Chapter 11 – Mari
“Iknew that Irish fuck couldn’t be trusted.” Gabriele’s irritated voice echoed around the conference room.
Probably would have been better to silence him, but I happened to agree. “Allying with the Irish was a calculated risk. One that’s paid off immensely.”
Leonardo and Mathias stared at me like I’d just lost my mind.
“How has it paid off?” Uncle Leo asked.
“We got Aislynn out safely.”
Again, both looked at me so dumbfounded, I was tempted to laugh. “O’Bannon was always going to be a wild card. At least with his daughter in hand, he was supposed to be manageable.”
“So, you overestimated his love for her,” Mathias said plainly.
Dominic laughed. “He has no love for her.”
Sad but true. Aislynn was, and always had been, a tool for her father’s games.
Mathias watched me closely. “You did this because she’s your friend.”
“I did it because it was the right thing to do,” I corrected. “Even if he betrayed us, we got more out of this alliance than he did.”
Leo scoffed. “How is some fashionista princess worth more than giving O’Bannon access to our resources?”
I wasn’t surprised that my uncles had counted Aislynn out without even knowing who she was, but I was disappointed. “This isn’t the fifties, Uncle. Women have a place in society now. They have rights.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m talking about here and now. What tangible benefit did she bring to the family?”
Any other day, this conversation would have been maddening, but I knew that had I not made the unilateral decision to marry Cameron and Ash, we would have had it much sooner. Instead, my uncles had bided their time, waiting for the right moment to speak. I couldn’t begrudge them that.
“Aislynn’s power isn’t in her cunt, it’s in her network. That fashionista princess has access to all the high rollers, not just in this city, but in every other major city in the country. People with money and power and prestige. People who owe her favors, favors that are now our favors.”
None of them seemed particularly happy, but they did seem to understand the implications of Ash’s network.
Leo grunted. “What are we doing about the Irish fuck? We aren’t keeping him alive for the daughter’s sake, are we?”
“As I said, O’Bannon has no love for his daughter, and the feeling’s mutual.” I nodded at Dominic, who immediately stepped in.
“The plan is a sneak attack. We aren’t giving him the satisfaction of a full-frontal war. He dies in his tighty-whities, curled up in bed beside whatever poor, unfortunate soul he’s fucking at the moment.”
All three of my uncles shifted uncomfortably. Dominic and I waited, knowing they’d have to wrap their heads around the situation.
One did not kill the leader of a syndicate in their home. It wasn’t dignified. Normally, we earned the honor of a warrior’s death, but O’Bannon could suck a dick if he thought being a two-faced asshole was getting him a grave on the battlefield.
No, he’d die screaming in his massive mansion with no one around to save him.
“He’s a leader of a faction,” Gabriele eventually said.
“Which is why we’re intentionally taking him out in the most disrespectful way possible. He fucked up, going behind my back to Cash. The least I can do is return the favor. Or should I not show our strengths? Should I not remind the others in the city of who actually runs it? Tell me, Uncle, how far do you want this war to go? Because I, for one, want it over before we lose something we can’t come back from.”
“You’re right,” he agreed, bowing his head slightly. “Whatever it takes to end this.”
Dominic ran them through the plan, and with some minor tweaking, we were in business. My uncles gathered their things, but I raised a hand before they could leave.
“One last thing before you go. Keep this to yourselves.”
“And Cameron,” Leo suggested.
“The people in this room only.”
Leonardo’s face tightened. “He’s a capo, same as us. He has the right to know.”
“He does, but he’s grieving.” I swallowed hard to ease the sorrow in my chest. I wanted to shout at them, to tell them all the truth, but I couldn’t. Not without proof. “He’s also healing. Until he’s back on his feet, I want him left out of it. This is our fight.”
I could tell they didn’t agree, but the plan hinged on Cameron being unaware. If he warned O’Bannon, we were headed for an ambush we wouldn’t make it out of.
“Trust me when I say it has to be this way.” I’d never asked them directly for their trust. Not like this. After my killing Joaquin with no real trial, they were leery of me. I could see it in the way they shifted in their chairs, but eventually, they gave their agreement.
Relief should have filled me, but all I felt was dread.
