Page 81 of Dublin Brute

Well, tough titties. If I’m showing him I’m an adult, I can’t shy away from every conversation when he shuts me down. I bite into my bagel and lean against the counter. “There’s talk at workthat women are getting drugged in the clubs and scooped up for sex trafficking.”

He shoots me a scathing glare. “I warned you of the dangers. Why do you think I’ve tried to keep you out of that world?”

“They’re saying it’s the McGuires working behind the scenes in Quinn territory to frame them. Knowing Niall had access to your task force, I was thinking he might use Laura to set them up.”

His jaw tightens. “The Quinns don’t need anyone to frame them. They are ruthless and vile. If bad things are happening in their territory, it’s them.”

“But they don’t deal in sex trafficking—the McGuires do.”

He places his palms down on the table and scowls up at me. “And how would you know what their dealings are?”

‘Because Brendan told me’isn’t an appropriate answer here, so I go with one that’s safer. “Everyone knows they follow a code of conduct that their father set up—the Quinn Laws.”

“The only laws that matter are those enforced by the authorities. Members of organized crime are vigilantes and killers who think laws don’t apply to them. Don’t romanticize them because you’ve been fooled by good PR.”

“I haven’t been fooled by anything. I was just saying?—”

“Stop!” My father jolts to his feet so fast, his chair tips back and crashes against the wall. “I don’t know where your sudden interest in mafia business is coming from, but it stops now. When people ‘talk’ at your nightclub, you know nothing and you say nothing. Do you hear me?”

“I’m sure everyone on the block can hear you.”

“Then let it sink in and for once in your goddamn life, do as you’re told.”

Once in my life?I’ve been a damned Stepford daughter for almost fifteen years and that blind obedience has made me small and sad.

I shove my bagel into my mouth, hoping it might muffle what’s brewing inside me and keep it from bursting free.

“Now, off you go.”

Seriously?“No, Da. You don’t get to dismiss me—not this time. I thought we might have a mature conversation about what I heard, but it seems not only do you think I’m a child, but also an idiot.”

He shakes his head. “I’ve never said that.”

“Sure you have. Every time you berate me and belittle my contributions to any conversation, that’s exactly what you’re saying.”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“And you’re being an autocratic asshole.”

He clenches both fists and storms toward me. “How dare you judge me? You have no idea the lengths I go to make your world a safer place.”

“I do, and that’s the problem. You think I don’t see what you’re working on. You think I’m so oblivious that I don’t understand the dangers. Da, you think you’ve wrapped me in a bubble of blissful ignorance my whole life, but you’ve entrenched my life in organized crime since Mum died.”

“Leave your mother out of this.”

I point to the open files on the table—the photos and police reports. “You’ve dragged me all over Europe, uprooting me from my homes and schools, to follow the next big crime wave. I never complained because I understand what you do and how important it is. I know how losing Mum drives you to protect me.”

“I told you to leave your mother out of this!”

My heart pounds against my ribs as anger surges through me like wildfire. “There’s no leaving her out of it. Everything about our life is about her. She’s the reason you bury yourself in work, the reason you treat me like you do, and she’s the reasonI am who I am. And if you don’t see that, you’re the one who’s oblivious.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Brendan

Idrag my tired ass into the kitchen, Bryan right behind me. The smell of coffee hits me first, followed by bacon, and my stomach growls loud enough to make Cora look up from her crossword puzzle.

“Well, look who finally rolled out of bed.” She sets her pen down, her weathered face creasing with a knowing smile. “There’s still some breakfast keeping warm in the oven.”

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