Page 69 of Honorable Sins

"My husband had nothing to do with what happened at school."

"I wasn't asking about school."

Confusion flashes across her face. "What do you mean?"

"I asked whether Kenny Jr. learned his values from his father."

"Oh." She laughs, as though I'd asked something faintly ridiculous. "Kenneth hardly sees him. He's always working."

"He sees him enough," Áine mutters.

Allison frowns and shakes her head like she's trying to clear it, then appeals to me again, "I'm the one being punished. You have to see that. You're a mother too."

"Your son was taken to Urgent Care with a broken arm." I keep my tone conversational. "You never left the house."

"How do you know I didn't?" The question is out before she can catch herself. Then she slowly turns toward Áine. "You," she accuses. "You had no right to talk about me. I'm your employer."

"Were my employer," Áine corrects, unperturbed and unimpressed.

"I made sure he was looked after," Allison says to me, her tone pleading.

Áine asks, "Did you?"

Allison straightens. "Of course I did. I called his father and told him to collect our son from Urgent Care. You heard me make the call."

"I did," Áine agrees. "I also saw you return your attention to the dinner party you were hosting right after. You never called Kenneth to ask how Kenny Jr. was doing. You didn't call your son at all."

"Kenneth called me, but you were already gone," Allison says triumphantly.

Áine shakes her head. "Your son was injured and you chose inspecting the canapés over seeing him. When I found out my daughter was in trouble, I was willing to quit my job to go to her."

Allison recoils knocking her glass of tea over. "That's unfair. I have responsibilities a person like you couldn't begin to understand."

She doesn't even notice her spilled drink; she definitely doesn't need any more of it.

I wave at one of the security men and gesture at the spilled tea.

"Your son assaulted my daughter and I'm furious with him." Áine's voice is firm as she sets her own glass down with deliberate care that has nothing to do with a drug's effects and everything to do with controlling her anger. "But I still think he deserved for his parents to show up when he was hurt."

"Who are you…" Allison's voice peters out and then she rallies. "Who are you to judge me? You're a maid!"

"I'm a mother and not that it matters, but I'm no longer a maid. I'm an accountant at the company your husband lost control of, or is that something else Kenneth kept from you?"

I'm impressed. Despite her obvious rage at the other woman and the circumstances Allison wants to dismiss so easily, Áine remembers why we're here.

"I don't know what you are talking about. My husband owns several companies. Even Brogan and Mick can't just take them away."

"Wrong." I wait as the newly arrived maid cleans up the spilled tea and places a new glass in front of Allison before leaving.

I fill it with tea. "Your husband was given oversight over several companies by my father when he made him a lieutenant, but they all fall under our family's parent company, Shaughnessy Corp."

Allison rolls her eyes. Something I'm pretty sure she wouldn’t do if she wasn't under the drug's influence. "Exactly. The Shaughnessy Corp. My husband is a Shaughnessy."

Is Allison really that clueless about business?

"So are hundreds of other people in New York, but your husband has no material interest in Shaughnessy Corp. He worked for my father. He isn't a partner or a shareholder," I spell out.

"But that can't be right. He said…" She shakes her head again, but her eyes remain hazy.