Chapter 29 #2
Karter happens to be passing by the foyer as we walk through.
The glare he shoots in my direction could curdle milk.
Simone’s cousin has never warmed up to the idea of an Irish mobster in the family, and I doubt he ever will.
I grin and give him a nod just to watch his jaw clench, then follow Simone toward Malcolm’s office.
The large Doberman lifts her head from where she lays in her dog bed next to Malcolm’s desk. Her ears perk with interest, shiny black eyes zeroing in on Simone in recognition.
“Hello, Duchess,” she coos, pausing to stroke the large dog. “Have you been a good girl?”
She gives a soft whine of compliance then settles back down once she’s determined there’s no threat.
Malcolm rises from behind his desk, holding out his arms in welcome. At my side, Simone stiffens, clearly still trying to piece together why we’re here.
“Callahan,” he says, coming around the desk with his hand extended. “I was hoping you two would come by. Thank you for bringing my little girl for a visit.”
Simone’s head swivels toward me, her eyes wide. She had no idea her father and I have been in touch, the shock on her face borderline comical.
The truth is, the frosty relations between the Callahans and Langstons have thawed considerably since we worked together to take out Dren, Eddie, and the rest of the Albanian assholes.
Malcolm reached out a few days ago and requested we come by for a visit. Given everything that’s happened, it seemed like the right thing to do.
I shake his hand firmly. “Appreciate the invitation.”
He nods and gestures for us to sit, though he remains standing with the usual air of civilized authority he carries.
“I wanted to deliver the good news in person considering recent months. I’ve been able to secure an extra weapons shipment for the Callahans.
All the weaponry that was never delivered up to standard.
It’ll be coming in two weeks. To make up for some of the misunderstandings before. ”
I nod in gratitude, waving off the implication with a shrug. “That was Eddie’s sabotage. Not your doing.”
“Still,” he says, “I was wrong about you, Calla—Ronan. I’ll admit that. When this arrangement was first proposed, I had my doubts about entrusting my daughter to a Callahan. But you protected her. You put your life on the line for her. For that, I trust you with her.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I just nod again. It’s not exactly a glowing endorsement, but coming from Malcolm Langston, it might as well be a goddamn love letter.
Simone is watching the exchange in stunned silence, wide eyes darting between me and her father like she’s witnessing some kind of miracle.
I guess in a way she is.
Only a couple weeks ago, our families were at each other’s throats. Now her father is shaking my hand and thanking me for protecting his daughter.
Funny how things work out.
Malcolm turns to her, his expression softening with fatherly affection. He opens his arms, raising an expectant eyebrow.
“Do I get my hug and kiss? Or have you forgotten your old man entirely now that you’re a married woman?”
Simone’s face breaks into a slow smile as she crosses over and wraps her arms around him. Malcolm holds her tight, one hand coming up to cradle the back of her head the way fathers do with their daughters.
“Your old office at LDS is waiting for you,” he says over her head. “Whenever you’re ready to return, of course.”
Simone pulls back, stunned once again as she glances from her father to me and back again. “What?”
I shrug, shoving my hands in my pockets. “I might’ve been too big of a controlling asshole trying to dictate your schedule and keep you from your role at LDS. I was acting out of Callahan interests, back when we were still enemies and suspicious of your family. No offense.”
Malcolm chuckles. “None taken. We were equally as distrustful of you.”
“Of course I want my job back!” Simone exclaims, her face lighting up. “I didn’t study public relations for four years at NYU to do nothing with the degree!”
“Then it’s settled.” Malcolm strokes Simone’s silky dark tresses one last time before he seems to remember I’m also in the room. “Now go. Enjoy your newlywed time together. I’ll see you both soon.”
She hugs him one more time, pressing a kiss to his cheek, and then we’re walking out of the office hand in hand. Duchess lifts her head to watch us go, tail thumping once against her bed.
As we step back into the foyer, Simone squeezes my fingers and looks up at me with warmth lighting up her hazel eyes.
“Let me find out you, my dad, and your dad are about to become best buds.”
The left side of my mouth tilts up in a crooked grin. “Jokes on you. We’ve already got cigars at Gossier’s on our calendar.”
