Page 51 of Stolen Mafia Vows
The answer: they wouldn’t.
My brain is working at double-speed, trying to slot all the pieces of the puzzle together. Emily said that they were genuinely on board with our relationship, and because she was happy, I didn’t question it.
Mistake number one. Never trust information without checking it out myself.
I should’ve questioned it. I should’ve participated in the conversation, made my intentions towards Emily clear, and shown them how much I love her. Instead, I slunk around in the background like a fucking coward and proved to them that I wasn’t worthy of her love.
“Fuck!” This is all my fault. My brother is dead because of me.
I jump up and start pacing again.
“Sit down, son.”
I don’t acknowledge the order.
I’ve found the woman who makes me feel whole again, the woman who fills the void in me that was left by mom’s death, the woman who fell in love with me without realizing what she was getting into. For the first time, I finally felt worthy of my father’s attention, and now I have my brother’s death on my conscience.
“I need you to step up, Eoghan.”
I stop pacing, run my hands through my hair, and look at my father.
“They fired the first bullet,” Pa says, “but we will fire the last.”
We.
I’m the one who will inherit his empire now. If I don’t make the Murrays pay, I’ll lose the respect of every foot soldier in our employment, and without respect, I might as well pack my suitcase now and vanish into oblivion.
“We’ll hit them where it hurts.” I’m thinking out loud. “But not war.”
“A life for a life, son.”
I study the cold metal in his eyes, and my resolve to protect Emily at all costs strengthens. “Because that’s the way we’ve always worked. But what does it really achieve, Pa? Caleb Murray’s death? Yours? Mine? And then what?”
His eyes are like chips of cold stone. “We take them down and show them how war is really done.”
How can I live with Emily knowing that I’m the one who obliterated her family? How can I sleep beside her in bed at night and listen to her crying over everyone she lost when I gave the orders for the bullets to be fired? Our marriage is doomed before it has even begun.
But I have no intention of being star-crossed lovers…
“I’ll handle it.” He wants me to step up, but perhaps he hasn’t considered that this will mean him stepping down. “But you have to let me do it my way, Pa.”
“Your way?” His eyebrows shoot upwards. “What way would that be, Eoghan? You’ll talk to them? You’ll form another alliance and forget that they killed your brother?”
“No.” I jut my chin towards the ceiling and feel my own stare grow steely. “I’ll find out why Ruairi died, and I’ll avenge his death, but I will not start a war.”
His fist thumps down on the desk so hard that the teacups rattle, and a spoon clatters on the tray. “We have a way in now. Your wife already has a foot in the door. She can?—”
“No.” I don’t yell. I don’t thump the desk or throw my brandy glass at the wall, but he stops all the same and faces me in silence. A tic appears on his temple, a reminder that he is still the Boss. “Emily stays out of this.”
“Ha!” He shakes his head. “They’ll use her to get to us.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it. They’ve kept her in the dark her entire life, and I’m happy to maintain the fairy tale if it keeps her safe. But what I will not do is stoop to their level and use her to take them down.”
I don’t know how yet, but I’ll find another way to avenge Ruairi’s death, and I’ll make sure that Emily never discovers that our families are enemies.
“Then you leave me no choice.” My father opens the drawer on the left-hand side of his desk and pulls out a revolver. “I’ll do it myself.” His voice is heavy with disappointment.
But I’m done buckling beneath the weight of his discontent.
