Chapter 3 #2
The skin on the back of my neck prickled.
Behind me someone shifted, and I was careful not to glance toward the hallway.
I suspected there were eyes on us. Watching.
The vermin among our soldiers were getting more brazen, waiting with anticipation for an inevitable downfall.
That wasn’t going to happen on my watch.
“I don’t give a rat’s arse what your name is.” My brain told me he was a threat, the blaring warning bell ringing in my head until it hurt.
“An American that uses arse. I’m impressed,” Tiernan drawled, giving me a cold once over that sent tingles of anxiety across my skin, making the hairs on my arm rise.
“I also don’t give a flying fuck about impressing anyone.
I’m as Irish as the rest of you.” I crossed my arms, challenging the bastard in return.
I wasn’t going to back down. It was hard growing up as a kid of an immigrant, especially when I was learning how to speak.
My father hated how the people in New York spoke. “Who are you?”
Fionn made a disgruntled sound and gnashed his teeth loudly enough for me to hear. “These men are Sloan’s cousins from Cork.” He glanced at me, and I recognized the subtle panic in his eyes that no one else would’ve caught. Fear. “And they’re here to cause trouble.”
“Now, now, lad, that’s very presumptuous of ye, ain’t it?
” The man behind Tiernan laughed before he swept past Tiernan and came to a halt in front of me.
He bowed dramatically and grabbed my hand, bringing it to his mouth to kiss the back.
“I’m Senan, Tiernan’s younger brother, and like young Fionn said, Sloan’s cousin. ”
Unlike Tiernan who had similar eyes to Sloan, Senan had a hazel gaze and a thicker beard, but he still had the Killough nose and jaw.
Unease clawed at my stomach as I snapped my hand away from his hold. “Don’t touch me. I’m not yours to touch.” My words sliced through the room, anger charged air thickening between us despite the deadly calm way I’d said it. “You said your name was Semen?”
Fionn barked out a hard laugh, an odd but nice sound. He’d been loosening up since he and Daire finally sorted out their issues, and I liked this version of Fionn. We’d become good friends, which was something we needed right now.
Senan didn’t let my comment put a hitch in his mood. He winked. “Sen-in, but ye can call me whatever ye want, love.”
“I’d rather not call you anything.” I stormed past him to stand at Fionn’s side and eyed the third, much younger man carefully.
He didn’t appear like he was going to give me his name and I didn’t particularly care for it, either.
Every one of my senses was on high alert, ready for whatever havoc they were going to bring.
“That’s Kyran,” Fionn offered before he went back to scowling at the other two. “Why did you come? Let me guess, you heard about Sloan’s arrest?”
Senan placed a hand on his chest and gasped dramatically. “Sloan’s been arrested? That’s just terrible.”
My pulse raced at how easily he made a joke of it. Bastard. What kind of cousins were these men? Clearly not good ones. I hated that I’d never met them or even heard their names.
Tiernan rolled his eyes. “Of course we have, haven’t we? We help run the Irish division of the Company. You think we wouldn’t have heard that our boss has been put behind bars?”
I stiffened, unease worming through me as I took in these three strangers—cousins to Sloan but threats nonetheless. “Fionn and I are in charge of the Company while the boss is away. If you think you have a chance at taking over—”
“Ye hear him?” Senan threw his head back and laughed. “He thinks we’re here for a wee mutiny.”
Tiernan sent him a glare. “Senan, stop being an eejit.” He straightened and slipped his hands in the pockets of his dress pants, and my spine tensed. A frown dug into his face, producing divot lines in his forehead. “We’re not here to cause trouble, only to help.”
“Bullshit,” Fionn drawled. His knuckles turned white. “You’ve been causing issues over in Ireland because you think Uncle Sloan didn’t give you enough responsibility. You wanted to run the Company in Cork.”
Tiernan nodded. “It’s true. Eddie’s too old now. He’s sixty-seven. Someone younger should take over.”
I swallowed. I hadn’t realized there was so much about the Company I didn’t know.
Sloan had mentioned we had an Irish division, but I wasn’t aware that it was run by blood family.
I’d expected loyal men, like Rowen or Cillian, who’d proven their worth.
Then again, Sloan never talked much about relations, Fionn being the exception.
He’d told me about his father and his brother, but he never talked about his younger sister other than the fact that she’d moved to Ireland after Eoin, their brother, died.
I knew he had distant cousins, like two younger ones who worked in the lower ranks of the Company, but these guys sounded closer in blood.
