Thirty Four
E DISON
“And all of the men are on the same page?” I asked Rhodes as I sorted through paperwork.
Three days had passed since the end of Perrie’s heat and the mountain of things to do had only grown since my impromptu vacation.
I’d spent the entire day organizing my plans to retire the older generation of Keane branch heads, replacing them with their sons.
It should have happened a long time ago, but I’d never felt the need to rush it until now.
Thanks to the presence of Perrie, who was sitting on the couch busily editing photos for her photography class, and the life that she now carried I knew it was time to end all of this once and for all before they could try and hurt my family.
My plans were going smoothly now that the Russians were out of the way and Volkov was in FBI custody.
And that was exactly my problem. It was when things went smoothly like this that I couldn’t shake the feeling that shit was about to hit the fan.
“Yes, though O’Rourke is still a bit fidgety,” Rhodes told me, showing me the latest text from the alpha in question.
It made sense that Ciaran O’Rourke was nervous. He was all of seventeen and he actually liked his father. But the elder O’Rourke was pushing eighty and I was fairly sure they were hiding some kind of degenerative disease that the old man had.
The last time I’d spoken to the old man he’d called me by my father’s name.
No. We needed to get rid of the generation of men who were alive long before the invention of the computer. They could either choose to retire peacefully to a life of relaxation or we would make them retire in less than savory ways.
“He’ll be fine. His father is probably the least of our worries. You find Liam or Rory yet?”
Ever since the night of the fire and aside from Rhodes’ grainy video footage, we hadn’t seen either of the men.
I assumed that they were somewhere in one of Volkov’s properties, but one call to Isaac Vance confirmed that neither of the men were in his custody.
That was the loose end that was still bothering me.
Rory Flannagan was one of my most loyal men and Perrie told me that he’d been forced to help Volkov’s men get onto the property, even apologizing to her.
So where was he? And where was Liam Flannagan?
I wouldn’t feel comfortable or secure until we found them.
With a sigh I stood up from my desk and crossed the room to get a drink.
“Whiskey this late at night will give you heartburn,” Perrie chastised without looking up from her laptop.
We hadn’t been married longer than four months and she was already nagging me about my health. With a sigh I opened the little mini fridge next to my liquor cart and pulled out a bottle of pale ale, offering one to Rhodes who took it gratefully.
“You know, my darling,” I said as I took a swig of the ale. It was fine, but definitely not the aged whiskey that I’d been going for. “Sometimes heartburn is worth it for a couple of fingers of whiskey.”
Gray eyes finally lifted from her computer to look at me incredulously. “You say that and then complain about heartburn while we’re in bed together. I swear our nightstand is going to be full of lube and Pepto Bismol if you keep it up…”
Perrie trailed off, her auburn brows drawing together as she frowned.
“Pet?”
The bottle of ale in Rhodes hands slipped out, shattering as his expression shifted from laughter to shock.
Following Perrie’s confused gaze down, I found a glowing red dot in the center of my chest.
Time slowed as I glanced up at my two pack members who were starting to move like sand towards me, their mouths opening to say my name as I moved to try and avoid the inevitable.
The sound of shattering glass filled my ears as a bullet ripped through my shoulder, sending me spinning.
“Get down!” I managed to holler as Rhodes did the right thing and jumped for our omega, pulling her down to the ground as my knees gave out and I crumpled right alongside them.
“What’s happening!” Perrie’s shrill cry came over the sound of more bullets whizzing into the room, shattering the long windows that lined the entire wall behind my desk.
Somehow, instinctively, I knew it was Liam. My one loose end and the only one who had someone who knew enough information about my plan to take full control of the Keane clan.
With difficulty, I pulled myself along the carpet and propped myself up against the back of my desk. It was only seconds before Perrie was next to me, sobbing and pressing her hands into the wound in my shoulder. It was still too close to my center mass for comfort.
Gazing down at it dazedly, my brain registered that there was quite a bit of blood seeping from the wound. Almost too much. Had the bullet nicked something important? I sure hoped the fuck not.
“It’s a coup,” I spat to Rhodes who looked worse than I felt as he knelt on my other side. I could feel their raging panic down the bond even as I tried to shut my own end off so that they wouldn’t have to feel the sheer amount of pain I was in. “These fuckers decided to have their own coup before I could have mine.”
I’d seemingly avoided one war with the five families only to be right in the middle of a civil one with the men who were supposed to support me.
Fuck, at least I knew I was right in trying to oust them.
Turning to Rhodes, I made sure his dark eyes met mine before I spoke again. “You know what you need to do now.”
“ No ,” the other man rasped, his eyes going from me to Perrie who was still trying to stanch my bleeding wound with the cardigan she’d been wearing.
