Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
ROISIN
I suffer through the examination my brothers insist on, grateful that the majority of my bruises have healed, after I managed to put it off seeing the doctor for another few days by saying I was too exhausted and needed a little time to regain my equilibrium.
Thankfully, they’re both feeling sufficiently guilty that they give me that much. They also proved they’re not entirely oblivious by arranging for a female doctor to visit me at home… although I did have to put my foot down at them being present, which they only agreed to after I consented to the examination report being emailed to them.
“I can see evidence of trauma, Roisin,” Doctor Margaret says as I stand before her in my underwear. “Do you want to tell me about it?”
No, I really don’t, but I also know my brothers won’t accept that as a response without jumping to all the wrong conclusions.
“I was abducted, Doctor. Yes, I have the bumps and scrapes to prove it. It wasn’t a bed of roses, but neither was I badly hurt or mistreated.”
She narrows her eyes as if she’s trying to judge my sincerity.
I huff out a breath and throw my hands up in the air. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I demand. “I’ve no reason to protect anyone in the Cosa Nostra.”
Not strictly true, and I pray she can’t tell that, but if Vito had raped me, you can be damn certain I wouldn’t have kept quiet about it. Mika might want to avoid a war, but I’d have let the wrath of my family rain down on them, regardless. But Dominic…
My feelings for him are complicated and if I know anything, it’s that any kind of internal examination will show recent sexual activity, and that’s not something I want to try and explain.
Doctor Margaret purses her lips. “Maybe we should do a rape kit…”
“Excuse me!?” I demand, incensed. “What are you saying? That you don’t believe me? That I’d protect that scum rather than tell the truth?”
Her eyes widen, and she takes a step back at my anger.
“No, of course not, Roisin. But rape is a traumatic experience. Many times, women don’t like to talk about it.”
“You’re damn right it is,” I tell her angrily. “And I know that, because yes, I came this close to being one of those statistics.” I hold my fingers an inch apart, right in front of her face. “But it didn’t happen. And it didn’t happen because Mika Rossi got me away from the Viper and protected me. And, for no other reason than that, I owe it to him not to let this thing escalate into an all-out war between the factions.”
Doctor Margaret appears taken aback, but at least she looks like she believes me. I still add the kicker. “Believe me, doctor, I’ve been through enough that I don’t want you adding to my trauma.”
She raises her palms in supplication. “Of course, Roisin. I didn’t mean to upset you. I know this experience can’t have been easy.”
She doesn’t know the half of it.
When she leaves, I’m subjected to another grilling from Ciaran and Callum. It seems the good doctor wasted no time getting the information to them. They’ve already read it and are waiting for me the moment I step outside the sanctuary of my suite.
I don’t like it, but in deference to my brothers’ feelings and the trauma neither of them will admit to regarding my kidnapping, I accept the situation for what it is.
“So, brat, are you ready to tell us what happened now?” Callum asks, waving to a conspicuously empty seat they’ve arranged opposite the two of them.
I purposely ignore it and instead cross to the small bar in what has become our private family living area. Pouring myself a large glass of red wine, I then take a seat on the end of the couch and tuck my feet underneath me, making myself comfortable and forcing the two of them to maneuver their own seats to face me. I’ll be damned if my brothers ever make me feel like I’m facing a damned inquisition, even if that is their intention.
I mean, I know it’s not really. They’re just clueless Mafia men who never learned the subtleties of how to treat women. God help their future wives… but at least they have me to straighten them out.
“Janey Mack,” Callum curses. “Do you try to be difficult on purpose?”
I cock an eyebrow at him to show just how unimpressed I am. “Let’s get one thing straight,” I tell him icily, my gaze switching to Ciaran to include him, too. “I’m not some enemy for you to interrogate, so don’t you dare damn well treat me like one.”
“We weren’t,” Ciaran objects, shock obvious on his handsome face. “We’d never do something like that to you.”
Callum, on the other hand, scowls. “Yeah, if you think we sit our adversaries down in a comfy armchair in our lounge while we enjoy a casual glass of scotch, then you really have no idea how we work,” he grunts, toasting me with the two fingers of amber liquid in his rocks glass.
