Page 31 of Stolen Temptation (Irish Kings #3)

Rory

We jog from my office all the way to the war room, where a shit show is clearly in progress. The inner circle is there.

Shane. Our underboss, Donal Gallagher, with his severe, angular features pulled tight in a scowl.

Thomas Brennan, the man in charge of this mafia’s enforcers, informants, and foot soldiers, looks like a volcano ready to explode.

Darren and Cian glance up the second we come through the door.

The expressions on their faces say everything.

We’re in deep shit.

Darren’s stationed behind the podium at the far end of the room, a giant projection lit up behind him. On the screen is a recorded video message from Leonardo De Luca himself.

He appears pleased, if a little weathered by prison and war.

Like his father Matteo, Leo has a square face. His hair is thick, dark, and slicked back. His eyes are almost demonic in their apathy. He gives off the impression of someone so uncaring and completely detached from the world.

In other words, he’s unhinged.

But we didn’t need a video to tell us that.

“You’re just in time for the replay.” Donal throws his chin at Darren, who hits play on the video. It spurts to life.

For a moment, Leo just glares directly into the camera as if he’s making eerie eye contact with each one of us. It’s unsettling.

Something along my spine bristles unpleasantly.

This is the sick fuck who’s had Kiara and her mom under lock and key.

It takes an immense amount of restraint not to put my fist through the wood of this conference table.

After a few seconds of Leo’s aggravating silence, he finally speaks.

“You’ve got something that belongs to me, Kings.” His deep, steely voice drips with acid. “And if you don’t return her to me, there won’t be enough of you left to stop me from coming down there and taking her back myself.”

“Is that right?” Finn sneers at the screen.

Leo drops his head to the left. “I know all about your little run-in with the cops. Your fallen soldiers.” A sick sort of smile spreads across his face. “You should be thanking me. Six less whore-mongering mouths to feed.”

I’ve never wanted to reach through time and space and throttle someone so hard in my life. From the tension in the shoulders around me, I doubt I’m the only one.

“And unless you return my property within the next seventy-two hours, you’ll have another travesty to look forward to.” Leo crosses his legs and settles his hands on top. “Tick tock, boys. Tick tock .”

The video cuts off, and the silence that swallows the room in the seconds that follow nearly deafens. We’re all choking on our rage and discontent.

Leo referring to Kiara as his property prompts fantasies of brutal murder. But aside from that, all I could think while listening to the man’s threats was, he’s in league with the mole .

He has to be. The Tyson operation was top secret on our end. In fact, apart from the eight men who were tasked with carrying it out, six of whom perished in the process, only the people in this room knew about it.

Which means Leo either got intel out of one of the guys who died…or from someone sitting at this conference table.

My eyes glide around, searching the faces of the men around me.

Men I’ve seen hundreds—no, thousands—of times in my life, and never once suspected might be capable of betrayal.

It’s obvious we need to find the mole now .

Before Leo can use him to create any more chaos.

And that’s exactly what I expect Shane to say when he rises from his seat at the head of the conference table.

Instead, he squares off with his son, the seething fury in his eyes enough to reduce us all to ash with a single glance.

This is the most anger I’ve ever seen Shane direct at Finn before.

Yes, of course, Shane gets angry. But I’ve never before seen him this pissed at Finn .

We all just assumed that didn’t happen. Finn’s mother and younger brother were killed in a car crash many years ago, and from then on, the only vibe I’ve ever picked up on between Shane and his son was a protective one.

The vibe I’m sensing now is hostile, tinged with disapproval and irritation. “I thought you had this handled, but I can see I was mistaken.”

Even worse than Shane’s unexpected rebuke of Finn is Finn’s silent acceptance, like he blames himself too. A muscle tics in his jaw, and his chest rises with a deep, slow breath, but he otherwise remains still and quiet as a statue.

“The Tyson operation has been in the works for months, and everything went to shit in a matter of hours. Do you have any idea how much we lost today?” Fire ignites in Shane’s eyes. “And now we find out our enemy sabotaged us?”

Shane may be grilling Finn, but we all feel the searing heat of his words.

“Who’s going to follow a man who can’t be trusted with our most important business ventures?” Shane’s words cut with every syllable.

The air between them hangs heavy. Even from a distance, the weight of their exchange bears down on me. Just a few minutes ago, I was pissed at Finn, but now, nothing and no one could tear my sympathy away from him.

The rest of us don’t even know where to look as Shane cuts him down. Finn, to his credit, continues to stand tall while his father gives him a verbal beating. But the tension in the room just grows thicker.

Especially as Thomas opens his mouth and starts spewing acid. “We return that bitch downstairs. Tonight .”

“No,” I blurt out. All eyes settle on my defiant face. I push on. “Playing into Leo’s hands won’t solve anything.”

“The hell it won’t!” Thomas snarls across the table. “If we don’t clean up this royal fuckup, your little kidnapping stunt is going to blow up in all of our faces. Or weren’t you listening? It already has .”

I open my mouth to bark something back at him, but Finn cuts me off. “I’m inclined to think Thomas is right.”

That shuts me up. I whip my head around to gape at him. Is Finn really considering just handing Kiara over to Leo? Without any fight at all?

“We still don’t know why Leo was planning to sell that girl downstairs, but if the Tyson operation is any indication of the hell he’s prepared to unleash if we don’t return her, then our hands are tied.” The words seem to pain Finn, but that’s nothing compared to what they do to me.

“So we lie down and roll over?” I hurl the question at him. “Just because Leo told us to? That fucker just claimed responsibility for killing six of our own. Why aren’t we talking about getting even ?”

“Why?” Donal’s gruff voice draws my attention. “You want to send the girl back broken in a box?”

“And invite even more of the De Lucas’ wrath?” Thomas cuts in, throwing up his hands. “We are not in a position to take any more heat over this. Not after what happened today.”

I want to argue to the ends of the earth. If that would stop them from considering what they’re considering, I would argue until my tongue fell out.

But arguing won’t solve anything.

Slowly, everyone focuses their attention on me. The pressure is visceral, as if someone reached inside my body and squeezed my internal organs in their fist. It takes a lot of effort to hold my ground and not back away from the sheer force of their expectant gazes.

Thomas is the one who says it. “ You brought her here. You take her back.”

Panic breaks open deep inside my chest. I’m not ready for my time with Kiara to be over. That awful, cloying, helpless sensation spreads through me like slime.

Shane’s grim gaze keeps me silent. He appears displeased enough to dismiss me from all my duties.

I am clearly in deep shit if this doesn’t pan out. And I can almost guarantee that it won’t.

Because I’m not taking Kiara back to Leo.

Finn and I exchange a glance, and my stomach clenches. I can see it on my friend’s face. He wants me to agree.

That I be the one to return Kiara. Tonight.

So, it’s come down to this, has it?

A choice.

My little runaway artist or my family.