Chapter 31
Brody
“Brody.”
His cousin’s voice, wry with amusement, pulled Brody’s attention away from the door he’d been staring at for… Actually, he had no idea how long he’d been staring at it, which meant it had been far too long.
Forcing himself to look over at Killian, Brody cleared his throat when he realized all three of his cousins were staring at him with open amusement. “Sorry. Distracted this evening.”
Killian’s mouth kicked up in a knowing smirk.
“Your distraction is sitting at the desk in the parlor, writing something that is no doubt going to make me a very happy man once my wife gets a hold of it. If she moves from that spot, we will be notified immediately, and you can go handle it. Until then…”
Taking the rebuke for what it was, Brody inclined his head. “Right. Go on.”
“Thank you.” The wry amusement vanished from Killian’s expression as he looked around the room. “As you know, Salvatore DeLuca says we have a mole. He’s right.”
Betrayal twisted in Brody’s gut. He hadn’t wanted to believe Salvatore, no matter how much sense it made. But hearing it from Killian’s own mouth, there was no longer any pretending.
“Who?” Despite the calm tone, fury vibrated in Reagan’s voice, echoing the anger Brody could feel boiling in his own blood.
“I don’t know yet.” It was clear from the tension in Killian’s jaw the confession cost him. “That’s what we’re here to discuss. You three are the only ones I’ve been able to eliminate.”
“Eliminate?” Aria’s voice was clipped, as furious as Reagan’s but with none of the restraint Killian’s sister had managed to show. “Meaning, you suspected us but somehow we’ve proven ourselves to you?”
“Yes and no.” Even in the face of his wife’s righteous fury, Killian managed to remain calm. Composed.
That ability was, in large part, why they’d all agreed he should take over for his father when their parents had been murdered.
“I never suspected any of you,” he continued, never taking his eyes off his wife. “But yes, I did do a rather meticulous audit of all your phone records and I compared all your movements to a list of what I consider suspicious events. As much as I wanted to trust my gut, I needed to know for sure.”
“Fuck you, Killian.”
It was grief rather than fury that flashed in his cousin’s eyes.
“I’m sorry it hurts you, Aria. But I can’t and won’t take any more chances with this family.
With you. And if that means hurting some feelings so I can figure out exactly who I need to sentence to a slow, painful death for daring to betray us, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay. ”
“He’s right, Aria,” Reagan said softly. “It sucks and I’m pissed too. But it’s Killian’s job to make those hard calls. To protect us even if it means stepping on our toes a bit.”
From Brody’s right came a deep sigh. “I know. I just hate the thought of any of you feeling like you can’t trust me.”
Rising from his seat, Killain rounded the desk to kneel at Aria’s feet, his hand resting on the generous swell of her growing belly.
“I trust you with the two most precious lives in my world, Aria. I trust you with everything I am, my past, my present, and my future. You have to know I never doubted you, not for a single second.”
Silence stretched between them, several long, uncomfortable moments of it before Aria nodded. “All right. I believe you.”
Unease settled heavy in Brody’s gut. Before they’d left, Goldie had accused him of not trusting her. And he couldn’t blame her for feeling that way. Even though he did, indeed, trust her implicitly, there was much in his life he hadn’t been able to share with her.
Maybe he could start fixing that particular issue tonight. “What about Goldie?”
Pushing to his feet, Killian frowned. “What about her?”
“Have you eliminated her?”
“No, but only because I haven’t looked at her. She hasn’t been around long enough to be our mole.” Settling back into his seat, Killian cocked his head to the side. “Why?”
“She’d be a good asset. You’ve talked to her. She’s smart as a fucking whip and she sees things from angles we haven’t considered.”
Silence stretched between them, thick enough to cut with a knife before Killian gave a slow nod. “You think we can trust her with this?”
“Yes.” For him, it was as simple as that. He loved her, and loving her meant trusting her with the most important people in his life.
“All right, then. Go get her and we’ll fill her in, see if she’s thought of anything we haven’t.”
But just as Brody was rising from his chair to go fetch his girl, a knock sounded at the door and they all froze.
“Come in,” Killian called after a beat, and as one they all relaxed when Murphy stepped into the room.
“Ah… my apologies.” Looking more than a little uncomfortable, Murphy scanned the small gathering in front of him. “Rowan and I were hoping to speak with Killian. He’s come to apologize.”
