Chapter 24 Declan
Declan
Thea's message popped up on my phone screen, joining the other ten million missed call notifications.
Call me right now fucker!
I ground my teeth and poured another drink. Today had turned into a complete shit show, with Bridget's departure for some fashion shoot in LA the only silver lining.
The longer she stayed away, the better. I did not need her bullshit right now, not with the O'Rourkes amping up their campaign against us.
Thea wasn't supposed to know about the crash; every time I picked up the phone to call her, something distracted me. I suspected Milo was monitoring my communications, although I didn’t know how - tech stuff wasn't my area of expertise.
She must have tried calling Verity and got no reply after Ash had destroyed her old SIM and phone.
Conal had read me some of the many horrific messages on her phone. No woman deserved to receive that level of misogynistic bullshit. If some guy had sent messages like that to my sisters or cousin, he'd be dead. The prick had better hope we never caught up with him.
I shoved aside my ideas for creative torture and picked up my phone. It was time I bit the bullet and called Thea Orliov before she jumped on a plane with her psycho Russian husband in tow.
"Thea, how's married life treating you?"
"Don't you sweet-talk me, Declan Kelly!" I winced. "What the fuck happened to my sister and why can't I get hold of her?"
"Verity has a new phone. I'll tell her to call you when she wakes up."
"You're supposed to protect her, Declan, so why was she caught up in a targeted attack on the estate and now a car crash?" Thea's voice cracked as emotion bled through, and I sighed. God knows I empathized with her.
My sisters and cousin were forever getting themselves into trouble, and each time Saoirse announced she'd fallen in love with some asshole, I wondered why the fuck I hadn't sent all three of them to a fucking convent.
My life would be sooo much easier if they had devoted their lives to God instead of chasing dick.
"Pure bad luck, Thea. Verity is having a hard time being confined to the house. She needed a break and Conal offered to take her for a short drive." At least, that's what he told me. I wasn't convinced his actions were entirely selfless, but I'd been too busy to look more closely at it.
"You should have sent a security team with them!"
My temper flared in response to her accusations. "I wasn't aware they'd gone until I got word about the crash!"
"You're the boss, Declan. It's literally your fucking job to know this shit!"
Thea made a good point, but I refused to admit it.
"Watch your mouth, Thea." My temper exploded. "If you have a fucking problem with my decision-making, I'm happy to send Verity back to the States." Honestly, it would make my life easier, even if the why wasn't something I wanted to think about.
"I'd love it if she came home, but she refuses to do it." From Thea's frustrated grumble, I gathered she'd tried many times to persuade her sister to leave Ireland and move back home. "She says I smother her to death and she wants to live her own life."
I snorted as my anger faded. Thea needed to learn to let her sister be an adult. God knows I'd had that lesson rammed down my throat when dealing with my sisters and cousin. The more I tried to micromanage them, the more they rebelled.
"Look, I've increased security around the estate, and if Verity needs to go anywhere, she'll have both my brothers and Ash or Connor with her. OK?"
"Fine," she huffed. "Care to tell me why you gave her a brand-new phone with a different number?"
"Sure, if you tell me how and why Milo is monitoring all our communications?"
"He is?" Her innocent tone fooled nobody.
"Yeah, he is."
"No idea. I'd have to ask him. So explain about the phone."
"We found out she was receiving abusive messages from her ex-boyfriend.
Each time she blocked the fucker, he used a different burner to send more messages.
So we got her a new phone. It's a short-term fix until one of us can hunt the bastard down and effect a more permanent solution. " By which I meant kill the fucker.
A brief silence followed, with some background murmuring. I guessed one or more of her guys sat listening in on the call, as was normal with Thea. All of them were overprotective assholes, except for Milo. What went on in his head was a mystery, and I didn't care enough to ask.
"Send me what you have on him and Milo will do some research."
"No problem."
"I'll speak to Verity again and try to persuade her to come home."
"If she wants to do that, I'll make the arrangements, but she shot me down the last time I suggested it."
A message from Conal pinged on my phone, asking if I knew where Verity was. What the fuck? She was supposed to be in her room resting, as per our doctor's orders.
Dear Lord, at this rate, that fucking girl would give me a stress-related stomach ulcer.
"Listen, I have to go, Thea. Bye." I hung up before she could respond, not giving a fuck if she thought I was a rude bastard.
Finding Verity took precedence over everything. If something happened to her, I'd kill those responsible with my bare hands.
I stormed out of my office, intending to head upstairs to check Verity's room, but Conal appeared with a face like thunder.
"Have you found her?"
"Yeah." He looked furious before schooling his expression into a blank slate. "She's fine. Resting now."
I frowned. "So where was she?" If she was in her room, surely he would have checked there first?
"She wasn't in her room, but like I said, she's fine." Something didn't add up, but I had too much shit on my plate to get to the bottom of it.
"Did the Doc check you over?" He’d been in pain when they returned to the house.
"Yeah. All good. A few drinks will help me sleep." With a dismissive nod, he beat a path to the family room, where we kept a selection of booze.
I sighed and headed back to my office to catch up on the paperwork. People thought life as a mafia boss was all glamor and violence, but in truth, most of my time was spent on boring admin shit.
No wonder Pa had stepped away and was now living his best life in Dubai. Honestly, I didn't blame him. Given a choice, I'd rather be anywhere but filling in spreadsheets for the accountants.