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Last night had been an emotionally draining night for Gianna.

Her recounting of the whole story of Jericho Beecham and the woman he ultimately killed tore her up.

I wasn’t feeling too hot afterward, but it was as if a wound had been torn open for her.

After I got her in bed, she took a while to fall asleep.

However, when she did, it wasn’t the end of her suffering.

She had nightmares on and off. She’d wake up crying, and I soothed her back to sleep.

When we got up this morning, I saw how tired she was.

I tried to get her to stay home, but she insisted that doing so would be worse.

She needed to keep busy. I did get her to compromise and allow me to drive her to work.

I walked her inside rather than dropping her off outside the door.

The office was subdued. Her brothers weren’t there, but Alphonso was.

We exchanged a few words, and then I left her in his care after asking him to call me if she needed me.

He promised he would and thanked me for taking care of her.

On my way into the office, I texted Darragh. I asked if the family members in the office today would gather before lunch. He responded within minutes, asking if everything was alright. I informed him that no one had been hurt, but I had information that the family should be aware of.

It was hard to concentrate on my work during those first two hours.

I was glad when ten-thirty was almost there.

It was the time Dar messaged the family to meet in the conference room.

He clarified that I had an update and that those at the corporate offices were being asked to attend. The others will be updated later.

When I entered the conference room about ten minutes before the start time, I shouldn’t have been surprised to see more people there than had been in the office earlier. I spotted Mama , Cyndi, and Brenda. I walked over to them.

“What’re you doing here? I thought you were watching Ronan and the other kids today,” I remarked. I kissed their cheeks, which they returned.

“We were, and then Darragh asked if any of us could come in to meet. We brought them to the daycare. When we’re done, they’ll come home with us,” Mama replied.

I rolled my eyes. “I swear, sometimes he overreacts. I told him it didn’t require the entire family to be here. It’s not an emergency.”

“He told us it wasn’t, but he did ask if we were anywhere nearby and wanted to stop in to do it. You know how he is,” Mama said, smiling.

“I do. Alright, we’d better take our seats before we get in trouble,” I teased.

They laughed and then left to join their husbands. I exchanged chin lifts with my uncaili and daid . As I looked around again and counted, I saw only a few missing people—those who were out of town on business. I walked around the table and took my seat.

“Thanks, everyone, for coming. And Rian, I know you said only those in the office, but I opened it up to anyone who wanted to stop in. You know me,” Dar grinned and winked. This made everyone chuckle or snicker. I shook my head and grinned. The merriment died down so he could get on with it.

“I called us together, but it’s Rian’s meeting. You said you had an update for us. Fire away, deartháir , brother.” Dar gestured that it was mine.

“Thanks, Dar. And you’re right. It’s not an emergency, but I thought we should all know.

Alistair, your Hounds will want to be apprised of this.

It indirectly affects the Hounds, but not in a negative way.

Last night, Gianna got a call from her dad.

Alphonso called because he received a phone call from Warden Laughlin, who oversees our nearest prison.

The warden called to inform the DeSantis family that an inmate was killed during an attempted prison break.

Alphonso called to let Gianna know. He was very concerned about telling her this news. ”

“Why would they care, especially Gianna? What made that prisoner special?” Aidan asked.

“Because the DeSantis family caught him when he jumped bail, and it led to his sentencing and imprisonment. And yes, they’ve done that with countless others. They don’t get calls updating them on those. However, the bigger news is she told me why she finds the trafficking cases personal.”

From there, I told them what she shared as concisely as possible. There were frowns, gasps, mutters, and more before I was done. When I finished, the room was eerily quiet. All you heard was the sound of breathing. The women had tears in their eyes.

“No wonder she hates them. I can’t imagine being that poor girl and being kidnapped, sold, and then forced to live with a man who held me prisoner and raped me and then forced me to have a child,” Siv said softly.

“It’s heartbreaking and disgusting. No wonder Gia is so passionate about stopping as many as we can,” Daid added.

“How is Gianna this morning? I assume she’s alright, or you’d be home with her,” Dar asked.

“I tried to get her to stay home, but she said staying busy is better. She had nightmares all night. I know I could’ve told you this at home and with her present, but I had a reason I didn’t.

I’d like to ask anyone involved in future missions that deal with this subject or something similar to help keep an eye on Gia.

I’m not sure what reopening this wound will do.

She wanted to kill Chris and Scotty with her bare hands.

I don’t want her to go off half-cocked and get hurt or in trouble because she’s not thinking clearly,” I explained.

Affirmative answers came from around the room.

“Rian, can we do anything to take her mind off it or make her feel better?” Brenda asked.

“I don’t know. It might not be so bad if her family, or I should say, her brothers, weren’t so against us being together.

I got a call yesterday from Alphonso. That was during the day.

He told me that it got ugly at work, especially with Rocco.

As in, Alphonso put his hands on him. He wanted to be sure I knew that it had occurred and that he was dealing with his sons.

However, he wasn’t sure if she’d tell me or not.

“I have to tell you, it was all I could do not to go over and kick all three of their asses in the parking lot, but I didn’t.

