Page 142 of Mob Bride

“But that doesn’t stop the government from pursuing me anyway or using me to leapfrog to get to you.”

“I know, and I need you to trust I’ll take care of that.”

I bite my bottom lip. I know what he means by trust him to take care of it. I don’t want to ask questions. I’m good with not knowing. But I wonder if life will allow me to remain in the dark.I can’t guess the future, and I don’t want to. Understanding what happened today and the weeks leading to our wedding day eases my fear. It makes me appreciate Shane even more.

I don’t know how I became so lucky, but I won’t take for granted the man who loves me. The rest of the world doesn’t matter when we’re like this. When I’m in his arms. Peace settles over me now that we’ve all lived to see another day. Cliché and maybe even trite, but so true. I gaze into my husband’s eyes, and I’ve never meant anything more.

“I trust you implicitly, Daddy.”

“Then let Daddy do wicked, wicked things to his bonnie bride.”

“Mmm. I love the sound of that, and I love you.”

“I love you too,cailín.”

Epilogue

Shane

It’s been a month since Carrie and I married, and it’s been a shockingly quiet one, all things considered. The first week we were married, we faced the DEA trying to raid us in four different locations. Every time, they came up empty-handed.

Every time, we thumbed our noses at them. When their fifth attempt wound up with them in a shootout against some Armenians, we knew they were growing too frustrated to continue. This particular campaign wasn’t worth it to them.

At some point, they’ll regroup, and they’ll come after us again, but it won’t be to retaliate against Carrie. Three days after the wedding, she put in her formal notice effective immediately—not that it surprised anyone. They called her in for an exit interview and tried to question her about our relationship. They wanted details about our marriage, but she remained mute. Eventually, the guy in HR gave up on his line of questioning.

Then Phil Hammond called her into his office, where he and Director Spenser both laid into her and tried to guilt her into admitting I forced her to marry me. That she did it against her will, and they could protect her. When they realized that wasto no avail, they changed course and started threatening her with charges against her all over again, saying she would be my downfall, and she’d be the reason I wound up in prison. And not just me, but my entire family.

She told me afterwards she remembered the conversation we had the day I told her about Angela. They could try, but no matter what, my family and I have the resources to ensure no one succeeds and gives enough evidence to make charges stick. She felt reassured they’d realize the grievous mistake they made by trying to go against my family.

We’ve just arrived home from our honeymoon, and her boxes are lining the living room of the new house we just bought next door to Bogdan Kutsenko. Unfortunately, an unaffiliated family swiped up the home we really wanted from under our noses.

By the time they realized who’d wanted the home, we’d already accepted we wouldn’t get it, and paid cash for the only other house we liked. We just have the misfortune of living next door to that bag of shite. Christina and Carrie get along well enough so far that I’m not too worried if one of them goes over to the other person’s house to borrow a cup of sugar. But they aren’t in any hurry to become best friends either.

“Where do you think we should put this?”

She holds up the swing my sisters- and cousins-in-law bought for us as a welcome home gift. My brothers had no idea when I called and asked them if it was a joke. It shocked my cousins just as much as it did me. Then all the married guys were pissed those of us who were unmarried when they partnered off didn’t think about such a thoughtful gift.

“I say we turn one of the spare bedrooms into a pleasure palace.”

I waggle my eyebrows at her, and she giggles. That sound will always do things to me. It makes my balls ache, and I’m lookingaround for the drill and hammer. I’ll get that thing hung in the next five minutes.

“Daddy, are you thinking about hanging this up right now?” Her teasing voice only makes me want her more.

“Where’s the ladder,cailín?

“I believe Finn’s on it right now as he changes those light bulbs for us downstairs. Do you really want to ask your brother for it?

I release a beleaguered sigh. “Maybe not right this minute.”

She puts the box down and looks around at everything else. We went through her place in Pittsburgh for the few items that were hers not the government’s and her actual apartment here in New York. We got rid of a lot of duplicate things, either keeping the ones I already had or getting rid of my stuff and bringing hers over. It’ll be a pleasant blend of both of our households.

The easiest thing for us to agree upon is that on Wednesdays and Sundays, if I’m not called away for work, those are our guaranteed sex nights in. Not that we don’t have sex every night, but those are nights things like the swing will come in handy. When I told the other guys I wouldn’t be available those nights, they immediately wanted to know why.

When I wouldn’t answer, the meaning became obvious. Now each married guy has his own two nights a week he insists he’s unavailable. Poor Cormac gets stuck with all the worst shifts at our night clubs and strip clubs because of that. But he’ll survive. And it wouldn’t surprise me if we aren’t changing the schedule once again soon. He seems to fancy himself a knight in shining armor, but he’s being even more closed lip than I was.

She notices something outside the window and moves to look. I have a knee-jerk reaction to tell her to step away, but I know we’re safe in our home. As twisted and fucked-up as it is that we all live in the same two neighborhoods, the FourFamilies treat our community as Switzerland. It’s a no fire zone because of the wives and children, so she can look out the window all day if she wants. I only broke that cardinal rule because I knew Maria wasn’t home and neither were any of their neighbors.

“Who’s that?”

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