Page 5 of Dublin Charmer (Emerald Isle Mafia #5)
CHAPTER FIVE
Finn
I rub my tired eyes and squint at the screen of my laptop. “I really need to have my own tech headquarters if this is my future.”
In the basement of the Quinn compound, the war room’s dim lighting helps with the eyestrain, but hours of code-diving on three hours of sleep take their toll. My fingers tap across the keyboard, following another dead end.
The surveillance feeds at Clontarf Castle offered me no love. Everything was wiped from ten minutes before the breach.
The traffic cams suffered the same fate. Whoever Gravely has on his payroll cleaned up any footprints pointing us to him.
Not that it will stop me.
There are some feeds no one on Gravely’s payroll can hack.
“What have you got for me, Finny?” Tag’s voice breaks my concentration as he enters the war room ready for payback.
He’s got jeans and a T-shirt on and a sling holding his left arm stabilized against his stomach, but other than the inconvenience of being shot less than twelve hours ago, he’s ready for war.
I lean back, stretching until my vertebrae release one at a time and my spine cracks. “Gravely’s got himself a hacker. And from what I’ve come up against, he’s good. The data wipes of last night’s attack are clean and professional.”
“But not as good as you, right?”
The door swings wider as Bryan and Sean shoulder their way in, carrying the heavenly scent of Cora’s beef pie and potatoes. My stomach growls, reminding me I skipped lunch and had breakfast hours earlier than usual.
“Not good enough to get into our system, no.” I pull up the activity logs. “I got a notification last night. While we were getting shot at, our systems and servers were under attack, too.”
Tag’s face darkens. “But they didn’t get in?”
I waggle my brows. “No. They were shut down.”
“Fucking right they were.” Bryan raises a fist for a knuckle bump.
I meet him for a bump and then sigh. “But they got further than I like.”
“A shutout is still a shutout.” Sean squeezes my shoulder as he sets down plates. “Well done, Finny.”
I appreciate the praise—I do. As the one brother who isn’t out in the streets fighting and bleeding for the family, I sometimes wonder if my contributions to the family business are enough for them…and for me, too, honestly.
“Thanks. Still, I don’t like that they got so close on their first attempt. I’m going to lay in some more safety protocols and lock things down even more. It might mean you boys will need to carry two-factor security keys to access things until this Gravely bullshit is settled.”
“Whatever you think best, little brother,” Tag says.
“Aye, we’ll deal,” Sean says.
Not that they do much on computers. They deal with more of the hands-on problems.
We gather around the table, serving and passing food while discussing retaliation plans.
“Piper is reaching out to Rory this morning about whether this was McGuire-sanctioned or pure Gravely.”
Tag grunts, slicing a fork into his meat pie. “I’m not sure which is better. If they’re working together, that would be difficult, but a war on two fronts with two different enemies isn’t ideal either.”
“It would be better just to wipe them out,” Bryan says.
Sean snorts. “Aye, let’s do that.”
I half-listen to the conversation while following a breadcrumb trail through the breach attempt. I’m hoping that whoever was in here last night, they were too busy cleaning up the military attack to detect the worm I planted to lie in wait.
And there it is. My Trojan horse, latching onto their system. I sit back and clap my hands together before pointing at the screen. “Got you, motherfucker.”
Tag stops eating, his eyes wide. “Care to share?”
I grin, gesturing toward my laptop. “I set up a backdoor access protocol so that anyone who tries to breach us will instead be breached by us.”
“The mighty Quinn Wraith strikes again.” Tag’s use of my hacker name makes me chuckle.
Bryan grins. “Tell me that means what I think it means.”
“It means we’re in their system now. Take that, asshole.”
“Gravely’s system?” Sean asks.
“No, the hacker’s system. Still, if he’s got direct access into Gravely’s system, I’ll find it and put it to good use.”
“Yeah, you will,” Bryan says.
Tag gives me a proud nod. “Take it slow, little brother. If we have access to them, I don’t want to tip our hand.”
