Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
He wasn’t sure whether to comfort his brother or tell him to man the fuck up. They were O’Malleys. That meant that sometimes they had to get their hands dirty and do things that would have them waking up in the middle of the night, breathless and haunted, with demons still riding them. Then again, easy enough for him to say when he wasn’t the one required to set fire to someone’s property. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s the price of doing business. That poor schmuck who’s going to lose his shop knows that as well as I do.” His face went stony. “He better give me the fucking information after that.”
Or he’d have to work the guy over…and maybe worse. There’s nothing to help in this situation. You just power through it and try to make it out the other side without too much damage. “What can I do?”
Aiden turned to look out his window to the street below. “If I bring you their information and books, can you find the money trail?”
He was nowhere near the computer whiz that Devlin had been, but he wasn’t a total disgrace. And he was learning fast. “Unless they’re some sort of tech genius, I should be able to.”
“Good.” Aiden moved toward the door. “Keep your phone on you. I’m going to need you here as soon as I have it.”
“I will.” He watched his oldest brother leave, closing the door softly behind him, and couldn’t shake the feeling that he was seeing what remained of Aiden’s moral code ground to dust. It had been a long time in coming, but that didn’t make it any easier to witness.
And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do.
Hell, he wasn’t sure he’d do it, even if there was. The sad truth was that a certain level of ruthlessness and willingness to get their hands dirty was required of any leader who wanted to stay a leader. Cillian had never been so glad that he wasn’t the heir—or even next in line to the heir. Guilt rose. He shouldn’t be happy one of his siblings was shouldering the burden so he didn’t have to. He’d never avoided his duty to the O’Malleys, but then, he’d never been asked to do the things that were going to be a common thing for his brother as the one in charge. He fucking hoped that Aiden had it in him to do what was necessary.
If he didn’t, then they were all in serious trouble.
* * *
Olivia managed to sneak two hours of sleep after her shift before Hadley woke up. Then it was time to throw together some food for both of them and figure out what they were doing with their day. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail. “What do you think, baby girl? Pancakes?” She usually saved them for a special occasion, but after last night, today was feeling pretty damn special. Things had been so unbelievably good with Cillian, and then she’d gone to work and had one of the best shifts since she started at Jameson’s. There were two bachelor parties getting started there, and they’d tipped her well—all while ribbing the grooms they were with. She smiled to remember the way the one groom-to-be had blushed. Whoever he was marrying was a lucky woman. That guy was a serious winner.
Hadley hustled into the kitchen. “Cakes?”
“Yep. We’re doing pancakes. Maybe I’ll even try my hand at Minnie Mouse.” She swept her daughter up and propped her on her hip. “Want to help Mommy?”
“Help!”
“I thought so.” She moved around the minuscule kitchen, grabbing the pancake mix, vegetable oil, eggs, and milk. A quick check to make sure they had syrup and strawberries, and she was ready to get started.
Which, of course, was when someone decided to knock on her door.
“Damn.”
“Damn!”
She froze. Do not react. Do not react. “Hadley, that’s a grown-up word.” Hopefully if she didn’t make a big deal about it, her daughter would let it go. Keeping her face blank, she set her down and headed for the door.
Hadley laughed. “Damn! Damn! Damn!”
Great. She was going to have to explain to Mrs. Richards why her daughter was acquiring the vocabulary of a sailor. The older woman would just adore that. Olivia grinned as she unlocked the door. Well, it would make a great story later on in life. And she had four years to cure Hadley of the habit before she started school—plenty of time, at least in theory. She opened the door, and stared, her mind frantically scrambling to come up with a logical reason for what she was seeing.
There wasn’t one.
Dmitri raised a perfectly shaped dark brow. “Are you going to invite me in, Olivia?”
It’s not a hallucination. He’s really here. “I’m seriously considering slamming the door in your face and calling the police.”