Takin’ Care of Business
Chapter fourteen
Takin' Care of Business
WRAITH
áine takes the news we're flying out a day early and staying a day longer better than I expect.
Probably because any argument she wanted to make got interrupted by that knock on the door she warned me about. With McLaren and all three girls standing expectantly in the hall outside áine's bedroom.
I can't complain she didn't get a chance to ask me more about the change from Vegas to Anaheim because that part is staying a surprise. For everyone but me and McLaren.
We didn’t get a chance for áine to grill me about how I know her friend either. I'm not looking forward to that discussion. There's a lot I can't tell áine and McLaren won't. That's going to piss my woman off.
And some of it? Is just fucking inexplicable. There's some kind of weird synergy going on here.
Like the universe is pushing me and my new family together.
That stone cold assassin with heterochromatic blue eyes I knew when I was doing black ops? áine has a picture of him in his dress blues on her dresser.
When she noticed I was looking, she told me his name was Brady. "But his Ranger friends called him Bossona. I think it was joke that had something to do with that Elvis Presley song Bosso Nova Baby because my brother could not dance and he had this weird love of Elvis Presley's music."
Or maybe his team name was Bás ó Na Scáthanna and he cut his buddy off before he could say the full name in front of his little sister. He didn't want her knowing his teammates called him Death from the Shadows in Gaeilge.
I worked on several covert ops with Bás ó Na Scáthanna. He listened to Elvis Presley on his ear buds while he prepped for and lined up a shot.
But that man had no family and he was very much alive nine years ago, when her brother was supposed to be dead.
Heterochromia is rare enough, that two men who look identical both have blue-eyed heterochromia is not a coincidence. It's damn near irrefutable proof her brother is alive.
And I'll be damned if I don't find out for sure.
Yeah, something's been pushing me and áine toward each other for years.
It ain't love or anything soft and romantic like that. I don't have that shit in me to give, but this thing with me and áine? It's meant to fucking be.
She and those girls are mine to take care of.
I pull into the parking lot of St. Patrick's Elementary.
It takes longer than it should for the bookkeeper to understand what I want and that he has no choice about doing it.
Once the full refund of all money paid by Kenneth Shaughnessy on behalf of my daughters has been organized, I return to the head office and request a meeting with Lily Kennedy.
"Unfortunately, we can't accommodate your request without preauthorization from Lily's parents." Smiling, the school secretary gets up from her desk and comes to lean on the counter right in front of me. "Perhaps it's something I can help with."
"Call them."
"That's not how pre authorization works," she says flirtatiously. "But for you, I'll make this exception. I assume you're a close family friend?" she asks, her eyelashes batting like they're trying to take a flying leap off her face.
"No."
Confusion makes her brows pucker. "What is this about then?"
Not about to share with this woman what Neeve told me earlier, I pull my phone out and text Dagda, telling him what I need.
"Lily's parents will be calling you shortly." I turn to sit down in one of the adult-sized chairs in the waiting area. My big frame dwarfs it like it's kid-sized though.
"I'm sure the principal would prefer to know what this is about," the secretary says leadingly.
I ignore her.
"Mr. Lleshi, if you want permission to pull a student from her classroom, you will have to give a reason why."
"I need to talk to her."
"About what?" Her tone laced with irritation, she doesn't sound flirty anymore.
Good. I don't think my soon-to-be wife would like another woman flirting with me. I sure as hell wouldn't put up with another man trying it on with her.
The secretary makes a sound of distress. "Um…Mr. Lleshi, is everything okay?"
"Fine." I uncurl my fists and settle my hands on my hips.
She walks that way people do when they're trying to look nonchalant and are feeling anything but back to her desk.
Sitting down, she picks up the headset she removed before fluffing her hair when I first came in and puts it back on, then presses a button on the black phone console on her desk.
"Yes, hello, Mrs. Powell. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but there's a Mr. Lleshi here wanting to pull a student from her classroom. "
She pauses, listening to the principal.
"I don't know." She turns away from me and whispers, "He hasn't made any overtly threatening moves."
I roll my eyes. I haven't made any subtly threatening moves either. If I did intend to do her harm, she wouldn't be talking to her principal right now.
"I work for Mick Fitzgerald." If she doesn't know what that means, the principal will.
"Oh! Well, he says he works for Mr. Fitzgerald."
She turns back to face me, the wariness that should have been in her eyes the second I walked into this office finally there now. "Brogan Shaughnessy's son-in-law?"
I jerk my head in acknowledgement.
"Yes, that Mr. Fitzgerald." The phone on her desk rings. "Oh, um…that might be one of Lily's parents. I'd better take it."
Nodding to whatever the principal is saying, the secretary taps the screen on the phone console. "St. Patrick's Elementary." She pauses, listens and her shoulders relax. "Hello, Mrs. Kennedy. There's a Mr. Lleshi here who wants to speak with Lilly."