“Oh, I won’t. Trust me. This is my fighting cage, and I’m the motherfucking champion here.”
I’m high on success and the thrill of outmaneuvering our mystery hacker when I wrap my black cashmere scarf around my neck and tuck the ends into my leather jacket before zipping it up. After a long day in the war room, I crashed for a couple of hours and then took a long, hot shower.
That’s when images of Ginny from last night surfaced.
Fuck, she felt good wetting my cock. One of the biggest crimes of last night was getting interrupted before either of us finished.
A tragedy I’m hoping to amend tonight.
The winter wind bites like a vengeful bitch when I go outside, and I unlock my car as quick as I can. The locks chirp and I’ve got a hold of the door handle when a whistle slices through the night air.
“Finny, wait up.” Bryan’s deep voice rolls across the lot. “You going somewhere?”
I look from my hand on the door to my keys in my hand to my brother. “What does it look like?”
He jerks his chin toward his massive black Hilux. “It looks like you’re free to come for a ride with me.”
I roll my eyes. “I’ve got plans.”
His knowing smirk makes me want to punch him. “Any girl wetting her panties for you can wait half an hour. Come on. I need a brother riding shotgun.”
I look down at my clothes. I’m not as dressed up as last night, but I’m not dressed for the streets or Bryan’s kind of ‘fun night out’ activities either. Blood is very hard to get out of designer clothes. “Can’t Kieran or Gallagher go with you to bust heads? I’ve got plans.”
“Aye, we’ve established that.”
I grip my keys tighter. “I’ve got better things to do than run errands with you.”
Bryan’s face goes serious. “Finn. It’s important.”
“Everything’s important with this family. What is it?”
“Brendan and I are proposing to our girls on Christmas Day. We were supposed to pick up the rings today, but things got fucked. If Brenny gets home tomorrow and finds out I didn’t pick them up and the shops are closed until after the holidays, it’ll ruin all our plans.”
My jaw drops. “Both of you are going to propose?”
He scrubs a hand over his face. “It’s a surprise.”
“Clearly.”
“And he would’ve been coming with me, but...”
But Brendan ended up in the hospital last night.
Guilt crashes through me. Here I am thinking about getting laid while my brother’s laid up in hospital and his twin wants my company while doing something life-changing.
“All right. I’ll be your wingman.” I pocket my keys and circle around his truck to climb into the passenger seat.
The Hilux’s engine rumbles to life, a mechanical growl that matches Bryan’s mood. Brendan and Bryan have always been two peas in a pod. I suppose, on some level, it makes sense that they want to share one of their biggest moments.
“So, marriage, is it? The two of you are taking the plunge?”
We wind our way down the driveway and stop at the gates, waiting for them to open. “Aye. And before you say something about it being fast and wondering if we should take more time and see how things play out, you can save it. We’re sure.”
I hold up my hands. “I wasn’t going to say anything of the sort.”
“Oh, well, good. Tag and Sean both gave us a bit of a ribbing.”
“First, they have no room to cast stones. Tag moved Laine into the house the first night he met her, for fuck’s sake. And Sean wasn’t much better.”
“And second?”
“Why am I the last to know?”
“Sean knows because he went to Piper’s favorite jeweler and we needed his contact info. Tag knows because Sean doesn’t take a piss without telling him first. It wasn’t like we told them and kept a secret from you intentionally. Besides, you’ve been busy with your computers.”
There’s no judgment in his voice, just fact.
“Which paid off. You really came through today, Finny. You gotta know Tag, Sean, and I are tickled with how you turned the tables on Gravely. It’s exactly what we needed to get the pendulum swinging to our rhythm.”
It is at that. Pride swells in my chest again.
“But,” Bryan adds, “if the truth be told, we didn’t want any of you to know. The three of you can’t keep a secret for shit.”
“I can too.”
He barks out a laugh. “Remember when I got Tag that restored Triumph for his birthday?”
“That was different. I was excited.”
“You told him three weeks early.”
“I was fifteen!”
“You told Sean when Da got him his first gun.”
“I didn’t know that was a secret.”