She rolls her eyes as I release a thick laugh and we climb back into the towncar.
Once we leave Scarsdale, we return to Brooklyn. The sky’s turned even grayer and more overcast with clouds that threaten rain.
It takes us another half hour to reach the cemetery.
Killian stays by the SUV, giving us space, his eyes scanning the perimeter out of habit, a cigarette between his lips.
Even now, with Dren and his crew wiped out, old instincts die hard. We still have no shortage of enemies and have got to be ready at all times.
Lochlan’s grave is a simple affair. A polished headstone with his name and dates, a small plot of grass that the groundskeepers keep neatly trimmed.
There are no flowers or tokens of remembrance. The Callahans don’t do sentiment, and his widow, Cara, hasn’t had the strength to visit. Even less so now that she’s not only dealing with the death of her husband but her only son.
But today, Simone carries a bouquet of white lilies.
I stand in front of the headstone, my hands shoved in the pockets of my long coat, searching for what I even want to say.
“I avenged you,” I tell him. “Dren’s dead. The Albanians are finished. But it cost a high price. It cost us… your boy. Eddie.”
The name sits heavy on my tongue. My nephew. Lochlan’s son. The kid I watched grow up, taught to throw a punch, and hazed through his first years as a buttonman.
The traitor who sold us all out for revenge. He not only tried to kill me, he tried to kill my wife.
“He turned on the clan, Loch,” I explain gravely. “Turned on all of us. I had to put him down. You would’ve been ashamed of him. If you’d lived long enough to see it.”
I stare at the gravestone, unable to shake the gut feeling that’s been bothering me for days.
…ever since the moment I killed Dren.
I’d told him I was doing it for Lochlan and he laughed. The fucker told me I was clueless and had no idea what was going on.
I’ve turned it over and over again in my head, picking apart what the hell he could’ve been talking about.
Who the hell was Eddie working for?
He’d been so full of rage, so bitter about what happened to Lochlan, he decided to betray us and help the Albanians.
I look up, suddenly sensing eyes on us.
Scanning the cemetery, nobody else is around. It’s just me, Simone and Killian off by our vehicle.
So why the fuck does it feel like somebody’s watching us even now?
Simone steps forward and kneels, laying the lilies at the base of the headstone. “I never met him… but I’m sorry I lost a brother-in-law.”
“He would’ve liked how savvy you are. Loch was all about optics. But that’s how life goes sometimes,” I say, sliding an arm around her. I look around again, checking for anything unusual. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”
We turn and start back toward the SUV, leaving the flowers and my brother’s headstone behind.
Killian gives a respectful nod as we return then flicks his cigarette butt to the grass.
Seconds later, we’re pulling away from the cemetery. In the backseat, I reach for Simone’s hand. She lets me take it, her fingers warm and soft against my rougher ones. I lift her hand to my lips and press a kiss to the back of it, earning a smile out of her.
“You okay?” she asks.
“Just doing some thinking.” I hold onto her hand and watch the city roll past outside the window.
“About what?”
About more than I could ever say.
The future’s an unknown variable, and I’ve now got stake in how it turns out. I’m not just some roughhouser in charge of the button and bonemen anymore. I’m the man the clan will now look to for answers.
The man with a wife by his side who he’ll have to protect even as hellfire rains down on us.
Lochlan’s gone and so is Eddie, the heir to the heir. Dad’s bowed out, old and gray and finally no longer able to be the patriarch he once was.
It’s all on me.
The crown wasn’t originally mine to wear. But I’m ready to bear the weight of it.
I’m ready to deal with whatever enemies are still out there, biding their time and waiting for their moment to strike.
“The future,” I answer Simone seconds later. I squeeze her hand and let it rest in my lap. “This is only the beginning for us. For the Callahan Clan. We’re about to head into the unknown.”
“We’ll be fine,” she says soothingly, smiling a little. “We’ve survived as enemies. We damn sure can survive as lovers. We can survive anything.”
I press another kiss to her hair. “You know what, princess? Those are the truest words you’ve ever spoken.”