Page 68 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

I got to the last stair and kept walking toward the kitchen for coffee. A woman was in there preparing food, but as soon as she saw me, she dropped everything and left. I hadn’t met her yet, but I would make sure to introduce myself after this asshole left.

“Coffee?” I asked, searching the cabinets for a mug. When I finally found one, I poured from the carafe.

“No, I don’t want any fucking coffee,” he yelled, slamming his fist down on the counter. “I want to know why those men are still out there! What kind of organization are you running?”

I very calmly took a sip of my coffee and leaned back against the counter. “It would certainly help if I knew who I was fighting. All I’ve got right now is that one of them used to work for you,” I said accusingly. “Of course, I’m not the type to throw around blame before I have all the facts.”

“You could have come to me with a name.”

“Yes, and I would have if I hadn’t been shot twice and had my skull bashed in. Your daughter was taken in the attack. Some of my best men were injured. We’ve been investigating and securing the grounds, not to mention, tightening up security on our shipments.”

“You should have fucking called me.”

I cocked my head at him. “I could say the same. Your daughter could have been seriously injured, yet you waited how many days to come see her? Or are you not here for that?”

His nostrils flared in anger. I knew I was pushing just a tad hard, but I was beyond pissed off at his cavalier attitude toward his own daughter. “Tell me, what exactly happened two years ago.”

I set down my coffee and stared at him, waiting for him to come up with some excuse.

“Why do you need to know?”

“Because someone knew we were returning home early. You said it yourself, she betrayed the family. So, I need to know what happened and if she would do it again.”

His head rose a fraction of an inch as he looked me in the eyes. “She said something she shouldn’t have to the wrong people.”

It was a half-truth, but something I could work with. “And you didn’t think that was worth telling me? She could very well be responsible for this whole thing, and you didn’t think saying a goddamn thing to me was important?”

“I told you not to tell her anything!”

“I didn’t! We left early. That’s it. So, who would she be working with from your own organization?”

“My men are loyal to me,” he spat.

“So loyal that you cut them loose? That’s not usually the way things function in our line of work. Who was he?”

He didn’t immediately answer. He just stared at me defiantly. “I’ll worry about my house. You worry about yours.”

I took a menacing step toward him. “That’s difficult to do when my wife is conspiring with someone from your house. It doesn’t seem you have things in order as much as you’d like to believe. Now, get the fuck out of my house. When I have a firm lead, I’ll let you know. Until then, you don’t come near my house or my wife unless I tell you otherwise.”

“You forget who holds all the cards here.”

I knew exactly who held the cards. But if I was going to gain the upper hand in any way, I had to be strong, and that meant making sure he knew my property was off-limits. He’d come for me eventually, but that gave me time to plan, to join forces with others that might hate him just as much as I did. I just had to figure out which players they were.

“You can show yourself out.”

He turned from me, more pissed off than I’d ever seen him, but without his guards, he wouldn’t make a move. They were stuck at the gate, which was where they would stay unless I said otherwise.

“Oh, and one last thing. Jade needs to see her mother. I expect you to make the appropriate arrangements.”

His fists clenched hard as he took a moment, then walked out.

26

JADE

I pressed my fist to my mouth to keep from making any noise.

“And you didn’t think that was worth telling me? She could very well be responsible for this whole thing, and you didn’t think saying a goddamn thing to me was important?”

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