Bryan shoots me a look. “So, I’m telling you. This is a secret.”
I slump in my seat. “And I won’t tell a fucking soul. I swear.”
He takes a turn toward the city center. “You better not, because if you ruin this, both Brendan and I will kick your arse.”
“No pressure.”
Bryan grins. “None at all, little brother. None at all. It’s just our life and our happiness in your hands.”
I roll my eyes. “Asshole.”
I push through the heavy stained-glass door of Jimmy Frances Pub, breathing in the familiar scent of stout and whiskey.
The long wooden bar stretches down the right wall, its brass rail polished to a warm glow by generations of patrons.
The Celtic soundtrack playing over the speakers has the folks in the back dancing on the wooden dance floor.
The air in the pub feels almost stale next to the crisp bite of the night. I saunter in, glancing at the vintage Guinness ads and faded photos of Dublin through the ages. Behind the bar, Jimmy’s head bobs as he pulls a perfect pint, foam cascading over the rim.
“Evening, Jimmy.” I rap my fingers on the new granite surface of the bar. Jimmy had it replaced back in April when four of the McGuire boys took a run at Tag. “Ginny around?”
He wipes his hands on a bar towel. “Upstairs. She worked the day shift, and is taking the night off.”
“Mind if I pop up and check on her? Wanted to see that she’s all right after last night.”
Jimmy gives me a nod and goes back to tending bar. “Aye, go on then. You know the way.”
I head to the back, past the dartboards and up the steps to the staff area. Past Tag’s office, there’s a door with a security keypad. After I punch in the code, the keypad beeps, then I take the narrow stairs two at a time to the flat above.
My knuckles barely graze the door when it swings open. Ginny stands there in yoga pants and an oversized sweater, her copper hair pulled into a messy bun.
“Finn? Now, this is a surprise. What are you doing here?”
“Just checking in. Last night was...” I trail off, searching for the right word.
“Insane?” She crosses her arms.
“Aye, that’s one way to put it.” I hold up a small black bag with its cheerful red bow. “I was out with Bryan today and saw these. I thought you deserved a little something after last night’s insanity.”
Her eyes soften as she opens it, pulling out the delicate emerald earrings. “Finn, they’re beautiful, but?—”
“But nothing. I saw them and thought of you. I want you to have them.”
“You’re sweet.” She leans in and kisses my cheek, soft and quick. “Thank you.”
“Any chance I could upgrade that kiss?” I try for my most charming smile. “I think we proved last night that we have a fair bit of chemistry.”
Ginny takes a step back, her smile dropping. “Finn, hon. I love you—like I love all the Quinn boys. You are family. But last night was just... it was a bit of drunken fun, yeah? We were having a good time and enjoyed the moment.”
My stomach drops. “Then what’s stopping us from enjoying another moment?”
She shakes her head. “Och, no, Finny boy. It’s not going to happen.”
“But why? We always have a good time when we’re together. We have a lot in common. We’ve known each other our entire lives…”
“Aye, and that’s the rub, isn’t it? We have known each other our entire lives and I’ve seen your world from both the inside and out.
I can’t date a Quinn. I won’t. Your world.
..” She gestures vaguely. “The gunfire, the violence, the other families fighting for control…that isn’t what I want out of life. ”
“It isn’t always like that. There are good times, too.”
“Och, I know there are, but last night proved exactly why I’ve always stayed clear. Because it only takes one stray bullet and I could lose everything: my love, my life, or, one day, even my child. That’s not the life for me, Finn. I’m sorry.”
The rejection stings worse than I expected.
All these years of watching her, wanting her, thinking she was way out of my league. Then after last night, I thought maybe...
“Right then.” I force a laugh. “Can’t blame a lad for trying. You’re a true peach, Ginny Frances. Enjoy the earrings and maybe you’ll think of me with a smile when you wear them, would you?”
“Aye, Finny. You know I will.”
I turn to leave, my face burning. The stairs seem longer going down, each step a reminder of my foolishness. Behind me, the door clicks shut with quiet finality.