The capos filed out as Moore and Tennessee filed in, and my chest clenched tight.
My friends sat patiently at the table, muscles taut with the tension in the room.
Whether I had evidence that Ace was telling the truth—other than Nate’s agreement, of course—I couldn’t leave us vulnerable. From a security standpoint, I had to tell someone. Still, I couldn’t say it.
“Let me do this for you,” Nate whispered. I shook my head. Cameron was my family. I would be the one to seal his fate.
“Cameron is compromised.”
The words ricocheted around the room, and Moore clenched his fists together. There was a bleakness in his eyes, a desperate plea. Hope. “Blackmailed or?—”
“Willingly,” Nate said solemnly. It was another dagger to the heart for all of us, and Moore dropped his head to stare at his lap.
Part of me hoped my cousin wasn’t at fault, but that was love, wasn’t it? It always blinded us. With Nate, it had made me believe he wasn’t hiding things. With Cameron, it left me clinging to the idea that this was all a mistake.
Neither was true, and yet I wasn’t sure I could forgive my cousin like I had Nate. He’d betrayed me to protect his family, but I was Cameron’s family. In blood and in heart. That should have come before everything else.
Tennessee gaped at us. “What? What happened?”
When Tennessee and Moore had fallen in love, many in the family had balked at the idea of their relationship. The mafia had always been rife with homophobia, and our family was no different. My cousin was the first man to stand at their sides and shut the others down. He was the one who battled with me to make my position clear—they were staying.
Cameron was one of Moore’s closest friends. And he’d sided with Cash against them.
“How long?” Moore growled, nearly vibrating with rage.
“We don’t know.”
Moore stood up to pace, but Tennessee stared at the wall as if it could give him all the answers. I knew the feeling. Finally, he swallowed all his feelings down and looked at me with steely determination.
“What now?” It was clear even saying that much hurt Tennessee.
“We need to vet his people and restrict his access, but it has to be done quietly.”
“He’s going to know,” Dominic said, spinning a pen in his fingers while he thought. “He knows everyone here, and while most of them are great liars, they’re terrible actors. If he finds out too soon…”
There was no explanation needed. If Cameron found out we knew, he’d become even more unpredictable and that meant dangerous. He could disappear. That wouldn’t be bad, but what if he took Ash with him? There was no doubt in my mind she had nothing to do with this, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t use her as a get-out-of-jail-free card. He knew I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.
“What about the kid?” Tennessee asked, still a little shell-shocked. “The one you brought back from jail.”
Dominic nodded as he thought it over. “He’s been inside for years, so Cameron would assume any weirdness would be him acclimating to the outside again. It could work.”
“Would he do it?” Dominic was the only one who really knew Killer well enough to answer that question.
His nod was firm. “Absolutely. It’s pretty clear that he’d do anything for this family.”
“Make it happen.”
He nodded and slipped out of the room to hunt him down, leaving Nate, Greyson, and me with our devastated friends.
“We’ll do our part,” Moore promised, squeezing his husband’s shoulder gently. “We won’t let him get away with this.”
I smiled sadly. “I know.”
Tennessee cleared his throat. “What should we do if we find anyone in on it?”
“What you think is right. I don’t need another knife in my back.”
For the first time since I met him, I was grateful Sean O’Bannon was an arrogant, prideful fuck. He thought his sentries were enough to guard his home from me. He thought he was safe with Cash’s men in his pocket. He thought the police would protect him.
He forgot that no one held a candle to a pissed-off Marcosa. I was like a fucking ghost in his halls, slicing through every man I saw until bodies left a trail at my feet and a wide-open path inside.
“Is it wrong that I’m turned on right now?” Dominic asked quietly as we walked up the steps and entered through the front door. Greyson shook his head at my side, but Nate’s laugh buoyed me farther into the house.
The most common, critical mistake of made men was not putting a guard rotation inside their homes, and O’Bannon was no different. Grey and Nate each slipped down the side halls, circling back when they’d cleared the bottom floor, while I went upstairs with Dominic at my back. Normally, I’d be in the thick of it with them, but tonight was a show for those little red dots on every corner.
“Security office?” I asked quietly. The crackle of the comms unit in my ear preceded Grey.
