Reilan stands beside me. We're both quiet for a long moment, just listening to the sound of Father breathing.
Then Reilan breaks the silence.
"We found out who's coordinating the attacks." He keeps his voice low. "Viktor Tarasov."
The name means nothing to me. I wait for him to continue.
Reilan moves closer. "He's Russian Bratva. And he's tied to the Murphys."
Horror floods through me. "You think the Murphys had a hand in this? In shooting Father?"
"No." Reilan shakes his head quickly. "Not the Murphys. But Jason Murphy, William's brother. His wife is Kira Tarasova. Viktor Tarasov is her uncle."
I process that. Jason Murphy married into a Russian Bratva family.
"Our people intercepted phone communications," Reilan continues."Russian conversations about the attack on Father. Viktor Tarasov's name kept coming up. We traced the calls back to Eastern Europe."
I lean back in the chair, processing. A Russian coordinating attacks against Irish families.
"Worse than that." Reilan's voice drops even lower. "He has inside intelligence. Someone close to us is feeding him information."
"A mole."
"A mole," Reilan confirms. "Someone who knew Father would be at that house last night. Someone in our inner circle who knows our movements, our meetings. The attack timing is too precise. It's not luck. It's coordination."
My mind races. Who? Who would betray us like this?
"Do we know who it is?"
"Not yet. But it's someone trusted." Reilan's voice drops even lower. "Someone in one of the families."
Murphy. O'Rourke. O'Reagan. O'Hanlon. The Irish families.
One of us is betraying the others.
I look at Father lying in that hospital bed, unconscious and vulnerable, nearly killed by a coordinated attack that someone on the inside made possible.
"How many people know about this?"
"Just our intelligence team. And now you." Reilan watches me carefully. "Father would want us to keep this quiet. Use it as leverage. Let the Murphys fumble in the dark while we stay ahead."
It's exactly what Father would do. Strategic and cold.
Keep the advantage. Survive.
But I think about William standing in that bedroom, asking how I am. Apologizing for leaving me alone. Showing me vulnerability before hardening back into the man everyone expects him to be.
I think about the mole. About someone close to all of us, feeding information to Viktor Tarasov, planning our destruction from the inside.
"We can't keep this to ourselves," I say.
Reilan stares at me. "What?"
"We need to tell the Murphys. Tell William."
"Aoife…"
"Someone is betraying all of us, Reilan. Not just the O'Rourkes. The Murphys, the O'Reagans, everyone. If we don't share intelligence, if we don't actually work together, Volkov picks us off one by one."
