Chapter Ten #2
I gritted my teeth. I still had the money from my night at the Doom Loop but the thought of using it to buy anything for myself made me feel sick to my stomach. Maybe that was what Lorcan intended, to remind me of the mortifying beginning of our bond. As if I needed reminding.
“I think Lorcan has a point. You should buy a few dresses to make a good impression in our community. They’ll soon look to you for guidance as Lorcan’s wife.”
Guidance for what? I was the wife of a mobster. I was nineteen. The only thing I was really good at was cooking, taking care of Finn, and stacking dozens of shot glasses so I wouldn’t have to run back and forth to clear tables.
I nodded, saving every kernel of my fighting spirit for my marriage with Lorcan. “Is there a nice boutique in the area?”
Gulliver gave me an empty look, and with a muttered “Never mind,” I excused myself and grabbed my purse and some money.
Maybe I could use the chance to ask around a bit.
There had to be people who had seen Imogen.
She was tall and striking, and just had a way of drawing attention to herself, but not always the good kind.
As I meandered through our Irish community, several people I’d never met greeted me. Was there a newsletter sent out with my photo and a wedding announcement? I really wouldn’t put it past Lorcan.
I nodded awkwardly and walked faster until a secondhand shop caught my eye and I slipped in. A woman, maybe in her late twenties, stood behind the counter and her smile became tighter when she saw me. “This is all hand-me-downs. I’m sure you’d rather pick something else.”
I cocked an eye. Her shop was elegant and the dresses and skirts on display were right up my alley. Not to mention that Imogen, considering her lack of money, might have come here to buy affordable clothes to get her noticed .
“I like what I see, thank you,” I said. The woman kept watching me, and slowly I was beginning to wonder if she was so wary of me because I was the future Mrs. Devaney.
Or maybe she thought I looked like someone who might try to take something without paying.
My clothes today weren’t my prettiest pieces.
That made my cheeks flame. I hadn’t paid much attention to my hair either. It was probably a wild mane.
“I’m not a shoplifter, you know,” I said when I couldn’t bear the woman’s attention any longer.
Her brown eyebrows inched up her heart-shaped face. “If Five-Leaf Clover accepts it as part of my protection money, take what you want and I’ll put down a ridiculous price.”
“So you know who I am.” That made me feel better than her thinking I was a thief.
She smiled strangely. “It was in the communal newsletter this morning. I usually don’t read it but today I was stuck on the metro.”
My cheeks flamed. A newsletter? Really?
I shook my head and was tempted to leave the shop but then I kicked myself internally and took Imogen’s photo out of my purse. “Do you know her?”
The woman squinted at the photo then her eyes darted to me. “She’s your sister?”
“How did you know that?”
“Because of the resemblance. But she carries her beauty on a silver platter, and you wear it casually.”
I blinked, not sure if it was a compliment. “So have you seen her?”
“Are you asking around on behalf of Five-Leaf Clover?”
“Will my answer change yours?”
She tilted her head and regarded me for a long time. Then she gave a shrug. “Not really. Just promise I won’t get in trouble.”
“You won’t.” I said it as if my word had any impact on Lorcan or his gang, when it hadn’t and wouldn’t.
“She was in here once, but she told me she wouldn’t be back once she found a modeling job or a rich man who paid for new designer clothes.”
I grimaced. So Imogen was really looking for a sponsor, and Sodom, as I learned firsthand, was the place for that.
“She didn’t come back, so I assume it’s the latter in the case. ”
“Why not the former?” I asked sharply, not liking how the woman shoved Imogen in a certain box, even if it was the right one.
She raised her palms. “This is New York. The streets are filled with pretty girls trying to make it. Some are prettier than your sister, some are more ruthless and some have better contacts.”
I nodded because it’s what I’d told Imogen, but she’d been so full of hope and conviction. I admired her for it, for her absolute belief in herself but not her ruthlessness to get there. I sighed. “Thank you.”
I left without buying anything. Somehow it would have felt strange to keep shopping after our conversation.
I went to another boutique, not uber chic, but with newer and definitely pricier items than what I usually bought.
Imogen had been here too but as with the first shop, she hadn’t been seen in weeks.
After purchasing two dresses, a skirt and a blouse, I continued through the neighborhood.
The area was full of Irish pubs—most of them tourist traps like Temple Bar in Dublin—but some were inviting enough that I would have loved to go in and have a pint, or pop into some shops with Irish names.
It reminded me of home but it wasn’t. The scent was different, more city-like, even though Dublin was a big city in its own right.
Here, the atmosphere was more erratic, people just passing each other by, while in Dublin people would actually have a chat and a drink together.
I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to find my sister, but once I did, I’d return to Dublin. Nothing would stop me, not even Lorcan and our doomed bond.