THIRTY-SEVEN
SHE REFUSED TO LEAVE the mansion’s foyer until laying eyes on her brother. Lighting was low, the house should be asleep. It probably was before the alarm was raised, maybe, the guys there didn’t follow a typical timetable.
Her bare toes chilled on the cool marble, feeble against the beat of boots running in and out of the building.
A stream of men left, then the front door swung shut.
“There’ll be more of them,” Whisper’s voice echoed above. Swirling around, the woman’s smile came with an almost laugh as she leaned over the balustrade. “Looking for your pop? He’s downstairs with Vindictive Vex and Marvelous Madison.”
“She’s here?”
Keeping their female prisoner increased chances the Byrnes would hit them again. They’d stay on their hitlist… though no matter who won the night, that wouldn’t change. Still, something about the McDades triumph stirred her pride.
“We have reinforced security here,” Whisper said.
“Security that just ran out the front door?” Strat asked, folding his arms as he leaned on the newel post. “Might be the Byrnes plan.”
“Some of those guys are patrolling the perimeter, and we have a posse in the basement, taking care of business. Ire predicted this. Man’s got a talent, can’t deny it. And I’m here! I know what to do when I see a Byrne: kill it.”
“Why did this happen tonight?”
“Was gonna happen eventually,” Whisper said, strutting along the upper floor to slowly descend the stairs one at a time.
“Byrnes aren’t known for their brains.”
“All muscle, no hustle,” Whisper said, reaching her level. “Said your guy was smarter than a lot of others at the top, didn’t I? I’m good at being right. Want a margarita?”
“Where’s Raze?”
“Working.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
Seemed to be a regular thing, Whisper staying away from the action. The why still perplexed her.
“Thing with Zay is when I’m around, he doesn’t keep his attention where it’s supposed to be. Most of the time, it’s on my ass. So do I mind when he does the heavy lifting? No. It’s the fucking middle of the night, why do I want to go out there and shoot Byrnes…?” Whisper paused; her lower lip betrayed a pondering. “Okay, the shooting Byrnes part is no problem. But with the strength of McDade numbers around here, I’d probably shoot the wrong guy.” Funny until the prophecy came true and Conn found out. “Someone has to stick around to do the bail and lawyer thing if necessary. Where are we on the margaritas?”
“I’m waiting here. Right here. Until my brother shows.” Or her boyfriend, but she doubted that would happen first. “I need to find out what the hell is going on.”
“He’s cute, your brother, guy like him coming to the dark side? There’ll be a helluva lot of soaked panties, uh huh, all the way through, mark my words.”
Disgust wrinkled her nose. “Okay, now I need alcohol, strong alcohol, to erase that mental image.”
Whisper swung around Strat at the foot of the stairs only to spin and face her again. “Heard you’ve been stressed about it, your righteous brother hanging out with the villains.”
“Oh yeah? From who?”
Whisper shrugged. “Word travels. And here’s my wise, learned opinion… go with it.”
“That’s your advice?” Having expected something sage… and useful, she sagged. “I thought you’d back me up.”
“I am backing you up, High Class. I’m with you all the way. You’re tilting at windmills, baby. Go with it!”
Raising an arm, Whisper sauntered off to disappear through a door.
“Want to go to the basement?” Strat asked. “Check out the prisoners? Don’t know how long your brother will be.”
“Lach has to show eventually. And I’ll be right here when he does.”
Transporting their dad at least kept her brother safe from the initial fight at Stag. Didn’t save her lover, but she couldn’t dwell on that.
“Don’t want to see your dad?” Strat asked.
“I’m Cushla Machree. I don’t take meetings at that level.”
Despite the locks and chains, her father would still attempt to condescend her. What did he have to say? Nothing of interest.
No, it was the younger McLeod that troubled her. Her brother’s return to the club after escaping deserved an explanation. Demanded one.
“Relax, Scamp, Ire knows what he’s doing.”
“We ran out of there too fast. Niall showed and I—why did I run out on Conn?” Something she could remedy. They’d driven their latest stolen car onto the grounds, but there would be others, non-stolen, around somewhere. “We have to be with him. Stick with him. I should never have left.”
