by KB Winters
But most of what Emmett said made sense. I knew the brothers saw me as weak. Ineffectual. I knew any one of them would stab me in the back to make a play for leadership over the organization. I had no doubts or illusions about that. The O’Brien Syndicate was a brotherhood—we took care of each other—but since Flynn had left, most of the guys were out for themselves. If someone saw a chance to better their own position—they’d take it in a heartbeat. Even if it meant stabbing me in the back, and maybe for some—especially if it meant stabbing me in the back.
Because I didn’t have the experience Emmett had in the gangster life, I had to take his word for it that taking a bold step like ordering Amon’s execution would raise my prestige and earn trust and respect from the brothers. It was entirely twisted to me, but then, I wasn’t part of this world. Not really. It operated by its own set of rules and codes.
It was a world I’d never completely fit in.
But it was the world I was saddled with for the time being. And if I didn’t want to meet a bad end, I was going to have to start playing by their rules whether I wanted to or not. If I didn’t, I was going to lose control of the whole organization, and give them every reason to flock to Amon and overthrow me. And if they overthrew me, I’d be face down in Lake Michigan with two in the back of my head.
I needed to strike first. Strike hard. And force the compliance of the brothers. If they saw that I could be every bit as ruthless as Flynn, perhaps they’d realize they had no play but to fall in line and learn to deal with the fact that I was their new boss.
It made sense on a logical level. I just didn’t know if I had it in me to do what so obviously needed to be done.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Maggie
As we sat in the restaurant things seemed normal for the most part, but I could tell Aidan was distracted. It wasn’t hard to see his mind was elsewhere. Not that I could blame him. After everything that had happened, it wasn’t surprising that he wasn’t entirely focused on me.
I was surprised when he asked me to dinner, and I told him I’d be fine if he wanted to just grab a pizza and relax, or if he just wanted some alone time that evening. But he said he wanted a bit of normalcy and happiness in his day, and he wanted to take me out.
I certainly wasn’t going to argue.
We were at a little Italian restaurant he knew about. It was a small, intimate, quiet place that obviously catered to the locals and others in-the-know. It had a quaint, kind of old-world feel to it—I could almost believe I was in some old Italian mother’s kitchen. And the aromas that saturated the air made my mouth water.
The waitress stopped by our table and gave Aidan a wide, approving smile before turning to me. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“A glass of merlot, please,” I said.
The waitress nodded. “And you, sir?”
“Club soda, please,” Aidan said.
I looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. Not that he was a heavy drinker, but I knew he liked to have a drink most nights. When the waitress left to get our drinks, I gave him a small smile.
“Club soda?”
He shrugged and grinned at me. “What, you’re going to be upset with me for not getting sauced?”
“Not at all,” I replied. “Just surprised is all.”
“I met with Emmett today,” he said. “Probably had a couple more than I should have.”
“I was wondering why you didn’t come into the office.”
It worried me more than a little bit when he hadn’t come in, or even called to tell me he’d be out all day. That wasn’t like him. But given what we’d gone through, what he was going through, I wanted to cut him some slack and give him some space if he needed it. The last thing he needed was a clingy girlfriend.
He nodded. “Aye, had to figure some things out.”
“I can imagine,” I said. “Don’t worry though, the boys took very good care of me. Kept me entertained the entire day.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re making friends.”
“I am, thank you,” I said and flashed him a smile. “Thank you for the protective detail. I have to say, it was weird to have those two shadowing me at first, but I got used to them. And with Amon still out there, I felt safer with them around.”
He nodded. “Well, get used to having them around,” he said. “At least for a while. I’m going to have eyes on you every minute of the day until this thing gets sorted.”
The waitress came back and made eyes with Aidan while she took our orders. He either didn’t notice or chose to ignore her altogether—which, given the fact that she was absolutely gorgeous and made me feel terrible about myself in comparison—made me feel incredibly good.
She threw him a pout as she turned and walked away from the table with a very pronounced swish in her hips, no doubt, for Aidan’s benefit. All he did was sip his club soda and stare off into space. Hah! Like she ever had a chance.
“Want to talk about it?”
“There’s really not much to talk about,” he replied.
“I’m a lot of things, but a fool isn’t one of them. I can see your brain working so hard, there’s smoke pouring out of your ears.”
He gave me a rueful little grin. “Can’t ever put anything by you, can I?”
“Nope. And it’s best you learn that now.” I grinned and winked at him.
He sighed and took a sip of his club soda and then filled me in on everything he’d talked to Emmett about. I could tell he was absolutely disgusted by the idea of ordering somebody’s execution. That wasn’t Aidan at all. But I also knew in his role as head of the organization, he wasn’t going to always be able to act like the Aidan I’d always known. He was going to have to get his hands a little dirty. Do some things that were maybe a little less than tasteful—and illegal as hell.
I wasn’t sure what it said about me that this other side of Aidan—this more dangerous, bad boy side, not only didn’t bother me, but it actually turned me on.
