Chapter Twenty-Three
Declan
Sal stood from his chair. I watched his every move, as did Duncan. He was a ticking bomb, and we both knew it.
He walked around behind his chair, placing both hands on the back of it. His knuckles turned white with the force of his grip. He lifted it inches off the ground before slamming it back down on the floor.
Before anyone could move, he lifted the chair again and threw it across the room.
At me.
I grabbed Maureen and dove to the floor, my hand on the back of her head, my body lying over hers so she wouldn’t get hurt when the chair smashed and broke apart against the wall behind us.
“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Sal roared.
The doors to the church flew open, and Tyran, Cian, and Mac all rushed in. Seeing Maureen and I on the floor, Cian and Mac moved to help us stand. Once I was on my feet, what I saw had me pausing.
Duncan had Sal against the wall. King sat quietly in his chair, staring at the tabletop. His club officers all stood with their guns pointed at Sal. The only thing stopping them from pulling the trigger was Duncan blocking their target.
“Do it,” Blade growled, turning his gun on Tyran, who had his hand inside his suit jacket. “Give me a goddamn reason.”
Tyran slowly removed his hand, placing them both in the air beside his head.
“All of you, remove your guns and place them on the table,” Gunner issued the command. As they all slowly removed their guns from their holsters and set them carefully on the table, he added, “Jack, gather them up.”
Jingles had moved to where Duncan was still holding Sal, and removed their guns from both their bodies. Duncan didn’t protest, but Sal railed out in my mother’s language, threatening to end my life.
Still, King sat there.
Like a statue.
“Get your fucking hands off me, Duncan.”
“You gonna calm down? We’re outnumbered here. We no longer have our guns. There is not one man in this club that wouldn’t hesitate to take you out.”
“I don’t care, as long as I take that fucker with me,” Sal snarled, pointing at me. “You knew I had a son and kept him from me! My legacy. My heir!”
“That’s exactly why I fucking kept him from you!” I snarled back. “She didn’t want him to be like you. She didn’t want him growing up in that life. Raised by your father. Do you know what he would have done to her if he found out?”
“I LOVED HER! I WOULD HAVE PROTECTED HER!”
“You don’t know how to fucking love. All you know is death and destruction.”
“Is that why you sent me the information about the woman who killed our mother? You were too chickenshit to do it yourself, so you sent your big brother to do what you couldn’t?”
“What is he talking about?” King asked, drawing my attention.
I didn’t answer him.
I couldn’t.
I sent the information to Sal so he would know what happened.
Did I expect him to kill the woman? No.
Did I believe it was a possibility? Yes.
Is that why I sent it? That was a question I didn’t want to know the answer to.
“Well, you certainly don’t have an issue killing a woman, do you?” Blade asked Sal.
“When the situation calls for it, no.”
“Like my mother?” Blade sneered.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You killed my parents.”
Sal looked at me before answering, “I didn’t kill your mother.”
“Yes, you did. You sent your goons to kill us. Only after you got her and my father, you decided to keep me around. For what? Why not just kill me too?”
As Sal struggled against Duncan, he looked him in the eye and said, “Let me go.”
“Can’t do that, boss.”
“I will not hurt him. He’s my goddamn brother.”
Cian scoffed beside me, and Sal glared at him. “May as well get all the secrets out, boss.”
Sal wrenched himself free of Duncan’s hold and walked toward the man that was still holding a gun aimed toward him.
“I did not order your mother to be killed. No one was supposed to touch her, or you. It was only your father I wanted.”
Blade lowered his gun a fraction, caught off guard by Sal’s declaration.
Shaking his head and lifting the gun again, he countered, “My father told me it was you.”
“Your father was a fucking asshole who beat your mother. Would it be out of character for him to be a fucking liar?”
“What?” Maureen gasped beside me.
Sal looked over at her and his features softened. I didn’t like the way he was looking at her. She was mine. Especially now that all this shit was out. Wrapping my arm around her shoulder, I glared at Sal, making it clear I wasn’t letting her go a second time.
“Eduardo was a bastard who cheated on his wife, and when she called him on it, he beat her.”
“I never saw my father raise a hand to my mother.”
“After they left, no, probably not. She had leverage then. She knew one phone call to me and it would be over. Why she continued to protect him, I don’t know.”
“She loved him,” Maureen said. “Love doesn’t always make sense.”
“Tell him the truth, boss,” Cian pressed.
Sal glared at the man, and Cian just grinned.
It shocked me to see Cian talk to him the way he just did. Tyran was the only man I had heard call my brother out, but then I hadn’t seen any of these men in nearly forty years.
“What good will it do now?”
“Tell him the goddamn truth or I will.”
Sal rubbed his hands over his face, and I had to laugh. It was a stall tactic we had both learned from our mother.
“You’re stalling. What’s going on, Sal?”
“Shut your goddamn mouth, Lannie. I’m not done with you.”
Sal looked at Blade. Then looked at King.
I wondered what he was thinking. How was he processing what he had learned?
“Your father was a bastard.”
“You said that already.”
“I mean in the literal sense. He was my brother.”
“What the fuck?” Blade, King, and I all yelled.
“My father was a dirty son of a bitch. He got three women pregnant within four years. I knew about my sister. She was raised in Boston. No one knew about Eduardo until he showed up one day, claiming Eamon was his father.”
