Page 17 of Duncan (Irish Mob of Boston #1)

Duncan

Now I was back in fucking New York City.

“You sure you’re ready for this?”

“Are you?” I asked.

Sal had accompanied me on this trip. Once we knew who Charles Kennedy was, there was no other option than to tell him what we had found.

Sal was quiet when I told him about Darcy. Too quiet. Sal was a hothead. That Irish temper enveloped him in spades and he wasn’t one to hold his tongue around family. So the fact that he hadn’t said a word was concerning.

“A fuckin’ biker?” he finally growled.

“We don’t know any details other than who he is and the pictures of them together. Maybe he—”

“It doesn’t fuckin’ matter. She made her choice.” He tossed the picture on the desk with the others.

He’d tried to hide his hurt, but I knew him too well. Sal had loved Darcy, and she’d left him, taken their son and given him away. She had a lot to answer for when we found her.

If we found her.

“I’m coming with you.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and looked at him through my lashes. “You think that’s a good idea?”

“I’m not letting you walk in there alone. Those bastards might be distracted at the moment, but I still don’t trust them.”

Now, we stood in front of the Soulless Sinners’ clubhouse, waiting for them to answer the door.

“I hate this fuckin’ city.”

“You heard from her?” my boss asked.

“Blocked her number. Don’t need that shit.”

Sal pinned me with a look that said he knew exactly what I needed. Only what I needed didn’t want me.

“What the fuck do you want?” Malice stood in front of the door with his arms crossed. It was no mistake that the door to the clubhouse was at the top of a set of stairs. No matter who opened the door, they would be looking down on whoever stood outside.

Narcissistic assholes .

“Need to talk to Snoopy,” I said.

“Why?”

Sal moved up a step, getting closer to Malice. Mac and I stood behind him with Oscar and Liam. Cian had stayed home. He thought he might be able to break into their system, knowing their tech guy wasn’t around.

“It’s personal,” Sal growled.

“Let them in, Malice.” A young woman with silver streaks in her hair squeezed around him and pushed him back inside. Gideon Scott was around Aiden’s age, in his forties. The young woman looked to be in her late twenties.

I knew this was his woman. The news of him claiming the girl rattled the Underworld. Rumors started flying that he was losing his edge. Anyone who knew him understood that claiming his woman didn’t make him weak. It made him more dangerous.

The difference in their ages made me think of Freyja. Everything made me think of Freyja. It had been over a month since I kicked her out of my suite, and I still couldn’t stop thinking about her.

“Come in, please.” The woman led us to the bar inside and took our order while we waited for Snoopy. Sal had just finished his drink when an older version of the man in the photos we found walked in followed by someone else.

“What can I do for you?”

It wasn’t long before more men entered the room. Though two of them were noticeably missing. Montana, the club’s president and Fury, Sal’s cousin.

It would have been a lot easier had Fury been here, but after shit hit the fan in December, he had taken off. Last time Sal spoke to him, he and his wife were in California.

Sal stood up and walked toward Snoopy. He looked up and down and sneered. “You don’t look like much, old man.”

Shit!

I slipped around in front of my boss. “Easy, Sal. Let’s not have a repeat of the last clubhouse we were in.” I spoke in a hushed tone, hoping he was the only one who heard me.

“What the fuck is your problem?” the older man asked as his brothers came to stand behind him.

I pushed Sal back to his seat, giving Mac a look. He leaned over, his hand on Sal’s shoulder, and whispered to my boss who let his shoulders drop but still wouldn’t sit.

I turned back to the bikers with my hands up. “I apologize for my boss. We recently learned some news, and it involves you.” I handed him the picture of him and my sister. “Do you remember this woman?”

He took the picture from my hand, his eyes still on Sal. I assumed the older man beside him was Popeye. They were the only two retired members still alive.

George Stone, former president of the Soulless Sinners and Montana’s father, died last year. According to the news, it was natural causes. And well, I guess in our world, a bullet to the head was considered natural.

Then there was Michael Hamilton, known as Happy. He shacked up with Virginia Stone not long after George’s death and the two of them moved to Oklahoma to be near her youngest son, Kansas. Only Happy and Virginia were murdered on Christmas Day.

That left Stephen Hartley, aka Popeye, and Charles Kennedy, aka Snoopy.

“Of course I remember her. Bridgit Mahoney,” he said, handing the picture back. “Why?”

“Her fuckin’ name was Darcy Murphy,” Sal snarled.

I closed my eyes and exhaled a gust of breath, hoping to dispel the tension in my shoulders. Nothing had worked to ease my stress. Except getting off to thoughts of Freyja. Though that wasn’t an option right now.

“What the fuck are you talking about? Her name was Bridgit Mahoney.”

“My boss is correct. This is my sister, Darcy Murphy. She took off in 1986. We haven’t seen her since. My younger brother seemed to think she might still be alive. Do you remember when this picture was taken?”

Snoopy held out his hand and I gave him the picture again. He rubbed his chin as he studied it. He looked at Popeye. “When did we go to Ireland?”

“Shit, that was over thirty years ago. Must have been 1990 or ’91.”

