Page 16 of Honorable Sins

Dismissing Nooly without another word, I follow her.

We all climb into one of the armored SUVs. It has been modified for family travel with a bench seat directly behind the front seats, facing toward the tailgate. Two cabin seats face forward opposite with three feet of reinforced cargo space behind, making even a rearend collision relatively safe for the occupants.

When we travel as a family, I drive and Kara rides in the back with the littles. Fitz rides in the front passenger seat, watching for potential trouble.

At twelve, he has better instincts than a lot of our soldiers.

Right now, Fitz and Sadie take the bench seat while Kara and I sit in the captain's chairs.

"Do you want to wait to talk about all this until your mom is with us at the mansion?" Kara asks Sadie with that gentle, caring voice my wife has.

Sadie shakes her head vehemently. "I don't want her to know. It's hard enough…"

She stops talking, leaving what's hard enough unsaid, but I'm starting to get a picture.

"You're Troy Gallagher's daughter, aren't you?" I ask her.

Fear washing over her features, she nods.

Troy Gallagher was a rat, and I killed him for it six years ago. Is that why she's afraid? Does she know who and what I am? Not only underboss but executioner when necessary.

No way should she, but kids can be arseholes and if Kenny Jr. knows Gallagher was a rat, he's probably taunted her with it.

"Kenny and his stupid friends are mean to Sadie because of who her dad was," Fitz informs me, confirming my suspicions.

Kenneth Shaughnessy is thick as a bleedin' plank, acting the maggot around his son, letting Kenny Jr. overhear shite he shouldn't.

"They used to only say really mean things to me, call me names and stuff, but lately…" This time her voice trails off into a quiet sob.

Feckin' hell.

Fitz takes up the story. "They touch her, da. Places no boy should touch a girl without her permission."

I know exactly what places my son is talking about because I taught him to show respect.

"Today, th…they…" Again the girl can't go on for her tears.

"They dragged her into the boy's locker room during lunch and they were trying to get her clothes off when I heard her scream."

I don't ask what my son was doing in the locker room during lunch. It doesn't matter. What matters is what those four miserable little feckers were doing.

"Kenny said if her ma could be a whore for his dad, she could be a whore for him. That's when I hit him the first time."

And then my son, who has been training in hand-to-hand combat since he could walk, took apart the other three boys.

I nod my approval.

"My m-m-mom's n-not a whore!" Sadie yells.

"Even if she chose to be a paid sex worker, that wouldn't make you one, or her undeserving of respect," Kara says firmly.

I stare at my wife. I may be a sociopath, but even I realize now is not the time for a lecture on slut shaming.

But Fitz doesn't agree. Offering his hand to Sadie, he says, "Slut shaming is for losers."

Sadie puts her smaller hand in Fitz's and doesn't pull away when he clasps it. "I know, but that's not how Mr. Shaughnessy thinks. My mom hates going to work." Sadie bites her lip. "Just like I hate going to school."

That's going to change for both of them.