I’ve been so wrong about the man I thought my father was. I thought he’d been the victim of the Sullivans in this story, but what if it’s the other way around? What if my father had something on Seamus, something big, that was worth Seamus buying his silence over?
My throat burns as I scan the payments once again.
How the hell did I not notice these payments coming into my father’s account back when I was working for him? If I’d spotted them sooner, maybe I could have intervened. Maybe I could have helped…
My eyes flick to my bedroom door.
Ronan’s downstairs, and I should go and tell him what I’ve found. He deserves to know the truth, and I made a promise that there would be no more secrets between us.
But not yet.
Not until I’m sure these are real.
I can’t tell Ronan that Seamus might have been paying my father off until I see it for myself, and not just from the files on a laptop. I need confirmation in the form of theactualaccounts and to verify the deposits for myself.
Which means, I need to go back to my family’s estate and log into the family account, and I need to do it without Ronan and Callum finding out.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
RONAN
I’m sittingin the living room, answering some emails on my phone, when Cormac strolls in. I glance up and immediately notice the stone-cold look on his face. Perhaps he overheard my extracurricular activities with Ciara in the kitchen.
I open my mouth to apologize, but then I remember this is my house, and I can fuck my wife in any room I please.
If he doesn’t like it, he can get the hell out.
I notice the brown file tucked under his arm. “Did you find something?”
“Have you seen this?” He tosses me the file.
I set my phone on the coffee table and quickly flick through the papers. “What the hell is this?”
I scan page after page of receipts, all of which are made out to McCarthy Enterprises.
“It’s exactly what it looks like.” Cormac takes a seat in the armchair beside me and runs a hand through his hair.
My jaw clenches as I read over the amounts my father paid out. It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars, which in the grand scheme of my family’s wealth is barely a drop in the vast ocean, but that’s not the point.
Not when I have a sinking feeling that these numbers match the encrypted payments that I’ve had both Connell and Ciara looking into for the past few weeks.
I glance at the closed door. “These were paid to Ryan McCarthy.”
Ciara is upstairs in her room, no doubt trying to process everything she’s learned about her father, and the last thing she needs is for me to go charging in there demanding answers that she likely doesn’t have.
I exhale a breath as I pick up my phone and log onto the payment system.
Cormac is quiet as I look through the list of encrypted payments, lining each amount up with the receipts he found in Da’s office.
They’re all there, down to the last cent.
Fuck.
“Cormac.” I do my best to keep my voice low despite the anger building inside me. “Where the hell did you find this?”
“It was in the back of the closet, stuffed under a box of old golf trophies. Are you gonna tell me what the hell is going on?”
I hesitate, not because I don’t trust him, but because once this gets out, there’s no taking it back.