Intending to go outside was one thing, actually getting out was another. After her best friend, a guy twice her size, put himself in her path, fleeing wasn’t so easy.
“Calm the fuck down. Where do you think you’re going?”
“To the club. My club. Where I’m allowed to go. Where I’m safe. Where Conn is.”
Did he need any more reasons? She’d keep going if necessary.
“You heard what Whisper said. She leaves her guy to do his thing ‘cause if she was around, she’d fuck with his head. You want to fuck with Ire’s head?”
“No.”
Wasn’t that why she’d refused to call him in the car? Conn needed a clear space, safety to strategize. Worrying about her would steal his focus unnecessarily.
“Trust me, from a guy’s point of view, he needs to know you’re safe or nothing else matters.”
Such a double standard that no one seemed to acknowledge. “Everyone’s so worried what he’d do if I was missing, why can’t anyone see Conn’s missing? I don’t know where he is. If he’s hurt, if he’s—”
“He’s in the thick of it.” Lach’s voice brought her around. “He’s at the club. Alive.”
“How do you know?” she asked, flashing a look back, then forward. “Why did you come that way? You came in the back?”
“Checked on Dad first.” Oh, nice, so the murdering patriarch was more important than her sanity? “Because this isn’t the time for him to be pushing McDades. There’s a reason Ire put me in charge of him. Turns out, our dad’s a difficult prisoner.”
“No shit.” Ronald McLeod was used to being the one carrying the keys. “I don’t care what happens to him right now,” or at all, “but you… You brought him here then went back to Stag?”
“That was the plan,” Lachlan said. “Your guy’s been preparing this strategy for a while. I took point on Dad.”
Strat added a little clarity. “Other prisoners had other… jailors.”
Like Ford with Evander, maybe Play with Madison. Arrangements hadn’t only been for their enemies and assets either. Niall transporting her to Strat and getting her out of there pronto was no coincidence. Shit, even if he hadn’t known the when, Conn had been fully prepared for the Byrne invasion.
“When did he tell you—how did you—”
“You want to have this conversation here?”
In McDade territory, it didn’t occur to her to be vigilant. This was deeper inside than Stag, more than the loft in some ways too.
“It doesn’t matter where we have the conversation,” she said, though sailed past her brother to ascend the stairs. “You want somewhere private?” Resting a hand on the banister, she looked back to her friend. “Strat, you don’t get off easy. You’re in on this too.”
“Because I haven’t shown my loyalty enough tonight?” he asked, smirking, following her brother on his approach. “I don’t referee my own kids, why do I got to referee you two?”
She went into the office and propped herself against the desk while the guys came in and closed the door.
“Talk.”
“That an order, little sister?” Lachlan asked, half-smiling. “Look at you, in the big chair.”
“I’m not in any chair. I want to know the man I love is safe. What is so wrong with that? I want to know what happened to our home. I want to know why anyone would think attacking us would be justified.”
“Ire has something Byrne wants.”
Someone actually. “Blasting into Stag like they did—how did they get in?”
“Drove right through the front of the building.”
That was more horrific than anything she’d imagined.
“They drove into the building? Into it?” That suggested losses. “Who was hurt?”
“Don’t think anyone’s done a body count yet. Ire’s busy rounding up Byrnes. Turns out bringing Dad and others here was a good idea. Ire’s going to need the space at Stag.”
Sliding her ass onto the desk, she threw up her arms. “Explain this to me. How do you know so much about Stag?”
“Think the cops only know what the families share? There’s been stories of the McDades basement for years. Generations.”
“So you’re just guessing? I don’t want to be…” Her eyes met Strat’s. “What do I do here?”
“Find out what he knows,” her friend said. “I don’t know what he knows.”
“You knew he was hanging out in the basement. I didn’t know that.”
Lach interrupted. “You don’t need to know everything.”
That attitude wasn’t appreciated. “Is it genuine? Your time with the McDades? You really want to be part of the family?”
“This is my sister’s world. You think I want her living in it alone?”
Though he didn’t seem as angry, his motivation still worried her. “I figured it out, you know,” she said, slipping off the desk to go to the decanter in the corner to pour drinks. “Your mood recently. I thought you were pissed at me.”
