“I wouldn’t normally. Lucian seems to think that if he’s killed it will create some sort of power imbalance. He’s not wrong. That’s not the reason for me, though.”
“What is then?” She asked as her eyes locked onto mine.
“You.”
“Would you spare my father for me?”
“I would do anything for you. He might be a complete asshole but he’s your only living family and there was a time you loved him more than anyone.”
Aoife removed herself from my arms and went to sit on the edge of my bed. “He’s my father and I will always love him. I don’t like him a whole hell of a lot, though.”
“Not liking him is a world of difference in being okay with him being killed.”
“But if he’s allowed to live then I’m constantly going to have to look over my shoulder to figure out what he has planned for me next. My grandmother didn’t sneak me out of here all those years ago just so I could be back in his grasp.”
“So you did have help.” It was a given that she couldn’t have disappeared on her own so efficiently back then. The only plan she had in place before that day involved marrying me, as far as I knew.
“Of course I had help. The woman kept her distance from me before and after she helped me to get away, so that no one would ever connect us together. If I hadn’t been stupid enough to change my name to something completely obvious, my father would have never found me. I could have moved to New York and lived right under his nose and he wouldn’t have known - that’s how good my grandma is.” I could see a flicker of pride in her eyes as she spoke of the woman who I had never met.
“She’s connected to the world through her family, her daughter, her mother before that. Why did she help you get away from it?”
“For exactly the reasons you just listed. Aine Murphy Sweeny Coonan, my grandmother, was forced to marry a man who could take over the family business. Her oldest daughter - my mother, Alice Elizabeth Coonan Quinn was forced to marry my father, William Quinn and if my sister had lived she would have been forced to marry a man of our father’s choosing while I wouldhave been free. The oldest daughters bear the responsibility unless they don’t live long enough.
Before Aine, it was her mother. She wanted to stop the cycle and free me from the world. Grandma already lost her daughter and granddaughter, she didn’t want to lose the last remaining person from her line and she feared that would happen if I was forced to marry a man for the sake of the family business as well.”
“Why was the family business being passed to the husbands of the oldest daughters?” I asked, since normally mafia types passed to the oldest son or the next responsible adult family member if there were no male heirs.
“Our family was cursed to have only female heirs,” Aoife said as she laughed. “Since there were no male heirs, they went in a different direction and the women descending from the Sweeney line became the pawns in keeping the family’s business going. She didn’t tell me this, but I think there is some sort of competition to see who gets to marry the daughter. All those parties I used to tell you about were a setup to show off the merchandise and get the men ready to battle it out for the right to claim me and the family business.”
“That’s fucked up, sweetheart. Did you know that was what the parties were for when we were younger?”
She shook her head, but bit into her bottom lip for a second before she answered. “Not at first anyway. When I was closer to being of legal age, I started to figure it out. I was able to convince Dad to allow me to go to college first. He did it reluctantly, but I think it was because he was holding out for some of the younger male contenders to mature. At least, I hope that’s what was happening. The others who seemed a bit too interested in me were creepy older guys. Some were older than my father and he always seemed ready to slit their throats when he escorted me away from the parties.”
“You should have told me what you suspected back then. My brothers and I would have gotten you out sooner. We could have hidden you away.”
“What’s done is done. Can we leave all that stuff in the past right now? I really want to be able to get some sleep and I have a feeling I’ll finally be able to get some solid rest for once.”
I left Aoife’s side to go to grab one of my t-shirts for her to change into. “Bathroom is through those doors over there. There are towels on the warming rack and if you need specific products, I can get someone downstairs to run to the store for you.”
“Whatever you have will be fine for now,” she assured me. I watched as she walked away and closed the door behind her. Then I dug through my drawer to find myself something to wear to bed because there was no way I could lie in bed with the love of my fucking life all night and not try to slide inside her. I needed a barrier between us. My promise not to touch would only take me so far. I’d dreamed of being with Aoife since I discovered what sex was all about.
Once we were both showered and dressed, we slid into bed and Aoife didn’t need to wait for encouragement to snuggle up to me. She shifted until her back aligned with my front and I tossed my arm around her body to keep her pinned to my chest. “Good night, sweetheart.”
“Night, Lo.”
I sleptlike a fucking rock with Aoife beside me. My girl hadn’t been wrong when she told me she might finally get restful sleep. That went both ways. At least it did until I heard the chime that signaled that someone had accessed my apartment. Only fourpeople had authorization to do it, my three brothers and Miles and they all knew not to do it unless it was an emergency.
I slowly pulled free from Aoife’s body and made my way out to see who the hell dared to bother us only to find Lucian and Adrian seated at the bar in my kitchen. “What’s so important that you decided to invade my privacy.”
Adrian rolled his eyes. “As if you need to ask.”
“Andrew Connolly is making moves,” Lucian tacked on.
“That was fast.” I thought for sure it would take the asshole a couple days to regroup at the very least, but it should have been obvious that he would be prepared for an inevitable meeting with me.
“You stole his fiancé from him in front of his men, Aoife’s father, and his own damn mother. What did you think would happen?” Lucian turned his head just enough that he could track my movements as I brewed myself some coffee.
Adrian was far too impatient for some reason. “I need to get back to Cora, so if we could hurt this along…” He rolled his hand as if the gesture itself could wrap up the conversation necessary to put firm plans in motion.
