Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 103141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“Dean found something,” Cillian says. “Something big that couldn’t wait.”
It must be important for them to have come all the way here to talk to me about it, and I’m sure it’s not something we should be discussing in the middle of my driveway. “Come on. Let’s go in.”
It’s not until I’m inside the house that it hits me…Abbott is here, and Cillian is here. They’re going to meet—my worlds colliding in this way I crave, but that has me nervous too. We talked about it, yes, but I thought it would be something we would plan. Abbott is worried about meeting him, and certainly springing Cillian on him isn’t ideal, but…he’s here now, and whatever is going on can’t wait.
We go into the house, Conan sitting on the couch and noticing me first, then standing when he sees the others behind me.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
“First, where’s Abbott?” I have no idea what Dean has to tell us and how whatever it is might affect Abbott.
“He’s been upstairs for hours,” Conan replies.
“Good.” I turn to Dean. “What’s wrong?”
“I found some weird shit when we looked into his dad. Our governor has a taste for young women…and I do mean young.”
Shit. “How young are we talking?” I ask. Abbott has mentioned it, but is it even worse than he thought?
“Legal, but just barely with a lot of them. He’s also made a lot of interesting payments over the years from hidden accounts,” Dean replies.
“It looks like he’s made payments to some of the women. We’re assuming hush money but don’t have any proof…but I’m thinking the motherfucker did some sick shit to have to pay them off,” Tiernan cuts in.
“If you go deep enough, there are rumors—assault…drugging. Women having a drink with him, and the next thing they know, they’re waking up naked with no memory of what happened the night before.”
My fists tighten hearing Cillian’s words. What a sick fuck. I can handle a lot of shit, but taking advantage of someone sexually isn’t one of those things.
“He’s definitely got someone helping him keep this quiet,” Dean says. “There’s a lot of money and time going into it. There’s no way he’s doing this on his own.”
“Who?” Conan asks. Who would be helping him with this and why? People don’t do this kind of thing for nothing. What is he giving them? It can’t just be money.
“I don’t know. I can’t figure that part out.” Dean rubs a hand over his head.
“I want to kill him, Rian. Can I kill him?” Rory asks, and my gaze shoots to the stairs, making sure Abbott hasn’t come down.
He needs to die. I want him to die, but I can’t even begin to sort that out until I talk to Abbott, so I ignore the question.
“Keep looking, Dean. The governor has to be dealt with, but we need to know who is helping him and why.” Something feels…off about this. None of it is sitting right. Not that I don’t believe it. Dean knows what he’s doing, and they wouldn’t be here talking to me about it right now unless they had the proof they need, but this is turning in directions I hadn’t anticipated.
“There’s more,” Cillian says, gaze serious and making the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“What is it?” Again, my gaze shoots toward the stairs. I didn’t expect us to have this much time. Usually, if Abbott is upstairs when I get home, he comes down to see me. What are you doing?
It’s Cillian who speaks again. “He used one of his secret, offshore accounts to make a payment of fifty thousand dollars the day before you were shot.”
The day before I was shot in an attempt on Abbott’s life. It’s not hard proof, but it’s enough for me. “I’ll fucking kill him,” I say through clenched teeth, jaw tight.
“That’s not all,” my son replies.
My nails dig into my palm as the room around me suddenly sounds echoey. “It doesn’t get worse than that. He’s fucking dead. I don’t care what I have to do to make that happen.”
“Your guy…his mom was shot when he was a kid.” I shoot my gaze to Dean and nod. What is he getting at? “There were two payments made that were really fucking difficult to find. They’re buried deep, Rian…but one was the morning of her murder and one the day after.”
My heart drops. This is going to kill him. How do I tell Abbott that his father tried to have him killed, and succeeded with his mom, the one person Abbott ever felt loved him just for him?
Why would he do that? What would he have gotten out of having her killed? Unless, she knew something about his illegal activities and didn’t want to stay quiet anymore.
Is that what he feared with Abbott too? Or was it for some other sick reason?