Page 44 of The King's Boy

"Yes and no."

"So, you did kill someone?"

"Not to get into the mob. I was born into it. My father has been in since he was a kid, so I was a legacy member, but I did kill someone."

More than one to be honest.

"How old were you?" Spencer asked.

"Fourteen."

"Who did you kill?"

I took a deep breath before saying, "I went to visit my aunt and uncle for the summer. They lived in Galway, which is on the opposite coast from Dublin. I spent every summer there. That summer things had heated up between the Protestants and the Catholics again. There were some bombings in the area. One of them killed my six-year-old cousin. I tracked down the man that had made the bomb and placed it outside her daycare and I killed him."

Spencer gasped. "He placed a bomb outside of a daycare?"

"There was a Catholic church next door. I think that was his intended target. It was a car bomb. Took out the church, the daycare, and half the city block. Nine people were killed, including my cousin and three other children. Another twenty-three were injured. I made sure he never placed another bomb."

That was one death I never felt guilty for. The man hadn't done it because he was fighting for a cause or for revenge. He had done it simply because he was a sick bastard that thought he could get away with killing a lot of people simply by blaming the bomb on the religious upheaval at the time.

"Do you like being a mobster?"

I pondered the question before I answered it. Did I enjoy it? Again, yes and no. I didn't like not knowing who to trust and always having to watch over my shoulder. I did like the advantages that came from being in my position. Not for the money or power, but because people didn't tend to fuck with me.

"It's all I know," I finally answered.

"Have you ever thought of doing something else?"

I chuckled ruefully. "I wanted to be a fireman when I was younger."

It obviously hadn't happened.

"Have you ever thought about getting out?"

So many times.

"It's too late for that. I'd have to die to get out." I knew too many secrets. The people back home in Ireland would never let me go. I would have a target on my back for the rest of my life if I tried.

Spencer laid his head back down on my chest before asking, "So, mob life then?"

As much as I didn't want Spencer to be a part of the mob, this was my life. If I wanted to keep him—and I did—then there was no way to keep the danger from touching him. I couldn't exactly lock him up, no matter how much I wanted to. I just needed to find a compromise between his freedom and his safety.

"If you are going to be my queen, you have to take the good with the bad."

Spencer lifted his head again to look up at me. "What does that mean?"

"It means you will rule by my side, but you will also have a security detail that goes everywhere with you if you leave the estate. It also means when I tell you to do something that involves your safety, you do it."

"Is there an upside here?"

"I'll give you my black American Express card and take you shopping wherever you want to go, even to Paris for fashion week."

Spencer let out a snort. "Been there, done that."

"The Maldives for a vacation?"

"Been there, too."

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