“That’s why he brought him in,” Maureen said.
“That’s why he brought in a fucking Italian. Only that wasn’t good enough for him. He was mad I was older, thought he deserved more, so he started stealing fucking money. When he took off and men were arrested, my father confessed to me who he was.” Sal looked at Blade. “You were never in danger because you’re my nephew.”
“Then where is my mother?”
“Your father killed her.” Sal looked over at me, then down at my badge. “I gave your mother the justice she deserved.”
“Wait,” Jack said. “Um, O’Malley and Blade’s dad are brothers. And O’Malley and Declan are brothers. Does that mean Beck and Blade are...”
Blade’s face paled.
“No, it doesn’t,” Maureen rushed out. “Beck’s related to Sal through Declan, who he shares a mother with. Blade’s related to Sal through Eduardo because they share a father. Declan and Eduardo do not share a relation with each other. Blade, there is no relation between you and Beck,” Maureen assured him.
Blade’s arm dropped to his side and his head fell to his chest. “Thank God.”
King began to laugh.
Everyone looked at him with concern.
“You ok, Prez?” Jack asked.
King threw his head back and laughed even harder. “He was right. The goddamn son of a bitch was right.”
“Who was right?”
“Fury.” King looked at his VP and stated, “He said everyone and everything was connected. I solidified a blood pact with my own fucking cousin.”
I walked over and sat down next to my brother. “King,”
He stopped laughing and turned an icy glare on me.
“Get the fuck out of my house.” He stood up, looking at Sal. “All of you. Get the fuck out.”
Standing, I placed a hand on his arm. “King—”
“Did you not hear what I fucking said? You have been lying to me my whole fucking life!” he yelled, shoving me away.
“Let me explain.”
“I don’t want to hear your fucking excuses. I don’t want to hear shit from any of you. Get the fuck out.”
When no one moved, he slammed his fist on the table and roared, “NOW!”
The officers shuffled everyone out of the room. I was the last one to the door, and I turned to look at the man I raised.
“I know you’re pissed. There is still a lot you need to know. I won’t make excuses for what Mom did. But I’m glad she made the choices she made, and when you’re done being angry at the world, you’ll be glad too.”
Not waiting for a reply, I closed the door behind me, leaving him alone, and stood looking out over the main area. Sal was still here, so I walked over and sat down beside him at the bar.
“We need to talk.”
“Don’t want to fucking talk to you, either.”
“You know why she did what she did. She wanted to give him choices that you never had. If it wasn’t for her, Darcy would have had an abortion, and he wouldn’t be here at all. You would never have had the chance to know him. Now you do.”
“Do I? Do I have that fucking option? Or have you poisoned him so much against me over the years that he will never sit down with me?”
“Until yesterday, he had no idea who you were, other than the asshole keeping his Road Captain on a short leash. You did that. Not me. Not Darcy. Not Mom. You.”
“FUCK!” he shouted.
The room fell silent, and everyone waited to see what he would throw next.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Ask Tyran.”
Sal snapped his head in my direction. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“You heard me. Tyran was the reason Darcy left.”
Swinging around on his stool to face the room, Sal looked over everybody. “Duncan, where’s Ty?”
Looking around himself, he said, “He stepped out a few minutes ago.”
“Find that son of a bitch!”
Brothers moved throughout the clubhouse and outside, but Tyran was nowhere to be found.
“What did he do?” Sal asked from behind me.
“According to Darcy, he told her that you were just playing with her. That Eamon had someone picked out for you, and she could continue to be your mistress, but she would never be your wife. When that didn’t work, he threatened her.”
“What did he do?”
“She wouldn’t say. But I had my suspicions. Just like I know you had your suspicions about your dad and our mom.”
“How do you know about that?”
“I heard you talking one time to Darcy about it. Mom never said, but I had my suspicions too, after what Darcy told us.”
“He’s gone, boss,” Mac said, walking back inside.
“Jesus Christ.” Sal slammed his fist on the bar.
Watching Maureen across the room talking to Beck, my heart pulled in my chest. Maybe she could be the mom my daughter never got. With all the secrets out, she could stay.
“You and Maura, huh?”
“She’s not marrying you.”
“I never wanted to marry her. I just wanted to protect her. She’s Duncan’s family.”
“Do you know who killed Duane?”
Sighing like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, he confessed, “I think it might have been Ty, given everything that came out today and him disappearing.”
He took a sip of his whiskey.
“I’ve got a fucking kid. And he’s a grown man. How do I forgive her for this? I still haven’t forgiven her for leaving.”
“She loved you. It broke her heart to lose you. But she was willing to sacrifice her own relationship with her son, so that yours could have the life he wanted. Not the one the family would have forced him into. She wanted better for him.”
“And he still became a fucking criminal.” Sal grinned.
“Like father, like son.”
The church doors opened, and King walked out. Looking around the room, his eyes landed on Gunner. “Let’s go.”
Gunner got up from his seat and moved to the door.
“Where are you going, King?”
“Fuck off, Dec.”
He stormed out of the clubhouse, with Gunner on his tail. There was no way of knowing where he was going. I just had to trust that his SAA would keep him out of trouble.