Page 5 of Sins of Arrogance (Syndicate Sins #1)

My brothers were all made between the ages of nineteen and twenty-one. I had my first kill at the age of eleven.

It wasn't for the mob. It was for my dog. Animals made more sense to me than people. They still do. Toby was my friend and confidant. He loved me unconditionally and without judgment.

He was the only living being that could.

I sliced the throat of the man who hit him while driving three sheets to the wind. Da never allowed me to get another pet.

Now, Fitz has a cat. A bundle of chaos my son lets sleep in his bed. If someone hurts Gobby, I'll kill them myself.

"It took a long time for me to get past losing you," Dierdre adds.

"I'm sorry to hear that." I'm not.

I don't feel anything at all in response to her words, but those are the words to say in this situation.

I've perfected the art of knowing the correct response whether, or not, I think it's a valid one.

Except when it comes to my wife. At first, Kara was as easy to predict and appease as anyone else. Easier even. But not anymore.

She used to follow me around like Toby and I didn't mind that she was always there. I liked it.

It felt right.

But things changed after Fitz was born and taking care of him took precedence. She still dropped in to see me when I was working from my office on the estate, but not as often.

And after she got back from The Marlowe Center, she stopped coming to my office at all. That's when I started stalking my own wife on the CCTV in the mansion.

Unbeknownst to my wife, I installed cameras in the main living area and bedroom in our apartment.

Being able to check on her throughout the day settled something inside me that had been feral since her brush with death and trip to The Marlowe Center.

Then Kara's seventeen-year-old cousin stood up to Brogan and insisted on going to college like her deceased father had promised her that she could. Kara stood up for Róise, but something changed in her when her cousin got accepted to the fine arts university.

She pulled away from both me and Brogan emotionally.

Emotions aren't my thing, so at first, I didn't think it mattered.

When I realized how much I didn't like the distance she'd created between us, I assumed it would change back after she started secret online courses for university. That her resentment about having to marry at eighteen, when most women had their whole lives ahead of them, would dissipate.

She'll get her degree next spring, just like Róise, but nothing has changed between us.

Kara never visits my office anymore unless Fitz is asking to see me. Often as not, she'll send our son to me with one of his guards. Always with instructions to send Fitz back to her when I need to.

Always.

Like she needs me to know she's not shirking her duties.

Feck if I know how to change that either.

Dierdre moves a few inches closer. "How are things between you and your child bride?"

"Kara will be twenty-five next month. She's not a child."

"She was only eighteen when you got married."

"Still not a child." If I'd had my way, the marriage would have taken place a couple of years later.

I was no keener to get married at twenty-six than Kara was at eighteen.

But that wasn't an option. Fergal Shaughnessy would have offered the deal to another mobster if I'd refused to marry his granddaughter two weeks after she graduated high school.

Too bad he didn't die until a year later. A lot of things would have gone differently in the beginning if Brogan had been the boss already.

Dierdre's mouth twists with distaste. "Not technically, but I'm surprised you were okay with marrying a teenager."

"My marriage gave me the path forward I wanted." And once I set my eyes on Kara, she was never going to marry anyone else.

Eighteen years old, or twenty-eight. As long as she was an adult, she was going to be mine.

"Without me."

What is the point of this conversation? "Yes."

Dierdre flinches, like my words hurt her. Again, I'm not convinced. She's always been a little dramatic.

"Ye didn't tell me you were coming to New York." Dierdre and I stay in touch with texts and the occasional phone call.

She's a good source of information on what's happening in Dublin. Dierdre tells me things my da and brothers wouldn't.

"There was no time." She grabs my forearm. "I'm in danger and da wanted me to get a move on."

"Why are you in danger?" And why is she in New York and not a safe house?

And why the feck is she touching me? I pull my arm from her grip and step back, putting some distance between us.

She frowns, but stays where she is. "The Odessa Mafia tried to have me kidnapped. They want leverage on a deal that has stalled between them and da."

Her da is the leader of the Kelly crew. My da leads the Fitzgerald crew. Between them they make up the Northside Dublin Syndicate. The Northies.

"The Northies are doing business with the Odessa Mafia now?"

She shrugs. "War makes opportunities for organizations that can keep their supply chains stable."

"Why didn't you tell me about the attempted kidnapping?" Why didn't my father?

There's too much business happening in Dublin I don't know about. I'm going to have to fix that.

Dierdre is no longer an adequate source.

"It only happened yesterday. Da thinks I'll be safer here, with the Shaughnessy Mob."

"Does Brogan know about the danger you brought with ya?" I demand.

"I didn't bring it with me. No one knows I came to the States. Da laid a false trail to a safe house. One of my second cousins who looks like me is staying there to keep the fiction going."

There's not an ounce of remorse in Dierdre's tone to indicate it bothers her that the other woman could be taken in her place.

That's one of the reasons she and I have always gotten along. Selfish and ruthless, she's entirely predictable.

Kara is the only person I have trouble reading and predicting behavior for.

"That does not answer my question."

She shrugs. "Ask my da. He's the one that made the arrangements."

"Did you bring security?"

"Of course."

"How many?" And why wasn't I told that soldiers from another syndicate would be remaining on premises?

"Only two. Our fathers are certain your men are up to the task of keeping me safe."

"Your safety is not my men's priority." The safety of my wife and child come before everyone else.

Which I'm sure the men understand after the last demonstration I gave them.

Brogan thinks he comes first, but the men understand now. If Brogan dies, so will they. If Kara or Fitz are harmed in any way, they'll still die.

But slowly and in so much pain, they'll be begging me to kill them.

Just like that fecker, Troy, who thought taking money from an Aryan militia group to betray the family was a good idea.

He put my wife and son in danger.

Now all the soldiers know what a feckin' stupid thing that was to do.