I held up my hand over my shoulder, giving my brother the bird. He could go fuck himself. They all could. I pulled my coat tighter against the cold. It might be the middle of April, but Boston in the spring, while beautiful with its budding flowers, still had a wind chill to rival the winter temperatures.
I didn’t live far from Duncan and Freyja. It was only a few blocks away. Maddie and I hadn’t walked there together; we just happened to arrive at the same time. She climbed out of the cab, and the moment her eyes locked onto me, I knew she knew.
I didn’t know how she knew or who might have told her. But if she knew, it meant Cian knew. And Sal knew.
Sal loved me, and nothing I did would change that. I felt the same way about him. We’d argued and fought our whole lives, but we never stopped loving each other. Never stopped being there for each other.
I’d never forget the way he looked when he came home from Nebraska in December. When he told me about King.
The knock on the door startled me. Ever since my husband disappeared, it was like I had disappeared too. Women I thought were friends had stopped calling. Word had gotten around about what Nolan had done.
You couldn’t betray the Bratva and live to tell the tale. And what he’d done hadn’t just betrayed Maxim Fedorov’s wife, Illyria. He had betrayed Maddie. No one got away with hurting my daughter.
I made excuses for Nolan. I’d been doing it for years. But when the truth came out about my grandson, and what Nolan had done to get his father killed.
That was the final straw. The camel’s back wasn’t just broken; it was irreparable.
I looked through the window and saw my brother standing on the step. Pulling the door open, I smiled, but it quickly dropped when I saw the state he was in.
“What happened?”
Braesal O’Malley was the head of the Irish Mob in Boston, answering only to our cousin, Brian Buchannon, who ran the IRA in Ireland. It took a lot to put the look my brother had on his face there. I’d only seen it a few times.
When Darcy left, followed by his mother, Kathleen, and his stepfather and little brother, Declan. And then again when Kathleen and Curran were killed.
I grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. Closing the door, I led him to the kitchen table and grabbed the whiskey from the counter. It might only be ten in the morning, but it was afternoon in Ireland.
I slid the glass across the table and poured another for myself. Then, sitting down in the chair next to Sal, I waited.
“I have a son.”
My eyes bulged out of my head as I lifted the glass and took a healthy sip. Of all the things he could have said, that wasn’t even in the realm of possibility.
His hand spun the glass, but he never lifted it. I was afraid to speak. I had so many questions, but where would I start? Instead, I took another sip.
Sal looked up at me, tears in his eyes. I was the only person he let see him when he was vulnerable. He was my best friend, even if I couldn’t tell him my secrets.
“Darcy left because she was pregnant. She moved south with my mother, gave birth to my son and then left him.”
“Kingston?” I asked.
Kathleen and Curran had moved away when Sal was seventeen. Declan had been twelve, and they’d taken him with them. The story was, he’d been offered a job he couldn’t pass up.
It had devastated Sal when she moved away. And he wasn’t the only one. Kathleen had been a second mom to me. She and my mother were close. They’d made a choice to raise us together, forging a sibling bond despite them both being cast off by our father.
Sal nodded and finally lifted the glass to his lips. I stared at him as he drank the contents of the glass and set it down empty. Without a word, I picked up the bottle, pouring another round.
I sat with my brother all afternoon as he told me about his son. About Declan and Maureen. I was happy she was happy, but I was angry at Declan and Kathleen.
And Darcy. Wherever the fuck she was.
I could only hope Sal would forgive me. I knew he’d never stop loving me, but given what Darcy had done to him, this might be the one thing that could drive a wedge between us.
The house was cold and empty when I returned. I knew Maddie wouldn’t be home tonight. She’d likely stay with Duncan and Freyja.
I liked Freyja. She was a little crazy, but she was good for Duncan. He put his life on hold after Darcy left. Focused everything he had on the family and working for Eamon, and then with Sal.
He deserved some happiness. And there was no question that Freyja made him happy. Just watching the two of them together made me smile. It also left a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
