I’m shocked. Jonno has certainly spilled every secret, but I don’t remember my agreeing to marriage.
“Do you want me to stay on the phone, Aoife?” Jonno asks me, his chocolate voice in full effect. “I will, all the way home, baby.”
I shake my head, my nerves calming a bit. “I’ll be fine, I’m just worried about Christy,” I say in a choked voice.
“Yes, I know it’s a shock. But we don’t want her to do anything, to react. It’s really important.” His intensity is drilling into my eyes and brain. “If she can’t manage it, she’ll have to go on holiday for a day or so. Do you think she can?” His eyes are roving every inch of my face. “You need to convince her, Aoife. If she can’t keep her mouth shut, it’s a few days' holiday somewhere for her and the kids.” He looks at Jackson as he states, “We’ll sort it.” He’s commanding his troops. There is no argument to be had.
I look around at the Greystones. All serious faces, all totally determined. “I’m not sure she’s capable of not reacting. Especially on top of all the infidelity accusations.” I bite my lip with worry. “She may have a meltdown. But sending her away on a holiday may cause more questions. I think Patrick knows something is amiss with her.”
How can they expect her not to react? It’s outside the realms of normal human behaviour. I know it would be a struggle for me. The Greystones look like they could all manage it without a hesitation, but us normal folk—not a chance.
“Then we don’t tell her,” states Evie, looking around at her brothers.
Riiiight. I’m getting a glimpse into the other side of the family Greystone now. I knew it was there, I could feel it, it bubbles just under the surface. A wildness, reckless, ruthless streak. They all have it. Their businesses make perfect sense. The security business, the cyber security. I’d read Jackson’s profile. Black ops in the army. Intelligence work. And now celebrity security services. Ruthless, cold and calculated, every single one of them.
“What are you thinking, Kitten?” They all look at her, like it’s a normal event that they’re cooking up.
I’m gobsmacked at the deception unfolding in front of my eyes. Evie bites her lip. I can see the smoke coming off the cogs in her head.
“We tell Christy that Patrick does own the apartment and part of the building, but that it’s a complicated structure of trusts and shares. I’ll throw the words venture capital in. No one knows what they do anyway.” She grins at Jude, who huffs at her. Clearly he owns one of those companies. “To be honest, that will be true when we relieve the douchwallet Liam of the apartment and give it back to the person whoactually paid for it.” I didn’t realise they were going to do that. I’m riveted, as well as terrified of them. “We can convince her it was simply Patrick trying to be modest. And that he probably didn’t want to overload her with more information than she needed at this point.” She looks at her brothers for confirmation of the strategy and lies. They all nod. “She won’t lose her deposit, or that apartment, we’ll make sure of that.” She looks at Jonno on the phone screen as she says it. He nods, and I don’t think I want to know what that means.
“Aoife, can you live with that? Not telling her?” Jonno asks me, shifting his focus back to me from Evie.
Christ, I am going to be an accomplice, but I nod in compliance. I’m too scared to do anything else, surrounded by this merciless family.
“Yes, I can manage that.” I say quietly
“Good girl. Come home, Rua. We’ll sort this mess out once and for all. Don’t worry, we’ve got you.”
They all touch my shoulders, and Jude puts his arm around me. Even though what they are doing is cold and hard, I feel the warmth from the family. The love. I’ve never really had that. I’ve had friends, but never a family like this. I’m an only child, and whilst Patrick and Conor were always around, we were never really close. Not like this family unit. They are the ultimate juxtaposition.
Jackson craftily gives me little Rio to hold so I have something to focus on as we walk into the coffee shop, and Evie declares, “Crisis over, Christy. We’ve got to the bottom of it all.”
God she’s good. I’ve never seen a more convincing liar. She goes into great detail about actually how amazing Patrick is, and what he’s done. But emphasises that Christy can’t say a word, how imperative it is that she doesn’t knowofficially until after the completion of all the money in a week’s time.
As we meander through Dublin back to the car, my brain is working overtime. They’re laughing and joking. Stroking and touching both Christy and I. Drawing me in, cuddles and touches. They’re like a group of tigers. An ambush. How apt. I feel like I’ve been ambushed. And Christy certainly has. Playful, gentle, loving us. Yet under the surface at any moment we can all be ripped to shreds. Eaten, stripped of all our flesh.
I might be being melodramatic, but that is the feeling they give me. I’m laughing along, smiling and chatting. But I can feel the danger, it’s like a physical thing. And I’m not sure which way to turn for the best. Do I play along? Hope Christy and I make it out alive. My stomach is in knots. I don’t know which way to turn, and the man I should be able to rely on looks to be leading the ambush.
25
Aoife
By the timewe land back at Killclery House, I’m a frazzled wreck. My brain is fried, and I need to sit in a dark room and think about what’s happened and what I’ve heard and witnessed. Christy, on the other hand, is buzzing. Operation Pat-dick, as she christened it, is on full throttle. Jude is laughing at her antics, and egging her on. Oh boy, is he going to cause more female hormones to be pulsing through the atmosphere. He spent the ride busy winding it up with ideas on what she can do to her husband. I’m blushing by the end of the drive home.
My face is still bright red as I alight from the car. Jonno is at my side in an instant. The twins create a distraction as they spot Jude and Jackson, enabling Jonno to pull me back around the minivan to check me out properly.
“I’m fine, Jonno, just a bit shocked at everything.” He’s stroking my hair, my face. It’s a good job the Mercedes has blacked out windows so no one can see how he’s touching me.
“What’s going on, Jonno? Everything seems to be falling apart.” I know I’m being dramatic, and that normally isn’t how I handle or approach things, but this—Patrick practically bankrupting the business and now potentially his own family. Patrick and maybe Liam being thieves—it’s ridiculous. The only thing it seems standing between us and oblivion is the Greystones. And to be honest, I’m not sure if the O’Clery branch is up to this lot, how we’ll survive them. I’m not even sure if the Greystones are up to this whole debacle. It’s huge. But I think they are. And that scares the shit out of me.
“Do you trust me, Rua?” His dark eyes shine into mine as he lifts my chin and makes me look into them. “Do you? Do you think I will keep you all safe? But you and my baby first and foremost.” I nod at him. “Words, Rua.”
“Yes, I trust you to do that.”
“Good. Let me do my job, and I will sort this out.” His voice is emphatic. Confident.
“Am I your job?” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, my eyes desperate for the answer. I know what I want his answer to be. I want a no. I’m not his job. He doesn’t think I’m a thief. I’ve seen how they deal with thieves.