Page 178 of Tempting Fate

Ignoring her father’s strange choice of words, Lily links her arm through Sander’s, and I pull his other one around my neck. Together, we help him hobble over to the closest seat. He drops into it and crumples forward to cover his face with his hands. As his shoulders shake, my fearless woman perches on the table with her back to her father and pulls her brother in for a hug.

With a broken leg, Sander’s season is over.

Depending on how badly it’s damaged and how soon we can get him to the hospital, the injury could be career ending.

“You’ll be okay,” Lily vows. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“He’s fine,” Brutus announces. “A little surgery and some rehab on his leg and his shoulder. It’s you and Venom who needa worry.”

“What do you want?” I growl.

With the same glint in his eyes as the night I gave him his Glasgow grin, Brutus finally fills us in. “When you sent a bunch of fuckin’ amateurs to clean up after my bloodthirsty little Cherub, you made your biggest mistake yet. You see, Cub and Isaiah were outta their depth. They couldn’t be in two places at once, so when Lysander offered to deal with the body by himself, they accepted. It could’ve worked… if a little birdie wasn’t keepin’ watch. A little birdie who knew he owed me one and was happy to barter his freedom in exchange for the body.”

“Bear,” I mutter to myself. As happy as I am that I’ve already dealt with that rat, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t like the opportunity to kill the motherfucker all over again for tormenting Sander. “Fuck.”

“This idiot.” Brutus lifts his chin in Sander’s direction. “Played right into his hands. Bear called me when he saw the body and realised that I was gonna put a bullet in his fuckin’ head for double-crossing me if he didn’t bring this to me.”

I can see Lily’s hands shaking when she forces Sander to look at her. “Did he hurt you?”

“He knocked me out from behind. I didn’t even know it was Bear until he started sendin’ me messages, demandin’ to meet up, so I could pay him to stay quiet about it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her question is the same one on the tip of my tongue. “I could’ve helped.”

“I went to Dad,” Sander admits in a whisper. “He just laughed and said you’d go to jail if I opened my mouth to anyone. When I said I’d confess to it to save you, he laughed even harder at me. Told me the evidence wouldn’t hold. That I’d just end up takin’ you down with me.”

When I hear the same threat Brutus levelled at me falling from Sander’s mouth, I’m on my feet and rounding the table in the next instant. Brutus holds up a hand, palm out, when I close my fingers into a fist and cock my arm back. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you… for two reasons.”

Cass cuts off his brother. “You needa hear him out before you make things worse.”

“Fine.” I perch my arse on the edge of the table and cross my arms over my chest. Although I’m still within swinging range, Brutus doesn’t seem perturbed. He surveys the table, his gaze landing on each of us with a smug look I’d love to slice from his face and hang on my wall like a bleeding tapestry. “Are you gonna give us these reasons, prez, or should we just guess?”

“Guess,” he retorts.

“First reason,” I reply with a shake of my head that does nothing to clear the dread bubbling inside my gut. “You haven’t given the body to Joseph yet, but you have given him enough evidence to open a murder investigation.”

“Well, look at the boy wonder go.” He lifts his eyebrows in a sardonic gesture. “You are right on the first count.”

“Fuckin’ arrogant prick.”

You haven’t seen anythin’ yet.” Brutus chuckles.

“Little Cherub.” He looks past me to Lily, who stands so she can face him. “Tell me… do you still love this piece of shit?”

Despite everything that she said to me last night, Lily doesn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

“Then I’m correct in assumin’ that you’d do anythin’ I asked of you to stop him goin’ to jail?”

I look over my shoulder, shooting her a look that warns her not to agree to anything.

Lily darts her gaze away without locking eyes with me.

“I would,” she tells her father. Glancing my way, apology clouding her face, she adds. “But I don’t know what else you can take. Zeke left me like you wanted, and you stole my trust.” For a second, I think she’s talking about her lack of faith in her dad. Once Lily elaborates, alarm bells start ringing in my head. “I have no man, no life, and no money. You’ve hurt my brothers. You’ve betrayed the Shamrocks. Dishonoured our name in front of everyone I love. You’ve ruined everything… I have nothing left to give you.”

“Do you remember Alexander’s good friend, Hugh St. James?”

“No!” My shout is loud enough to echo in the small room. With my heart in my throat, I try to make Brutus see sense. “No fuckin’ way. You can’t do this to her.”

The St. James family patriarch—Hugh’s father—is the underboss of the Maddison Clan. Has been for decades. He’s a thug. Indiscriminate in his violence and devoid of morals. He was never destined to be more than an unruly second-in-command until Kristof Maddison’s sudden heart attack. It occurred on the same night Alex came after Lily for the third time, suspicious timing that caught everyone’s attention. In the underworld, rumours are rife with the speculation Kristof will never make a full recovery. This means, with Alex missing and Joseph acting as the political arm of the clan, Seamus St. James will be the next boss.

---