“Like?”
“Encrypted payments and secret phone calls.”
“Who to?”
“I haven’t been able to decode the payments. They’re so secure that even my best guys are struggling to break them.”
“And the calls?”
“To Callum McCarthy.”
Angus whistles as he runs a hand over his stubbled jaw.
“And Ciara? Does she know about this?”
“That her brother was in on something with my father? No, I don’t think so.”
“Yedon’t think so?”
“I haven’t brought it up. But the last call my father made before he died was to her brother, so I can’t help but wonder if he’s somehow involved.”
“I agree, it’s suspicious,” Angus muses. “Look, ifyeneed help diggin’ deeper into this and verifying things, I’ve still got contacts that might be useful. I can run some names, shake some trees, the like.”
“Thanks. But I need you to make sure that Ciara isn’t dragged into this. She’s got a lot on her mind.”
Laughter dances in his eyes. “What didyedo?”
“I had to tell her the truth about her father.”
“Oh, yeah. That’ll do it.”
“I take it you know the sort of shit Ryan McCarthy was caught up in?”
“He was one shady fucker, that’s for sure. Why wouldyetell Ciara the truth about that piece of shite?”
“Because apparently, I can’t keep my damn mouth shut, and now she’s on a plane back to New York, and who the hell knows if she’ll ever speak to me again?”
“Canyeblame her?”
“No. But I wish I could make her understand why I had to tell her. Why I couldn’t just let her believe the lie that her father was a saint.”
Angus nods. “She’s always been fiercely loyal to her father.”
“I know. But she’s married to me now, and I need her to know the truth. I need her totrustme when I say that I’m not the villain she thinks I am.”
“Do you trust her?”
That question hits me harder than I expect.
Do I trust her?
I want to, but after learning that her brother was one of the last people to speak to my father before he died, I can’t help but wonder whether the Ciara I know is even the real her or if it’s all been a façade.
Maybe she’s just as much a villain as I am, and I’ve just been too blind to notice.
“I’m working on it,” I eventually reply.
“Then keep working. And ifyeneed backup,yeknow where I am.”
