Then shit wasdefinitelygoing to be hitting the fan.
The only thing worse than dealing with his father was having his mother sniffing around Charlie. She’d more than proven she could hold her own, but it was one thing to face down his enemies and his siblings. His mother was a different animal altogether.
One thing at a time.
Aiden took a steadying breath that did nothing to steady him, and headed for the office. There was no point in delaying this coming confrontation—because it would be a confrontation. He’d worked too damn hard to get all the pieces in motion to have his father step in and fuck it up. No matter how much Seamus O’Malley liked power.
Aiden stepped through the door and closed it softly behind him. “Hello, Father.”
Seamus didn’t look up from the desk, where he had several stacks of paper scattered. “You sure as hell made a mess of things while I was away, didn’t you?”
“Actually—”
“Sit down and shut up. I’m speaking.”
Aiden instinctively moved for the chair before he caught himself. He straightened, working hard to keep his voice calm and controlled. “With all due respect, you don’t have the full story.”
“Don’t I? In the last year, you lost your sister Sloan, handing her off to none other than Jude MacNamara, one of the deadliest hit men out there, in addition to being a sworn enemy to our closest allies, the Sheridans. You also reached out to yetanotherenemy and offered yourbaby sister to him in marriage to keep your cowardly hide safe—feel free to step in if you think I’ve got it wrong—andyou’ve hooked up with some gold digger and put my mother’s ring on her finger. It sure as hell sounds like you’re so busy thinking with your cock that you’re not doing what is required of you.” Seamus sat back. “So I’ve come to resume control.”
Absolutely not.
Aiden wrangled back his instinctive response—but only barely. “We’re in a delicate position currently—”
“Because ofyouractions.” His father’s dark eyes were steely. Unforgiving. “All your current problems are a direct result of steps you’ve taken.”
Aiden crossed his arms over his chest, and then abandoned the stance because it made him look defensive, and looks mattered when it came to going toe to toe with his father. He couldn’t let his temper off its leash, because any display of emotion would confirm the impression he didn’t want—that he was out of control. “We need to remove Dmitri Romanov from the equation.”
“Then maybe you should have paid Sloan’s new man to do exactly that.” Seamus steepled his fingers. “You want a chance to explain yourself? Now’s the time. Because I have half a mind to removeyoufrom the situation.”
Aiden froze and did his damnedest to smother the instinctive fear that had been drilled into his head from the time he was a kid. Fear wasn’t driving him. He refused to allow it.
He dropped into the seat and stared his father down, keeping his words clipped. “You want to throw around accusations? Fine. We’ll do that. I’ve been the one running this family for the last year and a half while you were outlicking your wounds. You handed over the reins. You don’t get to come take them back because you don’t like how I do things. I’m the head of the O’Malley family now.”
“Watch your tone, boy.”
Aiden kept histonecontained and calm even though all he wanted to do was throw something. “If you’d stopped to talk to me instead of coming in here behind my back—which just proves that you know coming back here like this was bullshit—you would know that I have no intention of letting Keira marry Romanov. It’s a stalling tactic while I get the rest of the game into play.”
Seamus sat back. “I’m listening.”
Aiden couldn’t help feeling like he was delivering a closing speech and his father would act as judge, jury, and executioner if he fucked it up. “Taking out Dmitri Romanov would split New York wide open and create a power vacuum. We have no control of who steps into the hole Romanov would leave.”
His father made a noncommittal noise, so he kept going. “But if I take his power before we remove him, it lessens the impact of his absence—and allows forusto gain a stronger foothold in his territory.”
“And how, exactly, is this ploy about marrying off your sister part of the plan?”
Seamus was taking an awfully high horse considering that three years ago,hehad tried to force Carrigan into marrying the same damn man.
“Romanov came tomefor help, which indicates that he’s in a precarious place at the moment. He wants Keira. He has for some time now, if I’m not guessing wrong. While he’s distracted with her, he’s not going to be looking for a knife in the back from one of his allies.”
“You’re underestimating him.”
“I can’t afford to.” Romanov wasn’t a fool. He’d expect some kind of betrayal, but he needed Aiden’s help badly enough to risk it. What was more, the fact that he was willing to negotiate about Keira meant that hereallywanted her. His actions at the party last night had only driven that home.
His baby sister was nothing but bait. They might be temporary allies with the Russian, but one wrong move would put it all in jeopardy. Romanov said he’d give her a choice, but that was shit-all of a guarantee that he wouldn’t cart her off to New York the first chance he got.
Not going to happen.
Seamus shook his head. “It’s too much risk for too little payoff.”
