“I do,” he whispered. “So fucking much—language, I know. You don’t need to say it.”
I lay back down on the thin mattress and smiled up at the ceiling, taking him off speaker so I could slide the phone to my ear again. “Tell me about this courthouse wedding.”
He did. He told me everything, and I listened intently, listing all the things in my head I was going to do for arealwedding for Fionn and Daire. No Killough had a simple marriage at a courthouse, especially not my nephew. No cost would be spared for what I was planning.
When we finished, I hid the phone again and went to sleep with my mind full of ideas of what I was going to do when I finally left this place.
By the time morning came, it was another normal day. We had breakfast, but it was during this time that an alarm rang out, signaling lockdown. Hanson or someone else had found the bodies.
It became a tedious day of the warden giving speeches about snitches—not his words—coming forward if they knew anything about the dead men. Then, there were interviews. I could tell by the warden’s expression he knew I’d done it, but he had no proofand neither did the investigators who came in. There was too much DNA in the showers already and Taffart had destroyed the shiv.
Then, the afternoon approached and the lockdown was retracted. Hanson came to get me because my lawyer was here for a meeting.
Hanson led me toward the meeting room, eyeing me with a simmering anger that had me smirking. “I know it was you, Killough.”
I shrugged. “You have to prove it first,Officer.”
His nostrils flared and his jaw tensed. This was just the beginning with him. He started this and I was going to finish it.
When we got inside the room, Hanson left again, slamming the door shut.
Cashmore raised his eyebrows from where he sat at the square table in the middle of the room. His tweed brown suit reminded me of Vail and strangely, I missed that weird man as well. He’d fit into our family like a lost puzzle piece and he made my loyal men happy. “Piss him off, sir?”
I chuckled. “Taught him a lesson.” I strode over to the seat on the opposite side and took it. “What do you have for me?”
Cashmore grinned smugly and spread his hands. “You hired me to do a job, sir, and I did it. We have a court appearance in two days.”
“What?” I sat up straight in the chair and leaned forward, elbows on the table. “What do you mean?”
“They’ve been dragging the arraignment out, so I went to the judge yesterday and fought for one. I used the missing evidence as incompetence and the lack of arraignment as a civil rights violation. Your...generosity toward his bank account helped. He arranged the court session for two days. I had planned on coming to tell you about it this morning, but I wasn’t allowed in.”
“We were in lockdown,” I said, not quite believing what he was telling me. Well, I did pay him the big bucks for a reason. It also helped that we had the ear of some powerful players who helped control the judges of New York. I grinned, pleased. “Did you organize this little trip and do you have a suit for me?”
Cashmore’s mouth twisted into a sly smile. “Always, sir.”
11
CONALL
“Rory’ll be here tonight for a meeting. I think he should check you over.” Fionn crossed his arms, and the action made him look so much like Sloan that I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Should I be the one calling you pa?” I teased.
He rolled his eyes, taking a seat next to me where we sat in my office. We only used Sloan’s office downstairs when we had official meetings, but I still felt more comfortable in my area when I was doing individual work. While I helped Fionn run the Company, I was still the head of the brothels.
I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. The aches had begun to get worse again, and every so often, Dad would show his face. He reminded me of my failures and what awhoreI was, but he wasn’t here right now. My forehead and face were covered in sweat and it felt like my entire body was on fire. Maybe it was best to see Rory, even though I’d been pushing away the idea. I didn’t want anyone to focus on me. We had to make sure to keep the Company running while trying to help Sloan out of jail.
“All right. I won’t fight you anymore,” I said.
Fionn nudged me on the shoulder with his. “You aren’t helping anyone by being sick. You’ve barely eaten over the last three days. You’re getting worse. You look terrible in my wedding pictures.”
“Hey.” I shoved him, and he laughed. “Liar. I look fucking amazing.”
He nodded. “You do. I was joking. Though, you did look too pale. Even Sloan said it.”
I shrugged. There was nothing I could do about that. Eating took too much energy and I didn’t have much left. I barely slept, and when I tried, Dad tortured me with vicious words.
“Have you heard from Sloan?” I asked.
