Page 46 of Shattered Union

Granda claps his hands. "Excellent." He smiles. "Give it a few weeks," he begins. "Then we can talk about what this truce means for us."

Great, I know what this means. Granda wants more than a truce. He wants an alliance.

"How's the family, Jer?" Granda asks. "That Nichola still married to the rich bastard?"

Jer laughs. "Yeah, she is."

Granda grins. "How the hell did he turn out different from the rest? I mean, look at Butcher. He's a fecking biker. An outlaw. Then you have the pansy arse, who's a hotel owner."

I glance between them. Jesus, how the hell did I not know that Jerry's sister had married into the Dublin chapter of the Devil Falcons Motorcycle Club.

"Who'd have thought I'd prefer him than the other gobshite, Thomas." Jerry shakes his head in disgust. "Why Patty married that animal, I'll never know."

Ah, Thomas Grace. A fucking animal is the right word to describe him. He's in league with the Kellys. How the fuck he married anyone is beyond me, but I'm not surprised he married Patricia, Jerry's sister.

"Will you be coming to the party?" Jerry asks Granda.

"No, but my family will be attending. Well, the adults will be," he mutters.

And he's right. Malcolm, Danny, along with his wife Melissa, as well as my daughter Holly and her husband, will all be coming for a visit. It's Holly's birthday, and it's been a while since I've seen them. Chloe doesn't know they're coming. She's missed her siblings. Since they've found their significant others, they've not been home.

I get to my feet, it's time to go home and check on my kids. "We done here?"

Jerry nods. "Yeah, I appreciate you meeting with me. It can't have been easy."

That's an understatement. But, it's done.

"I'll see you next week," I tell him, glancing at my granda. I give him a chin lift and move toward the exit. It's been a long fucking day.

"Denny," Granda calls out, his footsteps sounding behind me. I stop and wait for him. "I'm proud of you," he says softly.

I glance at him. Wondering why we're having this conversation.

"You could have easily have told him to fuck off, but you didn't. Instead, you sat down with him and called a truce."

I sigh. "I did it for Mal," I tell him. There's no other reason.

"I know. It can't have been easy, but you did it anyway. That's why I'm proud of you."

I shake my head. "Granda, I did what any other father would have done. I put my kid first." Something I haven't done in a fucking long time.

"How close are you to getting the fecking thumb drive?" he growls low.

"I've got Andrew working on it." I quickly fill him in on what I found out, and from what Chloe has told me about the bank. "I'm expecting him to have it within the week."

Granda smiles. "Good," he grunts. "That bitch’s time is almost up. What are you going to do?"

Now it's my turn to grin. "She's going to die." There's no other option. She's going to die and because she's the mother of my children, I'll make it painless. A bullet between her eyes. She doesn't deserve it, but for the sake of my kids, I'll give her a simple death.

"Soon, son. Soon, you'll have everything you've ever wanted," he says. The glint in his eyes tells me he's up to something.

"Slán," I tell him as I move toward the door. Praying he's right, that soon I'll have everything I want.[Goodbye]

14

Callie

How the hell is this happening?

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