I’d never been one for the bad boy types, but something about seeing Aidan in that role was incredibly appealing. Maybe because I knew deep down, he wasn’t. He had to put on the mask and be that for the benefit of others at the moment, but he truly wasn’t a bad boy.
“So, what are you going to do?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know yet, I mean, what Emmett said makes perfect sense. It’s perfectly logical and rational. I know I need to prove myself. And the organization needs to know they have a strong leader.”
He looked around to make sure we weren’t being overheard and pitched his voice low. “I don’t know if it’s the right way to go about it, but Emmett was right—it would not only get this prick off my back, it would also send a very strong message to the brothers.”
“And what message would that be?”
“That I am in control, and it would be wise for them to not cross me.”
He spoke with a quiet ferocity and intensity that was sexy as hell to me. Which was also too bad, knowing what sort of day he’d had and what kind of mood he was in, I highly doubted there was a night of passion in my future. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t still making me soak my panties.
I did my best to clear my head and push all carnal thoughts out. Right now, I needed to focus on helping him—not fucking him. Even if that meant simply listening to him, I was going to do what I could to help him through this. I imagined that it couldn’t be easy to find out you have a brother and then realize he was trying to kill you.
And if I were being entirely truthful, I wasn’t going to lose a wink of sleep over the idea of Aidan taking Amon out and removing him from this world entirely. Amon was a disgusting piece of filth and needed to be treated as such. Knowing he was dead and gone would make me sleep a lot easier at night.
“What I worry about, though,” Aidan said, “is that by doing this, I’d be sacrificing a piece of myself. My soul. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t worry about what you might think of me after the fact.”
> I gave him a small smile. “You don’t have to worry about that, Aidan,” I said. “I know that’s not you. I know it’s part of the job.”
His chuckle was dry and bitter. “That’s one way of putting it, I suppose.”
“Hey, I know you were reluctant to lead the syndicate in the first place. Given everything that’s happened with Flynn, and now Amon, you really have no choice in the matter. Not to offend you or anything, but you’re kind of in over your head with these sharks.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You know what I mean.” I swallowed a sip of Merlot and set the glass back down on the table. “Look what happened to Gerard. And he was good. Trained by the best. So, what Emmett suggested, that’s what you have to do. That’s what they do. That’s what they’ve done all their lives. This isn’t anything new or surprising. You’ve known these thugs all of your life. You’re just going to have to catch up with them.”
“And if I don’t do something to earn their respect and trust soon, I’m going to lose control of the organization. Emmett’s concerned that a lot of those men would rally behind Amon to take me out of power.”
“Do you think he’s right?”
Aidan nodded. “Aye. I think Emmett has the pulse of the organization,” I said. “I think he has a much better perspective on it than I do. I’m pretty sure that what he says, I can take as gospel.”
“Wonderful,” I replied, my tone less than enthusiastic.
He nodded. “Tell me about it.”
We sat in silence for a few moments, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Aidan’s plight was harrowing, and I had to wonder what ordering a hit on Amon would do to him mentally. He wasn’t a hit man. Hell, he wasn’t even a real mob boss. Aiden had constructed his life a certain way, operated by a certain code of ethics and morality that I’d always admired. But now, he was going to have to violate that code. Betray that morality. I was concerned about the destruction such act would cause. Would it chip away at his soul until he was no longer the man I’d fallen in love with? Or would he be able to cope with it better than I was giving him credit for?
I had no idea, to be honest. But I also knew he had to do something. I wasn’t stupid and knew that if he refused to act, he was going to have a full-scale mutiny on his hands. If he wanted to retain control of the syndicate and not get himself killed in the process, he was going to have to do some things he wouldn’t ordinarily do. Things that went against his principles.
“For whatever it’s worth, I think Emmett is right,” I spoke, finally breaking the tense silence that clouded the air between us.
“You think I should have Amon taken out?”
I took another sip of wine before speaking. “I don’t see that you have any other choice, babe.”
“There are always choices.”
I nodded. “True. But there are smart choices and choices that’ll get you killed. You know I’m not a big fan of that life—”
“Maybe not,” he chuckled, interrupting me, “but you certainly seem to have a knack for handling some of the stickier situations.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I laughed. “I am working my way to becoming an attorney, ya know.”
“I know. That’s why all of this scares me. We could both lose our licenses. Be disbarred. For what? Some feckin’ gangsters who don’t give a rat’s arse what happens to me or my family?”
“I understand, but this is real, Aidan. Amon is coming after you, and you need to get him before he gets you. This is about your survival, and I have a very vested interest in that.”
He sat back in his seat, a frown crossing his face. “I thought you’d try to talk me out of it. Maybe tell me to run or something.”
I scoffed. “I can tell you that if you want me to. I know you, and running isn’t your style. Have you ever ran from the courtroom? No. You don’t run. You’re a fighter, Aidan. You’ve never backed down from a challenge.”
“Maybe not, Mags, but I’ve never played in a game where the stakes are this high. If I lose this one, I’m as good as dead.”
