Mob Bride (The O’Rourke Brotherhood #5)

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Shane

“Dillan, I’m telling you, I have a bad feeling about this. Bartlomiej is going to figure out what’s going on, and if I wait too much longer, I won’t be able to pull her out in time.”

“Why is this your responsibility? She was an agent long before she met you.”

I glower at my cousin and cross my arms as our gazes lock. We’re both equally stubborn, and neither of us wants to back down. I understand, as our mob boss, Dillan has to make responsible decisions that will be financially as well as politically advantageous. But I couldn’t give a flying shite about that right now. What I care about is the woman I’m falling for.

“Dillan, it’s our responsibility because I got her into this, and I know I can’t get her out alone. If Bartlomiej figures out she’s been with me or that she’s a DEA agent, she’s as good as dead. I don’t want that on my conscience, and I don’t want my opportunity for what you and Mair have to disappear. I want what everybody else has found, and I think Carrie’s the one I’ll have it with. How will I know if she’s dead? And even if that weren’t the case, she’s still Meredith’s daughter. We still have an obligation to them to protect Carrie.”

“What do you propose we do?” Finn intercedes as he walks over, the quiet voice of reason. I look at my older brother and shrug my shoulders.

“I don’t know yet, but it has to be something. I sense Bartlomiej isn’t the one who’ll act first. I believe Jacek knows more about what’s going on than he’s let on. Now that he’s out of the coma, he’ll tell Bartlomiej Carrie was the one who shot him. Once that happens, it’ll just be a slippery slope until he discovers the truth about her. There’s no way he’ll overlook it, and you know just as well as I do Bartlomiej doesn’t have the same boundaries we do. He will kill a woman, and he will kill Carrie.”

My twin puts his hand on my shoulder as he looks at Dillan before turning his gaze on me. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll get her out just fine. Give us some time to look into this and figure out how to work around her handlers. But are you sure if we do this, she’ll come willingly?”

That gives me pause. I know how I want to answer, but I can’t guarantee it’s the truth, and I can admit that much.

“I believe she will, even if it’s just temporarily to get her beyond Bartlomiej’s clutches, or even if she goes straight back to being an agent. I don’t believe she’ll give us up, and I don’t believe she’ll be a threat to us. I’m willing to take that risk.”

Seamus scoffs. “Of course you are. You’re half in love with her. But let’s think about this reasonably.”

I spin on my cousin. “Reasonably? How reasonable was it when you went down to Trenton with just Tiernan? How reasonable was it to stand up against the entire Trenton mob? They might be our bitches, but you were still there alone. Can you blame me for wanting to protect Carrie? At least I’m coming to the rest of you rather than trying to go out on my own to take care of it.”

I know my limitations. My temper is sorely tested right now, and I know I’ll push my brothers and cousins too hard in the wrong direction if I keep going. I need to rein in my temper if I want to convince them to help me.

“Look, I think Jacek is already informing Bartlomiej. I think if anything’s going to happen, it’s going to be within the next day or two. Her cover’s going to be blown, and I don’t know if she can get out of there in time. Bartlomiej will only dig his heels in deeper and hold on tighter if he thinks she’s a threat. He’ll isolate her from communicating with anybody outside his immediate circle, and he’ll tuck her away somewhere nobody can find her until he decides how he wants to kill her. Not if he wants to, but how he wants to.”

My voice grows louder with each word until I’m almost yelling at the end. Cormac comes to stand beside me as the only other bachelor left in the group.

“Look, we get it, Shane. Nobody’s saying no. We just need to figure out logistics. We need to buy ourselves some time to read the situation and determine how immediate the need to act is.”

I throw my hands up in exasperation. “I’m telling you it’s immediate now. Jacek is out of his coma. He’ll tell Bartlomiej she shot him. I also suspect Jacek’s been watching her more closely than she or I realized. It certainly was no coincidence he wound up on the same trail as us, and I think he’s had men tailing me as well as Carrie.”

“What makes you think that? Usually, you’re pretty good and have a sixth sense about those things.” Sean’s concern ripples through the air.

“I am. I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel like someone’s watching me. Every time I turn around, there’s a sense eyes or a camera are on me, but I never see it. If they’ve put together Carrie and I not only know each other, but are involved with each other, then we can count down the hours till Bartlomiej kills her. She needs to come with us, or at least get to her handlers. Either way, she needs to be pulled out.”

My phone vibrates in my pocket, so I reach in and mute it. This isn’t the time to get distracted.

