Page 4 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

When my siblings saw me getting too involved with Jessa, they didn’t hesitate to remind me of our mission, not so subtly. I think they were jealous of our connection, and they didn’t want me to turn on them and fully commit to my relationship with Jessa, and not just play my part in the con. If the thought had crossed my mind, I was sure it had crossed their mind also. There could be no slip-ups. Jessa was a key to seeking that revenge they wanted so much, especially after Josh’s death.

My father spent years and years planning his revenge, but he died before he could carry out his master plan, so now my siblings were putting his plans into motion, and I was brought along for the ride as a not-so-willing participant. While I was in school, focusing on my studies, my father was teaching them all the tricks of his new trade. As such, before I had finished high school, my older siblings were seasoned con artists, learning from our dear old dad.

It had all been a part of our father’s plan to get back at the Cahill family. To see them in the same ruins as they had left our family in.

My father was no saint, he had his faults, but everything he did, he did for his family, whether his actions were right or wrong, moral or immoral.

After a stint in the Air Force as a pilot, my father took a job flying small planes regionally, working out of the small Hyannis, Massachusetts airport. It was there that he met Jessa’s father, Steven Cahill.

Steve had an aerospace engineering degree and was finishing his MBA while working full-time doing airplane maintenance checks between flights. It was here that he and my father used to talk. Steve had big plans, the drive to succeed, and the ambition to take chances and reach out to partners.

After a year, my father, Louis Taggart, and Steve started Custom Charters—with Steve’s father being a modest investor for the start-up. It had been a huge risk my father took, leaving a full-time job with security and benefits.

For a while, things had been going well for my parents and siblings. But after I was born, my mother got sick. Our family was drowning in medical bills, but being ever resourceful, my father found a way to keep his head above water.

Approaching an organized crime boss was risky, but lucrative. Dad had been transporting drugs for them while flying. When Steve found out, he tried to fire my father, but as he was part-owner, it wasn’t possible. Reporting it to the police would be a stain on the business, and Steve had bigger plans and didn’t want any blemish on his name.

It wasn’t right what my father was doing, but it was cruel to my father and my entire family that the Cahills drove the company into the ground to get rid of my father.

To be honest, I got where Steve was coming from; if faced with a similar situation, I might have done the same thing. In the end, Dad stayed out of jail, but we didn't have much in terms of money, material things or even a family bond. With his connections to organized crime, that’s was how he ended up trying to support his family—but it wasn't steady, and we suffered.

As our lives changed for the worse, the Cahills’ improved. This only fueled my father’s resentment. Steve started a new company, buying out an aerospace manufacturing company. He rebranded it and rebuilt it as Cahill Global. They no longer only chartered flights, they built and customized jets and sold them. Not only did he sell luxury, but he was also living it—while we were barely scraping by. Plotting revenge was my father’s obsession, while raising me took a backseat.

We had to move to Canada, where my mother was from, so she could get the cancer treatment we couldn’t afford while living in America. The organized crime family also needed someone on the ground in Montreal to oversee trade operations, and my father was trusted enough to do the job.

But it was too late for my mom, the cancer was too far advanced, and we lost her within the year. I wasn’t even in school yet, and it pains me to say that I don’t really remember her. My father and siblings grieved in their own ways, and never spoke about her much.

Being a part of Jessa’s family filled a part of my life I always knew was missing. The Cahills treated me much better than I ever deserved, and I knew that if I gave it a real go, I could have made Jessa happy, and we might have been able to build what her parents had. However, my siblings made sure to remind me of what they did. Being conflicted, I never got that close to building anything real with Jessa. I wasn’t like my family, and they knew it just as much as I did.

Jessa had loved me once, that much I knew for sure. I didn’t blame her for hating me at the moment; I hated myself most of the time too. The guilt was eating me alive. It wasn’t in my nature to be cruel to her. It was a skill that needed coaching, and my siblings were all too willing to play coach every opportunity they got.

I picked up on Jessa’s insecurities and played them to my advantage. That meeting during spring break, I only had one chance to hook her. I laid on my charm, pretending to be someone I wasn’t, and to all of our shock, it actually worked.

I was sitting in our office at the back of the salon, listening to Jules explain how I was supposed to win my fiancée back.

‘Ok, you mentioned how she loves sailing and boats, reading and relaxing right?’ Jules sat on the sofa, while I sat in my office chair with my feet on the desk. I nodded. ‘So, a few weeks ago, I overheard a client talking about a romantic weekend away, just the two of them getting away, how she and her boyfriend really connected. I figured, instead of camping or glamping—I don’t think the princess would go for that—I thought about chartering a yacht for a few days. I found one, out of Boston, that’s available this weekend. They are expensive, but I think it’s perfect, and Chris has already approved any money necessary for this. What do you think?’

I nodded, for my brother to agree to an open budget, he really must think it’s important. Chris watched the money like a hawk. It wasn’t like when we were kids and went hungry, we were all millionaires now, but he held the purse strings tightly. ‘I like it, I could surprise her.’

‘Surprise her,’ my sister nodded. ‘Yeah, that’s brilliant, unpredictable, and she will think it’s so romantic.’ She made a puking gesture as she said it.

‘I first need to get her to agree.’ My sister walked towards me, handing me my phone that was on my desk next to me. I rolled my eyes and took it from her. Jessa picked up on the second ring.

‘Hey,’ she greeted me, and I heard a smile in her voice.Promising.

‘How are you doing?’ I asked her.

‘I’m good. Amber and I just finished some yoga, and I’m just driving home for dinner.’

‘I hope you’re hands-free.’

‘You’re on Bluetooth, but no one else is in the car with me,’ she clarified, knowing how much I hated being on speakerphone.

I paused, thinking of how to phrase my question.

‘I was so happy to see you yesterday. I really missed you.’ She didn’t respond. ‘I meant what I said, I want to get back to how we were. I want to start our marriage how we once were, before…well, you know, not how we’ve been recently.’

‘Me too,’ she agreed in a small voice.

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