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At the last meeting I’d gone to with my dad, one of his lieutenants—Hank, who was now dead—had threatened a shot-caller for not making his quota. It had turned into an all-out brawl. That was the moment I’d realized I never wanted to be the boss of these buffoons.
It was a dead dream because here I was, seated at the head of a large rectangular table, listening to Finn, one of my lieutenants, call out two of Lorcan’s—a shot-caller—enforcers for not doing their job and kneecapping someone for nonpayment.
“You’re fuckin’ crazy, Finn. Jimmy is paralyzed, feels nothing below the waist. Why would I have Brody or Arthur ineffectively break the legs of someone who can’t use ’em?” He stubbed out his cigarette rather aggressively. “I do my job; my guys do their jobs. Maybe mind your business. If you’re bored, go fuck something.”
Finn picked up an ashtray and was about to toss it at Lorcan’s head, so I stood.
“Enough!” I shouted, a headache beginning to form behind my eyes.
“Finn, he makes a good argument. The punishment would have been for nothing. Lorcan, how’d you end it with Jimmy?”
“Brody took his wheelchair. Told him if he don’t get us the money in two days, we torch it along with his store…and he’ll be in it.”
“Seems fair.” Uncle Sean shrugged. “Give it forty-eight hours.” He directed his attention to Finn. “Think smarter, not harder.”
“I agree.” I cocked my head at Lorcan and asked, “Why’d you send enforcers to deal with Jimmy and not one of your soldiers?”
“They had collections, and Patrick and Oran had gone to the deli twice already. Figured he needed a scare.”
Logical, even if thinking about a paraplegic without a wheelchair made me want to puke.
“You’re becoming weak.” Finn sat back down, shaking his head.
“Fuck you.” Lorcan leaned across the table. “Wanna wake up on fire, shitbag?”
“Hey!” I pushed Lorcan’s shoulder, so his ass hit the seat. “Respect.”
“Come on, Boss. Because he’s higher up, I get none and he gets it all?” Lorcan huffed. “Bullshit.”
I didn’t get a chance to respond because Sean turned and punched Lorcan square in the jaw, toppling him, chair and all, to the floor.
“That’s the boss you’re talkin’ to!” Sean loomed over a bleeding Lorcan. “Learn your place or lose your life.”
This was the violence I could never be part of. If it weren’t for my uncle Sean, I’d likely already be dead. I never retaliated like he did, and I found myself wondering why he couldn’t take over in my place.
Lorcan glared at my uncle for a moment, then slowly rose and nodded to Finn and me. “Sorry.”
“Is there any other business we need to discuss?” I made sure to meet every eye in the room. I was exhausted, my feet ached, and my spine felt as if it were going to crumble, but I’d show no sign I was hurting.
“There’s a property for sale between Norport and Danford,” Hugh, the shot-caller for section three, Norport, said. “Rory and I think it’d make a nice club, good revenue, and we’d split it fifty-fifty.”
Rory nodded when I looked at him. “What’s it selling for?”
“It’s three thousand square feet selling at one fifty.” Rory lit a cigarette.
Finn was my lieutenant and advisor regarding money, so I deferred to him.
“It can be done. You each get fifty-fifty, but you kick up percentages as you would all your properties, got it?”
They agreed and made arrangements to figure it all out.
“If we’re done here, Uncle Sean, I need to speak with you privately.”
They all cleared out and once the door was closed and Aiden was on the other side, making sure nobody inadvertently entered, I tried to speak first but Sean beat me to it.
“Before you start, Fred, is this about Aine?”
I sighed and nodded. “Aiden heard the lieutenants talking about how her presence is causing problems. I know I made a promise that I could get her to the top, but it’s been three years, and they aren’t budging. Hell, they’re getting angrier.”