“Look, are we at least agreed we’ll help her?” I direct that question back at Dillan as my phone goes off a second time. Just like before, I mute it.

“Of course we are. We won’t let her suffer alone. But how many resources we put into this is not something I’ve decided.”

I inhale a calming breath to keep from losing my shite. My phone vibrates a third time, and I pull it out to check to see who it is. Why the fuck is Misha calling me? I’ll deal with it later. I silence it once more and drop it back into my pocket.

“Something more interesting going on?” Finn juts his chin while looking down at my pocket.

“No, it was just Misha. Who knows why he was calling? He can wait.”

When my phone goes off again, I check. It’s Misha. He must really want something. When I slide down to look at the notifications, I realize all four calls have been from him. I hold up a finger to tell my cousins and brothers to wait a moment. I slide across my screen to answer.

“Misha—”

“I have Carrie here.”

“What? What do you mean you have Carrie? Where are you?” I look around at my relatives as my heart rate spikes.

“I’m at my house. She came running through the neighborhood, looking for someone to take her in. Bartlomiej’s men were after her. She’s here, and she’s safe. Kitty’s sitting with her in the living room, and they’re having tea together. She asked me to call you. She said you would know who she is and why it’s important you get to her.

“She’s my girlfriend. I’m coming right now.”

“That makes no sense because she denied being your girlfriend.”

“I highly doubt that, Misha. Even if she weren’t, she wouldn’t ask you to call me if we aren’t involved in a relationship.”

“Oh, she said you’re involved. She just won’t explain how. She said she won’t until you get here.”

“You’re damn right. Just keep her safe. We’re on our way.”

“We’re? Oh, the hell you are. Just you. You are not bringing your rabble-rousing family into my home.”

“If you didn’t have my girlfriend, and she wasn’t at your mercy, I’d tell you to fuck all the way off.”

“At my mercy? You insult me. You know I’m not the one who targets women and children.”

There’s a not-so-subtle dig at my family and our past over the last few years. Thanks to Uncle Donovan and Declan, our reputation for keeping women and children out of syndicate business is ruined. Thank God the other families at least recognize the sanctuary rule that’s become an unwritten law among us.

“I’m at Dillan’s house, so I’m just around the corner. Give me five minutes, not even. I’ll be there. Tell me right now, Misha, what condition is she in?”

“What do you mean? She’s fine. Why wouldn’t she be?”

I don’t answer that question. I just repeat myself.

“I’ll be there in five minutes.”

I glance over at Sean and Finn. Both nod.

“I’m coming with my brothers. The others will stay here at Dillan’s house.”

“All right. We’ll be expecting you.”

I’ve never bolted out of a door so fast as I do when I run out of Dillan’s house. I’m unlocking and starting my car as I cross the driveway. Sean and Finn are on my heels. We jump in my car. The guard at the gate barely gets it open in time for me not to ram through it.

I take the three turns until I get to the street Misha’s on. I honk, and the guy at their gate recognizes me. I’m forced to wait until Misha sticks his head out the door and gives his guard a signal. I pull into the driveway and park behind his car. I am already out of the car before the engine’s quiet. I dash to where Misha stands with the front door open.

I blow past him without a word until I see Carrie. She hears me come in and turns toward the noise. She’s out of her seat just as fast as I was out of Dillan’s front door. Then we’re rushing to each other. When she’s finally in my arms, I know I can breathe again. She wraps them around my neck, and I squeeze her against my body.

I keep my voice low as I talk. “ Cailín , tell me what happened. Did he hurt you?”

“No, Daddy. He didn’t have a chance to touch me. I haven’t seen him yet. It was Tymoteusz who came to my place and said Bartlomiej wanted to see me. I was supposed to be going there anyway for the trip. I knew what was coming when Tymoteusz walked into my room.”

“He did what?”

“He walked into my room.”

“He came into your apartment uninvited and then went into your bedroom?”

“Yes, but?—”

“No buts, cailín . I’m going to kill that fecker.” Even in high stress moments, my parents’ lessons are too deeply ingrained to forget not to swear in front of women and children.

“Misha already did.”

That stops me in my tracks. I look over my shoulder to where Misha and Kitty stand together. He has his arm wrapped around her shoulders, and her arm is around his waist. They’d be the picture of domestic tranquility if you didn’t know who Misha was or that Kitty’s family is involved with the Ivankov bratva’s rivals in Moscow. You wouldn’t guess she spent her entire life around the bratva and has a backbone of steel.

