Then I flip the folder closed and toss it on the table between us. “These receipts… they’re proof that our father was working with the McCarthys.”
Cormac blinks like he didn’t hear me right. “What?”
I rub a hand down my face. “I’ve been trying to piece it together for weeks.”
“Piece what together?”
“I found some encrypted payments on the account system, and I’ve had Connell trying to decode them, but he’s had no luck. They’re locked down tight.”
“Da clearly didn’t want anyone finding out about them.”
“Exactly, and when you told me about the secret calls to Callum, I couldn’t help but think the two were connected because why else would Callum be speaking to our father?”
“You think Seamus and Ryan were working together back in the day?” Cormac laughs bitterly. “I highly doubt that.”
“Maybe not together…” I glance at the folder. “But they were certainly tangled in the same fucking web, and these receipts prove it. They match the amounts on the encrypted payments down to the cent.”
“Jesus.”
“And you and I both know our father didn’t have a charitable bone in his body when it came to the McCarthys, so there must have been another reason for him to send Ryan this kind of money.”
“You think Ryan was bribing him?”
I clench my teeth. “It looks that way.”
“But then why would he put a bullet in his head? It doesn’t make sense.”
“None of this makes sense.”
The two of us sit in silence as we stare at the evidence of our father’s secrets laid out before us.
Fuck. This is so much worse than I thought.
“Do you think Ciara knows about any of this?”
“No, I don’t.”
“But if she did?—”
My fists are balled up and my knuckles are white. “She doesn’t. And we’re not going to go down that road.”
“Fine. So, what do we do now?”
I rub a hand over my stubbled jaw as I try to think. “Are you and Brennan still tailing Callum?”
“Brennan’s following him now, but there’s been nothing out of the ordinary.”
“That doesn’t matter. We can’t afford to be blindsided, so I want the two of you to continue to watch him like a hawk. Ididn’t trust the guy before, and I trust him even less now I know he was secretly dealing with our father right before he was killed.”
Cormac leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Do Kieran and Brennan know? About any of it?”
I shake my head. “No, but I think it’s time to tell them.”
I drivemyself and Cormac to Kieran’s place in the city. For the conversation we’re about to have, I figure it will be best to have it as far away from Ciara as possible. Right now, she needs time to find some peace, and bringing my brothers into the mix would only obliterate that.
As I park in the underground garage of Kieran’s building, beside a brand-new steel-gray Aston Martin, Cormac sighs. “This isn’t going to be pretty.”
I shake my head. “To be honest, I hoped these payments were secretly Kieran.”
