Chapter 37
From the Shadows
A Friend
“Nyet, I not doing this today. I not in the mood. Every time I see his face comes with bullshit. Fuck off,” Misha grumbles with his thick Russian accent as he enters the underground room where I’m waiting for him, LaSalle, and Logan.
LaSalle is smart, this room is genius. I entered on the far side of his property. If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t even know this was a part of his home.
Misha goes to turn to leave, but LaSalle and Logan each place a hand on his shoulders. I can’t say I blame him. I am the bearer of bad news in a lot of ways.
In the Alliance, it’s my family’s job to have a finger on the pulse of the important things. We’re the watchers. I get things back to LaSalle and Logan that they need to know.
The only reason we didn’t know what happened to Logan in the beginning is because he and LaSalle didn’t want to risk Oland finding out about our connection. The old bastard used to see too much.
That’s what got O’Shea and his brothers killed. For all Oland’s hate for mixing and working with others outside his race, he jumped into bed with others when it suited him.
“You will want to hear what I have to say. Trust me, the last thing I want to do is come in here with bad news. However, I’m here with what you all need to know. Especially you,” I say.
“It’s good to see you, Laki,” LaSalle says as he takes a seat.
“How are you holding up?”
“He is engaged and moving on with his life,” Misha says, his words dripping with something I’m trying to pinpoint.
It’s not quite sarcasm. Maybe skepticism. I let it go as LaSalle shoots him a hard glare.
“Da, we are all still broken, my friend. How have you come to break us some more?”
Between the death of LaSalle’s wife, the murder of Misha’s fiancée, and Logan’s imprisonment and loss of the young woman he was in love with, you would think I were in a room filled with broken men. However, I see something else.
The strength in this room proves Ian Black knew exactly what he was doing. Never afraid to move one into place to cover for another. These men were handpicked, as was I.
He was such a master at this they have begun to do it themselves. I’ve watched from the shadows as LaSalle has been Logan and Logan has been LaSalle. Now, Misha Krupin and Uri Donati have become a part of the dance to make a four-headed monster.
Although it seems LaSalle has taken the lead since Logan has been gone. I chuckle to myself. From the outside, one would think that’s by mistake. I knew Ian Black enough to know that was indeed by design.
“What has changed to bring ya here?” Logan says as he sits next to LaSalle across from me.
Misha continues to stand and pace like a bear. I’m used to him and his temperament. I’m not intimidated by his crazy.
“Orla Murphy passed,” I reply.
“Aye, I know this. Brooklyn was with Deja during the services.”
“Yes, but what you don’t know is O’Shea Walsh left a black box with his grandmother, and she left that box to me, not Adline or one of the others. I now have my hands on the will and the key to the original Alliance lockbox.
“The other key? All this time it was with her?” Logan says.
“Yes, I have it all. Including O’Shea’s and Ian’s lost journals.”
“This means they can come out of hiding?” LaSalle says.
“Aye, it’s time to tell the lasses the truth.”
“Good, nothing to do with me,” Misha says and goes to walk out.
“Not so fast. You need to hear the rest. Your father wasn’t your biggest or only problem,” I say.
“What do you mean?” He seethes and turns his glare on me.
“This all started with secrets and has continued on secrets.”
“Da, your point?”
“There are still secrets being hidden that you don’t control.”
“I don’t have time for this. What do you know?” Misha growls.
I hold my hands up. “I have a question for you all. Have you ever asked yourself why? Why you? Why this?
“Ian sent you boys to me, but have you ever asked yourselves why me? Why not his boys or someone else? Or better yet, why any of this?”
“Aye, I have asked. The oul man promised I would know when the time came.”
“I guess that time has come. I have the journals with me. I’ll leave them with you.”
“Still not explanation,” Misha bites out.
“Your family has secrets that are playing a hand in the background. Secrets that are coming for you all, but they’re coming through your blood. It’s time you ask Fiona what your father hid from you. Then start with Eliam Pérez and your family’s interest in him.
“That will unravel what you need to know. But you want to move with caution. If you don’t, you may not address the problem. Not every head is meant to be taken; some will show themselves to be in shoes just like yours.”
“What are you babbling about?”
“Ach, now ya know how we feel when you pull that shit,” Logan chuckles.
“Fuck you. Is that all you have to say?”
“To you. Yes.” I shrug.