“Why’d you kill him?” I direct my question to Misha, and he smiles.

“Because your woman ran here asking for help, and he was in a car pointing a gun at her. Why else would I shoot him?”

I glance down at Carrie before looking back at Misha. “Thank you.” It’s the most gracious I can be right now.

What I want more than anything is to be alone with Carrie. I want to truly convince myself she’s safe. But I can’t do that. It’s not like I can take her into one of Misha’s bathrooms or bedrooms and fuck her into tomorrow. I settle for a kiss. Once it starts, neither of us wants to finish it. We don’t care who’s around us or who’s watching. My brothers are married and obviously Misha is too. They all love and lust after their wives.

They’re no different from how I am with Carrie. When we finally pull apart, our foreheads rest against each other before I lower her to her feet. I slide my hand into hers.

“Come, little one, let’s go.”

She follows my lead and once again I look at Misha. I dip my chin to him, acknowledging my appreciation. Even though just this morning we were at a meeting that nearly came to blows. Neither of the women needs to know that. My brothers and I nor Misha give away the conflict we barely resolved two hours ago. They wanted something we’ve kept from them, and we wanted something they’re hiding. We couldn’t come to a middle ground without going all Rambo on each other, so we kept the things that didn’t belong to us and called it even.

I guide Carrie out to the car. I toss the fob to Sean. He knows I want him to drive. Finn goes to the front passenger seat, and I hold the door open for Carrie to slide in. Once Sean’s backing out of the drive, I pull Carrie against me as tightly as I can. If I let go, she might disappear, and the thought I wouldn’t see her again is absolutely unbearable.

She whispers to me as her hand rests over my heart before she pats it.

“Daddy, I’m all right. Nothing happened to me.”

But as she speaks, her hand moves quicker, making me think she’s trying to reassure me when all I want is to see and feel she’s unharmed. When we return to Dillan’s house, I escort her in, but nobody says anything to us. I guide us directly up the stairs to the room that’s mine when I spend the night. Sometimes we have missions that run really late, or we have missions that start really early. It makes more sense for people to stay over at one of the married guy’s homes. Dillan’s house is just as big as Sean’s, Finn’s, and the one Seamus just bought with his bride. There’s space for all of us.

When we get to my room, I lead us in and close the door behind Carrie. Then we’re fused together again. I’m pushing her against the door, her hands raised over her head. I can’t get enough of her. I kiss her jaw, her throat, her chest, her shoulders, everything. My hands run over her, waiting to see if anything hurts.

“Shane, I’m okay. None of them touched me. Tymoteusz threatened to yank me out to the car by my hair, but he never touched me. He may have planned to do something with me once we got wherever we were going rather than letting Bartlomiej handle it. Until I ran, we rode in silence. When I recognized the neighborhood, I got out. I followed a car in when the community gate opened. Turns out that was Misha. I recognized him as I ran toward his driveway. I knew there was a good chance any house I stopped at would have some kind of syndicate connection, but it was an obvious choice once I recognized him.”

“I’m so glad you’re alright, cailín . Getting that call from Misha might have been the worst call I’ve ever had. Between knowing you were in his clutches and that you went there to seek sanctuary from Bartlomiej, I’ve never needed to get to someone faster than I did you. Just let me hold you, cailín .”

“I’m not going anywhere, Daddy. This is where I belong. This is where I want to be. Can we deal with the shitstorm that’s brewing in a few minutes? I don’t want to talk about this right now. I know we have to, but right now I just want to know I’m in your arms.”

“I want the same thing.”

I slide my hands up her shirt, pulling her bra down. I cup her tits and groan. It’s the most glorious feeling to have my fingers around these fleshy mounds.

“Take your shirt off.”

I give the command, and she responds immediately. She whips her shirt over her head, and I reach behind her to unfasten the clasp to her bra. That falls on the floor next.

Then it’s me unlacing her boots and pulling those off with her socks. She shimmies the pants and panties down her hips and legs. My hand immediately goes to her pussy and cups it.

“Never wear panties again, little one. When I want your pussy, I will have it. There’s no denying you’re mine because you ran to Misha to get to me. I’m telling you exactly what’s going to happen since you belong to me .”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Her response is breathy, and it makes my cock twitch. We know there’s a mix of truth and exaggeration in the dirty talk. I slide my fingers into her. She’s damp, but within seconds, her pussy’s flooded and ready for me to thrust into her.

“I’m going to make you come, cailín , more than once, but you will beg for each one.”

