Interesting, I hadn’t noticed her looking my way. One where I’m coiling some rope on the deck with the sunset behind me. Another where I’m laughing at the antics of two greedy seagulls fighting over the same fish. The one that makes me pause is a selfie of Luna with me in the background, putting together dinner.
Her smile is soft.
I’m seconds away from crawling under the quilt and putting my mouth on her again when my phone vibrates in my pocket. Quickly replacing her phone and exiting her room, I take the call.
“Aye, Chieftain?”
Uncle Cormac’s Facetiming me and his expression is strange, I see Da sitting behind him, also uncharacteristically grave.
“I need ya to come by the office, your father and I have some important information.”
Heading up to the top floor of MacTavish International, I realize it’s been less than a week since the helicopter landed on the roof of our office building and Luna became mine.
Most of my uncles and aunts keep an office here in MI, but the 25th floor is meant for majesty and grandeur, designed to intimidate visitors and highlight the MacTavish level of power here in the UK. Nearly all the exterior walls are glass, with sumptuous offices, everything designed in dark wood and metal.
Uncle Cormac’s office is, of course, the most awe-inspiring, with a massive desk in the center of the room, a full bar alongside one wall, and a comfortable seating area with a working fireplace in the other. The floors are dark, polished wood. Easier to remove blood stains. Carpeting is forbidden on most of the building's floors, it has the potential to hold traces of (possibly) highly incriminating DNA.
“Son, sit down.” Da holds out a glass with three fingers of Uncle Cormac’s prized Macallan Rare Cask Black single malt scotch.
“Are we celebrating, then?” I ask because the two of them don’t look that happy.
“We ran an extended background check on your new bride,” Cormac says. “You know how good Georges is with deleted and redacted documents. He said he found what he called ‘a loose thread’ and he pulled on it.”
“Aye?”
“Ya know about her parent’s death when she was twelve.”
“The poor lass ending up with her Aunt Martha, not a warm or loving woman,” I agree.
“Her last name isn’t Jones,” Cormac says, “it’s Harris. Her parents, Tom and Patricia left California when they discovered she was pregnant. Patricia’s father is Collin Harris, fourth in command and head enforcer for the Harris Mafia.”
Sitting back with a sigh, I gulp down half my glass. It is an ungentlemanly way to treat such a grand and ancient vintage, but I need it. “This canna be possible.”
“It is possible,” Da says heavily. “She is his granddaughter.”
“I dinna need you to tell me the implications of this,” I say. “I’m thinking Collin is not aware of Luna’s existence?”
“He knew that his daughter was pregnant, and it sounds like he allowed her and her husband to leave California and assume a new identity, though there’s no record of them being in contact again. He may not be aware of their deaths,” Cormac says.
“I see no reason to change that.” I’m feeling a huge surge of protectiveness for Luna. If her parents left, there was likely a good reason.
“Well, about that…”
Fecking hell, our mighty Chieftain is tapping his fingers on his desk, which means he’s plotting.
“Aye?” I ask suspiciously.
“The reach of the Harris Mafia has grown over the last twenty years, they control most of Southern California’s illegal shipping activity, and they’ve made significant progress into Arizona and down into Mexico.” He and Da both shift closer to me. “We have many powerful allies, but aligning with the Harris Mafia… Itopens the western half of the States to us. With the Aristocrats still shopping that nerve gas and ammunition, they could be invaluable to us.”
“Are we all using Lachlan’s nickname for these arseholes?” Da asks.
“Ya must admit that it suits ‘em,” Uncle Cormac says.
Bolting to my feet, I walk to the furthest corner of the office, staring out the window. I know what they want me to agree to. If I were in their place, I’d want the same.
“No. I canna do this to Luna. If her parents ran, leading Collin back to their daughter is wrong.” Me, worrying about right and wrong. “There’s a line to be drawn here.”
“I understand your reaction, son. But have ya considered that your bride might want to know she has a family?” Da’s sympathetic, I can tell. But he’s still one of the heads of the MacTavish Mafia, and he will look after the clan’s fortunes first.
