“I planned to tell you as soon as I had more information. I thought I was helping.” I say the words with regret. I sound like a child. My stomach drops as I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. If the alliance is worth this lie, this humiliation in front of my old man. If Taryn is worth it.
“You thought you were helping,” he repeats my words quietly in a dark voice.
“The Greeks obviously saw an opportunity to try to break up the engagement. They don’t want us stronger, so they leakedtheirversion of the story first. I should have known they would do that. I’m sorry, Da, but we can’t let them break us.”
“You’re sorry.” He laughs and the eerie sound causes a chill to run down my spine. He paces over to me and backhands me across the face. My head snaps with the motion, but otherwise, I stay completely still. Waiting.
This is why I’ve never talked to my father about changing how we conduct business. This. He can only see one way of doing things, and his oldest son and heir is not going to change his mind. Nothing ever happens that he didn’t order. Attempting to change his mind isn’t worth the effort.
My father turns back to me with narrowed eyes. “Why now?”
What? “I don’t understand the question.”
He sighs as if my idiocy is unbearable. “You’ve never interfered with our operations before. Never taken any interest whatsoever in our work. You’ve been weak. Unfocused.”
“Yes. And you said it was time I stepped up. Settled down.” My voice rises despite myself. “I’m graduating soon.”
This sets my father off. “Of course it’s time you settle down.Jesus Christ.You’ve been nothing but a spoiled playboy, drunk on your own charm. An eejit who thinks smiling at people is the same as leading them. You’re a disappointment, Liam. You want to inherit this family someday? If I handed you this empire, you’d burn it down within a week. You’re too busy wanting to be everyone’s friend instead of making them fear you.”
“Fear isn’t the only way to lead.” I deliver the words without heat despite the pounding in my chest, my temples.
“And neither is hiding behind lies and women. You think charm and secrets make you a leader? They make you a coward—too weak to stand on your own, so you manipulate whoever will let you. And make no mistake: Youusedthis girl, Liam. She was a shield for your ridiculous attempt tofinallytake some initiative. You want to lead, son? Stand on your own two feckin’ feet? Come to me”—he taps his chest with his fist—“before you decide to take such risks. Keep clan business within the clan.”
His rant has rendered me speechless. My father both berated me and opened a door at the same time. At least I think that’s what just happened. And, shit. Is he right about me? Am I a user? Am I weak?
“Let me fix this,” I croak.
He laughs. A genuine laugh. “Oh, boyo, you’re going to fix this alright. You’re going tocrawlbefore Mick Walsh.”
“What?” I whisper the word.
“Darragh!” my father shouts. “Where the feck did that man go?”
I’m still reeling from the conversation when Darragh interrupts my mental meltdown by handing me a tissue. “You have a little blood on your bottom lip,” he mutters before facing my father.
I barely listen as my father relays information to Darragh, who studies me in disbelief. Finally, when Da finishes his ranting soliloquy, his right-hand man speaks.
“The way I see it, Liam fucked up.”
I grit my teeth at Darragh’s admonishment but remain silent. This is what I wanted. What I set up. I told myself I could take it—that I could stand here, a willing target, if it meant saving this alliance and this marriage. But the reality of it is burning a hole clean through me. Every word from Da and Darragh feels less like strategy and more like failure.
It’s one thing to plan for blame. It’s another to feel it settle in your chest, heavy and sour, like maybe they’re right. Like maybe I am the weak, reckless bastard Da says I am.
“But,” Darragh continues, “it is what it is. Now we have to deal with it. He’s right that Nicopolis tried to set us up, Kian. We can’t allow that. Rumors are going to fly through the clans. That we’re weak. Unorganized. That Liam’s girl helped our enemy. We need to stop the rumors with our own set of facts.”
My father stops pacing to listen to him. Yes. Darragh is basically repeating what I’ve already told my father, but this time, he’s attentive. Of course he is.
“We need to circulate that the Greeks areterrifiedof this alliance, which is why it needs to happensooner. They are sending out false information to stop the wedding, which is fine, because we have them where we want them. They won’t be able to stop shit. We’re going to crush them.”
My father nods slowly. His eyes light up at the thought of destroying our enemies. “Get Aisling on a plane here.”
I swallow hard at the reference to my mother.
“She’ll want to be here for the wedding, even if it is in a courthouse. This needs to happen now. Today.”
Jesus Christ.
“You’re about to break your mother’s heart, boyo,” my father tells me with disgust in his eyes. “After everything you’ve done, that may be the one thing I won’t be able to forgive.”