“Yes, Daddy, whatever you want. Just keep touching me, please.”

“You were prepared to go on that trip to Boston with him. You were going to share a hotel suite with him. It’s bad enough when you stay over at his house.”

The anger I feel so often when I think of Carrie and Bartlomiej returns, and jealousy fuels it into a raging fire.

“I’m supposed to accept my woman being with another man, even if it’s pretend. Even when I told you it was too dangerous.”

“I know, Shane. I want to be your woman, but you don’t have to worry about me spending time with Bartlomiej or anyone else in his family. They’ve made me. Jacek’s awake and told Bartlomiej I shot him, but it’s worse than that, Shane. There are photos.”

The dirty talk is done. My anger yields to fear, my jealousy morphs into possessiveness. I pull my hand from her pussy. Getting her off no longer tops our priority list.

“Daddy, there are photos of us at the lumberyard, outside the subway station, headed into my apartment. Pictures of you watching me speak to my handler and of us going into the warehouse. The most damning of all were the pictures taken of us when we stood outside the warehouse by our cars. All of it proves I’m not who I said I am. Bartlomiej doesn’t know which agency I’m with, but Jacek somehow found out I’m an agent. Obviously, they know about us. They think—or at least Jacek thinks—I might be a spy for your family. I don’t know what to do now because I have to admit to my handlers my cover’s blown. They’re going to want to know how and why. And then they’re going to want to know who I ran to rather than them.”

She runs her hand through her hair. Her fear matches mine, and I see it in her eyes. She called me Daddy when we’re intimate, and she’s called me that to reassure me. Now she’s using it because she needs the reassurance. I slide my arm around her waist and draw her closer.

“I don’t have a solid explanation because if I tell them I went to Misha’s, it’ll be my head on the chopping block since they’re my actual target. Shane, I think it’s time I tell you everything that’s going on.”

Exhaustion—the aftermath of her adrenalin surge—sets in as she sags against me. She needs me to take care of her more than she needs to tell me things that’ve already happened and can’t be changed. Whatever might happen can’t be stopped right this minute.

“I agree, but it doesn’t have to be right this second. We’re at Dillan’s, which means we’re safe. Let’s slow down for a moment and catch our breath.”

I lead her to the bed, and we perch on the edge. I kick off my shoes before inching back and holding my arms open to her. She climbs on and cuddles against me. I tell myself reality can wait because this is how it should be. This is what I want. But there’s a good chance I will never have this again because of whatever she explains to me.

I remember her telling her handler my family isn’t the next best target. But that won’t be her decision alone. Even without this falling apart, she wouldn’t be the next CI since someone could recognize her as Bartlomiej’s girlfriend. She won’t be on that case, so anything could happen.

I don’t want to ask her to quit her job. But that’s really the only way we can make this work. We both know that, even if neither one of us wanted to say it the other night. Now that’s doubly the case because she ran to one syndicate then another for protection.

We sit together and appreciate the silence for a little while as our mutual fear diminishes. She leans against me with her eyes closed, and I lean my head back against the headboard. I look down at her as I stroke her hair along her back. That’s more soothing to me than anything else. Just knowing she’s pressed against me and that she wanted my help—wanted me—is everything to me.

Eventually, we both feel calmer, and I know we can’t stay up here forever. We can’t avoid the conversation either.

“Carrie, I want to be prepared for whatever you tell my brothers and cousins. I’m sure it’ll shock me, but I don’t want to be blindsided in front of them.”

“All right, Shane. I’ll start from the beginning. I’ll tell you everything I know. Once I do this, there’s no going back. My career as an agent will be over. If I don’t get fired, then I’m going to have to quit.”

“Are you saying you choose me over your work?”

“Partly, but I won’t have any other choice. I’ve fucked over this investigation, and now I’m with you for protection. It will get around. If Jacek could discover our connection, then so will my handlers and the agency.”

She inhales so deeply her chest presses against my ribs.

“We’ve been studying the Poles for the last eighteen months, surveilling them and watching who they do business with. Some of it is with the Armenians, but most of it is with the Russians. They’ve been on pretty good terms, and the Russians employ a lot of the men from Bartlomiej’s community on their construction sites. But recently, the bratva has been branching out and trying to make peace with the Armenians. Bartlomiej discovered this. He tried to circumvent that relationship by swooping in to do the deal on those kilos the bratva was supposed to sell him. From there, he was going to reroute it through his organization, then sell the product at a markup to the Armenians.”