Snoopy pointed at Popeye. “It was ’91. We had that meet with Buchanon. He had that party. We were there, what four or five days?” Snoopy looked at the picture again. A wistful look washed over his face. “I tried to find her when we got back. Wanted to bring her here.”

“You got another kid we don’t know about Snoop?” Mercy asked, coming forward to look at the picture.

Fuck me. I hadn’t thought about my sister having more kids.

“If I do, I don’t know about ‘em either. Never did find her. Even had Shame look for her when we brought him on. She disappeared.”

“Yea, she was good at that,” I muttered.

“Another fuckin’ dead end,” Sal grumbled. “Let’s go.”

“I know why he’s looking for her. Why are you?” Snoopy asked, directing his question to Sal.

Sal glared at Snoopy. “Let’s go.” He shrugged off Mac and walked toward the exit.

“Thanks for your help,” I offered, following behind the others.

“If you find her. Let me know.”

Sal stopped short before he got to the door.

“Boss,” Mac warned. “Let it go.”

Sal’s shoulders rose with his inhale and dropped with his exhale. He tilted his head from side-to-side cracking his neck. My shoulders bunched with more tension. Ready to strike if he didn’t heed Mac’s warning. Thankfully, Sal let it go and walked forward.

I was the last one out the door when I heard a grumbled, “Pussy.”

“That was a waste of fuckin’ time.” I followed Sal down the steps and hurried to catch up to him. Mac held Oscar and Liam back a bit, letting us have a few minutes.

“Why do you have to be an asshole?”

Sal stopped. Turning, he bumped against me. “Excuse me?”

“This is why I don’t tell you shit until it’s done.”

“What the fuck are you keeping from me?”

“This is not the time or the goddamn place,” I hissed.

Mac walked up with Liam and Oscar, knowing Sal and I would rein it in. “Can we go home now?”

Sal eyed me for a moment, then turned. Knocking into a woman.

“I’m so sorry.”

The moment I heard the voice, I knew it was her. I looked at the woman in my boss’ arms and growled.

“Duncan.” My name slipped out as a whisper from her lips. As though it held reverence.

“Excuse me.” I pressed on down the street, ignoring the beautiful woman that had been front and center in my dreams since the first time she fell into my arms.

It took everything in me not to turn and look back. I couldn’t forget about her. No matter how much I tried. So, I just kept walking. It wasn’t long before the others caught up with me.

“She’s a beautiful woman. I understand why you stayed.”

“Shut the fuck up, Sal.”

He only laughed at my directive. He chose not to bring her up again, and I was glad. I didn’t want to punch my boss in the face. Not in front of Liam and Oscar.

It could wait until we got home.

I sat in the back seat of the SUV, stewing in anger for the three-hour drive. Why did she have to be there today? I had gone into the city for one purpose. I had to look in Snoopy’s eyes when he told me he didn’t know where my sister was.

Every goddamn lead we found was a dead end. It was a goddamn wild-goose chase.

“I’m done,” I declared in Sal’s office back in Boston.

“What do you mean, done?” Sal asked.

“I’m done chasing down leads. She doesn’t want to be found.”

“You’re giving up?” Mac asked quietly.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t say those words out loud. The ones that implied my sister wasn’t worth my time.

“She’s out there somewhere. I’ll call Buchanon. See if he knows anything,” Sal said, his eyes focused on the city below us. There were five offices on the top floor of this building. We each had one. Leaving the fifth office, the one that was Tyran’s, empty.

“She’s gone. Whatever we find... whoever we find. Darcy is gone.”

“My son deserves to know his mother.”

He wouldn’t look at me. King wasn’t the reason Sal wanted to find Darcy. It was his ego, and his guilt. He wanted answers. Hell, we all wanted answers. But they weren’t out there.

“Your son had a mother. One who was there for him,” Cian said carefully.

“It’s my fault he didn’t have her. I need to find her.”

“It was her fault.” Standing from the couch against the wall, I walked to the bar cart. Lifting the whiskey bottle, I poured four glasses. Handing one to Mac and one to Cian, I took the third and held it in front of Sal.

“I loved my sister. I looked up to her. But she had options. Even in the eighties, there were options other than walking away.”

Taking the glass from me, he held it in his hand. He turned around and leaned back against the window and stared at the whiskey.

“My father made it impossible for her to stay. Hell, Tyran had a hand in her running. That’s on me.”

“She was safe in Arkansas. Safe with Kathleen and Curran. Eamon didn’t even look for Kathleen. She could have stayed with them and raised her son herself. She chose not to.” I couldn’t hide the anger in my words.

“Maddie made the same choice. Are you angry with her too?” he asked me. Cian and Mac hadn’t said a word. Letting us hash this out. It had been a long time in the making.

“Maddie is different, and you fuckin’ know it.”

“Why? Darcy was sixteen when she ran. She was a kid. She was alone.”

“She wasn’t alone!” I ran my hand through my hair, turning my back on my friend. “She wasn’t fuckin’ alone. She could have said something.”

“To who? You? You were fourteen fuckin’ years old. What the hell would you have done?”

It was my turn to look out over the city. “I would have killed Eamon.”