Page 74 of Mob Saint

Vince cracks his knuckles. It’s a nervous habit he’s had since he was in fourth grade. “This person sent me videos of faceless people being tortured. When I say faceless, I mean it. Their faces had already been peeled off. We could never see who the torturer was, but it was always something different. We had no reason not to believe this person would act on it, especially after Edie.”

“Tiernan—Brant—” Gareth looks at me, then my dad, then back to me. “—I kept a detail on you around the clock. The men rotated, so no one got too close to you. No one became too predictable. I switched guys out for months at a time. But somehow this person kept getting audio and video of you in your office and at home. I don’t know how they slipped by, and you didn’t know about my men, so you never invited them in. The more violent the videos became, the more demanding this person became about what we said to you.”

I shift my focus and gaze to Seamus. He’s already watching me. Our gazes meet, and I want to know what he’s thinking. Can he tell what I’m thinking? I don’t know what to believe, but I know I want someone from his family going through my home, office, and car. I know I’ll let Seamus see any and everything in all those places.

“Explain the bank statements and phone records, Keith.” I don’t know what Seamus is talking about. “You said they are forcing you to launder for them. If that’s the case, why did this come as a shock to Gareth?”

Keith shifts nervously. Seamus’s hand tightens around my waist, and I know he’s ready to push me behind him. He doesn’t trust Keith, and neither do I.

“Keith, don’t keep us waiting. It sounds like you’re getting some kickback. What’s Seamus talking about?” I want to know who’s benefiting from this.

“Because they have shit on me, too.”

“It’d better be some horrific shit, Keith. What do they know?”

“That I’d been trying to break you and Aaron up since the beginning. I sent Hillary to start the fight at the firehouse. I encouraged her to approach him at your wedding. I thought between the two, it would make you doubt him. I got him so drunk he passed out after playing poker a few times when you guys came back to visit while you were in grad school. I’d do it to piss you off since he didn’t come home those nights. The one time I did it after you were married, I made sure he couldn’t remember whether he fell asleep on my couch or somewhere else. I parked his car outside Hillary’s. I told him she called me to take him home, but I took him to my place. He knew that was a lie. I have never been more scared for my life than that day because I’d already hinted to you he was with her. That’s the closest to death I’ve ever come.”

“I remember that. He came home so pissed he couldn’t speak to me for an hour. His knuckles were busted, and there was blood splattered on his shirt. I burned it because I didn’t know whose it was. I bleached the entire bathroom, which I shouldn’t have done because I was four months pregnant. But I didn’t want to risk any evidence, and Aaron was too angry and too hung over to do it.”

“I recorded the guys talking about you, but he never heard the parts where I instigated it. I spliced parts that made it sound like you were into the attention, that you were considering being unfaithful.”

“He never once confronted me about that. He never even hinted at questioning me.”

“Because he knew you wouldn’t. I’d hoped he would think it, but it just made him suspicious of everyone else. Of me. It’s why he wouldn’t let you out of his sight unless he knew who you were going to be with and where you were going unless you were with your parents. He didn’t trust you were safe.”

“He didn’t tell me any of that. None of you told me any of this. None of you even considered I might have my own thoughts on my protection. You never thought I deserved to know because you all believed I was too—what—stupid? Incapable? Weak? Talkative? What?! Why the fuck didn’t you tell me someone wants to skin me alive?!”

I let go of Seamus, and he reaches for me, but I shake him off. I walk to stand in front of Gareth, Vince, and Keith. I don’t understand Keith’s motivation at all.

“Not one of you is fit to lead. You pathetic, weak, little men. You couldn’t figure out who this was. You couldn’t make it stop. You couldn’t trust me because you’d have to admit you’re too weak and pathetic to find out who’s doing this or to make it stop. Did it make you feel like your dicks were bigger to know you were supposedly protecting me? Did it make you feel like you’re men to be respected because you believed you were protecting me from something so dangerous? Did you feel like real leaders because you made me depend upon you, even though I didn’t know it? Did you feel funny and clever when you came up with different insults to make me feel like my life was worthless? I don’t think the three of you combined could count as high as the number of times I was ready to end it. If it weren’t for my parents and the shame and guilt I felt for what it would do to them, I would have. Believe me when I say I want nothing more in life than to put a bullet in each of your heads. Sleep with one eye open because one day, I will kill each of you.”

