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Story: Duncan

“We can’t,” Gavin added. “We don’t think he’s actually staying there.”

My eyes traveled between Gavin and Ronan. They were having a silent conversation between the two of them. Mac whistled, and Liam moved from his seat and joined us at the booth.

Liam narrowed his eyes at his brothers, as if he knew why Mac had called him over.

“Tell them,” he growled. “Or I will.”

Gavin released a loud sigh and looked at Sal. “Darby Collins works at the hotel. She checked him in. We think Kelley might have recognized her.”

“What the fuck is Darby doing down here? She’s supposed to be in college.”

Darby Collins was the daughter of Lillian O’Shea Collins. Darcy’s best friend when we were kids. After Darcy disappeared,Lillian shut us out. She married someone outside the family and had four boys and a daughter.

While she stayed in Boston, she wanted nothing to do with us. But we watched out for them anyway. Two of the boys had joined the family, much to Lillian’s dismay.

“She dropped out and came here. Lillian doesn’t know,” Ronan confessed. Then swept his eyes to Liam.

“All of it,” Liam snarled at his brothers.

Ronan rubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck.” Giving his focus to Sal, he said, “You have to understand, she insisted. And I knew it was better to have control over the situation rather than let her go off and do her own thing.”

Sal slammed his hand on the table and yelled, “What is she doing?”

“She’s working as a honey trap.”

My mouth hung open as I stared at Ronan. Until this moment, I had considered Ronan a smart man.

“What the fuck did you say?” Sal’s hands hit the tabletop, and he started to rise.

“Not here, boss,” I said as I grabbed his arm, pulling him back down.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Ro?” Cian asked. Mac glared at the head of the Louisiana branch of the organization like he wanted to rip his head off and to hell with who saw him do it.

“We knew you would be pissed, boss. But the girl grew up hearing stories. Two of her older brothers work for you. She knew you would never let her in, so she came here.” Gavin lowered his eyes to the table and quietly added, “After she had tried to work for Kelley.”

“Lillian will kill me when she finds out,” Sal whispered.

He was right. Lillian O’Shea, now Collins, grew up in this life. She knew how things went for women. I’d believed she knewwhat happened to Darcy when she left, but either she was telling the truth, or she was the best fucking actress I had ever met.

“You should have fuckin’ called me.”

“She’s only been here a few months. I was waiting to see how it worked out before I added to the shit that was piling up,” Ronan confessed.

“And how is she working out?” I asked, curious about Lillian’s daughter.

“She’s the best I’ve ever seen. She wraps men around her finger so fuckin’ fast that if you blink, you’ll miss it.” Ronan rubbed the back of his neck. “I would have sent her after Kelley if she hadn’t gone to him first.”

“You’re an asshole,” Liam told his brother.

“Liam, you interested in taking over down here?” Sal asked, and Ronan’s head snapped to gape at our boss. “’Cause once Lily finds out her only daughter is down here working as a fuckin’ honey trap, Ronan is dead.”

“No fuckin’ way, boss. Give it to Gavin.”

“Hey,” Ronan quipped. “I can handle Lillian Collins.”

We all stared at him, and Mac was the first to start laughing.

“No one can handle Lily. Not even her fuckin’ husband, and that dude is no joke. Piss him off and you would never see him coming,” Mac said.