He sits behind my desk, a gun held casually in one hand. “Thank you for coming so quickly. Please, sit down.”
I glower at him, remaining right where I stand. I wasn’t expecting an ambush this morning. “What’s going on here?”
“Your time is over, O’Rourke. This is the way of our world when the strong overcome the weak. I’m taking over your empire. All that you had is now mine.”
“My men would never put you in charge.”
“They already have.”
How in the fuck did I not see this coming? Brendan, my security guy, has been scheming to overthrow me? For how long? He’s been with us for years.
“They’d never make you their leader.” I sound more confident than I am about that statement.
“No? Let me explain why they chose me. Let’s see… there’s the bit about you paying too much attention to your Italian bride. You negotiated peace with the Monahans when you should have taken their turf before they had a chance to settlein. They were weak without allies and you have the Italian mafia at your back, and therefore no good reason not to use them. So disappointing that you didn’t. Last, but certainly not least, is your unstable mental health. Not the good kind of unstable where you might make a bloodbath out of the Monahans or anyone else who oversteps. No, unfortunately, you’re simply incompetent.” He sneers.
Did I really fuck up that badly?
Brendan smirks. “Though I guess I’m to blame for some of that.”
“What do you mean?” I cautiously ask. I need to keep him talking until I get a clear idea of what the fuck just happened, and how this came to be. Why now?
“Let me enlighten you. You don’t know me, not really, but I know all about you. My sister told me even the most intimate details. Driving you insane was actually easier than I thought it’d be.”
His sister? A lead weight sinks to the bottom of my stomach. “Fiona?” I guess.
Brendan nods. “Very good. I see you’re catching on quickly. My name’s Brendan Gallagher, but I changed it to Dunne before I left Ireland.”
So he’s Fiona Gallagher’s brother. She told me about him a few times, how he was mostly away at a private school in Switzerland. The last thing I’d ever expect is some rich boy showing up here to join the Gaelic Devils.
Brendan sits back in my chair, making himself comfortable. “My sister and I were close. She confided in me about everything, all the way down to how she and Shawn trapped and then tortured you for their pleasure. Then one day, I never heard from her again. When I learned that you were alive, I knew what had happened. You murdered my sister.”
I have nothing to hide, so I nod.
“I dropped out of school, changed my name, then came to New York. With bits and pieces of information I had from Fiona, it was easy enough to befriend those close to you. Pledging, then proving myself to you was easy, considering I’d do anything to get inside the Gaelic Devils. After that, all I had to do was wait for my chance. In the meantime, why not torment you with my sister’s memory?”
All at once, the pieces fall into place and I see the complete picture. “The perfume and the pendant. That was you.”
“They were a start. Did you know that olfactory memory recall is often the most vividly emotional kind? Spraying my sister’s perfume all over your house was one of my more brilliant ideas. The pendant you gave her, resurfacing around Ravenna’s neck, I thought to be a poetic touch. But the real fun and games started when I put Devlin into play.”
My gaze narrows on him. “Devlin was your man?”
He snorts a laugh, but I don’t see what’s so funny. “You could say that. He was sick, dying of a terminal illness. So when I offered him a quicker death, and his family a million dollars, he jumped at the opportunity.”
If that’s true, then it was all a lie, a setup to drive Ravenna and I apart. The confrontation in the office was orchestrated to remind me of Fiona and Shawn. Brendan’s been pulling the strings all along.
“What have you done,” I snarl at him. He’s destroyed my marriage.
“It’s called vengeance.” He sneers. “Since the day I found out you strangled my sweet sister to death, cutting her life way too short, I vowed to take you down. It’s taken years of planning. I thought I had you when I stole your bride-to-be, but I didn’t see the whole identical twin swap coming. That was my bad for not thoroughly doing my research. That set me backyears. I had to regroup and find another way to get to you. Finally, I did. Doyou have any idea how much power and control your security administrator has? How much access?”
It’s a rhetorical question so I don’t bother answering him. I clench my teeth and seethe.
“I’ve dipped my fingers into almost every aspect of your life—until that too smart wife of yours caught on. She wasn’t on tomespecifically, she thought it was Wolfe. Even so, I had to step back and play my other angle. Devlin. He did such a convincing job. To think he failed to make his career as an actor. Anyway, we’re finally arriving to the moment I’ve envisioned foryears. You, alone, and at my mercy.”
“Fuck you.”
He smirks. “You’re not my type. Your wife however… I love a feisty red-headed beauty. Did you know the poor thing spent the night on the streets?” With his free hand, he pulls out his phone and sets it on my desk. “Thanks to those tracking devices you insisted I put in her handbags, I have her location right here. She’s in an alley, out in this weather all alone. Don’t worry, I plan on coming to her rescue. I’m taking everything from you, Cian, and that includes her.”
“If you lay a finger on her—” I take one menacing step forward.