I pull the gun from the back of my skirt. I took it out of the small drawer under the backseat where I saw Seamus put it. I know he felt it when he put his arm around me. It’s why he tried to hold me back.

I aim it at Vince. “I lied to Darren for you when you couldn’t shoot Billy Wilkinson, so I did it for you. I took the blame for it grazing his ribs rather than going through his heart because I said I distracted you. Did you know he beat me for that? It was winter, and I wasn’t dating anyone at the time, so no one saw the bruises. I just said I was sore from training.”

I aim at Keith. “I never told anyone until today that you couldn’t get it up. That I wasn’t the reason either. That it only twitched when we watched gay porn and that you’ve been taking the little blue pill for years to fake it with women, so no one would guess.”

I couldn’t give two shits who gets him off. Once I knew neither of us would have a fulfilling sex life together, my feelings for him waned. I broke up with him when I realized—I thought—I would find what I needed with Aaron. But that’s why I don’t get why he wanted to break Aaron and me up.

Finally, Gareth. He puts his hands up as I put the barrel to his chest and press hard enough it’ll leave a mark. “You. I’ve covered for you since we were kids, and you broke your grandmother’s little Hummel figurine.” I point to my dad. “My parents grounded me for three weeks from soccer because of that. I missed the league tournament, and my teammates wouldn’t talk to me until nearly midway through the next season. I covered for you when you were failing geometry and did your homework for two months to get you caught up, then tutored you till the end of the semester. I covered for you with Gretchen when Darren made you go out with Sarah O’Malley for three months. I told her you never went out with Sarah let alone touched her when I knew your dad was practically watching you fuck Sarah. Every time you went to Boston, I told Gretchen you were off training with my dad. I covered for you when your dad died because you were too busy fucking Gretchen to answer your phone. I said you were helping me with some plastering, and your phone died. I covered for you when my dad suspected you were treating me like shit and wanted to confront you. I told him I started an argument, and I got nasty first. I have done nothing but cover for you since you were five. You worthless sack of shit.”

Gareth opens his mouth, and I’m quick to point the gun between his lips.

“If you even, for one second, think to claim your way of protecting me was how you returned the favors, I’ll blow your fucking head open.”

I lower the gun and look at my dad before I turn around to Seamus. I hand the weapon to him and wrap my arms around his waist. I turn my head to look at the three stunned faces.

“You are relieved of protecting me. I’ll take my chances. You are fuck out of luck having someone work at the insurance company. I’m quitting today. You are fuck out of luck using me to falsify reports submitted to and by fire departments. You are just plain ole fuck out of luck because I don’t care enough to hate you. I wish you were dead, and I’ll dance a jig on all of your graves. But I refuse to give you any more of my emotions or thoughts. Find some other patsy. Come near me again, and I’ll put that bullet through your head.”

I look at Seamus’s face for the first time. His expression screams not to test him. His hand slides up and down my back. I wonder what he’s going to say once we’re in the car. I doubt he’s going to say ‘attagirl.’

“From now on, you are relieved of anything to do with Tiernan. She’s under the O’Rourkes’ protection. Contact her, and I will take that as a threat. You talk to me, my brother, or my cousins if you have a message for her. Do anything to speak to or see Tiernan, and I will take you to the one place you never want to go. I promise with good food and long naps, I’ll last longer than you do.”

Their place. Every syndicate family has one. It’s the one place they completely control. It’s an environment where shit can’t go wrong. They can handle the messy shit without anyone seeing. No one outside the senior members and a few selected button men know where it is. No one leaves alive. I’m not supposed to know where it is, but I was eight months pregnant when Keith showed me a photo of Aaron tucking a hundred-dollar bill into a woman’s g string at one of the strip clubs Vince owns. The next photo was her giving Aaron a lap dance.

I tracked his phone until the location services turned off. It was an area of town where no one lives. I knew he hadn’t gone to the woman’s place, and I doubted it was some place he’d want to fuck, even if they stayed in the car. His location flicked back on four hours later when he headed toward home. I pulled up an aerial map and figured out roughly where he must have been.

I did a little searching through fire records I could access thanks to my position and found a building that was supposed to be condemned after a fire. I watched Aaron’s locations and saw he stopped at Gareth’s, so I drove by and noticed it was still in good shape. I knew what I’d found.

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