I waited to see if she’d tell me before the night was through, and then Alphonso called about this.

I knew hitting her with her brothers’ stupidity would be too much.

She loves and relies on them, and this division makes her feel isolated from them.

I know it would me too if you guys treated our relationship the same way,” I confessed.

“What did that shithead, Rocco, say?” Siv hissed.

I told them the gist of what Alphonso had shared.

They were all upset. It was my sister who had a solution.

“Invite them to the house this weekend. We’ll have a family meal.

It can be dinner or lunch, whatever. They’ll come if you couch it as wanting to get to know everyone better due to the partnership.

Then, you let us work on those three. If Rocco lets his mouth overrun his ass, I’ll give him an attitude adjustment,” Siv smirked.

My sister could be bloodthirsty when she wanted to be. And it seemed Rocco DeSantis put her back up in a big way. There was some minor debate, but we agreed we’d do it.

“I think it’ll be best if I call and speak to Alphonso and issue the invitation.

He’ll see it as more official coming from me as the family’s leader of the Hounds.

It’s up to you, Rian, if you want to tell Gianna the truth about why we’re doing it.

If you decide not to, just let us know so we don’t spoil it,” Darragh suggested.

“Thanks, Dar. I’d usually say yes and tell her, but with this Jericho Beecham thing and her response, I think I’ll wait and see how she does the rest of the week. The last thing I want to do is put more pressure on her.”

“Sounds like a good idea. If your mama or I can do anything to help besides the meal, just let us know,” Daid said.

“I will.”

“While we’re here, how is it coming along with the whole thing in Aspen? We haven’t had a chance to talk and find out what happened while you were out there.” Sean chimed in to ask.

“Gianna is still investigating it, but we did find out the name of someone who bailed him out of jail. The only problem is in her research, Gianna can’t find anyone with that name who fits his description and lives here in the States.

She’s going through other systems to find him.

You know how it is. Depending on what it is, Cody can take days or weeks to find stuff.

However, the woman talked me into letting her go out among the protesters to see what she could hear.

She got to talk to Clay. I wanted to beat his ass even more than I already did,” I grumbled.

Their exclamations of how she got me to allow her and why I wanted to beat him more led to me running through his reaction to her, which made the males in my family snicker.

I told them about her planting a bug on him, which earned her kudos and respect.

The women all smiled and said never to underestimate a woman. We wisely kept our mouths shut.

It wasn’t long after that discussion that we concluded our talk and ended our meeting.

I walked Mama and Daid down to the daycare.

Sean, Brenda, Cormac, and Cyndi went with us.

They had a van and would be transporting the kids back to the estate with the appropriate bodyguards in attendance.

The kids’ parents came down right behind us to say hello, kiss their offspring, then send them off to be spoiled for the rest of the day.

Watching them, I was overcome with the desire for Gianna and me to have one or more of our children in that bunch.

And I wasn’t opposed to it starting sooner rather than later.

I knew from our talks that she wanted kids.

We’d even talked about numbers. We both came from large families.

We agreed that at least four was our desired number.

What I wouldn’t give to be standing here in a year and watching the parents take our firstborn with them.

A hand on my shoulder made me glance back.

It was Cian. He smiled. “I know that look. You were thinking about how you and Gianni’s kids would look with this crazy family.

I can tell you, it’s beyond unbelievable how much joy and happiness kids bring.

Even though our Caitlin isn’t quite eight months old, Miranda and I are considering trying for another one once she’s a year old.

We want our children to be close in age so they can be best friends like we were. We always had friends and playmates.”

What he said about how we grew up was accurate.

We might not have had as many opportunities to associate with other children because we needed to be protected and educated by tutors.

Still, we didn’t lack those types of interactions.

Overall, our childhoods were happy and filled with fun and laughter.

“You caught me. I was doing that. I wouldn’t say no to having one by this time next year.”

“Have the two of you talked about kids?” Cian asked.

“We talked about wanting them and how many, but not anything regarding the timeframe. She sees our relationship as moving super fast. She doesn’t yet get that it’s how it goes with our family.”

“Maybe you should show her you’re earnest about it,” Rory said from behind us.

“And how do you suggest I do that?” I asked. This should be good advice from a bachelor.

“The paparazzi are beginning to speculate on who the woman who’s been seen entering and leaving the estate is. I’d make an official announcement and follow it up quickly with an engagement,” Rory explained nonchalantly.

I stared at my brother. I hated it when your younger brother came up with an idea you should’ve. Rory grinned.

“You want to punch me, don’t ya? But it’s only logical. Make it public and then tie her to you as quickly as possible with the ring and a wedding. Get our mamaí, moms, working on the nuptials. You know how they love doing that.”

“I hate to say it, but he’s right,” Cian agreed.

“Sure is,” Aidan said. I had no clue when he joined us. I held up a hand to stop them from yammering.

“I’ll get to work on it. I need you all to help with her family, so leave this to me.”

“Okay, but if you need help, give me a shout,” Rory said before he ambled off.

Not long after that conversation, everyone dispersed to wherever they needed to be. I returned to my office to see if I could do better work than I had before the meeting. But first, I checked to see how Gianna was doing.