Page 8 of The Irish Reaper

I nod. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” He smacks the edges of his chair, and my word is as good as gold to him. “I’m hungry. Yer mother made roast. Let’s go eat.”

Kohen and Arlo begin to file out when Father remains put, alluding that he wants to speak with me alone.

My eldest brother steals one last look in the room before ambling off after Kohen. He will lead the clan one day, and I will serve faithfully at his side.

“My boy, what did ye do? I was expectin’ two dead bodies when ye told me there was a second person.”

I glimpse back at my father as he rakes his thick fingers through his white hair. Ma calls him Santa Claus’s brother, but he loves the color red, and he’s thinner. Plus, his beard isn’t down to his chest.

I raise my two fingers and bring them up to my forehead, reenacting what I did with Haven.

“She’s a mob princess, son. She’s not—”

“She’s weak,” I profess. And her family will just pawn her off to the next bidder.

Father brings his palm up and clamps it down on my bicep. “Not everyone is as strong as ye, Finn. And, if they are, it’s in a different way.”

Not her.

I don’t see her being useful with anything.

“Alright,” my father surmises. “If ye think we’re safe.” I stare back at blue eyes that match mine and white hair, styled back and away from his face. “Ye did good, son. Let’s just hope we’re done.”

I don’t have a feeling that we are.

Patrick Kincaid is a greedy bastard. Also a two-timing dick.

We’re only getting started.

4

HAVEN

“So,do you think Papa will let me go?”

No.

My sister, Taylen, hasn’t yet grasped the concept that Papa will never allow us to have a normal life. That living the existence of a fifteen-year-old girl in our world isn’t an optimistic one but one of bondage and fear.

After what’s happened to me, I’m apprehensive about what Papa is going to have Taylen do. What future and path he’s going to force her down for his gain. There’s no doubt in my mind that his having daughters over sons is more beneficial. You can use them to get what you want. Men will take over your kingdom, of course, but you wouldn’t have one if a woman couldn’t gain you what you needed to get there.

While they’re left in misery in the predicament that you put them in afterward.

However, Papa leaves Taylen alone—for now—and I’m beyond grateful for that. But for how long?

We’re just pawns in his game to checkmate a deal or any enemy that comes our way. It’s only a matter of time before Papa wants more and he’s going to need another game piece to make that happen.

And leaving the house to go to a Harry Styles concert isn’t going to be something he gives the green light to.

“I dunno,” I reply noncommittally. “But we can do something that night.”

Taylen scrunches up her nose as if hanging out with me would be as entertaining as watching a puddle form.

I guess she’s at that age now. A teenager wanting to explore the world while enjoying every second of her life before becoming an adult sucks it right from you.

“I’ll see what he says,” she claims confidently, shoving back her long, red hair. “Though, he hasn’t been in a good mood lately.”

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