We’d discussed a lot of contingency plans when I first decided it was time to take control. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but now as bullets continued to rain down on my study and I could hear shouting in the hallway, I knew that this needed to happen. It wasn’t safe for Perrie to be here anymore.
“Rho. You promised me,” I reminded him, reaching up to grip him roughly by the front of his shirt.
“I know but—”
I cut him off. “You promised.”
Rhodes’ lips twisted into a tight frown before his shoulders finally dropped in surrender. “ Fuck , okay. But you better follow through on your end.”
“I will,” I lied, not knowing how the rest of this night was about to go.
Finally, the bullets stopped and all I could hear was gunfire in the distance.
Rhodes crawled over my legs and wrapped an arm around Perrie’s waist lifting her up off of her feet.
“Rhodes?” Perrie asked, glancing between the two of us with confusion as she tried to hold onto my hand.
“Go with him, Perrie,” I told her, fighting against the desire to hang onto her for dear life.
But being with me right now wouldn’t save her.
“ No !” Perrie cried, her grip on me tightening as Rhodes reached out to pry her fingers from mine. “Rhodes, knock it off. He needs to go with us.”
Rhodes said nothing as he finally managed to break her hold and started to carry her away.
“Edison!” Her voice cracked as she reached for me again, but this time her hands only caught air as Rhodes carried her over to the bookshelf and pressed a secret button that would lead into a passageway.
Vladimir Volkov wasn’t the only one who liked a good secret tunnel.
“I’ll find you,” I promised in yet another lie, offering her a weak smile as she gaped at me before the bookcase door closed behind them, cutting them off from me.
The door to my study burst open and for a heart stopping moment I was sure that it would be Liam Flannagan coming in guns blazing and finally ready to end me. But instead it was just Oona.
“Oh, Master Edison,” she gasped. “Look at the state of you! Those old men are outside trying to take the mansion by force, how dare they!”
Oona’s fluttering was enough to center me again and I held a hand out for her to help me up. “How many?”
“Collum says about half of the branch heads are here, and it looks like they’ve got Rory in some pretty rough shape too,” she explained, putting my arm over her shoulder as she helped me limp from the room.
I snorted at that. Leave it to those cowards to only send half of their men into a gun fight while holding someone hostage.
It meant I would have to spend weeks smoking the rest of them out of whatever fucking places they decided to hole themselves up in once I was done with their comrades here.
“How many of our men are in residence right now?” I asked as we passed into the dining room where the rest of the household staff was waiting for us.
“About thirteen men, but my girls are ready whenever you need us.”
One of the maids, a sweet-faced younger woman who looked as if she couldn’t hurt a fly, lifted up a shotgun and pumped it.
“Ready when you are, sir,” she said in a thick Irish accent.
That was the difference between my household and that of my father and the rest of the old heads.
Here everyone was trained to fight, from my men all the way to the maids and cooks.
Even old Darragh, the butler who’d been around since my grandfather’s time, was cleaning his old revolver with a stoney expression.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” I assured the young woman who looked almost deflated at not being on the front line.
“Where is the miss?” one of the other maids asked, glancing around with worried blue eyes. “Is she safe? I do hope so.”
The staff had grown very fond of my wife over the past four months and it showed as the rest of them murmured to each other, echoing the maid’s question.
“She’s safe. She’s with Rhodes.”
“Then she’s safer than the rest of us,” Oona said before clapping her hands together. “All right ladies, let’s get those weapons hidden. We wouldn’t want to give ourselves away too early.”
The sound of the front door slamming open made everyone jump.
Apparently our company had finally breached the main house.
Collum, who was helping a maid load a rifle into a laundry basket, looked up at me with a grave expression.
I gave the man a slap on the back. “Come on, Collum, this your first coup?”
“Unfortunately it is, sir,” the stone-faced man said, straightening as he tucked his pistol back into the holster. It would be removed almost immediately, but we needed him to have it to keep up the little play we were about to put on for the old men coming to try and take our lives. “But let’s hope it’s also our last.”
“I’ll cheers to that if we make it out alive,” I said, groaning as the gunshot wound in my shoulder began to ache sluggishly. I would need medical attention, and soon. “Oona, if I make it through this? Please have Dr. Stedmeyer on speed dial.”
Hopefully the asshole would patch me up once more for old time’s sake.
“Edison Keane! Come on out here if you value the lives of your men.”
Apparently, Liam Flannagan had decided that he would lead the invasion of my home.
Good. I had some unfinished business with the asshole.
“Ladies,” I turned to the maids who looked innocuous now that all of their weapons were out of sight. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” came their whispered chorus.
Turning to Oona who was busily tucking a dainty pistol into her apron pocket I sucked in a deep, steadying breath.
I could get through this and once I did I would go to the ends of the earth to find Perrie and Rhodes again. To find my pack.
“All right then, I guess it’s showtime .”