I paused, leaning into the cool granite on the island, trying to peek at what she was cooking. The tiny woman spun, her gray-streaked, braided hair falling over her slender frame. Flames from the stove reflected in her hazel eyes as she narrowed them at me, her lips pursed.
“Kaelen, take a shower. You smell like the pigs after a rain.” She scowled, shaking a wooden spoon at me.
Aileen didn’t put up with my bullshite. She was the only one who could talk to me like that, and she knew it. Give her a gun, and I’d take her at my side over most of my men.
“Yes, ma’am,” I relented, running a hand over my beard.
“Once you wash up, I’ll bring supper up to your office. You want something sweet?” she asked, her voice warmer and more matronly.
Even as a kid, I always had a sweet tooth, and I was weak for Aileen’s apple cake. At least a few nights a week, I took a slice withmy whisky. Before I could respond, she waved me away, returning her attention to the pot on the stove.
“I’ll bring the cake,” she said, and I relaxed for the first time in days.
After my shower, I slipped into a white button-down, rolling the cuffs. I checked my cell as I sat in the leather chair behind my desk, looking for an update on Torin. My brother Liam was at the hospital with him, protecting his room in case the Italians acted out after they received the head of their man.
What I did was just in our world, and if Vittorio Rossi were smart, he would leave it alone. Based on Liam’s latest message, Torin was stable and expected to make a full recovery. I sent off a quick email to the CEO at Boston General, ensuring that all of Torin’s expenses would be covered by me.
I poured myself an overfull glass of whisky.
A knock echoed across the room, and I grumbled, surprised to see my other brother, Aidan, standing there instead of Aileen with my supper. His hazel eyes looked like Mum’s.
Sometimes, I swore her ghost visited us whenever I looked at him.
My brothers were both younger than me, Aidan sandwiched between me and Liam. Aidan was the steady one who always thought through every scenario. The calm to Liam’s storm.
Regardless, they were loyal and put family first, determined to solidify the Finnegan name in Boston. I trusted them with my life.
Aidan and Liam lived with me, staying in the other wing of our family estate. A few of my men also had residences on the premises—some of the single, most trustworthy ones, who handled protection details on the grounds if they wanted them.
When our Da passed away three years ago, I took over all operations for the Finnegan name at only thirty. We owned a string of legitimate pubs throughout Boston. They bolstered our more questionable line of underground casinos. After Ma passed, his alpha didn’t want to be without his mate.
He wanted to make something for our family here in Boston. But without his omega, he faded away, leaving me as the head of our family.
Aidan lowered himself into the chair on the other side of my desk, the gun in his jacket flashing under the sunlight streaming in through the window behind me. His expression was unreadable as he tried to decipher mine.
“What?” I snapped.
“How is Torin?” he asked, unaffected by my tone.
I schooled my features. It was interesting that he still liked to pretend Torin meant so little to him. Liam told me that Aidan hadn’t left his side, until today when the nurse kicked him out.
So be it. I’d play along until they were ready to open up about their relationship.
“Recovering. Expected to pull through,” I said. I swore I aged ten years in one day. “Has our gift been delivered to the Rossi residence?”
A half-smirk pushed against his cheeks as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his spread thighs.
“One decapitated head and a love note delivered.”
I nodded, swirling the amber liquid in my glass.
Initially, I assumed the reason for Aidan’s visit was that he wanted an update on Torin. Given that his arse was still planted in my chair, I suspected there was more to it. He usually spent his nights at our most popular casino, hidden in the secret tunnels under Fenway.
“What else?” I prodded, narrowing my eyes.
“Senator Sterling is outside, saying he wants to speak with you. Has an offer for you.”
I grumbled, and my lip twitched. Politicians. Slimy and backstabbing, the whole lot of them. At least with someone like Rossi, I knew what to expect. He would attack me from the front. Someone like Senator Sterling made my skin itch. They were brash enough to try something stupid.