“Dealt with. The guard was asleep at the desk anyway.”
“Congrats to him,” Dominic murmured. I had to agree. Everyone else died painfully, but that idiot got a peaceful goodbye out of sheer luck.
I trailed slowly down the hall, letting Dominic peel away to check rooms as we went. There was no need for stealth when the only men still alive in the house were O’Bannon and his son, and we’d deal with the whelp later.
Décor shifted from gaudy to obscene the closer we got to Sean’s wing, and the amount of glitter and glitz he’d thrown on the walls made me want to gouge my eyes out. It was obvious he didn’t understand the word understated,and I wondered again how he could be Aislynn’s father. It didn’t make a lick of sense.
When we found the most offensive door in the place, we paused, waiting for the others. Only when I had all of my men around me did I enter Sean’s room.
A glance around showed Casanova was his only design inspiration. To avoid seeing something that would haunt my nightmares, I kept my eyes focused on the figure in the bed. Loud snores shuddered through him as he lay flat on the mattress, a sleep apnea mask fastened onto his face and the sheets dangerously close to sliding off his naked body. No one else was in the bed with him, though the used condom I sidestepped suggested he’d had a friend over earlier.
“Jesus, that’s disgusting,” Grey whispered, wrinkling his nose. Nate patted him on the shoulder.
“There, there, buddy. It’ll be over soon.”
Yes, it would.
The men fanned out around me, waiting to see what I’d do.
Originally, I’d planned to slit his throat while he slept, but I found myself curious. What would he say if I gave him the chance for last words? Would he finally be useful, or would he die a fucking idiot?
Deciding to test fate, I ripped the sleep apnea mask off his face. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then he stopped breathing.
I waited, wondering if he’d wake up, force a breath, something.
Only silence followed.
This is too easy for him, I thought, tossing the mask to the side. He didn’t get to go quietly into death like his security guard. He didn’t get to slip peacefully into eternal sleep.
He’d die screaming like he tried to do to me.
I reared back and slapped him, the sound echoing through the silent room, and O’Bannon’s eyes shot open at the same time he heaved in a great breath.
Disoriented, he took a minute to place us, but when he did, he wasn’t pleased. “What the fuck are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here. Get out!”
“What’s wrong, O’Bannon? Worried we’ll see your dick? Don’t worry, Mari’s not interested in you.” Nate smirked as my men crept closer to the bed, ready to hold him down the second I asked.
“I wouldn’t want her used-up pussy anyway,” Sean barked, scrambling until his back pressed against the headboard, the sheet clutched in his white-knuckled grip.
All three of my men snarled at him, but I held up a hand to stay their anger. “You get one chance to tell me the truth before you die.”
He smirked then, though his hand shook. “You can’t kill me, girly. The other leaders will exterminate you if you try.”
Shrugging, I moved toward the dresser, pretending to look at the things he had on top. None of it was worth a damn to me, but people like Sean didn’t like feeling insignificant. “I’ll handle the others in time.”
“Are you planning on killing all of us?”
“If I did, I’d be no better than Cash.”
That made him laugh. “You’ll never win against him. He’s too smart for you.”
“Only because he had a head start. Don’t worry, though. We’re catching up.”
I twisted, and the look on my face must’ve given me away.
“You finally told her, huh? Good on you, boy.” Sean’s smile split his face, and I wanted to rip out his teeth with my bare hands the second he looked at Nate. “How does it feel knowing little Cammy doesn’t want you around either?”
The words tried to twist their way inside me, but I was a block of ice. Nothing could thrive there. Not right now. “Actually, Ace Beckstrom spilled the beans.”
His only reaction was a slight widening of the eyes, and I wondered if it was because he thought Ace knew nothing or because he truly didn’t know who the man was.
“I’m not surprised you buddied up to a psycho, but I am curious why you’d risk your daughter’s life to do it.”
“You’re too weak to hurt her. Besides, it’s not like she was worth much.”
I thought anger would sweep me away, but I felt nothing but the cold realization that this was always how O’Bannon and I were going to end.
“Aislynn is worth a hundred men. You’re just too stupid to realize it.” But I did, and I’d never let her pay the price for me again. “Get him down.”
