Page 46 of Revenge

It was time to get to the bottom of shit.

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Gerard liked to sit close to the fire, not so much for warmth. Da explained that he found the flames relaxing.

As I sat across from my father on one of the worn Chesterfields, I was shocked at how quickly he was deteriorating. It was hard to believe that the man before me was, at one time, an internationally feared gangster with a body count which would rival some of the top dogs in the industry.

Gerard Kinlan was now a shell of his former self and age wasn’t the main contributing factor. It was cancer; the prostate variety and it was already at stage four when he was diagnosed. The disease which had no cure, spread through his organs like an invisible monster. Fucking cancer; a taker of lives. And now, it had come for my Da.

There was no poetic justice about dying that way. I knew that Gerard would prefer a bullet in the back from one of his enemies rather than slowly being eaten away. But that wasn’t on the cards, not with him being safely stored away. I had ensured that my father’s last days would be peaceful, and mostly pain-free due to the amount of illegal morphine his nurse was dosing him with.

Having spent a few years in the narcotics trade, I knew my drugs. I also knew their side effects and that morphine was an opioid painkiller. It could cause memory loss and confusion. This of course had to factor in when I was considering asking him about Ava. There was a chance he wouldn’t remember anyway. Part of me would have preferred that.

The last time I visited, he hadn’t even mentioned Suki, which at first, had been all he talked about. Since we broke him out of prison, his health and memory had been in a downward spiral, like blood,swirlingaround a drain before eventually being swallowed up.

Was I upset that my father was dying? Yes, but I had accepted that it was time. We had grown distant, especially after I uncovered the dirt, he had kept quiet. I was dropped in at the deep end, and forced to sort shit out fast. The dossier Ava had supplied had been damning and there had been no plausible alibi from what had been revealed inthosedocuments. But further chargescouldbe avoided, and it had been my job to ensure that was the case.

I too had been investigated as a member of the Kinlan crime family, but everything I involved myself in could be evidenced as being above the law. As I said, I ran a tight ship. Any illegal products I stored had been destroyed and fast. Much faster than the authorities had put their paperwork in place to allow them to search my warehouses.

“How’s things Da?” I asked as Gerard thanked Nurse Rogers for his cup of whatever the hellthatwas. It was not the type of coffee I enjoyed. I took mine like rocket fuel. I thanked her as she handed me a shot of neat whisky. I noticed her hands were shaking as she headed for the door. It was like she couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. Was she scared of me or was it something else?

“As good as they can be. Sally looks after me though, so I havealmosteverything I need,” I didn’t miss how he watched her walk across the room. It was the look of a predator.

For fucks sake.

Nodding my head, I watched Sally’s glassy eyes meet mine before she slowly closed the door.

“Almost?” I questioned, pulling my face away.

“Yes, lad. I could do with getting my cock sucked more regularly,” Gerard huffed. Not an image I wanted in my head, but my father had always been outspoken when it came to his sex life. What did he meanmore regularly?

Shit.

My gaze drifted to the closed door where Gerard’s nurse had just exited and my mind went into overdrive.

“You do realise that I employed that woman as a nurse?” I pointed out as dread pumped through me.

“I’m a man, I have needs. I’m not going to say no, am I boy?”

“Since when was it OK to start feeling up the staff?” I said in a gruff voice.

That sick feeling continued to crash around my stomach. My father was fucking his nurse?

And then came the next question; with or without her permission? My father took the words from my mouth as he said, “I’m only playing. Sally knows that.”

Hmm, did she? I wasn’t so sure. If truth be told, I wasn’t sure about anything where he was concerned anymore.

I inhaled, I wasn’t there to save a fucking nurse I was paying a small fortune to, I needed to pick my battles carefully.

“You should save your strength,” I pointed out flatly as I glanced around the space.

We were in the living area. The room was decorated like a typical farmhouse with a huge fireplace, wooden floors, and floral wallpaper. The large windows looked out across the moors, I would have said it was beautiful, had I been in the right frame of mind to study the fucking scenery.

I hadn’t chosen the location for its looks. The compound was remote, as that’s what my father had needed. Somewhere far away and flat so you could see the enemy coming. Not as though he had any of those anymore. Nope, my father’s enemies soon became mine when I took over. It was now common knowledge in that small circle in the know that Gerard Kinlan was a dead man anyway, so he wasn’t worth their time. A nemesis who could not fight back was not a nemesis.

“So, Ava’s home,” I exclaimed, pausing to see how he reacted. I was good at reading people. It was one of my many talents.

And then my father surprised me.

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