Page 46 of A Dark Mafia Christmas

“You were watching a movie. I didn’t want to interrupt you.”

“Well, it’s not like Mary has anything to pack, is it?” Fianna chimes in. The accusation in her tone is unmissable.

I keep my eyes on Mary. Has she told Fianna the truth? They’ve been so close the last couple of days, but Mary knows the score. She understands what’s at stake.

“I…” She chews her bottom lip, and I want to carry her upstairs and fuck her till she can’t walk. “I’d quite like to stay.”

“You can stay, Mary.” My mom jumps up, walks around the table, and hugs Mary close to her chest. “You know you’re always welcome here.” Mom turns to me. “Mary can come back to New York in the New Year as planned. We’ll take good care of her.”

What the fuck is she playing at? Does she believe that if she stays behind, she can make this all come true? Doesn’t she understand that fairytales and Hallmark movies are not real?

“I think Mary should come with me.”

“Let her stay, son.” Even my dad is falling for it now. “Everyone’s dying to meet her tonight.”

An image of my family and Mary seeing in the New Year, fireworks casting a golden glow across their cold faces, pops into my head, and I realize that I should never have brought Mary here. We could’ve gone anywhere in the world, and I had to bring her home because that’s what a good Irish son would do. And now they’ve fallen for her, and it’ll be hard for them to let her go.

“No, you don’t understand.” Mary’s eyes are still fixed on me like she’s trying to preempt my reaction. “I’m not coming back to New York because I’m staying here. In Ireland.”

All eyes in the room flit back and forth between me and Mary like they’re watching a tennis match.

“You’re staying?” Mom says, her face glowing. “That’s wonderful news. Isn’t it, Emmett? Maybe you’ll come back more often now.”

I feel the angry tic starting in my jaw. “When did you decide this, Mary?”

“Just this morning.” Fianna answers for her. “She’s coming to work with me.”

“With you?” I blink at my cousin, confusion stealing my thoughts and turning them upside down. “Mary works in IT.”

“Not any more she doesn’t.” They’ve been conspiring against me, and Fianna is enjoying my discomfort. “I’ve been waiting to tell you. I’ve bought a property. I’m going to open a boutique hotel, and Mary has agreed to help me.”

A boutique hotel? What the fuck?

“You don’t know anything about running a hotel.”

“Emmett.” Mom furrows her brow. “You of all people should show some support for your cousin.”

“What do you think I studied at college?” Fianna watches me coolly. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t know what I studied at college because you never bothered asking.”

It’s a low blow, but I can’t blame her for hitting me with it because it’s true. After Oisin died, I cut myself off from everyone back home and threw myself into work. It was the only thing that didn’t hurt. But I didn’t give a thought about how Fianna was feeling.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Fianna’s expression softens and she loses the hard glint in her eyes. “I asked Mary to join me. I thought you would approve. Keep it in the family.”

She knows something. I’m not sure how much she knows, but she’s trying to provoke me into a reaction.

“I do approve. I just wish Mary had spoken to me about this first.”

A flush spreads across Mary’s face. “I-I was going to speak to you today. We were not supposed to be traveling back for a couple more days.”

She’s right, but it doesn’t change the fact that she got involved with Fianna’s plans without mentioning it to me. What else has she been hiding from me?

“Well, I think it’s a great idea.” Mom is on her feet, collecting plates and mugs and ferrying them back and forth from the table to the counter. “And we’ll love having Mary here.”

“We’ll move into the hotel while it’s being renovated,” Fianna says. “We both want to be hands on with the work.”

So, they’ve already discussed living arrangements.

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