Alas, I refused to lose what I had spent my life helping build and maintain, especially when the alternative was to have it turned over to the unseriousness that was Cillian.
“And who would this dame be?” Ronan Brannington asked.
I smirked at my grandfather, then responded. “Ekaterina Kotov.”
The color drained from my grandfather’s face before it quickly reappeared, but much redder in color. “Is this some sort of joke?”
“She’s the girl that ran down Prin?—”
“We know who she is,” my grandfather immediately said to Cillian. The blond just shrugged. “I forbid it.”
“You can’t forbid it, Daideó. We had an agreement when you presented the terms to us. I found a wife as you insisted, and we’re anxious to have a son right away.”
Anxious was probably too mild a word, but I would fuck her senseless day and night until she became with child. With any luck, it would be a son, and once he was born, we’d all be rid of Ekaterina.
“Absolutely not. I have no idea what sort of joke you think that this is, but?—”
“I can assure you that marrying her is no joking matter.”
“You can’t possibly love her,” he responded.
“Not particularly, but love is neither here nor there. It matters little in our world. I will give you the fucking heir you desire, then you can butt the fuck out of my life.”
“Quiet down, Garmhac. You will remember your place in this house...in this family...You will show me the respect that I deserve.”
“Apologies, Daideó. It changes nothing. I have already put the plans into motion, and by the end of the week, Ekaterina and I will be wed in Adare. Our wedding will be a traditional Irish one, then we’ll return to New York City and continue to run things from there.”
“This is crazy.” My grandfather then turned to Cillian. “Wipe that fucking smirk off your face, garmhac. Are you really so willing to pass our empire down to that Russian whore?”
“You require us to marry and produce heirs, then you try to put conditions upon it,” Cillian said. “You reap what you sow, and you have yet to pay for anything you’ve done.”
“Enough!” our grandfather said. “I should disavow the two of you completely.”
I looked at my cousin, who seemed to give zero fucks about that. He might be willing to walk away from the family business, but I was not. I refused to let the Brannington name die with the two of us.
“The arrangements are already in place. We’ve reserved the castle, and invitations will be going out soon. I suggest that you ready yourself with the idea that any heir of ours will have her blood, or you can be cut out of our lives for good.”
I had no intentions about walking away, but my grandfather paled anyway. He looked between me and my cousin, then returned his gaze to Cillian. “You must marry, too.”
“I tried at one time, and we see how that turned out.”
I arched a brow. Cillian had tried to wed someone before? When had this been? Was it here in Ireland? Or back when he was in New York City? I had so many questions, but the way my grandfather narrowed his eyes in anger, I suspected that neither of them would fill me in even if I asked them to.
“That whore is unworthy of the Brannington na?—”
“But she will carry it nonetheless,” I interrupted.
“You two are going to be the death of me yet,” he muttered under his breath, before clearing his throat.
“Princeton was the chosen one until she’d killed him in cold blood.
Have you no respect for your own brother?
Would you really trade a piece of pussy for the vengeance you should’ve sworn to get for your sibling? ”
I narrowed my eyes this time. That very vow was the reason I was doing this.
She was in a perilous situation that only I could help her through, and in return, she would give me what I needed to maintain my stronghold on this family.
After, I would see that vow through when I snuffed the life out of her as I had so many others at the elder Brannington’s orders.
“Princeton is gone,” and as I pointed to my cousin, I added, “And this one is even less interested in your demands than me. This is what you wanted, and now you’re going to have to deal with the consequences.
Unless Cillian over here wants to take a wife, too.
” The blond threw his hands up. “Enough said. I’ll send you the exact details of our nuptials. I expect you both to attend.”
And with those words, I finished the drink I had in my hand, then returned the glass to the bar.
I could already see my grandfather and Cillian arguing about something before the younger Brannington stormed out of the study.
I took a final look at the old man, and I followed in my cousin’s footsteps for once and left the room, too.