“I am pissed at you.”
“Yeah, but that’s not why. None of this is that.”
“No?”
Taking a drink to Strat first, her friend welcomed it. Shouldn’t be any need for him to drive again, he could drown in liquor if he wanted. After what he’d done for her, the least she could do was keep his ass safe in McDade World.
Her brother was next.
She put the glass in his hand but didn’t let go of it until he met her eye. “You’re pissed at you.”
“That I didn’t see this coming? Sure.” He plucked the glass from her fingers. “You and Dad do have something in common, your secret lives.”
No longer so secret.
“I chose Conn. This life comes with the man I love.”
“Yeah. And this life comes with the sister I love.”
“You think you let me down. The way you’ve been with me, it’s not ‘cause you’re pissed at me for falling in love with Conn. You think something you did, something in the way you raised me, did this to me.”
“I trust Ire wouldn’t hurt you.”
“No, he wouldn’t.”
“But as long as you’re in this family, so am I. We’re all each other has, our only link to our past. You’re my blood, Sersh. The only blood I’m proud to have.”
Even in spite of her life choices?
Kicking him out of the McDades, demanding he live a righteous life, she’d be isolating him. Lachlan couldn’t rely on their father; they’d never been able to do that. Accepting her meant accepting how she lived, who she loved.
The sting of tears in her eyes diverted them. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I love you. I’d do anything to keep you safe and happy. Anything.”
“Don’t you see that’s what I’m doing? Keeping us together, you and me, we stick together. Didn’t I always tell you I’d never be mad?” A tear skittered from her lashes, another blurred her brother’s features. “You call me and I’ll always come get you, I’ll always be there for you. I’m never mad. It’s my job to protect you, to support you.”
Just as hers was to Conn. “I care about the McDades. About Conn. They may not be the most virtuous, but they have integrity. Doing the right thing matters to them. It’s just… the right thing for the family.” Even if that meant breaking laws or bones. “Conn loves me, Lach. Honestly loves me.”
“If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be here. I’m not spending time with him, and the family, to trip them up or call them out. Dad’s taught us there isn’t a virtuous path. Even those we think are on it are ultimately out for themselves. Sometimes doing the right thing is about love.”
Love for a sibling. He was there for her.
“I thought you were mad at me, and I couldn’t—it wasn’t that. You thought you did something wrong, that in raising me, you’d let me down, set me on this path.”
“Whether I meant to or not, I did. We’re here—”
“Because of us.” She linked their fingers. “I love you, so completely… Don’t give up your career for—”
“My little sister?” He smiled. “Isn’t it all about family? Ultimately, we are what matters. Losing Henry showed how we neglected each other. We have to change the way McLeods do business. That starts by acknowledging the law, and enforcing it, don’t grant us any favors. It’s an illusion, completely false. Smoke, mirrors, and bullshit. There’s nothing superior about that path. I never did what I did to be whiter than white, I wanted to help people. To do the right thing. And now I know, right has nothing to do with the law, or punishing those who break it.”
“Lach—”
“It was na?ve and lazy. I conformed, followed in the footsteps of those before us. If I continue to do that, I end up dirty just like Dad.”
“Are you going to quit?”
Being a cop, presently or formerly, put him at more risk of harm than most other McDades.
“I don’t know yet. I do know the loyalty I showed to my colleagues wasn’t returned. I can’t trust anyone there. I couldn’t trust my own father. Do you know he was the one pushing Wanstead’s buttons? That CI, Ire being pulled in for Henry’s murder, that was Dad’s doing.”
And they knew why that was, to divert attention from himself.
She snickered. “I’m sorry I didn’t see his face when he found out about me and Conn.”
“I wasn’t in the room either, but the building shook.”
“I’ll bet. Really screwed up his plans.”
“If Henry could thank you for that, he would. I thank you for it too.”
“Thank me for—”
“We could’ve put Ire behind bars for Henry’s murder. Without you, Ire McDade would’ve spent his life paying for our father’s crime. We may never have known… I rethink every second, kick myself for not noticing. What kind of cop was I that—”
“I didn’t see it either and investigation is my livelihood too. Dad started the con young, he groomed us to believe him all our lives. We didn’t think to question it, question him.”
