Page 65 of Honorable Sins

I ignore him and fix my gaze on the board. "In that case, I expect you to remove him."

I don't threaten a withdrawal of financial support. I don't mention my father's influence in the diocese. I have no intention of mentioning what Mick will do if they refuse to act to protect his son and a little girl my husband gave his word to too.

I don't need to. While many of the parents in this room are unaware of how far reaching our influence is, the board members are not.

The chair exchanges a long look with the other members. One by one, they nod.

The chair stands. "Principal Bentley." His voice is heavy. "Effective immediately, you are placed on administrative leave pending termination proceedings."

Bentley's face goes slack. "You can't—"

"If you read school board policy," the chair says with no little irony. "You'll find that we can."

Another board member speaks. "And we will."

The chair looks toward JoAnn. "Ms. Young, Until a permanent replacement is selected, the board requests that you serve as interim principal."

JoAnn blinks and then looks at me.

This cannot come as a total shock to her. She had to realize Mick telling Mark to resign wasn't a waste of hot air.

She blinks again and then nods. "On the condition that I am allowed to take immediate action to rectify the mistakes of my predecessor."

The motion passes unanimously.

Over the meeting entirely, Mick stands and pulls me from the room. When we're in the car, he slides his hand into mine.

Our fingers lock together.

"You did good, mo chuisle."

"I finished what our son started."

"I still think you should let me kill him."

"It's enough he'll never work in education again." I'll make sure of that too.

If Wraith and the tech genius on his crew hasn't already.

Chapter sixteen

Spill the Tea

KARA

I set Allison's glass onto the table on the terrace overlooking the bay. Three glasses. One pitcher of iced tea. Lemon shortbread our cook insisted no one could resist.

And a thin, invisible coating of the Triad interrogation compound lining the inside of Allison's crystal tumbler.

Since drug assisted interrogation is more his skillset than mine, Mick reviewed the dosage before I prepared the glass. Six years ago, we were a husband and wife learning how to love each other. Today we're one unit, parents of four amazing kids and we're building both a criminal and legitimate empire together.

The door to the terrace opens and Áine steps outside, her 50s inspired summer dress doing great things for her curvy figure. Some would call her voluptuous. I bet Wraith calls her addictive, just like Mick does me.

I've seen the way Wraith devours Áine's curves with his eyes. Áine might have started as a project for his tarnished knight complex, but if I don't miss my guess, she's going to become the one person he can't live without.

If she isn't that already.

"Hey, Mrs. Veseli," I stress her new name. "Are you doing okay?"