12. A Boss by Any Other Name is Still the Boss
Chapter twelve
A Boss by Any Other Name is Still the Boss
MICK
Following the plan I made with Kara, Wraith and I meet with the fathers of the boys that attacked Sadie: Kenneth Shaughnessy, Bill O'Grady, Paul Duffy and Graham Casey in Brogan's office.
I sit behind my father-in-law's desk and have the men take seats opposite.
Once Wraith arrives, the fun starts. Because I've got no problem letting my new lieutenant burn off some of his anger on the gobshites trying to undermine my position in the mob by using their kids and ours to do it.
Giving Wraith free rein reveals two things. Kenneth Shaughnessy is a bleedin' muppet. Not a revelation maybe, but the man can't help flashing his dirty drawers in public.
He and two of the other men claim Sadie led their sons on and then cried wolf. Wraith doesn't take kindly to the allegation and spills enough blood that we're going to need cleaners in here to see to the carpet after we're done.
"That's not what Fitz says," I inform men stupid enough to call my son's account of the events into question. "Are you calling my son a liar?"
Kenneth loses some of his overweening confidence, but he's still acting the maggot and says, "He misunderstood what he walked in on."
"Let's find out, shall we?" I send a quick text to Kara telling her it's time.
The door opens not long after and my beautiful wife walks in with Fitz. Brice and four guards accompany the boys who attacked Sadie Gallagher.
Kenneth and Graham both stand, but Bill doesn't and Paul only manages to get himself off the floor and into his own chair.
"What are they doing here?" Kenneth demands, his belligerence laced with fear he can't hide.
Flicking a glance to my second, I ignore Brogan's cousin.
Brice shoves Kenneth back into his chair. "Sit the fuck down."
Glaring at Graham Casey, Brice points toward his chair. Looking sick and not taking his eyes off his son, Graham sits.
Jasper Casey launches himself toward his father. "Dad!"
His guard grabs the back of his shirt and reels him in. Gaham jumps to his feet and rushes toward his son.
Brice stops him with a hand against his chest and shakes his head. "Sit."
"My son needs me." Casey tries to step around him.
"You should have thought of that when you raised him to break our code of honor," Fitz says, his tone filled with contempt.
"We weren't going to hurt her," Jasper claims with a lot more conviction than his father managed earlier. "Sadie's nice."
My son glares at the older boy. "You already did."
"I d-didn't m-mean to." Jasper's crying and his words come out stuttered. "I'm s-sorry."
"Pussy," PJ Duffy mutters under his breath.
Kara crosses her arms over her too damn-distracting tits and frowns at PJ. "When you can push a baby out of your penis, then you can use pussy as a pejorative term."
"Pejorative means insult," Fitz says with disdain when PJ looks confused. "And watch your mouth around my mom."
PJ, who is sporting a black eye courtesy of my son, gives Fitz a wary look and then says, "Sorry, Mrs. Fitzgerald."
"If you'd shown those manners with Sadie, none of us would be here, would we?" Kara asks chidingly.
"She asked for it!" Kenny Jr. claims loudly.
Fitz is having none of it. "That's a lie!"
"No, she didn't!" Jasper turns and punches Kenny Jr. in the stomach before either of their guards can stop him. "Sadie didn't do anything wrong."
Now, that's interesting. Quick reflexes and he might actually have enough of a budding sense of honor and loyalty to be a good mobster one day.
"Then why did you go along?" my son demands, still pissed at the older boy.
Jasper swipes at his wet cheeks and breathes in hard, sniffing back more tears. "Because I'm stupid." He hangs his head. "Tell Sadie I'm sorry."
Casey turns to Mick. "My son made a mistake, but he's only a child."
"Are you trying to say that because he's a kid, there should be no consequences?" I ask, unimpressed.
"No. But I am his father and ultimately, I'm responsible for his actions. I will take the punishment."
It seems like Graham Casey isn't part of Kenneth's plans for a coup.
Jasper's head comes up fast, his eyes wild. "No, dad! I'm thirteen, not a little kid. I knew what I was doing and I did it anyway. The punishment is mine."
My phone vibrates with a text and I read it. Only because I saw my wife tapping on her phone out of the corner of my eye.
Kara: I don't think Graham Casey is part of Kenneth's little gang.
I nod my agreement and she looks worried. My wife doesn't want the innocent swept into the flood of my wrath with the guilty. The only problem is, this kid isn't wholly innocent, is he?
He still participated in the attack.
My gaze catches Jasper's and I hold it, letting him see my lack of empathy. "The punishment for rape in our mob is death. Trying and failing because my son stopped you does not change the charge against you."
"I know," Jasper whispers, but he doesn't break eye contact with me.
