Chapter 4 #2
“More or less, if you do this for me.” Finn blows out a breath. “Martin Corrigan’s got a daughter. Did you know that?”
I sit very still. It takes a lot of effort not to show anything on my face.
Because yeah, I knew he had a daughter.
She was in my bed last night.
“Regan, right?” I say casually, which is normal, that’s a thing he’d expect me to know.
“She was going to marry Kieren Foley, but that’s obviously not happening anymore. Her dad’s pissed about the whole situation, but now there’s an opportunity to make sure his organization and my family remain tightly bound up for a very long time.”
My mouth dries up. My heart stutters and there’s a little screaming panicking voice in my head telling me to splash the burning coffee in his face and run.
“What’s the opportunity, Finn?”
“I’m not forcing you to do anything. This is not an order. If you turn it down, that’s fine, we’ll get someone else. Nobody will hold it against you. But if you go through with it… if you do this for me… you’ll be in. Declan will owe you. I’ll make sure of it.”
I lean back and do my best to remain utterly calm and disinterested. I glance at my immaculately groomed fingernails. I pretend like I don’t know exactly what this is leading to.
“Not a small thing for the Big Boss Whelan to owe me,” I say as the memory of Regan’s moans flit through my head.
“You’ll be in, Liam, in a way I could never get you before. All you have to do… is marry Regan Corrigan.”
Well fuck me straight in the eyeball.
There it is.
I almost laugh out loud because this can’t be happening.
Finn’s got no clue what I did the night before.
The filthy, horrible, beautiful things I did to Regan, assuming that would be my one and only chance.
And he’s got no clue… how badly I want to go again.
How she’s all I can think about right now.
Which is terrifying for me, really.
With other women it’s like, I fuck them once and they’re suddenly smashed out of my consciousness, like coming on their tits blasts them from my brain or something.
Not with Regan.
If anything, she’s lingering in a way I find…
Unacceptable.
“Now how do you know… the girl will do it?” I ask and struggle to sound like I’m only curious.
But Finn knows me too well. He relaxes like he thinks he’s got me, which he most definitely does not.
“The Corrigan girl’s tight with her family. Her father thinks she’ll do it for him, and if she refuses, well—“ Finn shrugs like that’s no big deal, there are ways to force a girl into marriage.
Which is true. There definitely are.
But the idea sends my pulse rocketing. The thought of Martin Corrigan forcing Regan into a marriage she doesn’t want makes me want to commit some heinous, bloody crimes.
Which is bad. I shouldn’t care at all. The Liam of yesterday sure as shit wouldn’t.
I school my expression with a lot of effort.
“And you want me for this… because I’m the marrying type? You think I’d make a good husband?”
“Fuck no.” He grins at me. “But I think you’d try anyway. Despite the way you act, I know how you operate. You’ll take care of her, even if you don’t love her. I’m not worried about that.”
“She might be though.”
“That’s not the issue. I know I’m asking a lot right now. Getting into an arranged marriage—“ He runs a hand through his hair. “It’s a lot, I know, but you’ll instantly sit at the center of the Whelan operation. Like I said, you don’t have to do it, but if you do—“ He leaves that hanging.
It’s tempting. I’m always honest, even with myself.
Most of the time. And I have to say, I want this.
Finn’s shown me nothing but respect and friendship since the day we met, and I know his whole family are a bunch of utter psychopaths, but loyal and decent as far as that goes.
This would be a huge step up, a graduation into the big leagues.
I’d become a true member of the upper crust, those mobsters, politicians, business leaders, and rich dicks who run the world and keep everyone crushed and flattened under their bootheels, in a way I’d never be able to otherwise.
But this is Regan.
The girl from the night before. Uncertain, afraid, weirdly good. Watching her unravel—first when she spraypainted the car and again when I fucked her into pure gooey submission—was maybe the highlight of my life.
I could have that on the daily.
“Sorry, but I can’t.” I finish my coffee, letting it burn my throat, and push out of the booth.
“Think about it. We have a few days before Martin wants a reasonable proposition. If it’s not you, it’ll be someone else—“ He gives me a serious, probing look. “And I want it to be you.”
How can I explain to him? It’s not just the marriage thing, which is bad enough, but the girl is the actual problem.
Someone else, anyone else, and I could say yes.
Some random woman who won’t grab my attention at all would be ideal.
I could ascend into the upper ranks and act like there’s not a warm body waiting for me back home.
I can’t see me behaving that way with Regan.
Which is why it’s got to be no.
“You know me, Finn. I’m a bachelor until the day my dick doesn’t work anymore.”
“That’ll be a long time. This isn’t about your dick though. Think about it some more. And while you’re at it, figure out what that Kieren fucker took and how bad things are right now.”
I give him a mock salute. “I’ll do my job, don’t you worry, boss.”
“Yeah, I know.” He looks back down at his paper. “Caroline sends her regards, by the way. She was talking about you yesterday.”
“Yeah? Complimentary?”
“Not really.”
“Roger that.” I shove my hands in my pockets and leave him there.
Back on the sidewalk. The city moving all around. These average people barely aware they’re muck, and I was given a chance to crawl out of the filth and into a better world.
The price though?
Way too high.