Page 98 of Mob Bride

We head to the living room. My parents sit on a sofa while Cormac heads to a rocker recliner. I hang back, and Shane comes to my side. We choose the loveseat. I know my parents wanted me to sit between them. Shane even nudges me toward them. But right now, I need his silent strength to get me through what I’m about to divulge. He knows what I need because he presseshis right thigh against my leg, reassuring he’s here and on my side.

“You guys remember how I went to that party my freshman year of high school, and that massive fight that broke out?”

“Yeah, you went with Mary Elizabeth Coniglio.”

When I notice Shane and Sean glance at one another, I suspect they know that last name. Shane slides his hand into mine, encouraging me to continue.

Dad’s brow furrows as he remembers back fifteen years. “Didn’t the police get called to that party?”

“Yeah, Mary Elizabeth and I weren’t even there ten minutes before the police came. It was just long enough for my boyfriend to take a few puffs of some pot. Mary Elizabeth and I left with our boyfriends the moment people started yelling. I found out later, she wasn’t supposed to be there. Once we left, we planned to find another party because that one turned into a melee from what I heard. I don’t know many of the details from that evening because I didn’t go to school with Mary Elizabeth. She went to school with a bunch of guys who were arguing over some girl or something.”

“That’s one way to put it. Carrie, all of us were at that party that night. That fight was over Maria Mancinelli. Three guys from the Colombian Cartel we callTres J’sinsulted her when she stuck up for a friend of hers who had a crush on one of those psychopaths. A couple Kutsenkos overheard them and stuck up for Maria, which only made the Mancinellis get involved too once they knew Maria was at the center of it. My family gave the Mancinellis a hard time about needing the Kutsenkos to protect their women.”

Sean grimaces before he picks up the story from Shane.

“We wound up getting drawn into it because neither the Mancinellis nor the Kutsenkos appreciated our taunting. It turned into a massive melee that got plenty of us injured andnearly killed. The leaders of the Four Families were so livid most of us in all four families wished we hadn’t left that party alive.”

“Was that when you were both fourteen?”

Mom looks back and forth between Shane and Sean, then at Cormac. I’d noticed he hadn’t joined us at first, but I didn’t realize he’d gone to the kitchen. He just came out with a tray of cookies and petit fours along with the tea pot.

Shane explains when he notices my confusion. “He and Seamus have always had the best manners. They always ensure our guests have something to nibble on if they want.”

He settles into the other armchair before Shane’s hand squeezes mine, and he continues speaking.

“Yes, that’s the one. It was the first time I got shot. Bogdan Kutsenko didn’t appreciate being called a little bitch even if he is one.” Shane glowers at his brother. “He shot me, even though I’m not the one who called him that. I guess it was too dark to see Sean’s freckle to tell us apart since we were standing next to each other while we taunted them.”

“I didn’t exactly come out unscathed. Pablo left me with a scar across my left shoulder blade from where he knifed me.”

Cormac frowns and shrugs. “Besides the massive fight that happened there, it was a pretty good party before that.”

I tense because that wasn’t how I remember that night at all.

“Someone laced those drugs my boyfriend took. He died in the car on the way to the next party. When I realized something was wrong, we went to the hospital. It all happened so fast there was nothing we could do to save him.

Bile burns the back of my throat as I tell that story. The painful memory has layers. I notice Shane glance at Cormac and then at Sean. All have muted expressions, but I can read them now that I’m learning to read Shane’s. I sense remorse, like they want to admit something. I hear Shane’s inhale before he speaks.

“Carrie, that happened because of my family.”

It feels like slow motion as I turn toward him. Shocked is the only word that explains my reaction. I wait for sadness or anger, but there is none. It’s just speechlessness. I know he can tell if he doesn’t confess this now, and I found out later, I’d struggle to forgive him because this affected me personally. I know it’s the kind of secret he’d normally keep to himself.

“Uncle Donovan sent Dillan and Finn to sell what we all believed was just regular pot. None of us—” He points to his brother and cousin, and I assume he also means Seamus, Dillan, and Finn. “—knew it was laced with fentanyl. Uncle Don got the product from his best friend, Colin, who mixed it but f—messed up the proportions. Uncle Don wanted it potent enough to get kids to come back to us for more.”

He lets go of my hand and runs his hands over his face as he leans forward with his elbows on his knees. He twists to look back at me.

“It terrified us when we found out. But it didn’t stop Uncle Don from forcing us to keep dealing. There was another party about nine years ago. Finn took a date—it was the last one he went on until he met his wife—and she died from OD’ing on fentanyl my family sold the hosts before the party started. It was as clean as it could be, but she took too much while Finn went to get her another drink. He didn’t know until Maria Mancinelli tried to revive her that she’d bought the pills he and Dillan sold the hosts. Maria was in med school at the time and did everything she could to help her, but it was too late. I didn’t know anything happened to someone after the melee only that someone died at another party.”

I continue to stare at Shane. I can tell it’s unnerving him. It’s got to be at least two minutes before I shift my gaze to Sean, then to Cormac, then my parents, and finally back to Shane. I think Shane’s waiting for me to withdraw completely or explode.Instead, I tug on his arm to lean back and slip my hand into his before I continue my story.

“That party made me decide to become a DEA agent. I was so upset by what I witnessed and knowing it was entirely preventable. I committed to doing some good because we all knew there were drugs at that party, and it wasn’t the first time Xavier’d taken stuff. We’d actually already dated.” I turn to my parents. “I never told you we broke up over his drug use. I knew he’d used drugs recreationally, only at parties and things like that, but I hadn’t approved. He told me he was clean, and I believed him because none of the signs from before were there. He’d gotten better at hiding it. Even if we weren’t dating, he would’ve gone to that party, anyway. There’s a good chance he’d have done even more drugs than just taking those pills if I hadn’t been there.”

I nudge Shane with my shoulder because he appears beside himself.

“I don’t blame any of you for the choices he made, and I’m already fully aware of your family’s enterprises. It hasn’t stopped me from being with you.”

I turn back to my parents because I’m about to tell them things that’ll shock them.

“Once I finished college, a few federal agencies recruited me. You knew all of that. What you don’t know is how well I did at the academy. I have a knack for languages, and the agency noticed. I’m also an excellent shot and have always been physically fit since I’ve run marathons before.”

---