"Are you admitting you were trying to rape Sadie?" I ask.
"If Fitz hadn't come in, she would have been ra…" His voice trails off and he swallows, jerking his head in a nod.
"Would you have tried to stop it?" Wraith asks, his tone dispassionate.
Hindsight isn't always honest, but I'm interested in Jasper's answer to that question too.
The boy turns to meet Wraith's eyes, wincing at the anger he finds there, but again, he doesn't look away. "Yes, sir." His fists curl at his sides, his knuckles going white. "But I'm not as good a fighter as Fitz."
"Sadie told me Jasper stopped PJ from pulling her underwear off.
" Fitz scowls at PJ. "I should have broken your arm too.
" Then he says to me, "I didn't tell you last night because I didn’t know.
I've been texting with Sadie today." Then my son gives Wraith a look of approval.
"She's really glad you're dating her mom. She feels safer."
"Are you saying that Jasper didn't participate in the assault?" Kara asks our son, clarifying.
"No." The denial comes from Jasper. "I went along when PJ and Kenny grabbed her and dragged her into the locker room. I said mean things." He looks down now, his shame palpable. "Ugly things." Then he looks at his dad. "I'm sorry, da. You taught me better."
Casey shakes his head. "I should have pulled you from St. Patrick's when you started hanging out with Kenny Jr."
"What the fuck are you implying?" Kenneth demands, vibrating with umbrage. "You think your son is too good to be friends with a lieutenant's son?"
Casey ignores Kenneth and meets my eyes with the same steady gaze his son had done, but the father's eyes are shadowed with anguish. "The fault is mine. I haven't been the father I should have been since his mom died. I deserve the punishment."
"Don't be stupid. The boys made a mistake. Brogan will never let Mick kill them for it," Kenneth sneers. "We don't kill children in the Shaughnessy Mob."
Like him having the same last name gives him some kind of claim to my mob.
Gobshite.
"We don’t hold children responsible for the actions of their parents either," Kara says, her gimlet stare fixing on each father before shifting to me. "Can you wrap this up? Mamo will read you the riot act if you're late for dinner again."
"Wrap this up?" Duffy is finally sitting up straight in his chair. "You haven't even heard our son's side of the story yet."
"I don't need to," I dismiss. "Mine doesn't lie."
"He misunderstood what he walked in on and we need to discuss his overly violent reaction." Kenneth is wearing his uninformed arrogance like a suit cut just for him again.
"I didn't misunderstand anything," Fitz denies. "Neither did Sadie."
"Show some manners, boy. I wasn't talking to you."
"Has Miles been a good dog today?" I ask my son, not averse to following through on Wraith's earlier threat to cut out his tongue and feed it to our pet. "Kenneth seems to want to offer him a treat."
Kenneth blanches and his mouth, open to say something else, snaps shut.
"Miles is always a good dog, da." Fitz looks at Kenneth with open dislike.
He doesn't know what Wraith said to the gobshite earlier, but my boy is smart enough to realize I was threatening Kenneth with the question.
"Why isn't Sadie Gallagher here?" Duffy asks, showing that he isn't just a criminal, but he's criminally stupid.
Wraith swells with anger. "Because your fuckwit sons have traumatized my daughter enough."
Done with this bullshite, I nod toward Brice and he instantly signals to his men, who guide the boys to stand against the wall to my right.
"Turn your chairs to face your sons," I order their fathers.
Casey is still standing but he doesn't hesitate to turn to face Jasper. The others glare and try to posture, before grudgingly doing as they're told.
Only then do I stand to pass sentencing. "While the penalty for rape, or the interrupted attempt, is death according to our code, the guilty are children."
"I'm surprised you recognize the distinction," Kenneth jeers.
The temptation to do as Graham Casey requested and visit the punishment on the fathers in place of their sons is strong, but that's not what Brogan and I agreed to.
And until he officially steps down, Brogan is still Boss.
"I dill day my dun dint do anybing." O'Grady pounds his fist on his thigh, his broken nose from Wraith making his speech almost comical.
Casey and Duffy remain silent.
I continue as if O'Grady hadn't said anything. "There is hope that the problem lies with the training these boys have received, or not received, in their homes, rather than reflective of character deficiencies they will take into adulthood."
Kenneth sputters, "Now, see here. I've raised Kenny just f—"
"In that hope," I say, talking right over Kenneth. "Each boy will be fostered for at least one year to a family in an allied mob whose parents are considered exemplary."
"You're not taking away my son!" Duffy jumps from his chair and storms toward my desk, or tries to. Brice shoves him back into his seat like he did to Kenneth earlier. "I'll see you in hell first!" Duffy yells past my second.