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I snorted. “Jack only helped me to impress his guardian father and to make everyone think he was nice. Ben fell for it as well because Jack is a charming bastard. My ex-husband craves power more than any human joy. I’m sure he’s hoping to finally gain something from sucking up to the man responsible for his existence. So, no, I’ll not play Jack’s fool again and believe he’s reformed. Thirteen years of trusting him was enough. What I’ve discovered after I got released from prison has only made me hate him worse.”

“Is it true ya put a demon compulsion on him?”

“I did but Conn didn’t do it. Sure, he offered to do so, but I promised Conn that I would never ask that of him. Instead, I got a demon friend who felt she owed me a favor to do it. Then I had to bloody release him from it because I needed information only the old Jack had.”

Ezra lifted both hands in the air. “I’m sorry the man hurt ya so badly that ya carry such hate for him. I’m glad yer dislike of me is not as harsh. Would ya like me better if I assigned yer ex-husband to a job where he will die a terrible death? Unlike Ben, I have no desire to see the two of ya make peace. Based on what ya told me, the man doesn’t deserve yer forgiveness.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said with a chuckle, plopping down in the seat in front of Ben’s desk.

I wanted to joke with him about his offer to give Jack a dangerous job, but that would give Ezra a way back into my good graces. Trust did not easily to me come these days.

“If I wanted Jack Derringer dead, ya know I’d make him so. My daughter loves the bastard who fathered her and she’s a crier when she’s unhappy. My life is full enough of drama without having to deal with her mourning him.”

Ezra chuckled as he nodded. “Ya’ve matured, Aran, but it pleases me to know the wild witch part of ya remains. I applaud yer restraint.”

“Thank ya,” I said, tossing my paperwork for the second troll job on the desk. “Here is Ben’s beloved paperwork. I hope he left the checkbook. Ya can add this collection fee to the other. I need to be paid as soon as ya can get it done. I’m buying a house for cash this week and I’m not sure yet if I have enough.”

“Why are ya buying it in cash? Humans don’t pass property to each other that way. They like having each other in their debt.”

“I don’t love the place. I’m buying it for the investment. Plus, I have a cash partner. We’ll be fixing it up to sell in five years when my contract with Ben is up.”

Ezra laughed. “Ya could improve yer chances of making money on it with a spell that wouldn’t go against witch’s code. Why don’t ya use yer magick to help yerself?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Outside of paying a demon to put the compulsion on Jack, I rarely spend magick on selfish things. That’s why The Dagda chose me instead of my cousins. I don’t have much of the O’Malley greed.”

“Yes, I know. Ya’re the perfect heroine for the King of the Tuatha de Danann. Ya’re even legendary among my people. I got nothing but grief for wronging ya so badly that ya ran off and married a human. Even my family blamed me for the trouble ya ended up in.”

Jack had never been fully human, but I had believed he was. But that was none of Ezra’s business. “The only person who owns my mistakes is sitting in this chair. Why are being so nice to me, Ezra? I don’t need yer flattery. I know who I am.”

“Sure, but ya’ll hear my flowery words just the same,” Ezra said, adding my new folder to the other I’d given to Ben. “I’ll get both payments processed as soon as I can get them through accounting. If ya like, I’ll courier them to yer house.”

“We’ll be moving soon. Just call and I’ll come by. Thanks for hurrying them. If ya’re truly my stand-in boss, I need a work favor and it’s a big one.”

Ezra stopped shuffling papers and snorted. “And what would that big work favor entail?”

“I want ya to release the naked streaker troll. His name is Bo. Jayesh, the troll whisperer, should have spoken to him by now. If my plan for rehabilitating the troll works, Ben won’t have to pay to feed the tiger cats we confiscated from the animal breeder. All ya’ll have to deal with is the odd fox creature that needs to be shipped off and studied. It has a higher intelligence than it should have for a beast. I’m not a hundred percent sure it’s an animal.”

Ezra laughed. “Forget the fox, Aran. For quarantine reasons, we can’t ship it overseas so the creature will have to wait until some animal specialist from Dublin finds time to come over here and take a look.”

“Fine. What about Bo? If he gets into trouble again, I promise I’ll hunt him down and bring him back for free.”

“Are ya joking with me because ya’re still mad that Ben is gone? I can’t turn a prisoner loose simply because ya have some daft idea to turn a troll into a zookeeper. It’s a well-known fact that ya can’t reason with trolls. They’re primitive beings.”

“I’m not trying to reason with Bo. I want him to get married and share that massive appendage of his with a wife instead of all of Salem. If I help Bo woo the lady troll of his dreams, I think he will want to become my regular tiger cat handler. Having access to tiger cats would make him rich among his peopleandit would save the Shadow Breakers a bundle in not having to care for the ones we collect from criminals.”

“That bundle of money for animal care will be saved regardless because Ben had already placed an order to have the tiger cats euthanized.”

I shook my head. “We can’t kill them, Ezra. The Wu Shaman I work with is an animal lover and Conn is her bed partner. If Ben values his life, he’ll let me work this out another way. The woman fights demons for a living. Cursing Ben for life will be an hour’s worth of effort for her. His history with getting cursed isn’t great so hereallyneeds to let me deal with the tiger cats.”

Ezra froze before he burst out laughing. “Goddess, Aran, I missed ya something awful. Ireland wasn’t the same exciting place after ya left. I didn’t realize until then how much I relied on yer craziness to keep life interesting. Ya were my favorite work partner.”

I lifted my hands. “Ben thinks I’m brave but hasn’t learned the extent of my crazy yet. Reforming Bo was going to be his introduction to what I could accomplish without using one of my swords to get my point across. Since he’s gone, I’ll have to show him another time. So what do ya say about letting me experiment on Bo?”

Ezra stared hard at me without speaking. After a few minutes of that, he released the breath he was holding. “I would need concrete proof of this deal workingandyer agreement that we only owe ya half of yer streaker troll’s retrieval fee. It’s not like ya had to work for his capture. He didn’t even put up a fight from what I heard.”

I smirked at his weak effort to bargain. “Do ya think I’m stupid? Add up the money to care for the tiger cats until they get put down, which I know requires an animal specialist as well. That means Ben will have to wait on yer Dublin person for that as well as looking at the fox. I’m sure the amount ya save from their care will more than cover that half of the fee ya don’t want to pay me.”

Ezra grunted but eventually shrugged. “I can’t see paying ya the whole fee. We both know the troll gave himself up.”