Page 72 of Arranged Control

Chapter 23

Seamus

Ilean forward, my chest practically resting against the glass of scotch in front of me. A Mets game is on TV, a replay from the night before. I can’t pay much attention to it. The bar’s thinning out this late on a weeknight, and I know I have to go home soon.

I just don’t want to.

I know what’s waiting for me there.

She wasn’t around when I dragged myself out of bed after getting a few terrible hours of sleep. Probably at Sistine. At least I’m not worried Molchanie’s going to kill her.

I’ve got new nightmares to deal with.

And more guilt than I know how to handle.

The old Seamus would’ve gone with all this. I would’ve flowed around the situation like water. But now I’m stuck in the river like a giant boulder, and I don’t know how I’m ever going to move again.

Which is a fucking problem.

“I hear you’ve been staring at the wall for the last couple of hours.” Finn sits heavily at my elbow and orders a Guinness. “You all good, or do I need to call Mom?”

“Please, for the love of God, leave her out of this.”

“Good, sounds like you haven’t gone insane. So what’s happening? Why are you hiding out here?”

I shake my head. “It’s not important.”

“Bullshit. You never mope around bars like this. Trouble back home? You avoiding the new wife?” He grins at me and sips his beer. “Don’t tell me paradise is lost already?”

“You have no idea,” I mutter, frustrated, and let out a long breath. “Can I tell you something? And can you swear you won’t repeat it to our parents?”

His smirk fades and his head tilts. “You’re being serious, aren’t you?”

“It’s no joke. I need you to swear on your life, Finn. This can’t leave our circle.” I gesture between us.

“You have my word. What’s going on?”

I fill him in, starting with the note Alina found in her apartment, touching on Oliver’s killing, and finally ending with the Molchanie meeting. He sits back and absorbs everything, and by the time I’m done, he’s ordering a second beer and a refill on my scotch.

“You think she’s being serious?” Finn asks, hunched forward on his elbows now, like the weight of my situation is forcing him down.

“I think she cut the throats of two men to make sure I knew she wasn’t fucking around. I think she’ll do whatever it takes to get what she wants.”

“But why?” Finn shakes his head, mystified. “I don’t get it.”

“She says we’re dangerous. And maybe she’s right. We don’t exactly have the safest lifestyle in the world.”

“Sounds like bullshit to me.”

“Whatever her motivations are, our family’s in danger now.”

He rubs his face and sucks down half his second Guinness. “What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know,” I admit, staring at my glass. I roll it around slowly, watching the liquor press up against the edges. “I lose no matter what. If I divorce Alina, I might spark a war with the Morozovs. Ruslan won’t take that well.”

“You could always explain to him the situation.”

“Think he’ll believe it? And even if he does, think he’ll accept it? It’s not his family getting killed. All he cares about is the business.”