Page 14 of Southie
“Look, I don’t give a fuck who you are or who you work for,” I warned. “Don’t fucking touch me. I’ll beat you within an inch of your life.”
He took a step forward.
“Johnny… Sean,” a voice behind them sounded.
Shit!
The man stopped advancing toward me when the voice called their names. I glared at both men as they walked away. The night had gone from me celebrating a massive win in my fighting career to this. Shit couldn’t get any worse.
That thick Irish accent I’d recognize anywhere.
Everyone in New England knew the Irish Mob Boss, Paddy O’Connor. He was as ruthless as they came. We’d heard stories of Paddy growing up in the neighborhood. He was the boogie man our parents used to warn us about.
Born in Cork, Ireland, he immigrated to America around the age of twenty or twenty-one. From what I was told, what he’d learned during his involvement in the IRA in Ireland, he instituted in the New England Irish crime families.
In my neighborhood, the street gang, the D-Street Boys, fell under his command. They were drug dealers, drug traffickers, pimps, and gun runners. Any illegal activities that took place in the neighborhood, the D-Street Boys controlled it and only answered to Paddy O’Connor.
Like everyone in South Boston, I knew of Paddy. But the only connection I had with him was through my father’s debts.
With my chin held high, I faced Paddy O’Connor, ready to deal with whatever came. I was sure my old man had racked up even more debt since the last time I paid the D-street Boys. My payments kept him from sending his Enforcer, but I guess it wasn’t enough. If Paddy was here, my Pops had a death sentence on his head, or they’d make me the example of why you paid up when Paddy came calling.
Paddy wasn’t a very tall man, but he was broad-shouldered. He wore his red hair trimmed on his head and face. He had the craziest looking green eyes. It seemed like he looked through you, not at you. He oozed danger, but I didn’t fear him, although I should have. No one put fear in my heart except my seventy-nine-year-old grandmother.
While I held no fear of Paddy, I wasn’t delusional about the power he held. I wouldn’t go down without a fight because that just wasn’t me. I accepted whatever my fate would be.
“Liam Daugherty. So fighting is how ya been paying Donie’s debts, aye?”
I nodded.
“Well, since I’ll need some help, I’ve come to ya with a proposition that’ll help ya, me, and Donie. He owes me a lot of money.”
“I’ve been trying my best—”
He waved his hand, cutting me off. “The only reason I let it get this out of control is because ya grandmother cared for me when I first moved to America.”
The shock must have been evident on my face because he laughed. I had no clue Paddy knew anyone in my family other than my Pops and my uncle. It surprised me that my grandmother never mentioned it.
“She helped me out a lot until I built my empire, and I would do almost anything for her, like she was me own ma. Ya family and mine go back a long way, Liam. Back to Cork, Ireland. Although I’ve known Donie for a long-time, lad, I’m afraid this is about business. Business I can’t let slide anymore.”
He shook his head as though he was having a tough time making whatever decision he had to make about my Pops. But I wasn’t an idiot. Men like Paddy didn’t care about what happened to men like my father. Business was business, and it didn’t matter how much Paddy cared for my grandmother; we weren’t his blood. I had no blinders on when it came to Paddy O’Connor. If he wanted anyone in my family dead, he’d do it.
“I’ve been paying what I could, Paddy. How much does he owe now? I’ll give you what I made tonight and make up the difference next weekend.”
That’s if I still make it on the fight card after going against Chaney.
I moved to remove the envelope of money from my duffle bag, but he waved his hand in the air stopping me.
“It doesn’t matter, Liam. I’ve let the debt slide because of your payments and Ma Daugherty, but I can’t anymore. And it’s too much for a young lad to pay in full, which is what I told Donie the last time he came to me for money. I can’t let it slide anymore.”
I figured he’d racked up even more since the last time I’d paid, but if I could get us both out of this breathing, I’d do whatever Paddy wanted. There was no way my grandmother would survive my Pops being murdered. She’d already lost one child to violence. If I got out of this with some minor breaks or bruises, I’d sit down and renegotiate with Chaney for a bigger cut of my purse.
“Your proposition, will it help him?”
“It will.”
“I’m listening.”
“Straight to the point,” he said. “I like that. That comes in handy in this line of work. I’d like for ya to become my Enforcer, and I’ll consider Donie’s debts paid in full.”
