“Everything Da never gave me.” Con shoved a heap of cereal into his mouth.
“Which was? You were his fucking favorite,” I pointed out, bewildered.
“Con and I used to talk, didn’t we?” Paddy rasped.
“We did. About everything and anything. You were the only one who got me, Paddy. But you left me.” Con’s brow furrowed. “How could you do that?”
“Your da wasn’t wrong, Conor. I was never any good at the Firm. I fucked up all the time, and that was the final straw. When my life was on the line, I guess I took my chance.”
“And left me behind.” Kid’s voice wasn’t plaintive, just matter of fact. He squinted at him, malice in his eyes, as he declared, “You’re a piece of shit godfather and an even worse dad.”
“Fucking hell, Con, that’s hard,” I bit off, shooting our uncle a glance.
Though Paddy had blanched, Conor merely said, “You can say that knowing he left Jen behind?”
I hissed.
Fuck.
I’d forgotten about Jen and her ties to us.
She was an O’Donnelly.
“What a clusterfuck,” I muttered. “Did you know you had a daughter?”
Paddy frowned. “Shut up. I don’t have a girl. I got Liam. He look like a girl to you?” He straightened up. “I know I’m a piece of shit godfather, Con, but there’s still time to make it right, ain’t there?”
“Why? What do you want?” he sniped.
“Finn said you’d help Liam with some funds of his that were stolen, but that’s for him. Not me. I won’t see a dime.” He raised his hands. “I missed you, little fecker. So many times I wanted to pick up the phone and call you, but I—”
“Didn’t. You know I can keep a secret,” Conor ground out. “You know I fucking can. Why would you keep that from me?”
“Because of all the shit that went with it! I knew what would happen. You’d want to come live with me—”
My brows rose at that. “What?”
Paddy sighed. “Con always wanted to come and stay with me.”
“Because you got me,” Con said, his tone pained. “You accepted me.”
“I don’t get it. Senior accepted you.”
“Da thinks I’m a fucking machine. He treats me like I’m an iPhone,” was Conor’s bitter response. “Need to bug an office? Send Con in. Need a program that’ll protect the family homes? Doesn’t matter that I fucking hate coding security programs, nope, Conor’ll do it.
“Want to record every single soldier in our Firm? Con will trawl through the millions of recorded minutes.” Then, pointedly, he snarked, “Want to get money out of someone’s account because they stole it from you? Con will get it back.”
I blinked. “Shit.”
“You think I want any of that?” Kid rasped. “I’m his fucking monkey, Finn. He makes me dance.”
Shoving a hand through my hair, I stepped back and plunked my ass on a stool. “I just thought you liked doing that shit.”
“I got used to it. I didn’t have much choice.” He grunted. “It’s okay. I accepted that’s my lot, and I’m fucking good at it. I never thought about complaining either because what was the use?” He jabbed his spoon in our uncle’s direction. “But he’s the reminder I didn’t need.”
“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a relationship with Paddy. This is a second chance for both of you.”
“I’d like that,” Paddy said. “I missed you, Con.”
He tipped his chin up. “What about Jen?”
“Who the fuck is Jen?”
Conor narrowed his eyes. “Your daughter.”
“I ain’t got no daughter,” Paddy sniped.
“You do,” I said softly. “It’s been confirmed several times.”
“Who the fuck is this Jen?” His bewilderment was genuine—I’d tortured enough men to know the difference between candor and bullshit.
“Jennifer MacNeill. Her mom’s name is Diana.” Conor bit off, “Don’t make out like you don’t know her. You put her up in one of the buildings over on 35th.”
“Diana MacNeill?” His face scrunched up in confusion, but slowly, it cleared. “She had a kid?”
“Yeah, she did. And she wasn’t raised right, neither.” Con slurped up some milk from his bowl. “That’s on you.”
“I didn’t know she had a kid,” Paddy whispered, staggering over to join me at the kitchen counter. “I got a daughter?”
“You do,” I confirmed, shooting him a look, curious as to what he’d feel about this.
His eyes rounded. “I got a little girl?”
“Yes,” Conor snapped. “Which part aren’t you understanding?”
I glared at Kid. “Leave him be, Con. I think he’s glad.”
Paddy’s mouth worked. “Does she know I’m her dad?”
Scrubbing my hand over my hair, I admitted, “She does. You know when you came to my place?”
“Yeah.”
“Jen was the friend with Aoife in the kitchen.”
He cringed. “She knew I was there?”
“Yeah. Aoife would have told her.”
“She didn’t want to meet me,” he said mournfully. It wasn’t a question.
Conor, eating his cereal with more aggression than was warranted, watched Paddy with eagle eyes, scanning him for truths and lies.
I figured that our uncle had shocked him. His response was unexpected.
Conor, for whatever reason, liked the unexpected.
And maybe it was wishful thinking, but that gave me hope for them.
It really did.
Savannah: Holy shit, you should have seen the Aidans today.
Aoife: Why? What happened?
Savannah: Look at you low key trying to bullshit the bullshitter. You and I both know it’s the first Sunday you haven’t come to eat at the compound since Paddy pulled a Lazarus.
Aoife: I’m not in the mood for this, Savannah.
Savannah: You don’t have to be. I’m telling the story. You just have to read. And trust me when I tell you it was beyond sexy.
Aoife: Sexy?
Savannah: Yeah. My man butted heads with Aidan O’Donnelly Sr.
Savannah: I thought I was going to come.
Aoife: LMAO.
Aoife: Well, I can tell you now… I didn’t expect this convo.
Savannah: I’m not sure what Finn said to Senior when he told him you guys weren’t coming to eat with them anymore, but it riled him up something fierce.
Savannah: Aidan was all, ‘Finn’s a grown man. If he doesn’t want to eat dinner with us, then he doesn’t have to.’ And trust me, this is the PG version.
Aoife: Can’t imagine that went down well.
Savannah: No. Like a lead balloon. God, my man’s hot.
Aoife: You really get off on this mobster stuff?
Savannah: Oh, yeah. It’s better than porn to me.
Aoife: Well, that’s TMI.
Savannah: You’re friends with Jen. Don’t lie to me about TMI. She’s the queen of it.
Savannah: Whether you like it or not, and are pissed at me or not about betraying Jen, we’re gonna be in each other’s lives, Aoife. I’d prefer to be friends, wouldn’t you? And friends share things.