“Uh-huh… that’s why you sat out a chair for me like I was facing some kind of cross-examination, is it?”
Callum, always the bolshie one, looks set to argue, but Ciaran intervenes, holding his hand up in a conciliatory gesture. “That wasn’t our intention, Roisin. I’m sorry, we should have been more sensitive.”
An unladylike snort erupts before I can stop myself. “Well, sensitive sure as heck isn’t something I’d ever associate with the two of ye, but you can treat me like normal, thank you very much.”
Callum puffs out what is more of a huff than a sigh. “Okay, you’ve made your point, deirfiúr . Now tell us what happened with LCN.”
Since that’s about all the candor I’d ever expect to get from twin two, I resign myself to the ‘talk’ I can’t put off any longer. It’s probably best to get it over with, anyway.
“Okay… so when did they take you?” Ciaran asks, throwing a warning look at his brother. Well, that’s what I perceive it as, anyway. They have that annoying twin habit of conversing without words, which I found infuriating as a child. It’s not much better now, if I’m honest.
“You don’t know?” I ask, surprised. I’d assumed the Viper would have been crowing about his victory as soon as he took me, but it seems that wasn’t the case. I wonder if the delay had anything to do with Mika’s intervention.
My brothers shake their heads in tandem.
“Okay, well, it was the day we argued. I left to go to Emylyah’s and they pounced almost as soon as I left the compound.”
Ciaran and Callum share a look but decline to comment… also infuriating.
“Okay, we’d surmised as much,” Ciaran finally admits. “Since Emylyah came over to visit because your phone was coming up as out of service…”
“Oh Janey Mack! Have you told her I’m home?” I cry, guilt riding me hard since I haven’t been in touch with my best friend. “She’ll be going out of her mind!” Like an ostrich with my head stuck in the sand, it hasn’t even occurred to me.
“It’s okay, we kind of told her you were traveling to Ireland unexpectedly and had your phone stolen on the way to the airport, so you’d lost all your contacts, which was why you hadn’t been in touch.”
I don’t know quite how I feel about that. I’ve never kept anything from Emylyah, but given her husband is the Pakhan of the New York Bratva, I guess I can understand my brothers’ reservations about saying anything.
Yes, it’s an oddly incestuous little world we live in. One of alliances and careful scrutiny, because it pays to keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. But Lyah and I have been friends since we were in boarding school together, way before I even understood the harsh realities of my world, and long before she married into an opposing faction. But it hasn’t necessarily been a bad thing. Our enduring friendship initiated a cautious fellowship with the Bratva. One that doesn’t have a basis in either party ‘owing’ each other anything, which is only a good thing.
Callum moves the conversation on. “They must have been watching if they were ready to pounce the moment Roisin stepped out alone.”
The thought sends a shiver of apprehension down my spine, because that means they always had me in their sights. It was simply a matter of time.
Ciaran nods his head, deep in thought. “Everything that’s happened, every step they’ve taken and move they’ve made, is goading us into an all-out war. I feel like they’re playing with us. Provoking us into making a strike…”
He pauses for a moment, his countenance pensive, but resigned. “I just need to decide our next move carefully. We can't afford to be rash, but we also can't let this go unanswered."
Roisin leans forward, her eyes pleading. "Ciaran, Callum, please. Think about this. Going to war with the Italians could destroy everything we've built. There has to be another way. And I’m telling you, it’s not what Mika Rossi wants either."
Callum's jaw clenches. "Mika Rossi is not in charge, Roisin. He might not want this, but someone sure as hell does. And besides, what would you have us do, Roisin? Let them think they can take whatever they want from us without consequence?"
"Of course not," Roisin says, shaking her head. "But escalating this situation will lead to bloodshed on both sides, and what does it gain us in the long run? We need to be smart about this."
Ciaran sighs heavily, rubbing his temples. "She's not wrong, Callum. A war could devastate us, even if we win. We need to consider all our options."
"What options?" Callum scoffs. "They've made their intentions clear. They want our territory, our business, everything we've worked for. And they’ve been systematically taking it. Then they take our sister and you both want to ignore it?" His voice is dripping in disbelief on that last line.
