“Did you know we attended a poker game with Alethea and Mae Eldridge tonight?”
This time, the silence stretched on for almost a full minute. “You’re going to get her killed.”
Over my dead body.But he didn’t have to let Finch know how invested he was in Charlie’s safety. If the man wasn’t worried about his daughter, he wasn’t going to be motivated to do what Aiden wanted. “She’s assured me she can handle herself.”
“You know as well as I do that she’s in over her head. My girl is capable, but she’s a small fish in an ocean of sharks. Send her home, Aiden.”
“I don’t think I will.” He knew damn well that he’d have to let her go at some point. But not yet. “I strongly urge you to be on that dock on the twelfth. Have a good rest of your night, Agent Finch.” He hung up and systematically dismantled the phone. He doubted that Finch’s phone was tapped, so there should be no recording of that conversation, but he still wasn’t going to leave that burner phone for a second use. Finch knew how to get a hold of him if he was so inclined.
The office door opened, and a sleepy-looking Cillian strode in. He was dressed much the same way Aiden was—a pair of pants that had obviously been hastily thrown on and nothing else. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing that can’t wait until morning.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. Itwasmorning, albeit early enough that everyone should be asleep.
“Wrong.” Cillian dropped into his customary chair across from Aiden. “I’ve been patient while you danced around this, and while you plotted and schemed and left me in the dark. Now you’re going to tell me everything, and you’re going to do it now.”
He’d had every intention of looping Cillian in at some point, but he raised his eyebrows at the underlying threat in his brother’s words. “Or?”
“Or nothing, you asshole. You’re my brother, and while I might not fully support every move you make, I can still appreciate the direction you’re taking this family.” He took a deep breath, and when he spoke again, his tone was more subdued. “But if you’re doing something that’s going to bring Romanov down on us, I’m getting Olivia and Hadley out of town until the smoke clears. So youwilltell me. You owe me that much.”
Aiden could argue that Cillian wasn’t in charge so he was on a need-to-know basis, but that was something their father would do. Seamus O’Malley believed that he owed no one anything and that everyone else was responsible for jumping through hoops to keep him happy.
Once, he’d thought that emulating his father was the best way to go about things.
These days, he knew better.
The strength of the O’Malleys—of Boston as a whole—was in their family connections. Aiden was good, but he wasn’t the end-all, be-all. Pretending he was a god and everyone else was under his control was a good way to end up like Seamus had—with his entire family ready to chew off their own arms to get away from him.
Charlie was right. It was time to start to mend the relationships he had with his siblings—and to ensure his with Cillian didn’t get broken in the first place.
Aiden stood and grabbed the bourbon bottle that his father had already helped himself to. He set two tumblers on the desk and poured a healthy dose into both. Then he sat down and told his brother everything.
***
Charlie woke up alone in what was becoming a nasty pattern. She wasn’t used to sleeping so soundly that someone could get up and move around the room without her realizing it. Even with everything going on around them, she’d been sleeping better in the last week than she had in the two years previous. It didn’t make a lick of sense, except maybe to chalk it up to being sexed into submission.
She stretched and smiled at how sore she was.
Last night had felt like a turning point. She didn’t know what they were turning toward, but in that hotel room, they hadn’t felt like a criminal and a former cop. They were just a man and a woman who had narrowly escaped harm and needed to feel alive.
She touched the ring on her finger. It no longer felt so foreign. Now, she was almost used to it…which was something she didn’t want to think about too hard. Better to keep busy and moving than to give in to the temptation to lie here and replay their time together.
That was the problem, though—keeping busy. She never thought she’d miss her crappy job working the poker table at Jacques’s, but between running the poker games and spending time at the gym, the hours had passed quickly. She didn’t have that here.
It didn’t feel right spending Aiden’s money in general,let alone because she was bored. And while the O’Malley household had its own personal gym, it always seemed to be populated by the steely-eyed men who provided the muscle to the family. Charlie had faced down equally cranky dudes who didn’t want to share their space when she was going through police academy, but she didn’t think Aiden would appreciate being tattled to about his new fiancée throwing down with his men.
So what the hell was she going to do until the next thing Aiden needed her for?
Charlie showered and got dressed, then pulled on a pair of her favorite jeans and a shirt that she’d owned before Aiden came into her life. The way things were going, she was in danger of forgetting who she was—whatshe was. She might not be a cop anymore—or ever again—but that didn’t alter where she’d come from.
Fancy clothes and money couldn’t change that.
Going with Keira to the gym had been good for both of them. She pulled her hair to the side and braided it loosely. Keira didn’t know yet that Aiden had given her training a thumbs-up, but it would do them both a world of good to get out of the house—especially since Seamus O’Malley was back. Charlie knew she’d have to face him down eventually, but she wasn’t looking forward to it.
She found Keira exactly where she expected to—holed up in her room, though at least the customary cloud of smoke wasn’t present. Keira looked her up and down from mascara-smudged eyes. “You look way too spunky this morning. I’m going back to bed.”
“No, you aren’t.” Charlie dropped into the same chair she’d taken the last time she was in the room. “I’m bored.”
“That sounds like a personal problem.”
