Page 40 of Honorable Sins

"I thought I had it handled. He's loyal, just a blowhard."

"A blowhard who raised a would be rapist."

Brogan takes exception to my blunt speech and starts shouting. I don't shout, but I make it clear what I expect to happen and Brogan agrees to the demotion and Wraith's promotion to Kenneth's place.

He doesn't have a choice. Like he said, I'll be boss soon enough. No sense forcing me to accelerate matters by refusing to do what's necessary.

Family, or no family.

Chapter eleven

Plans Change & a New Enemy

MICK

Brightly lit and utilitarian, the conference room in The Bunker smells faintly of coffee (expected) and gun oil (not so expected). I flick my gaze to where Rory is cleaning his weapon at the far end of the conference table.

"You couldn't have done that another time?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "I was busy."

"Not at work, you weren't." Brice folds his big body into one of the black leather and steel executive chairs surrounding the long conference table.

Rory, Brice, and Conor sit on one side of the table, their postures alert but relaxed. Kara sits at my right, Fiona at her right. Wraith comes in last, shoulders squared, expression unreadable.

I nod toward him. "Everything sorted?"

He called last night and explained the necessity of shifting the timing for his marriage a few days. His idea to take his fiancée, her mother and their daughters to Las Vegas where they will be overcome with the romance and get married spontaneously was a good one.

The updated version he called to inform me of early this morning is admittedly better. He's taking his new family to Disneyland where he will execute a surprise proposal and wedding.

It gets them out of town for a few days while his crew gathers intel on the Kenneth Shaughnessy situation, with the additional benefit of making the hasty marriage more believable to the outsiders we need buy-in from.

"You'll be able to sell it?" We aren't men that are big on romance.

Though I've learned how to be for Kara's sake, but her brand of romance isn't that of other women. Lucky for me.

Wraith nods. "She’s cranky about how fast we have to do it though and she's fretting over lying to her mom. I'm going to buy a house, but she wants me to move in with her and the girls to begin with."

"I can’t imagine why she's out of sorts." Kara’s lips twitch.

Wraith shrugs. "I'll make it work."

Kara rolls her eyes. "I was being sarcastic. Of course, she's cranky and reluctant to uproot her whole life for the sake of a mob she wants nothing to do with."

"She's not marrying him for the mob," I say. "She's doing it to protect herself and the girls."

Kara's smile for me is warm and filled with love. "I doubt she sees it that way. After all, that protection wouldn't be necessary if she was still ignorant of her husband's involvement in it."

"What's she talking about, boss?" Conor asks.

"I'll get to that. But first." I look each of my lieutenants in the eye and then Wraith.

He thinks he's here because of the part he's playing in circumventing Kenneth Shaughnessy's plans and the fact that his crew is tasked with gathering intel on the matter.

He's partly right.

I fold my hands on the table. "Brogan is stepping down early. Officially. He'll make the announcement at the Labor Day picnic."