Page 60 of Stolen Mafia Vows
“He didn’t tell you?” There is no amusement in my dad’s smile. “Like I said, you don’t know anything about the man you married.”
This is information overload, everything getting jumbled up inside my head. Mafia and truces and talking about countries and cities like weown them.
“Why else do you think he wanted to marry you?” My dad flings the words at me like handfuls of sloppy mud. “They wanted to branch out. Ireland wasn’t enough for them when they could see New York within touching distance.”
“No.” I shake my head, numb. “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true, Em.” Kyle’s tone has softened, but it’s too late.
“Don’t you dare act like you care now.”
“I should’ve taken you back to New York after your brother’s wedding,” Dad continues unfazed. “Before they demanded a meeting.”
“What are you talking about?” I can’t even tell what my heart is doing right now; it’s like it has forgotten the one job it’s supposed to do: keep me alive.
“They approached Caleb with a business proposition. Thanks to your husband, they thought they had a free pass to our city.”
“Yourcity?” I can’t even look at them. “Can you hear yourselves?” I walk towards the door, moving my arm before my dad can grab it again. “Don’t even think about stopping me.”
“Emily?” Dad appears to have aged ten years suddenly, his skin turning visibly gray. “Where are you going?”
“I want to hear my husband’s version of events.”
It’s a lie. I don’t want to hear it at all, because if he has been lying to me too… I don’t know where that leaves me.
I hesitate in the doorway. “What happened to Ruairi Byrne?”
The two men exchange glances. “He was shot,” my dad says. “A bullet straight to his brain.”
I’m so numb, the enormity of this barely even registers with me. “Who killed him?”
“We don’t know,” Kyle says finally.
12
EOGHAN
I senseEmily’s absence in bed before I open my eyes. Her warmth, the soft curves of her naked body, her gentle breaths on my face.
I throw back the duvet and slide my legs over the side of the bed. The rain is still lashing the windows, but despite the noise, I know that she isn’t in the bathroom.
Which means that she has gone to speak with her dad. Alone.
Twice she has lied to me about her family, and twice I’ve believed her. I’m disappointed with myself as I drag my clothes on and search for my keys. They’re not in my pocket where I left them.
Fuck!
I take the stairs three at a time. There’s a light on in the kitchen, but I don’t stop to check it out; Gran comes downstairs and makes herself a hot drink when she can’t sleep. The keys to the other vehicles are kept in a locked box on thewall between the door and my father’s study. I unhook the closest set of keys; it doesn’t matter which car they belong to.
The rain stings my face and saturates my clothes before I reach the garage at the side of the house. I slosh through puddles, beeping the remote key before I’m inside, and locate the 4x4 Pa uses when he isn’t going into the city.
Why didn’t I hear her leave?
Am I so relaxed in her presence that I empty my mind of everything else when I close my eyes? It’s a pleasant thought, but a dangerous one also.
I hit the gas, knowing that the 4x4 can handle the wet roads. Emily was clearly distressed about this meeting with her dad, and I don’t trust him not to take her back to the States by force. They started the war. Now, they’re waiting for the Byrnes to retaliate, and they don’t want Emily caught in the crossfire.
I don’t want that either, but I can’t protect her when she’s on the other side of the ocean.