“Who’s Eddie?” I asked, feeling stupid.
All eyes turned to me.
A flush of humiliation spread up my neck and across my face. Fuck.
Fionn cleared his throat and leaned in to whisper. “Eddie is a cousin. Kind of. His father is the brother of Uncle Sloan’s grandfather, my great-grandfather. He’s run the Irish division for thirty years.”
Tiernan’s mouth curled into a smirk, eyes darkening, and shame spread through me. Was he searching for a weak spot? If he was, he’d found it. I’d fucked up.
“Sloan made his decision.” Fionn slid his hands in his pockets, a bored expression plastered on his face. “Eddie stays on as boss in Ireland.”
“He said that two years ago. The leadership role needs to be relooked at,” Tiernan said. “And we’ll be sticking around until Sloan gets out of jail to make that judgment. But that’s not what we’re here for. We’re offering ye help.”
Daire stepped forward, his bulk threatening and his expression dark. It was easy for him to remind them of his past, and he didn’t need to do much to be seen as dangerous. A wild animal on a lead, waiting for the go-ahead to take these men out.
A tick began in Fionn’s jaw. “You don’t get to come here without permission and offer your help. If we wanted you, we would’ve requested your . . . .” He let his gaze roam over Tiernan slowly, disgust twisting his mouth. “Delightful presence.”
Tiernan straightened and the tension in the room sizzled, rage so thick and clogging that I could cut it with a blade.
My loss of superiority was daunting. I hated feeling like they’d belittled me, and I needed to find the upper hand again.
I wasn’t going to fail Sloan, and I certainly wasn’t going to let some nobodies come and make trouble.
I firmed my spine and ate the distance between me and Tiernan.
He was much taller than me—a giant—and I had to look up to level my hardened stare on him.
“You won’t be staying in this house. I don’t know you, and I don’t trust you.”
“Sloan never mentioned us?” His smirk widened. Arsehole. I wasn’t giving him the satisfaction.
“You can get a hotel or a rental or even buy a fucking house, but you aren’t welcome here. Only men I trust can sleep in my home.”
“Yer home?” Tiernan chuckled. “Is that what Sloan’s been tellin’ ye, has he?”
I offered him a smirk of my own. “Don’t mistake my lack of knowledge about who you are as being weak. Clearly, Sloan didn’t think you were important enough for me to know about.”
Tiernan’s cocky expression fell. Good.
“I’m the boss’s pet and have been for eight years. He gave me control of the Company alongside Fionn. I have more power than you in this situation, and trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to get on my bad side. I will not hesitate to ruin you if needed.”
Senan laughed, and I reacted with instinct, stalking up to him and slamming my knuckles against his jaw. He went flying backward under the force of my punch and stumbled against the front door with a loud, pained grunt.
“Is this funny for you, Semen?” I snapped.
Fionn shadowed me, offering me support.
Senan flinched, touching his jaw gently. His gaze slid to me and he swallowed thickly, Adam’s apple bobbing. Tiernan and Kyran didn’t move. Didn’t help their brother. “No, sir.”
“I didn’t think so.” I took another step toward him and while he didn’t recoil away from me, the smugness was gone. “Like I said, you are not welcome here. Leave before I take your disobedience as an act of treachery.”
Fionn grunted in agreement. “Maybe we should, Conall. Tie them upside down by their ankles in the basement, let our men have some fun with them.”
I smirked. “Or better yet, we can have our fun and show them why the boss put us in charge. I’ve learned quite a few things from Sloan, like where to slice the body in ways to make them bleed, but not die right away.
We could watch the life drain from their eyes.
Slowly. It’d be an art piece on our basement floor. ”
Tiernan’s eyes flashed, caught between annoyed and wary, before a grin returned to his face. “Understood, sir. We’ll get a hotel. But for now, can we talk about Sloan?”
“No,” I said sharply. I stalked to stand in front of him, chin raised and teeth bared.
“We can’t. You can leave and I’ll let you know when I have time in my schedule for you.
” Irritation weaved its way around my spine and I stood taller.
Anger pooled low in my stomach and my fingers twitched.
“I can’t tell if you’re really that foolish or just plain stupid.
Don’t act like you would ever show up unannounced and without permission if Sloan were here.
You see, cowards like you seem to forget, just because Sloan is behind bars, doesn’t mean his reach is any less lethal.
He would forgive me for slitting your throats if I thought it was necessary. ”