Chapter 21 Bruno
brUNO
What have I done?
In the heat of the moment, telling my father everything about Saoirse and my investigation was amazing.
I felt like I was ten years old again, telling him all about the fantastic things I did at school that day.
But his reaction was anything but the thankful warmth I hoped for.
It wasn’t even the cold praise that I expected for watching his back.
No, he was angry.
But not at me, and each time I think back to that moment, I feel guilty.
At the time, all I felt was relief that he wasn’t angry at me, when I should have been angry in turn.
He immediately turned on Saoirse and accused her of being the one who started the trouble in the first place.
In my father’s eyes, Saoirse is vermin who has her claws into some truly seedy parts of the underworld and has faked this entire investigation to ensure that all eyes are on the Italians rather than the Irish.
Each time I try to tell him he’s wrong and that I went to her, he won’t listen.
He doesn’t care that I first heard about these crimes while in prison, he’s adamant it’s all part of her plan.
He then accused her of targeting me because she knew I would be the weak outsider, which felt like a mild insult but I didn’t have space to tell him that the only reason I’m an outsider is because he closed down on me years ago to the point that I went to prison to try and earn back his love.
Last week was hell. My talk with my father exploded into an emergency meeting with Rocky who, at first, seemed completely disbelieving of the tale my father spun about Saoirse and the Irish.
But the fervor with which he spoke and the way he presented what I’d told him had even me believing it for a moment.
Have I been tricked this entire time? Did I stumble upon a human trafficking circle in Irish hands and the only reason Saoirse teamed up with me was to keep me on the wrong track? Has it been a ploy this entire time?
By the time the meeting was over and Rocky had ordered us to cut ties with the Irish until after the wedding, I almost believed it. Until I was back in my motel room resting against a pillow that still smelled like her.
Like Saoirse.
How on earth did all that happen? Why did I open my big mouth?
Surely I’m not so starved of my father’s approval that I threw Saoirse under the bus at the first chance?
I didn’t mean it to happen the way it did.
When sleep didn’t come, I tried to contact my father and set the record straight but too much was already in motion.
I planned to talk to her before the wedding but she turned up late, and by then, it was all out in the open.
A half-truth that’s destroyed the peace between the Italians and the Irish. The betrayal in her eyes stung worse than a thousand blades but more than that, the hurt on her face killed me. After they left, I tried my hardest to set the record straight.
But no one was listening.
Every time I try, I’m met with sympathy as if I’m just the dumb guy who Saoirse took for a ride.
The whispered threats and distrust of the Irish spread like wildfire and no one gives me enough time to explain myself.
Rocky and Sarah still go on their honeymoon and Matteo vanishes to Italy to attend to some overseas trouble, which leaves my father in charge.
He’s under strict orders not to act against the Irish in anything other than a retaliatory nature until Rocky returns, but that hasn’t stopped him from quickly becoming king of the mountain.
At least he’s letting me stay at the Manor for a while.
“Dad?” I knock softly on the door to his study and hold my breath while waiting for him to hang up his call. He doesn’t speak. He merely looks at me and then makes a committal noise in the back of his throat as he hangs up.
“Enter.”
“Dad, I want to talk to you about Saoirse.”
“Not this again,” he snaps. “Anyone would think you’re in love with that damn girl.”
We both pause and an unexpected pull of tension works through my chest. Domenico looks up and his eyes narrow.
“You’re not, are you?”
“No,” I reply quickly.
His expression doesn’t change. “Fucking hell. You are.”
“No, I’m not!” My voice pitches slightly and my cheeks warm at how infuriating that is to my ears. I haven’t had much time to process exactly how I feel for Saoirse other than admiration and one hell of a crush, but love? No. Not a chance.
“You are, I can tell. No wonder she took you for a ride.” He scoffs to himself and turns his attention to an array of documents before him. “Pussy is a man’s greatest weakness.”
“I’m not—”
“Did you fuck her?” His eyes dart up to me and I’m rooted to the spot, unable to move or think under the weight of such an abrupt accusation.
“I mean—”
“Enough. I don’t need details.”
