Page 87 of Filthy Secret (Five Points' Mob Collection 6)

Eighteen

Conor

When I openedthe door and found Ma standing there, I tipped my head to the side in surprise.

“You got over whatever it is I did?”

She pursed her lips as she shoved her way inside my apartment. “What makes you think you did anything?”

“You’ve been sulking with me since Christmas.”

“I haven’t—” She sighed then twitched her finger at me. I leaned down so she could kiss my cheek.

Watching her take off her gloves, scarf, and coat, I stayed silent, knowing that would get her to talk.

I didn’t think she knew about Da asking me to bug her phone, so I wasn’t sure if that was the reason for the sulking. While I saw the necessity of having the bugs, it wasn’t like Iwantedto listen in to everyone in the Points’ private conversations.

Regardless, her visit was either a toss-up between that or her and Da finding out about McKenna.

I’d be more pissed about the privacy, but that was me, and I didn’t want to bring up the subject of my molester because talking about that shit was pointless.

She passed me her things and looked at me expectantly. A quick scan revealed that she’d lost weight since Christmas, and that she’d started doing that scratching thing with her neck again. Without her scarf, I could see the redness there.

When she cleared her throat, I glanced down at the coat, gloves, and scarf, and tossed them on the floor.

When she frowned at me, I muttered, “I don’t have anywhere to put them.”

“You have a coat rack right by your side.”

“I don’t,” I argued. “That’s a tree.”

She stared at it, and so did I. “It has little hooks on it, son. It’s a coat rack.”

“It’s a tree,” I said stubbornly. It had cost me a fortune, and at no point had the artist told me I could hang shit on it. “The floor’s clean.”

“That’s not the point,” she grumbled then huffed. “I’ll go make coffee.”

I heaved an impatient sigh and drifted back to my office.

When I’d seen her through the cameras, hovering by the door, I’d figured I’d better let her in before she talked herself out of knocking. That meant I’d left a couple things on my screen that I shouldn’t have.

Hearing her footsteps, and the clank of her making coffee in the kitchen, I knew I’d have time to hibernate some programs.

Setting the volume low as I worked, I continued listening to the conversation I’d been speeding through before she arrived.

I wanted to discard it so Da would never be able to get his hands on the information.

“At least he isn’t Hewett?”Eoghan muttered.

“I guess. Although we’d have better tax breaks if he were.”

“True.”

“I shouldn’t tell you. Just telling you feels like a fucking betrayal but...”Finn sighed.

“But?”

“But the fact Aoife is Davidson’s puts her in a set of crosshairs that I can’t get her out of. Your turn now. What’s your secret?”

---