“I’m not saying ignore it,” Ciaran says irritably. “And we haven’t been. We took care of the fuckers who were selling on our patch… Not that they were soldiers, as you feckin’ well know–just stooges placed there to provoke a reaction. And we took Maricela…”
“Which is why they targeted me in retaliation,” I remind them, since I’m the one front and center of this shit show. My brothers rarely talk business around me, but I’ll be damned if they cut me out when it involves me so personally, and the sooner they realize that, the better.
“Roisin, you should stay out of this…”
I’m up out of my seat before Callum can even finish. “Stay out of it?” I ask in disbelief. “I would have loved to have stayed out of it, brother dearest, but I didn’t get much choice in the matter, did I?”
Both of them widen their eyes at my display of temper but fuck this shit. I’m already involved, so it’s too late for them to start treating me with kid gloves.
Ciaran holds up his hands in a placating gesture. "Okay, okay. You're right, Roisin. It wasn’t our intention to sideline you, but you’re our little sister. Protecting you is what we’ve always done.”
I jam my fists on my hips and narrow my eyes at him. “Well, there’s no point in trying to protect me after the fact, now, is there?”
“We were worried you might be… fragile,” Callum concedes, and in that brief moment, love for my brothers wells up and threatens to overflow.
Blinking back tears I really don’t want them to see because I don’t want them to think they’re right about treating me with kid gloves, I collapse back onto the couch and take a large slug of my wine while I collect myself.
“Well, I’m in this now, whether you like it or not. So you may as well listen to what intel I can give you at the very least.”
Callum opens his mouth–to say what, I don’t know, but Ciaran shoots him a warning glance before turning back to me. "So, what do you know, and what do you think we should do?"
It sounds a little like they’re humoring me, but I don’t call them on it. As long as they listen to what I have to say, then at least they’ll be better informed. Whatever they decide to do.
I take a deep breath, before diving in. "I think you need to understand who's really pulling the strings here.”
Callum scowls. “We already know it’s the feckin’ Viper.”
“That’s right, but what you don’t know is that the Viper is acting alone in this. He doesn’t have the support of most of the organization, and those who are aware are very much opposed to what he’s doing.”
Callum leans back in his chair, his expression thoughtful. "How do you know the Viper is going out on a limb like this? Whatever you’ve heard could just be a ruse to lull us into a false sense of security before their next attack. Info they’ve planted to make us lower our guard and stop us from being proactive."
I nod. “Okay, fair point. But think about it. Why would they be so determined to start a war? Mika Rossi has always been about business, not bloodshed. He’s made no secret of the fact that he wants to change the way LCN operates."
Ciaran rubs his hand over his mouth. “Okay, I agree up to a point. But like Callum said, he’s not in charge yet.”
“No, but he is the underboss. He’s also the Don’s heir and there’s no doubt he will be stepping up when the time comes.”
My brothers both nod.
“Apparently, that fact isn’t sitting so well with Vito, who doesn’t like the direction Mika is taking things.”
“So, you’re saying the Viper is making a counter-offensive against his own kin?” Callum asks in disbelief, his eyebrows beetling together.
Ciaran taps his forefinger against his lips. “Hmmm… I can kinda see the logic. Mounting an offensive against us distracts from what moves he might be making internally. If Mika is busy putting out fires to prevent a war, he’s not watching his back. And if it does come to war, then the Viper might have given himself the perfect opportunity to wipe out the competition by using us as scapegoats.”
Callum’s eyes narrow. "If you're right, that changes things. Because I’ll be damned if our men become collateral damage to the Viper’s warped plans.”
“Oh, I’m sure he means to take us down, too,” Ciaran says, spearing his twin with a dangerous look. “Vito wants our ports, remember? A war would be twofold, and its second offensive would be to regain use of the shipping lanes to peddle his flesh trade.”
“Something we all know Mika doesn’t approve of,” I remind them both.
“Okay, so this is all making a lot more sense now…. The question is, what the hell do we do about it? Any offensive we make will draw in the whole of the Cosa Nostra, not just the Viper.”
“And that’s exactly what he’s counting on,” Ciaran agrees.
Callum shakes his head. “You know what needs to happen?” he asks, and Ciaran and I both turn our heads in his direction.
“Someone needs to take the fucker out.”