Page 118 of Mob Saint

“Around that time, he took a loan from Zack to repay what he embezzled. It was a shit ton of money, Tiernan, because he’d been doing it for nearly twenty years. He had to do it because Aaron did more than say you’d disappear. He went to the feds. But the investigation died when everyone thought Dad died. The O’Rourkes discovered Keith was laundering money. That’s what you walked in on and heard when you came in the house that day you showed up with Seamus.”

It wouldn’t surprise me if Sean dug into Zack’s accounts and history and learned the money Keith laundered was what came from the fund and Zack’s loan.

“Your dad wanted to keep me too emotionally battered to do much more than eat, sleep, go to work.”

And fuck Zack. Seamus told me Zack got involved after I became a widow because Darren sold me to him to repay a debt. We didn’t know what kind of debt, but I guess we do now. Darren and Zack arranged for Zack to meet me at the BDSM club I joined after Aaron died. Darren kept the threats going, and Zack got off on that, so he added to it. The torture shit Zack sent Gareth came from somewhere on the dark web.

The men who went to clean up what was left of Zack searched the place. They found a dozen thumb drives with hours of Zack and me having sex. He recorded almost every time we were together. I skimmed them to make sure nothing valuable was on them. Seamus was beside himself and tried to stop me. I suggested he do it then. I think he threw up a little in his mouth. No one besides Seamus and I know exactly what’s on them, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the others guessed.

“Tiernan, I’m still working on it, but I still don’t know why Dad murdered Vince.”

That’s been hard on my dad because, even though he didn’t like Vince, he was still my dad’s baby brother.

“Is that everything?”

“For now, at least. I wish I could tell you everything, but I don’t know it yet. I gotta let you go because I need to call Seamus back about something else.”

I don’t want to know what that something else is, but I guess I’m sorta glad I spoke to Gareth. I don’t know whether I’ll keep ignoring his calls or not. I have mixed feelings about that.

“All right. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I’ve answered when my mom or dad called every day. Seamus urged me to, and I’m glad I did. Their panic subsided after the first two days. Then it pissed them off that I refused to see them, even though I explained we weren’t seeing anyone. By the end of the first week, they’d relented and even spoke to Seamus during the calls. The last time I talked to them, they admitted they could tell how different things were between Seamus and me from how they were before and after I married Aaron.

But there’s still something lingering. He hasn’t told me anything specific, but I sense things remain unresolved.

I received a pretty bouquet from the Diazes that made him scowl darker than I’ve ever seen anyone scowl—and that’s saying something because I’ve seen many of Seamus’s different expressions and moods. The card was simple, but it still annoyed him.

We’re glad you’re safe. We know you’re too good for him, but love is blind.

I suppose that would annoy me too.

“Tiera?”

“In the laundry room.”

Seamus has been out all day. He said he had to meet with Dillan, but he didn’t say how long he’d be. It’s been like five hours. It tempted me to call him, but I told myself it was a normal workday for him, and that couples survived for centuries with no need to talk to each other throughout the day. Just because I don’t have a job right now doesn’t mean he doesn’t have work.

“Stay where you are. Do not come out. I’m serious. Close the door and stay in there until I come and get you.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Tiera, don’t argue. Do as I say.”

“Okay.”

I turn to reach for the door to shut it, but I have a slight view of the front door. I close the laundry door and turn to lean against it. Holy fuck. He’s covered in blood, and I don’t know what else. I inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth. If he were injured, he wouldn’t sound as strong. With that much blood, he wouldn’t be upright. He wouldn’t hide it from me because he knows he can’t. It’s someone else’s blood. Relief and fear alternate pulsing through me.

I put my ear to the door, but I can’t hear anything. I keep listening, and at least two minutes go by before I hear the shower turn on. He told me to stay in here because he didn’t want me to see him like that. I know what it means. He warned me. Something was out of the O’Rourkes’ control. It didn’t happen like they planned. They couldn’t take care of it at their place. It means Seamus could have died. That makes my heart race.

It was bad enough seeing his wound after Meredith stitched it. Seeing it and truly accepting it came from being shot made me vomit so hard Seamus panicked. He pounded on the bathroom door until I thought he was going to knock it down. I told him I was fine, but he didn’t believe me until he was hugging me. He trembled the entire time. He was more upset that he’d upset me than I was about the understanding fully sinking in.

I joked that if he couldn’t handle me puking over that, then he’d be a mess when I have morning sickness. He looked like he might faint. The man needs control. He needs to know the people he loves are safe and that he can protect them. A loss of control equates to failure for him and an imminent threat. He’s not wrong. At least, not about the threat part. I hate that anything makes him feel like a failure.

“T?”

I hear him call to me through the door. He didn’t say open it.

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