She takes another fortifying breath before she continues. This is the part she hates, and I know I’ll loathe hearing it.

“I needed a way in to discover all of this. Bartlomiej was always supposed to go down, but ultimately, my target has been the bratva. Since all the guys are married, except Sergei and Anton, there was no plausible way to start a relationship with them. It’s bound to be a matter of time before those two guys find women to marry, so there was no point to approaching them if this could have been an investigation that lasted over a year.”

That’s not the reason there’s no point. Just the opposite. A woman wouldn’t have been a roadblock.

“I embedded with Bartlomiej because I knew I could pretend to be the type of woman he wanted. Even though he tends to hook up with strippers, he likes the naiver ones. I was the perfect balance of naive good girl with enough backbone to help support his family. I was the type of woman you wife up, not fuck. So even though it took a lot of work to build his trust—enough for him to share things about the family he shouldn’t have—I was exactly what he needed. I became the woman he expected me to be. The kind he could take home to mom. It was all an act. It was something I knew I risked my life for. But we were certain he would lead us to the bratva, and he did. I blew my cover too soon for that to do us much good.”

“But what about Jacek? What about the night I met you?”

“Jacek has always been suspicious of everyone, especially women. He doesn’t trust them. He thinks they all have ulterior motives, and in my case, he wasn’t wrong. But I obviously couldn’t let anyone know that. I think part of it is he was jealous of Bartlomiej spending time with me he usually spent with Jacek. He certainly didn’t approve of Bartlomiej asking my opinions on things. It still amazes me Bartlomiej wanted my opinion and trusted it even when he thought I was so na?ve, unworldly, and innocent. It just proved how deeply I’d wormed my way into his life. The night you met me, Jacek attacked me because he thought I was spying for the Armenians. I had no contact with them.”

“What made him think that?” The Armenians feel like a stretch despite watching their deal blow up with the Poles.

“I don’t know. But he sensed something was going wrong with the bratva, and he couldn’t figure out what it was. He assumed it was the Armenians, since that was supposed to be their next deal. While Bartlomiej was out, his men grabbed me and pinned me to the floor at Bartlomiej’s house. There was nothing I could do once they had me on the floor. Each question or accusation earned me a punch or a kick. Each one was about my potential connections to another syndicate family. Obviously, I had nothing to say that would’ve been true, nor would I have given up anything true, which pissed him off. I had to balance my ability to defend myself with the persona I’d created. It would’ve ruined everything if I’d fought back too hard. It would’ve justified his suspicions, so I took most of it. But when he threatened to assault me, that’s when I obviously drew the line. I got away and ran.”

Tried to assault her? I’m going to cut off his cock and shove it up his own arse.

“I really didn’t know where I was going to end up. I didn’t plan to hide at a construction site, but they chased me as far as I could get. I kept my head down and hopped on the subway. I only got off in Manhattan because I feared I would pass out if I didn’t stop and find somewhere to hide. I wanted to go where he’d least suspect me, but that I could get to easily. I believe he had men on the same train as me, but they never approached me. Once I was outside, I could ditch them because it was so dark out.”

“And a construction site seemed like a safe place?”

“It wasn’t well lit, and there wouldn’t be people there. I didn’t think about triggering an alarm system for the entire property. I just saw a place that was dark and obscure, so I went for it. When Bartlomiej came back, he treated me with kid gloves, wanted me closer to him, and that allowed me to hear more details about his deal with the bratva.”

“That’s why you spent so much time there when you claimed it was for work.”

“It was for work, just not the kind I told you. There were things he wouldn’t explain that complicated the deal, but I pieced it together. He wanted to expand his network through the Russians to the Armenians. He tried to create friction between those two syndicates, so he could mediate, but we saw how well that went.”

“But why the bratva? Why were they your ultimate target?”

That’s the most pressing question. The one I want to know the answer to, but she hasn’t offered.

“We have intel they’ve been expanding farther into Eastern Europe, that they are increasing their exports to former Eastern Bloc nations. They’ve always had a presence there simply because they’re Russian, but now they’re using that more to their advantage and permeating more cities in more countries. Soon they’ll have an entire monopoly on most of the former Soviet Union. Like I said, I knew I couldn’t get into the bratva. The Poles were the next best option.”

I sit here in silence because I know the truth. It isn’t the bratva that’s becoming so pervasive. It’s my family who’s expanding into new markets there, and it’s pissing the Kutsenkos off. But even they don’t know the full extent of what we’re accomplishing. They’re stuck twiddling their thumbs.

