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Story: Duncan

“Right here. What are you doing here?” We turned at Caity’s voice, and Cian stiffened. Caity stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, glaring at us.

“Sal was supposed to call you,” Cian told her.

“He did,” she confirmed.

“Then why isn’t anything packed?”

“Because I told him I wasn’t going anywhere. This is my home, and I’m staying put until that bastard comes back.”

“Dammit, Caity, he isn’t coming back.”

Mac and I stood there as Cian and Caity argued back and forth. He was the one she tolerated and even he was getting the brunt of that O’Malley temper.

“What are you talking about?” Maddie asked.

“Your uncle wants you and your mom to move back to Boston.”

“I can’t leave,” Maddie cried. “If I leave, I’ll never see him again.”

“We aren’t leaving, Maddie.”

Cian glared at Caity, who was trying to console her daughter.

“It’s not fuckin’ safe for you here. Not after what he did. If it gets out...” Cian took a deep breath, and I knew he was counting in his head. He was probably the most levelheaded of all of us. But fuck, we all had that Irish temper.

“Caity, who was Kelley’s second?” I asked, hoping to defuse the situation.

“He didn’t have one.”

“What do you mean, he didn’t have one? He had to have someone,” I said.

“He didn’t trust anyone. Especially after that shit with the Russian’s wife went down.”

Of course he didn’t. Because he wouldn’t want anyone to find out what the fuck he’d done. Turning over Illyria Valentinetti’s brother to Boris Petrovich was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. Once Sal found out, it had signed Kelley’s death warrant.

There was no coming back from that.

“Who’s been running things since he left?” Cian asked the stubborn woman. She was just like her brother. He should have told us she refused to move.

“Callum Malone,” she answered begrudgingly.

“Mac, call Cal and tell him we need half a dozen guys here to pack up the house.” Pulling his phone from inside his coat, he walked out the door to make the call.

“I told Sal I wasn’t moving, Duncan.”

“You don’t have a choice, Caity.”

“The hell I don’t.”

Cian grabbed Caity’s elbow and dragged her into the kitchen. Hopefully, he could make her see reason. We needed to get this house packed up and get back to Boston.

“We’re really moving?” Maddie asked.

“Yea, sweetheart.”

“I have to go. I need to see him one last time.”

“We’re only a few hours from the city. You can still see him. Watch him grow up.”