For a moment, Brody was certain his cousin was about to refuse the offer of an apology. But then Aria flashed Murphy a bright smile and patted the couch beside her. “We’d love to speak with you and Rowan. It’s not right for the family to be so at odds, especially right now.”
Killian’s smile was much tighter around the edges than his wife’s but he nodded in agreement. Rising to his feet, he crossed the room to the bar and picked up the half-empty bottle of Murphy’s favorite whiskey. “Yes. Of course. Come in, cousin.”
The relief on Murphy’s face was almost painful to see. Brody couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be torn between two people you loved so deeply. Family was everything to the O’Rourkes, but Murphy had always put his son above his supposed duty, a sacrifice they’d all tried to respect.
Even when Rowan had turned out to be a bit of a shit.
“Rowan’s waiting in the foyer. I’ll go grab him.”
Brody waved him off. “I have to go get Goldie, anyway. She’s probably gnawing at the bars of her enclosure by now.”
Grinning, Murphy accepted the whiskey Killian had poured for him. “Bold move, leaving her to her own devices.”
“You’re not wrong.” And because he wasn’t, Brody put a bit more pep in his step as he made his way out into the hall.
Just in time to see his little menace creeping toward the front door.
Where the hell was she going?
Curious to see exactly what she was up to, Brody slipped out the side door and hurried toward the front of the house. Where he spotted Rowan standing on the front walk, a cheap flip-phone pressed to his ear.
Suspicion crept up Brody’s spine as he watched Goldie sneak out of the front door and all but dive into the bushes, making a fuck-ton of noise in the process.
He was really going to have to teach her how to be sneakier if he didn’t want her getting herself killed.
After he whipped her ass for whatever this little stunt was.
With much more stealth than his babygirl had managed, Brody slipped into the bushes behind her. The mulch crunched under his foot a bit, but she didn’t so much as flinch and he mentally added another two strokes of his belt to her tally for not paying attention.
Once he was in position, he reached for her, covering her nose and mouth with one hand while his other arm snaked around her midsection, yanking her back toward him.
Goldie froze, other than the tremor that racked her body, and maybe it made him an asshole but he couldn’t help but feel a bit smug about scaring her.
“Don’t move,” he growled low in her ear, and she instantly relaxed against him. “I’m going to pull my hand away, but if you make a single sound I will drag you back inside and let my family watch while I whip your ass. Nod once if you understand me.”
At her single nod, he slowly pulled his hand away from her mouth. True to her word, she didn’t make a peep, though she did shoot him a glare that would have left most men bleeding out on the ground.
Lucky for him he wasn’t most men.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he opened his notetaking app and tapped out a question before handing the device over to her.
[What are you doing?
Eavesdropping on Rowan, duh.]
Even in complete silence she was a mouthy fucking brat. He kind of loved that about her.
[Why?
He’s talking about taking down Killian.]
Fuck. Was Rowan their mole? It might actually kill Murphy if he was.
[What did he say?
That’s all I heard. I was TRYING to get more info when you decided to give me a fucking heart attack.
If you’d stayed where I put you, that wouldn’t have happened.
If I’d stayed where you put me, you wouldn’t know your cousin’s son is a traitorous bastard.]
She had him there, not that he was going to tell her that.
Before he could type out another response, Rowan let out a loud, annoyed huff. “Can’t it wait? I’m supposed to go make nice with Killian. My dad’s up my ass about it, and—”
Turning toward the bushes, Rowan scowled, and Brody held his breath. He wasn’t afraid of his cousin’s punk-ass son, but his instincts told him Goldie was right. Rowan was up to something, and if they got caught sneaking around and spying on him, they might never find out what it was.
“All right, all right. I’m on my way, just hold your fucking horses. I’ll be at the docks in ten minutes.”
Swearing loudly, Rowan flipped the phone closed and shoved it back into his pocket.
Without bothering to return to the house and let his father know where he was going, he strolled down to the excessively flashy car he loved more than his own mother—not that Brody could really blame him for that given how shitty his mother had turned out to be, but still, the car was gaudy as fuck—and peeled away down the driveway.
Grabbing Goldie’s hand, Brody yanked her up and toward his own vehicle. “Come on, menace.”
“Where are we going?”
Yanking open the passenger door, he nudged her inside. “You said you wanted to go on a stakeout. Looks like you’re finally getting your wish.”