“Oh my God!” she mouthed. “I know!”
Robert had gone with a black and white theme throughout. Paired with her shimmering white dress and his black suit…the entire evening made a statement not soon to be forgotten.
I laughed when a photographer came to whisk Delaney and Robert away to take pictures by all the bookshelves. She’d made a funny face at me.
A woman carrying a tray of appetizers passed by and I grabbed one, stuffing it in my mouth. Cian looked between me and the tray and roared with laughter. He laughed so hard his whiskey trembled in the glass.
“You went fishin’ just now, my darlin’, and caught yourself a cracker with cheese.”
“I’d like to catch myself another one.” I grinned.
As another tray passed, he snatched the entire thing smoothly from the server. The server went to open his mouth to say something, but one look at my husband and he hurried back to wherever the food prep was going on. Cian held the tray in front of my face, and without shame, I ate, trying not to get crumbs down the front of my dress.
“It feels like I haven’t eaten in hours,” I complained.
“Hasn’t been that long,” he said. “You ate before we left the house.”
“How do you know I ate?” I asked. “You were busy.”
“Never too busy to know what my wife’s up to.”
“Even down to my calorie count?”
“Every breath you take.”
“That’s the stalker’s anthem. You know that, right?”
“Stalkers have an anthem?” His face pinched, and I tried not to laugh as I kept eating.
The last cracker felt like it wedged itself in my windpipe as Keenan and Fiona started toward us. I knew the face Keenan wore. It was hissomethin’ has happened, ladface, and it wasn’t usually good news. Fiona looked around at the party as Keenan leaned in close to Cian’s ear and whispered something. Cian’s face turned to stone. He nodded once as Keenan pulled away.
The dried bread seemed to swell in my stomach and form a lump there when Cian looked at me. “Stay close to Keenan and Fiona. I’ll be back soon.”
I didn’t even have time to ask him where he was going. He kissed the top of my head and rushed off, bodies moving out of his way automatically, even though a lot of the women stepped aside only to look at him. I was pretty sure one refused to move so he’d have to stop and ask her to. He didn’t. He picked her up without hardly looking at her, set her to the side, and kept moving forward.
“What’s going on, Fiona?” I asked. Cian held no secrets from me. He told me everything I wanted to know, and if he didn’t, Fiona did. I could tell he’d rather I didn’t ask, but he wasn’t going to lie to me either.
She took a drink of champagne, and it seemed like her boots itched to boogie against the floor. “Those Ryan brothers.” Shetsked. “Loads of trouble. Well. The one is. The one who’d gotten himself in deep with Oran. He’s gotten himself taken.”
“Gotten himself taken?” I wasn’t sure why I was repeating her words. Maybe because an uneasy feeling sat in the pit of my stomach.
A server offered me a glass of champagne, but I declined and asked for a water instead.
“By the bithiúnach in Ireland,” she said. “You’ve heard of them?”
I nodded. I had. When Cian and I were on our honeymoon in Ireland. He’d called them that and told me they were a group of over-aged gangsters. They wore old-time suits and long jackets and Paddy hats, just like the ones Keenan wore. I could see him being one of them.
“Oran hired them to take the one,” Fiona continued. “Lachlan is his name. He killed Oran’s son. Devlin was his name. Devlin’s widow now requests a meetin’ with the Beast of Boston. Says she has information on where we can find Dermot. When the tables are turnin’, the players in this game will too. The city is comin’ to recognize who will be in power. The Beast.” It seemed like she stood a little taller and her shoulders squared.
“Shay,” I said, remembering how she’d told me to run what felt like centuries ago, but had only been months.
“Shay,” she confirmed. “If we can take Dermot, Cash will have a life to barter for Lachlan’s.”
If Cian ould do that for Cash, I was glad to hear it. I was hoping that, outside of business, they could be family again. I really wanted to meet Cash’s wife, Keely, too. She seemed fiery and fun, almost like playing outside in the summer under a blazing sun.
The reception was starting to relax some, the band pulling the guests closer and closer to the stage, and somewhere close by, Delaney screeched with laughter. I tried not to think about the chaos in our lives while celebrating such a momentous day, but it was hard not to.
Delaney found me a few minutes later. Taking my hand and Fiona’s, she dragged us to the dance floor as the band played one of our favorite songs.