Misha rolls his eyes then storms out. I shake my head and note to myself to have someone keep an eye on that situation. There’s a lot Misha still doesn’t know.
“That means ya still have words for us,” Logan says once Misha is gone.
“My niece is heading this way.”
“Why?” LaSalle asks.
“Theo and Sean Young,” I reply.
Dylan
“Good, you’re both here,” Logan says as he walks into the living area of our parents’ house.
The first thing I note is that he’s hiding his accent. Out of us all, Logan hasn’t lost his accent as much. I think his time in that Irish prison has a lot to do with how thick it has been these days.
His consciously tucking it away catches my ear immediately. Something is up. I look to Brooklyn, who’s been in his own world as he’s been on the phone most of the time he’s been here.
Ma asked us all over for dinner. Cole stopped in, but he doesn’t plan to stay. He’s headed out for business or something.
“Ach, I’m here, but I’m leaving. I have a plane to catch,” Cole says.
“Aye, I know where you’re heading. You should hear what I have to say before you go. You both should.”
Again, I caught that only Logan’s New York accent is present. Cole narrows his eyes as if he’s now catching that fact too. However, he still stands as if he’s going to leave.
There is still so much tension between these two. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve heard Logan address Brooklyn directly. While Cole might talk straight to him, Logan has been ignoring him and speaking to anyone else in the room but our brother when he can.
“Sit down, Cole. You need to know this before you walk into what’s waiting for you,” Logan bites out.
“Now ya want to talk to me? Text it to me. I’m not missing my flight. I need to get to DJ. I’m not losing her because I’m—”
“What? Not there like I wasn’t there and lost Raven? Ya fucking selfish prick. Ya’re the reason all of this is falling onto our heads. Ya will sit the fuck down and listen to what I have to say,” Logan says with his chest heaving.
“What? What the fuck are ya talking about? Are ya blaming—” Brooklyn stumbles back, pain clear on his face.
“No, I’m not blaming ya. I’m stating facts. I have kept ya the closest.
“Ya were my right hand. Did ya think once that ya should have asked me before going to Felix?”
“I was protecting Dylan. I had been watching him plot to do something stupid. I thought I could cut him off at the pass.”
“Which is all ya had to say to me. Instead, ya handed that oul bastard the knife to put to me neck. None of this had to be this way. I would have brought them all into the light when it was time.”
“Logan,” Cole drags out. “What the fuck are ya talking about?”
“All this time, I’ve had all three of them covered. They were where I could see them.”
“Wait, what?” I speak up for the first time.
“It was my job to keep the Walsh cousins safe. I was supposed to keep an eye on them.
“Orla took Deja in. She was safe in Scotland, away from Oland. He couldn’t touch her there. I had Raven covered. No one could get to her …” Logan pauses and swallows hard. “If I had been here, she would have been fine.
“Ciara’s situation was fucked up, but as long as Oland thought he was in control of everything around her, she was safe, and I always had someone watching over her and someone watching over them.”
“What are you saying?” I growl.
“Walsh cousins? Are you saying Raven was related to DJ and Ciara?” Cole asks, sounding more lost than I feel.
Cole wasn’t there for the things Logan shared with me. He was still too angry to speak to him. I can see why he’s a bit more confused than I am, although this too is a shock to me.
“Yes and no,” Logan replies.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cole asks.
This is it. The holes Logan left in Ciara’s story. I need to know how it all connects. Why did I have to hold back what I know all this time?
“There were three Walsh brothers, not two. However, the third and oldest one was adopted. Adline Murphy-Walsh was, in fact, once Adline Murphy-O’Brien.”
“What?” I breathe in confusion.
That’s not our grandmother’s name. How the hell did Ciara’s grandmother have our last name? My stomach begins to turn as I try to think my way through what this all means.
“She was Oland’s first wife and the reason the old bastard became such an even bigger fucking bigot. Adline couldn’t conceive in the beginning of their marriage, so she begged Oland to adopt,” he explains.
My stomach eases and I realize how tight my jaw is set. I wipe a hand across my forehead and breathe in a deep breath. I had no idea our grandfather had been married more than once.
Logan continues as I slide to the edge of my seat.
“However, when he agreed and Adline went to the orphanage to pick a child, she fell in love at first sight with O’Shea.
A little brown baby whose family had been killed in Ireland, not too long after his birth.
Oland lost his shit. He wanted a child who could pass for his.