“The second you told me about that amped up taser, I warned you this would happen.”
Aidan huffed. “What in particular?”
“I’m sending you a link. That should explain everything.”
“Want me to stay on the line?”
“Yeah.” I sent him the link to the stream then listened as he sucked in a sharp breath.
“Jesus. Michael looks…”
“Like Chucky has been gnawing on him?”
“I was going to say like Freddy and Jason decided to team up.”
“Exactly.”
Neither of us were strangers to the darker aspects of the job; Kid wasn’t either. I was averse to wetwork, Kid too, but that was because he just had a fucking way of doing shit that felt wrong.
I knew for a fact that neither of us had done anything like this for years. It was crazy to me that we’d both fallen off the wagon within a couple weeks of each other.
It was this fucking world we lived in.
Toxic. So fucking toxic.
“Why’s he doing this to Michael? Conor doesn’t do stuff for shits and giggles.”
“Your ma asked him to.”
“Ma? What the fuck? Why would she ask him to do this to her favorite guard?”
“Because he isn’t her favorite guard anymore.” I heaved a sigh. “Look, I have to tell you something but I need you not to ask questions, just answer mine. Okay?”
“No fair.”
“Life ain’t fair. This is urgent, Aidan. I need you to agree to answer my questions.”
“I agree.” He grunted. “Fucker.”
“Aoife’s Father… he’s Alan Davidson. As in, POTUS.” I let that sink in, and even though Aidan was Aidan and was used to dealing with the fallout from his father—i.e. drama worse than with the Cold War—I knew this wouldn’t resonate quickly.
After a good couple minutes, where I felt the passage of each second like it was a year, Aidan grated out, “You’re not joking, are you?”
“No.”
“Okay. I have questions.” He growled under his breath. “For later. Fucker.”
“I’ll answer them. Later.” I rubbed my eyes. “Michael’s ECD.”
Aidan was silent a second. “You’re really ramming these secrets home today, aren’t you?”
“Sure am.”
“You sure he’s not one of those IRA assholes?”
“The ECD make the IRA look like teddy bears.”
More silence as he processed a goddamn cheile had been guarding his mother for years.
“I’ll kill him before the cancer does.”
I got it. I totally fucking did.
Feeling ancient, I hunched my shoulders and muttered, “You don’t need to worry about that. Conor’s on the case, remember? The difficult part is keeping him alive.
“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but Aoife and her mother were targeted for their ties to Alan Davidson.” I hesitated over the next part because I didn’t have it in me to talk about Lena killing Michelle to anyone other than Aoife today, so I just said, “Michelle was killed for it.”
“Jesus Christ, Finn, you know you sound like you’re a conspiracy theorist, don’t you?”
“Not my theory. Just what I’ve been told. Davidson confirmed it, Aidan. Look, that isn’t what this is about.” I sighed. “I just spoke with Davidson.”
“Got him on speed dial, do you?”
“Would if speed dial still existed.”
Aidan sniffed.
“He says his family owed the Five Points a president.” Aidan’s lack of response wasn’t reassuring. “You know anything about it?”
Considering Senior had been grooming him for the throne, I was praying he knew something.
“No.” I heard the sound of his fingers drumming. “You believe him?”
Jesus.
If Junior didn’t know, then this was much worse than I could have anticipated.
“Why would he lie?” I rumbled.
“I don’t know. You’re right. It’s not exactly something you lie about, is it? Not if you’re a president.” He hummed. “Why didn’t you ask Da yourself? After Christmas, he’d probably be willing to answer.”
“I didn’t want to talk to him.”
“Why not?”
I pursed my lips. “I just didn’t want to deal with him today.”
“Can’t blame you. I never want to fucking deal with him,” Aidan grumbled. “But he’s the one who’ll have answers. Not me.”
“Hoped you’d know something I didn’t.”
“He treats us equally. You know that.”
I did, actually.
Even before I’d known what I was to him, he’d always treated me like I was blood. It was what had made me believe him when he told me I was his son.
I didn’t need a paternity test, just had to realize that for years, I’d been kidding myself. Aidan Sr. didn’t have faith in me. He would never have trusted someone who wasn’t in the family with the secrets I knew.
“You’re his heir,” I rasped, finding myself in the weird position of wanting to comfort Aidan.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t it?” I rubbed the back of my neck.
“You having an existential crisis?”
“Maybe. I just… I’m sorry?”
“For what?”
Though I heard his confusion and knew it was genuine, I muttered, “For being born?”
Aidan snorted. “Get that shit out of your head. Thought we handled this at Christmas over the baptism by fire?”
My lips quirked as I thought about St. Patrick’s Church going up in flames. “I’m walking proof, I guess,” I mumbled, words waning.
“Proof that Da’s no angel?” He scoffed. “Like I needed proof. Finn, you and me, we were blood before I knew about Da’s wandering dick. I’d prefer for him to have cheated than for you not to exist at all and that’s the truth.
“Anyway, Ma donked him over the head as punishment, and only God knows what else during their marriage… She’ll have made him pay.”
Payback.
I’d kept Lena’s secret for years now, had protected her over Aoife, but I wasn’t perfect—I’d resented her. I’d resented her for what she’d done and what I’d had to do to keep my family together.
I hadn’t stopped loving her. Even though loyalty dictated I should. But our past made it impossible.
She’d taken me in when she didn’t have to, when I was nothing more than her son’s friend to her. Regardless, she’d brought me into the fold and had raised me like I was hers, never letting the difference between me and her kids shine through.
That wasn’t gratitude talking either, but the truth.
Those first few months, she’d fed me twice as much as the others. Had made sure I wore clothes as good as the rest. She hadn’t skimped or tried to make me feel like the poor relative...
How couldn't I love her for that?
Fuck, what a mess. Such a fucking mess.
“Finn? You there, bro?”
“Yeah. I’m here,” I rumbled tiredly.