I’m torn between whether I can tell Carrie the truth about my family. I want to, but she’s still an agent and despite how attracted we are to each other, we still don’t know each other very well. Until I can talk to my brothers and cousins about this, I’ll keep quiet on our involvement. I know silence is as good as an omission, and that can be as much as a lie. It might ruin things with Carrie because I’m not being forthcoming. However, family must always come first. It’s not just my life at stake, it’s everyone I love. I have to choose wisely, and I can’t make that choice alone.

Carrie’s hand pauses on my chest, and I know she realizes I’m deep in thought.

“Shane, we have to speak to your family. I have to tell them what I know, and that opens them up to even more risk because of my job, as well as knowing how things stand with the bratva.”

“That’s not a risk we’re unfamiliar with. It’s one our shoulders are broad enough to handle. You’re in greater danger now that Bartlomiej knows you’re a spy and an agent. It’ll only piss him off more when he discovers you ran to me. For now, he might think you went to Misha’s, and that you were a spy for the bratva all along. Then again, that would almost be a better lie for him to believe than for him to discover you’ve involved an entirely separate syndicate family.”

“I know. I have to tell my handlers they made me, and then they’ll have to pull me out and get me to a safe house.”

“I don’t like that idea at all, cailín . They can’t protect you there. They don’t know what they’re up against with Bartlomiej and Jacek. Bartlomiej can be reasonable like you know, but Jacek is crazy. He won’t stop until he has you, and that means he will take out your handlers as well as you. You need a place that has protection with people who actually know what they’re doing with syndicates. You might have studied the Poles, and the DEA may have come after us enough times, but they don’t truly understand the inner workings like a fellow syndicate member.”

“I don’t know where to go, Shane. My options are limited.”

I sit forward and look at her. “Your options aren’t limited, and you know exactly where you’re going. You know exactly who’s going to help you.”

“Thank you, Shane. I didn’t want to assume anything, and I don’t want to cause you or your family to get more attention from the government.”

“I know that, Carrie, but I told you I would protect you, and I meant it. If ever there was a time for me to prove it, it’s now.”

“Daddy, I don’t want you to feel like you have anything to prove. I don’t want you to feel like that’s how our relationship stands. That I’m only with you because of what you can do for me.”

Regret fills her voice, and she shifts, so she can lean against me more. Calling me Daddy tells me she needs more sheltering from the world than she realizes.

“I never thought that, Carrie. That never even crossed my mind. I’m with you because I want to be, but I know being with me brings more danger than you’re used to. It’s an entirely different danger from just going undercover. You went to a smaller syndicate. Their influence doesn’t stretch nearly as far as they would like to think. It means I have resources they don’t. There are only three other families that truly rival mine, and if the bratva has been your target all along, then you’re going to need my family’s help.”

“I thought they didn’t target women and children.”

“That’s true, but they will use all their resources to shut you down and keep your mission from succeeding. We have to plan for that.”

“Do you think I can still feed information to my handlers while I continue to rely on you? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, Daddy.”

“I don’t know either. It would be best if we speak to my family now and fill them in on what you’ve told me because they must be part of any decision we make.”

“I know. But I don’t see how you and I can work. I need to survive this, and I appreciate any help you and your family can give me, but they will never accept me because I’m only bringing all this trouble to your door.”

“This trouble exists regardless of you, cailín . You might be the one the most recent challenge, but you are not the cause of anything new. And as for accepting you, my family has a far more open mind than anybody realizes. None of the women who’ve married into this family recently come with uncomplicated pasts. It’s a challenge each time, so this won’t come as a surprise. They know you’re an agent and who you work for.”

“But whatever complicated relationship your brothers and cousins may have had, I guarantee none of those women worked for the federal government.”

“No, but one of them could bring the feds to our door, even though it wasn’t entirely intentional.”

Carrie’s eyebrows shoot straight up, and I see the shock. Somehow, she must not have heard about Dillan and his wife.

“Carrie, the mob boss married a woman who shared secrets about my family to the entire world. She discovered all of them from infiltrating us. It wasn’t intentional that the information went out, but she planned to disclose it all along.”

“Oh.”

That one word is all she says. It comes out with a puff of air. It proves that revelation stunned her.

She pulls away from me and scoots to the edge of the bed. I follow her. She gets dressed, and we head back downstairs.

“Off to the executioner.”

“It won’t be that bad, cailín .”

“My head’s bound to be on someone’s plate by tonight.”