She listens for several seconds flicks a wary glance toward me. "I don't think he'll mind waiting. Let me just ask."
She's going to ask me if I mind waiting for Lily's mother to come down to supervise my talk with her daughter? That's not the kind of lax security I want to see at my daughters' school.
"Um. Mr. Lleshi, Mrs. Kennedy said her husband is on his way to the school. He will give permission to pull Lily from class."
"Okay."
She lets out the breath she was holding and slumps in her chair. "That's fine Mrs. Kennedy. We'll wait for your husband's arrival."
What did the secretary think I was going to do? Demand to see Lily without one of her parents present? I anticipated having them called and one of them showing up before I could have my chat with Neeve's best friend.
Kennedy walks into the school's office fifteen minutes later.
I stand and put out my hand. "Kennedy."
"Wraith. Good to see you. What's this about you wanting a chat with my girl?"
I indicate the door to the hall with a tilt of my head.
Understanding flares in his gaze and he retraces his steps out into the hallway.
When the door between us and the nosy secretary is closed, I say, "I should have contacted you first."
The other man shrugs. "No worries. What's this about then?"
It would have saved time.
"Lily is Neeve's best friend."
"That she is. Do you know the Gallagher girl? I don't take truck with putting the sins of the father onto their children," he warns me in a quiet but firm tone.
"Good. I'm dating áine." I want to say, I'm going to marry her and that Neeve is my daughter, but I have to wait on staking my verbal claim outside the family until we get back from California.
When áine will be legally mine and I'll start adoption proceedings for the girls.
The other mob soldier's eyes widen in surprise. "You are? Whew! I didn't see that one coming."
Neither did áine and I'm sure our wedding will come as an even bigger shock to the rest of the mob. I don't date. Uncommitted, uncomplicated sex is about it for my social interaction with the fairer sex.
"Did you know about the kids calling Neeve a bastard?" I ask.
Kennedy's reddish brown brows draw together and he rubs the underside of his chin. "I can't say that I did. Is that why Lily worked on her tripping someone else accidentally on purpose so much with her brother last week?"
"Probably."
"Makes sense. She's real protective of Neeve."
"A good friend."
"Neeve is a good friend to my daughter too. Lily struggles at school, but Neeve will spend hours helping her learn new concepts when she'd probably rather be out playing."
"áine's done a good job with her girls." It will be my honor to help her raise them going forward.
"That she has." Kennedy measures me with a glance. "You going to talk to the parents of the kids involved in the teasing?"
"I am." And their kids.
"That's all right then." He rubs the back of his neck. "What did you want to talk to Lily about then?"
"She may have heard children saying it my d…Neeve didn't."
"Ah. You want to make sure you deal with all the culprits and get that shite nipped in the bud."
That bud is already a flower if my daughter has been hurt by it, but it will stop today and apologies will be made.
"I'm surprised Mr. Wrye didn't contact áine about this already. He's a stickler for the rules, is Mr. Wrye."
It's Lily who explains why the teacher didn't ask for a meeting with áine.
"He told the kids to say they were sorry and made them promise not to do it again.
" The look of cynicism on the little girl's face says just what she thinks of that as an effective deterrent.
"The only thing that did was make Neeve not want to tell him when it happened again. He acted like it was no big deal."
My plans to deal with Mr. Wrye take a sharp turn. "No big deal?" I ask.
Lily nods, rolling her eyes. "Neeve thought it was her fault. But it wasn't. Those kids were mean and they should never have said that."
"I agree."
"What are you going to do, Mr. Lleshi?"
Give the children involved and their parents a lesson in manners and vocabulary. "Explain the consequences if it happens again."
Kennedy swallows, looking slightly alarmed. "To the kids?"
"And their parents," I correct.
"And Mr. Wrye?" Lily ask expectantly.
"Yes." Him most of all.
"Can I be there?" Lily asks with a blood thirsty look on her face.
I flick a glance to Kennedy. "We'll be meeting after school."
He looks between me and his daughter and then sighs. "We'll be there too. If you're sure the other parents can make it on short notice like this."
"They will."
Not all of the children involved have a parent in the mob, but enough do that they'll show up simply because they won't want the issue escalated to Brice.
I've got zero doubts the lieutenant above me will have my back. The others won't want their children to be suspended until I get back from California and can meet with them then.
Mrs. Powell is the sister of one of the old-timers on Rory's crew, which gives me all the leverage I need with her, even if she doesn't realize it.
Her brother is loyal to the mob and her husband might not be in our ranks, but he works for one of our companies.
I'm more than willing to bring whatever pressure is necessary to gain her compliance.
Like Mick told áine, our world is brutal and unforgiving.
"Is Neeve coming?" Lily asks.
I consider the question. Lily wants to see justice done. Will my petal? I would.