Page 44 of Bargain with the Irish Devil

“Yeah, I’m fine. I made coffee. I’ll make you?—”

“No, you won’t, sit down.” He places the bag on the table. “I got some blueberry cream cheese and some honey cream cheese to go with the plain.”

I open the bag. There are not only three different types of bagels and the various cream cheeses he mentioned. The bag also holds two blueberry and two poppyseed muffins—my favorite. “Holy crap, this is enough to feed a small army.”

One shoulder lifts. “I wanted you to have as much of a choice as you could.”

As he sets down a plate for me and him and knives for the cream cheese, I take the refill of coffee he offers. “Thank you.”

“You’re really going to lie to me?”

My stomach drops. “What?”

“Something is wrong. I want you to tell me what it is. Now.” His eyes are hard as they run over me.

I really thought I could let it go. “I’m not sure how I feel about you needing Colm to babysit me while you were gone for all of thirty minutes.”

“Ah,” he shakes his head. “If we can get to a place where I trust you’ll still be here when I come back, Colm can go home and stay there.”

“You didn’t trust I’d still be here?” I’m hurt, and I don’t know why exactly.

“I wish I could,m’fhiorghra.You simply have a habit of lying to not only me but yourself. I wanted you to be here. I wasn’t willing to trust you wouldn’t have one thought too many and run.”

It stings when he calls me a liar. Because he’s right. I’ve been lying to him and myself since the first night. Only I can’t help punching back. “Wouldn’t want me to not complete the audit.”

He finishes his sip of coffee before putting the cup down. “If that’s what you want to believe.”

There’s something in those blue eyes I don’t understand. “Why were you upset last night?”

His jaw works as blue flashes at me. Then his eyes drop. He takes a bagel, the lox in the container, and the plain cream cheese out of the bag. Sighing slowly, he nods. “Do you go to the South Side of Chicago?”

I don’t understand his question.

“It’s not a simple question. There isn’t a simple answer. If you’re going to be here with me, you have the right to know. But without context, it doesn’t mean shit.” He’s focused on cutting his bagel and slathering on cream cheese.

“No, I don’t go to the South Side.”

“Why?” Still not even looking at me as he layers on his lox.

“Because I’ve heard it’s scary. It’s where the whole Chiraq thing came from. My father said it wasn’t safe.” I shrug. I’m embarrassed. I’ve lived in this city my whole life and have never once been to the South Side.

He nods. “Your father was right. You’re never to go to the South Side. People are going to say I’m an asshole for saying it. I don’t givea fuck—it’s a fact. And the reason it’s not safe is because the Outfit doesn’t control any of it. Active FBI investigations are squashed on a monthly basis to leave the Outfit in charge of the city of Chicago so that the whole city doesn’t become like the South Side. It’s not simply having a few judges and cops in anyone’s pocket. They found out it’s easier to leave the policing of very bad men to very bad men.”

The FBI thing should surprise me. If I hadn’t lived in Chicago my whole life, it probably would, but it doesn’t. “Why is it the Outfit and not just the mafia, like New York and Philly?” I ask the question I’ve always wondered.

“Because in every other city, they answer to the mafia. The Outfit answers to no one but the Don here in the city. While the Outfit is mafia, they aren’tthemafia, and the mafia isn’t the Outfit.” He takes a bite of his bagel.

“Would the FBI not investigate you?” My stomach twists as I wait for the answer.

His jaw hardens. “It’sunlikely.”

My stomach hurts. “Why did you say it like that?”

“Because there are benefits to them for investigating me that could make it worth it to them. A case they can close and say to the public they’re putting bad guys in prison. Especially when it comes to the connection to Ireland. We also aren’t big enough to be a threat not to put us in prison.”

“Threat? You don’t have enough power to threaten them?” I’m confused.

Another sip of his coffee. “No, the reason the FBI doesn’t go after mafia anymore was because after the press conferences where they patted each other on the back and made attorney general off their convictions, bigger and badder players moved in and made Swisscheese of the areas where they could take over easiest. Bad shit is never going away. There’s too much money to be made and people who care more about money than people. It flourishes in places where people are vulnerable. Remove one bad person and it creates a vacuum. The vacuum becomes filled with people who are worse than what came before them. Those who have something to prove and are willing to solve every problem with a bullet.”

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