Page 45 of Revenge

I also found out that Gerard had financed one of the smaller gangs in London, one which was known for trafficking girls. When I had challenged him about it, he’d explained that the funding had nothing to do with that side of their business. I had believed him at the time but now I wasn’t so sure.

My father had always been so firm about the rules where women were concerned. Had it all been a lie or had something happened to make him change his mind?

Now it was time to test the water and establish if what Ava had alluded to in the pastwastrue.

A sick feeling twisted my guts, if my father was guilty of touching Ava, I would never forgive him. Everything about my Da and what I believed him to be would become a lie; and the way he had raised me, a motherfucking mockery.

Women are the weaker sex my boy, and should always be treated with respect.I hadn’t digested those words that thoroughly in those days. It had been after my mother had died. I remember she’d only been cold a couple of weeks before my father started seeing another woman. Maybe I should have read between the lines back then.

As time when by, I started to hear gossip that Gerard didn’t treat his mistresses right; one woman had tried to commit suicide, but I’d waved it off as the usual bollocks used to discredit him.

Growing up my father had been like a God to me but as an adult, I was now only too aware of his flaws.

From what I had learned Gerard’s attack on said diplomate had been unprovoked. Either that or the information leading up to it had been erased. That shit still didn’t sit right with me.

A Kinlan wouldneverstrike out first. But if you fucked us over, you paid the price.

I was raised not to throw the first punch, but if someone comes at you, you defend yourself and then some. And above all else, you never prey on women, ever. And certainly not one with a fucking family.

If what Ava had said the night of her sixteenth birthday was true, then my father had doneexactlythat. Yes, she had been a beauty as a teenager but that was no excuse for a man older than her father to fuck with that.

Sliding my phone out again, I scanned through my emails, only too aware that Cillian was still beside me asleep. He’d dozen off within minutes of the car leaving the house.

I knew he’d been with Suki last night when he didn’t have to be. He could have put an end to their liaison. He had the intel I had needed, but no. That only screamed out one thing; he had or was falling for the woman.

I wondered whether to nudge him awake and raise the subject, but decided to leave that for another time. Cillian was a man of few words, so I doubted he was the type to kiss and tell even if under pressure. I just hoped that getting involved with Suki wasn’t causing him to lose his touch.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I asked Sean who was driving how much longer until we got to the compound.

“Ten more minutes boss,” he replied, glancing up at me through the rearview mirror. I nodded. Lester was riding shotgun and was strangely quiet.

They were both with me that night at the vault when the truth about Ava’s attack on my father came out. Although originally employed by my Da they had sworn allegiance to me and had said nothing about that night. We all knew that if Gerard found out both she and her mother would be dead and both men had doted on Ava.

My father was living in a safe house well outside of the city. Only a select few members of our organisation knew he was still alive.

For an Irishman, luck wasn’t on his side. After being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, we’d arranged for his death to be faked and then accepted help from our contacts on the inside to assist in breaking him out of prison. Their involvement had been on compassionate grounds, well, that and a shit load of cash. The threat to a family member had also greased those wheels. But that is all it had been, a threat. As I said, I didn’t hurt innocent people.

Part of me wondered if his poor health was God’s plan to punish him for past wrongdoings. My father had made mistakes but that was part of the industry, when you didn’t know who to trust, you occasionally got it wrong. Having found it difficult to process his decision to kidnap the wife and mother of the diplomate, I had chalked that as another one of those mistakes.

If he had however fucked with Ava, that would be more than a mistake, that would be up there with a death sentence. That unwanted gnawing in my gut continued.

“Fuck,” I huffed, lowering my phone. The sound woke up sleeping beauty.

“Boss?” Cillian questioned with a side glance. No sign of embarrassment for falling asleep on the fucking job on his face. I decided to leave it.

“Do you ever regret the path you chose?” I said to Cillian before I could stop myself.

He shrugged his shoulders. Like me, he too wore a dark suit. I always dressed formally when I went to see my father. It was a sign of respect. How ironic, considering my feelings over the last thirty minutes.

Cillian took a moment to answer, “It depends on which path you’re referring to. If you mean my choice of career, no.”

Clearing my throat, I stared out of the window at the bleak countryside, it was windy and wet, which was odd considering it was July.

I pondered his reply, watching the water spew from the sky. Did that mean there was something in his life that hedidregret?

Opening my mouth to question him, I was distracted when the car lurched forward as Sean took a turn too quickly and there on the hill, was the high stone wall and gates into the compound; the safe house where I had squirrelled away my father.

That moment of truth hovered over me like a storm cloud.

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