Chapter twenty-five Waylaid in the Hallway #3
"Kieran doesn't like me talking about being married to another man at all." My words have a ring of truth because they are true.
"Jealous bastard," Kenneth mutters, but the relief that flickers across his face is unmistakable.
"You just remember that whatever he thinks about my son's so-called bullying, Mick doesn't think any more favorably of you than he did before.
The fact he's letting you date one of his men only means he wants to keep a closer eye on you. "
That could very well be one of the reasons Mick pushed for my marriage to Kieran. The question that matters to me is: did my new husband know it? "I'm not just dating Kieran, we got married a few days ago."
"What the fuck?" Kenneth rallies quickly, a calculating look coming into his cold eyes. "That only proves that he's determined to keep you under surveillance. Obviously, he doesn't trust you and neither does your new husband or there are things both of them would have told you."
Since I just thought the same thing, I can't exactly deny Kenneth's take on my speedy marriage. But I want to know what things he thinks Kieran would have told me if he trusted me.
So, I ask, with no real expectation of getting an answer. "What are you talking about?"
"Your husband's temporary promotion and my temporary demotion for one thing."
He's right. I know nothing about that. "Kieran doesn't talk business with me."
Neither did Troy. Why does it bother me more that Kieran keeps his working life secret? Do I even want to know what he does for the mob?
Another flash of relief and I'm fully convinced this confrontation is all about information and intimidation. "Keep it that way. If Mick finds out you've been pumping Kieran for information about the mob, your days are numbered."
Cliché much? My inner snark queen mocks.
But my atavistic instincts for survival are shaking in their boots.
Kenneth wants to know what I've said to Kieran about him. Everything. And what my new husband has told me. Almost nothing. That he wants to keep me frightened and under his thumb goes without saying.
But all of that pales in comparison to the possibility he's right about Mick Fitzgerald's motives.
"It's still my responsibility to make sure you stay in line because your husband betrayed the mob under my watch."
"Consider me warned." Shoot. I'm supposed to keep the snark inside my head, not coming out of my mouth.
It's like my filters went on vacation when I met Kieran, and they didn't return to New York when we did.
Kenneth's eyes widen fractionally and then narrow. "Don't be smart with me. You're still on thin ice and I'm the only one making sure it doesn't break under you."
"How poetic." I shake my head. "Is that all?"
"Your daughter egged those boys on and no one held her accountable for that." Kenneth pauses. "Yet."
Is he trying to imply that Mick or Kieran would turn against Sadie on his say-so?
"Because no one holds her accountable for your son's actions. If they did, you wouldn't have been demoted."
"It's temporary."
"It's a punishment because they hold you accountable for teaching your son to see Sadie as less than because of who her father was."
"I've been reprimanded for talking out of turn in front of my son, but that doesn't mean Mick and Kieran don't agree with what I said."
But I know they don't. If Mick wasn't lying. He said he doesn't hold the wife accountable for the husband's actions and he was careful to figure out if I'd known about Troy's betrayal while it was happening.
I hadn't and I'm pretty sure he believes that.
But what if he doesn't?
"I don't care if your husband or Mick Fitzgerald, trust me," Kenneth says with arrogant bravado. "The only person I need to trust me is my cousin Brogan and he trusts me just fine. We're blood family. His son-in-law put him between a rock and hard place, but things are going to change."
Knowing what Mick believes this man is planning makes a chill go down my spine at his words.
"I don't know what your purpose was in meeting me here." Lie. "But no matter what you claim, you are not part of my life anymore. Keeping me in line is Kieran's job now." Lie?
I wish I knew.
"List—"
"Leave me alone," I say, cutting him off. "Or I'll tell Kieran you've been bothering me."
Kenneth tries to hide the flinch, but I see it. He's afraid of Kieran, and that gives me a sense of pure satisfaction.
"You owe me your loyalty. I saved you after you talked to the feds and you owe me."
More like he sicced the FBI agents on me. "I don't owe you anything."
"You keep telling yourself that, but you remember what the underboss does to snitches. So, you keep your fucking mouth shut about anything you saw or heard in my house."
He's really worried I'm going to spill something to Kieran. That makes me think I know something I don't realize I do. Or I had access to information I didn't know I had?
"Don't worry. I have no intention of talking about my time working for you and your wife," I lie without compunction.
As soon as I get in the SUV, I'm going to call Kieran and tell him every single word of this conversation. And I'm going to ask him some things too.