Page 42 of Honorable Sins

I nod. "The Cosa Nostra doesn't use a corporate structure in their syndicate. There's no reason she has to know the job extends to our less than legal businesses."

"Will I ever be able to tell her I hold both roles?" Fiona asks me.

"Will you tell Róise?" I ask, naming the cousin married to the Genovese don, who is close as a sister to my wife and Fiona.

Fiona's face wrinkles in thought. "I don't know. Her first loyalty is to la famiglia now."

"She knows a lot about Cosa Nostra business that she doesn't tell us," Kara muses. "And vice versa for me with her and mob business."

"Do you think there's stuff she knows about our mob she hasn't shared with Miceli?" Fiona asks.

Kara shrugs. "Maybe, but I wouldn't risk telling her something I wouldn't want the Genovese don to know regardless."

"Me either," Fiona says with a nod. "That's how I'll handle the information I share with Zoey too, but if and until we marry, I'm not telling her about making my oath to the mob."

Conor says, "Fair enough."

The rest of my council nod their approval too.

"What about my role, boss?" Rory asks

"You’ll take over my weapons dealing including the rollout of higher production of the whisper guns."

Ultimately, we decided to start that venture with small numbers of bespoke whisper guns sold to select clients for an exorbitant price, maximizing our profit while maintaining control of the market. Six years later and no one has been able to feckin' back engineer the Vanta.

Now that Hex has developed sister models with specialized features, we are increasing our production of the basic Vanta and offering it without modifications to a bigger list of our clients.

"You’re in charge of all of it," I stress to Rory. "Consider yourself our Chief Procurement Officer for the syndicate."

Rory gives a sharp grin. "Nice! I’ll take that."

"Conor," I say, shifting my gaze, "you’ll be head enforcer. You’ll have oversight of all the family’s security teams, including mine and Kara’s, and the fixers attached to the legitimate companies. Think Chief Security Officer, but with a broader reach."

Conor nods once. "It'll be my honor."

"Good."

I let the silence stretch a beat. "The other lieutenants will remain in their positions." I pause. "Unless they stop being effective or loyal."

That earns a few smirks. They all know what happens to men who stop being loyal.

"With one exception," I continue. "Kenneth Shaughnessy."

Brice and Wraith's expressions harden.

Rory slides his newly cleaned gun back into its holster. "That guy is an entitled pain in the ass, but I'm gonna assume you've got a more concrete reason for retiring him."

"I do. He’s trying to undermine my position as the next boss." I run through a quick explanation of what Fitz told me about the shite Kenny Jr. has been spewing, what happened with Sadie yesterday and what we learned from Áine after her daughter was attacked.

Clearly furious, my top advisors all agree with Kara, Wraith and my assessment of what it all means.

Conor leans forward. "Why isn’t Brogan here? Kenneth’s his lieutenant."

"Brogan and Hope are in Santa Fe looking for a house," I answer. "I’ll brief him when there’s concrete evidence, or when he’s back. Whichever comes first. I called him this morning and told him about the attack on Sadie and the punishment we mean to dole out."

Brogan hadn't enjoyed being woken at four a.m. Santa Fe time, but he agreed with sending the boys involved to foster with allied mob families in Ireland, Chicago, Boston and Spain.

With the exception of Kenny Jr., we will assess each boy's progress after the first year and determine if he can return to his family of birth. Assuming their father's aren't part of Kenneth Shaughnessy's traitorous plans.