Am I that obvious? “That’s not why I’m defending her, Dad. I really think you’ve misunderstood what I was trying to tell you.”
“No,” he says flatly. “I don’t think I have.
It’s simple, Bruno. She took advantage of you and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.
It’s my name she’s been dragging through the dirt and whispering in connection with something so heinous as human trafficking.
You understand how this world works, Bruno. Rumors like that can kill a man.”
“But in prison—”
“Listen.” He cuts me off once again. “I need you to do something for me.”
I hesitate, the words weighing down my tongue but escaping.
“With Rocky gone and a lot of my people working on the Irish, a few positions have opened up and I need someone trusted, someone who truly has my back to keep an eye on the next haul of deliveries coming through customs. Are you up for it?”
Someone… trusted?
And just like that, I’m suddenly my father’s number one guy and it feels great.
Even Mary is happy for me and for a few days, it really feels like our family is starting to get back on the right track.
Dad keeps me busy constantly and by the time I crash into bed each night, I’m so exhausted I don’t have time to think about anything else.
But Saoirse is in my dreams.
And in my thoughts when I’m sitting at a red light waiting for the stupid driver in front of me to fix his tire so we can get out of here. I still need to fix this. I need to keep my head on straight and fix this.
Understandably, Saoirse doesn’t reply to any of my calls or texts, and after the third attempt, she blocks me. I try again with different numbers, but she doesn’t pick up. Her message is clear.
But I need to talk to her. I need to explain to her properly that I was stupid and I got caught up soothing a pain I’ve carried for fourteen years. And then I want to assure her I will fix everything and we can get right back on track, hunting down the real culprit behind this whole mess.
I’ll get my family back, she’ll get her name cleared and the Italian/Irish treaty will be back the way it was.
It has to be like this.
If only I could get in contact with her.
When all my desperate attempts fail, I turn to Mary who’s much more savvy about this kind of thing than I am.
While the majority of us are trained to a specific level in secrecy and covering our tracks, Mary never has been.
Her skills lie in social media and deduction, which I can only wish to have.
She just knows things about people, things that seem painfully obvious when she points them out.
With her help, I compile a diary of possible places I can run into Saoirse naturally and force her, in a not-so-gentle way, into having a conversation with me. It’s my last attempt to fix the carnage I’ve caused.
With the sudden workload from my father and the secrecy Saoirse keeps in her day-to-day life, I’m not able to catch her until a warm evening in August, where I finally spot her by chance.
I’m driving past the Black Ox with a delivery and spot her heading inside with her twin brother, Cian.
I almost stop dead in the road and follow her, but the last thing I need is a late delivery alerting my father to my plans.
So I continue work after leaving a guard across the street to keep an eye on the Black Ox.
By the time I’ve delivered the pallets to the warehouse, an hour has passed and I race back to the Black Ox with my heart pounding the entire way. Who knows when I’ll next get a chance to catch Saoirse and talk to her?
I arrive a little after midnight. My guard assures me no one has left the bar since I stationed him there. Relieving him of duty, I settle into the shadowy doorway and wait.
A little after one in the morning, Saoirse finally leaves the Black Ox. There’s a faint smile on her face and I hang back, waiting to see if her brother will follow her. She remains alone. She walks down the street with her hair swept to one side over her shoulder and her stance seemingly relaxed.
I follow at a distance on the other side of the street.
Does this make me a creep? Probably. But it’ll be worth it if I can just talk to her and set things right.
I’ll apologize until I’m breathless, I’ll get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness, hell at this point I will do everything and anything in my power to make it up to her.
I just need one chance, one moment of her time and—.
I halt at the edge of the curb and stare down the now empty street that I saw her turn down only a few seconds ago. There’s not a soul to be seen.
Where the hell did she go?
There are no alleyways and no cars, and I didn’t hear any passing vehicles that could have picked her up and vanished within ten seconds. Even if she sprinted I still would have seen her. Where the hell did she!
A fist collides with my jaw, sending me crashing down to the ground, where I land in the middle of the open street.
Saoirse stands over me, positively seething. “Why the fuck are you following me, asshole?”