The thought had crossed my mind more than a few times. Aidan was playing a dangerous game with very dangerous people. This wasn’t some gangster show on television, this was real life. The bullets and blood were real, and people really died. And for his sake, he needed to get the syndicate under control. His control. He needed every one of those pricks to fall in line and start doing what he said, if for no other reason than to make sure he stayed alive.
If one conniving bastard like Amon had to die to ensure Aidan’s safety, I’d pull the fucking trigger myself.
“Then it looks like you’re going to have to make sure this is a game you win.”
“I hope it’s that simple.”
“It’s not a matter of it being simple,” I said. “It’s a matter of it being a necessity. It’s you or him, Aidan. And I know in situations like this, I’m much more comfortable betting on you.”
He gave me a small smile. “I hope I don’t let ya down then.”
“You won’t, baby. You won’t.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Aidan
I stood at the head of the table in the back room of the Shamrock. All of my top lieutenants were there, crowded around the table, drinking, laughing and joking amongst themselves. And not a one of them, save Emmett and David, was paying the least damn bit of attention to me.
Which was about the biggest fuck you I could think of.
Clearly, I needed to make an impression on these fuckers. Emmett was right. They didn’t respect me. And while I didn’t think I needed to rule with an iron fist, I certainly needed to let them know where they were in the food chain—namely, below me.
I looked around the table, feeling my blood pressure rising as I watched them carrying on as if I wasn’t even there. And maybe to them, I wasn’t. That was part of the reason I called the meeting in the first place, I needed to grab their attention.
Emmett raised an eyebrow at me, obviously wondering what I was going to do. He knew this blatant disrespect couldn’t go unchecked and unchallenged. He’d warned me about it. And now, I was seeing it live and in person.
I picked up my glass of whiskey and drained it, grimacing as it burned its way down my throat, but enjoying the sensation. I stared down into the empty glass for a moment before rearing back and hurling it as hard as I could at the wall on the other side of the room.
The glass hit the wall with a sound like a gun going off and then exploded into a million fragments that rained down over the table and some of the men. It had the intended effect. All conversation ceased and all eyes turned to me, an expression of shock on most of their faces. It was almost as if they were seeing me for the first time, or like I was a ghost who’d just materialized out of thin air right in front of them.
I looked around the table slowly, meeting the eyes of each and every man there. A few looked away, some looked startled, and then there was Emmett, who was doing his level best to stifle a grin.
“I trust I have your feckin’ attention now, brothers?” I snapped.
A few of the men cleared their throats and others looked at their hands, but very few of them dared to meet my eyes. None of them dared to speak. There was an awkward silence in the room thicker than the pungent scent of stale cigarettes and alcohol—and just as oppressive.
“Good,” I said. “Now, for those who don’t know me, I’m Aidan O’Brien. The goddamn head of this organization.”
I looked around the table again, daring anybody to speak up or say a contradictory word. Nobody did.
“A lot has changed since Flynn left,” I said, “and a lot has stayed the same. What has not changed, is that somebody is here in leadership—namely, me—and you are all accountable to me.”
“No offense,” said Bryan, the one I expected the most trouble from. “But we don’t know you, mate. Why should we be accountable to you?”
“Because my father, Donal O’Brien, started this organization,” I replied. “Without h
im, none of you would be enjoying the perks of the life you currently do. Like you for instance, Bryan. Without the syndicate, I doubt you’d be driving an Escalade or fucking lingerie models.” I looked at the man sitting next to him. “Or you, Matthew. If you weren’t at this table right now, do you think you’d have that beautiful home out in the suburbs or that gorgeous little wife you have? Not to mention that sweet little nineteen-year-old nanny you’re banging on the side.”
What these clowns didn’t realize was that I was methodical and thorough. I hadn’t spent much time or energy on any of them before, but after my conversation with Emmett, I did my homework on each and every one of these cretins. I looked in every nook and cranny to find their secrets, unearthed their skeletons, and dug up any piece of dirt I could leverage against them.
It was a key aspect of my real job, and I was very, very good at my job.
Neither Matthew nor Bryan said a word to me. They wouldn’t even look at me. But I noticed, quite happily, the defiant and condescending expressions that were on their faces had evaporated. Score one for me.
“Right, I didn’t think so. And because my family founded this organization and in turn, provided you all with such glamorous lifestyles, you’re all accountable to the leader of the feckin’ O’Brien syndicate—you are accountable to me,” I said and leaned down on the table, giving them all a menacing glared. “Rest assured, gentlemen, everything you enjoy right now because of your association with this family can be taken away in the blink of an eye.”
The expressions ranged from shock to anger, but absent was the open defiance or casual indifference that had marked their faces before. I’d most definitely gotten their attention.
But I felt I needed to drive the point home just a bit deeper.
“Because I need not remind you, gentlemen, that you are guaranteed nothing,” I said, my voice low and menacing. “You work hard and serve well, you’ll be rewarded. You don’t, or you betray me—well, suffice it to say, your penance will be savage, brutal—feckin’ heinous. Don’t take my professional regard in handling situations in the past in light of my position as your feckin’ leader. You would all do well to remember that.”
