Page 89 of Dirty Legacy

“We’re trading blows. You know that. Your people kill my people, my people kill your people—“ I circle my fingers around each other. “Over and over until someone breaks.”

“More like until we both break.”

“Now you’re thinking.”

“My brothers.” Her nose wrinkles as she sips her coffee. “All they can see is the dishonor of our situation. Like you leaving me at the altar besmirched them and me somehow. Like we’re stained.”

“Men can think that way sometimes. We’re simple creatures.”

“You did not touch me, Connor Maguire. You made a choice, a stupid choice, but it says nothing about me. And yet my brothers don’t seem to get that.”

“Sounds like they should listen more often.”

“We’d all be better off.”

I reach into my jacket. She tenses, hand twitching toward her phone, but I only produce a manila folder filled with documents. “Here’s something you’ll find interesting.” I place it down beside her.

She doesn’t touch it. “What’s this?”

“My business WashCo’s been taking payments from a construction outfit you might be familiar with. These payments have been very quiet. So quiet that I didn’t even know about them until recently. I tasked my wife with auditing the books, thinking she might discover a line item or two, but instead⁠—“

Sinead drags the folder over and flips it open. “Marriage going well then, I take it?”

“We’re happy, thanks.”

“Good.” She looks up briefly. “I mean that. I assume you blew up both our lives for a reason, and I hope it was a good one. You care about her?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Love her?” She sounds surprised.

“For a while now, I think.”

“I never stood a chance then.” Her smile seems genuine, and I wonder what my life would be like if I had married Sinead Gallagher. With a woman like her at my side, what could I have become?

Anything. Everything. And yet none of it would’ve mattered.

Not when my angel’s in the world.

“There was something else too. My wife’s ex tried to blackmail her. And he got that idea after taking a lot of money from that same UBI company.”

Sinead’s nose wrinkles. “Fergus’s people. What kind of blackmail?”

“Photos of her. Sex material.”

“Bastards.” She taps a manicured nail against the page. “He’s been doing all this?”

“I’m taking it you didn’t know. And I bet that means your father and your other brothers didn’t know either. What’s Fergus after?”

“You. Me. Everything.” She snaps the folder closed. “I know what you’re doing.”

“What’s that?”

“Trying to play me against him. You want to divide us. You think that’s your only chance.”

I raise my cup. “How’s it working?”

She studies me, cold and calculating. A clever, strong woman, trapped in a family that doesn’t value her even half as much as it should.