As one, Nate and Dominic lunged for Sean, pulling him to the end of the bed, and shoving him to the floor at my feet. While he floundered, I slipped the gun out of my holster and handed it to Greyson.
“Pin him down?” Nate asked as he and Dominic looked to me for direction.
“Put him on his knees and let go,” Greyson replied instead.
“You’re going to die tonight, just like this. Any last words?”
“Eat shit, cunt,” Sean growled. He shoved to his feet, hands reaching for my throat, but mine caught his first. The blade slid into his skin, the slice perfect. Blood spilled down his body, splattering me in the process, and the hands that meant to hurt now reached for help.
I stepped back, letting him grasp at his throat as he fell. It always took longer than I expected for someone to bleed out, and he was no different. None of us took our eyes off him until his breathing stopped and so did the twitching in his limbs.
Sean O’Bannon, don of the Irish Mafia, died facedown on his bedroom floor as naked as the day he was born. There was no better end to a man like him.
Blood still dripped from the blade in my hands when I turned to Nate. “Where is he?”
“Two hallways down.” He took charge, leading us out of the carnage and into the gaudy house beyond. It was like walking in a visual puzzle. Everything beyond O’Bannon’s room was mostly unaffected, but there were dead men everywhere.
“One down,” Dominic whispered.
“One to go,” I answered. “Maybe.”
We barely stopped when Nate indicated we’d found the right door, and in no time, we hauled a boxer-clad Kieran out of bed.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He was flustered out of his element, but unlike his father, he reached for a weapon immediately. Dominic hissed at him, and he snatched his hand back, never taking his eyes off me.
He knew who the real predator in the room was.
Honestly, I was glad. It boded well for me if Kieran was the smarter of the O’Bannon men since Ash obviously took the prize for smartest O’Bannon all around. “We came to tell you your father’s dead.”
Kieran stared at us warily. “He was fine when he went to bed a few hours ago.”
Dominic grinned. “I’m sure he was.”
Kieran’s focus never wavered, and I shrugged. “Long live the new king. That’s you, by the way.”
It was fascinating, watching Kieran put away whatever he felt about his father’s death in favor of focusing on his new reality. I commended him for it. That was serious leadership potential. Should’ve done this years ago.
“What about my sister?”
Greyson hummed in his throat, and I knew he agreed with me too. New to the role or not, Kieran O’Bannon was asking all the right questions. Too little, too late, but he still asked them. I gave him props for that. Still, it offered me hope that maybe Ash could have a relationship with her family in the future. If she chose to, of course.
“You sold her to me like chattel for an alliance you never intended to honor. She wasn’t your sister then, just a pawn you could use. I wouldn’t give her to you for all the money in the world.”
It was the least I could do, knowing the devastation I was going to cause her soon enough. Aislynn was free to do whatever she wanted. I’d never force her to marry again, never push her to help me. I’d get her out of Seattle and away from this life, where she could heal and be free. Where maybe she could repair the damage my cousin caused.
We’d miss her constantly, but this life just wasn’t for her. It never had been. I’d forgotten that in the carnage of Cash’s war, and I regretted it fiercely.
“What do you want from me?”
“I want you to continue doing what you’re doing.” The words were heavy, and I saw the moment Kieran understood what I meant.
His nod was a defeated sort of thing as he stared down at his hands. “I didn’t make the decision to work with Cash.”
“I know. It’s the only reason you’re alive.”
“The police are his. My father just used them to his advantage.”
I’d already assumed as much, but it was still annoying.
“We’ll deal with it,” I said. “Right now, your only job is to tell people what happened tonight.”
Kieran’s face screwed up in confusion. “The other leaders won’t be happy. Are you sure you don’t want me to keep it quiet?”
“If I did, I would have killed you too. By all means, scream it from the rooftops. It’s beyond time for a reminder that my generosity can be removed at any moment.” I leaned into his space, showing him the depths of my rage. “Let them know. Let them know what happens when you come for my family.”
I was fucking done. Done with Cash and playing by the rules, expecting him to do the same. I’d follow him down the rabbit hole of crazy if it meant setting my city free of him.
My men would pull me back in the end. Of that, I had no doubt.