“You got it, know it or not, you knew from the beginning he wasn’t so righteous or honorable.”
“There are plenty of people I don’t get along with, doesn’t make all of them crooks. Wish I could take credit for figuring it out, but it wasn’t me. The McDades told me the truth. Well, Dad’s actions revealed his murderous streak. But being in league with the Manzanis, with Silvio, Conn got that long before I did.”
“He told you?”
“Yes. We have communication, respect. I didn’t tell you immediately because I didn’t want to lay that on you. What could you have done? If I told you a crime had been committed, that our father committed a crime, you’d investigate. That put you at risk. If you’d brought it up with Dad—”
“It would’ve tipped our hand.” Our. What a relief it was to be cradled by her brother’s support again. “If nothing else, uncovering these truths, you and Ire, Dad’s duplicity, it sets us free, all of us. You did what was right, regardless of the personal cost. The bravery and honor it took you to stand up for Ire, without knowing how the situation would play out, it gave us all courage. You showed me what real integrity is, Sersh. And I’m so goddamn proud of you for it. We have to stop getting caught up in labels and lanes and start standing up for the people who stand up for us.”
“You did once tell Conn you could be allies.”
“And I was right. We’re allies, Sersh. Anyone who loves you gets a pass, gets my support.”
Strat, in the corner, raised a hand. “I love her less today than I did yesterday.”
“Not my fault you got a bullet in you, old man. It’s amazing I’m still alive with the way you drive.”
The easier mood gave them all a little breathing space.
“Got sticky for a minute,” Lachlan said. “Ire almost lost his chance at that pass. How could he love you if he didn’t give a shit?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Niall reached out, he called me,” her brother said, “the night you went missing.”
“You never told me that,” Strat said.
“Yeah, ‘cause no one can trust you to keep your trap shut around my sister.”
As she’d thought, telling Strat was tantamount to telling her. Something was different about these two men, so important in her life. Lach would never have spoken to Strat this way when he was with Imogen.
Not that Strat was ashamed or offended. “You’ve got lessons to learn about women, boy. Even your own sister.”
Weirdly… she liked their banter.
“How did Niall calling mix up your view of Conn?”
“Pissed me off that your boyfriend didn’t care enough to contact me himself.”
“He was injured,” she said. “Dad shot him.”
Her brother grew more solemn. “I wouldn’t believe what Niall said, any of it, not until it was confirmed by you or Dad.”
“You told me you hadn’t seen Conn.”
“I hadn’t. I thought the McDades were playing me. How could Ire love you so much and delegate your wellbeing to a goon?”
“Niall’s no goon,” she said, her gaze bouncing to Strat. “Anything you didn’t tell me?”
He held up a hand. “I said I hadn’t seen Conn either…” He sipped his drink and kept his mouth behind the glass. “Mighta talked to Niall. And, you boy, don’t forget to tell your sister I told you the only reason Ire wouldn’t reach out direct was if he was incapable.”
Lach’s head bobbed. “He did tell me that.”
“More than once. If he wasn’t bleeding and drugged up, Ire would’ve led the charge to track her down.”
“Strat’s actually smarter and more astute than we give him credit for.” She sighed. “Except tonight he was dumb enough to get himself shot, that wasn’t so smart.”
“Was when you play it forward,” Strat said. “Only way I don’t get shot is if I handed you over to the Byrnes.”
“Hmm, yeah, shot would be nothing to what Conn would do to you if you surrendered me to our enemy.”
So maybe he was smart, but the teasing was too much fun.
“And Niall was damn clear he didn’t want you to know about the communication, or that we should mention it anywhere near Dad.”
“Ire wasn’t out the woods in a hurry,” Strat said. “Found that out afterwards. Word is he shouldn’t even be on his feet now. But it’s not like anyone can tie him down.”
Pushing back her shoulders, she played that through her head. “Someone can.”
“No one in this room wants to know that.”
Their disgust and her smile united them.
And then it happened, another crash, not like the one in Stag, this was way closer.
Lachlan stepped aside to turn and there was Conn, just inside the room, concentrating completely on her.