“I gotta go back for the deal because I’m the contact for this buyer,” Cormac continues. “If I’m not there, the deal doesn’t go down. I’m the only person who even knows where to pick the guy up. Shawn made sure that his hands are as clean as possible. Ro really fucked him, though, so now he’s going to have to be at the warehouse, too. If I don’t show, the deal doesn’t happen, and your plan doesn’t, either.” He sucks on his cigarette then speaks with his lungs full. “I go or it’s a no go.” Then he lets the smoke out.
“Fuck!” I throw my hands up.
Mac smirks. “You might want to head on back to that resort and tell the detective to stay put or Shawn will know something is up.” He pauses. “And let Chandler know I’ll talk if he’ll cut me a deal.”
His words jar me but only because that’s what I should have done all those years ago. If I’d made a deal, I would have spared my brothers years of shit from Shawn.
“You said the detective won’t find that tip of yours until morning, right?”
I nod. As long as Maggie delivers my message. Unlike me, I’m pretty sure she’ll keep her promises.
He points to the sky. “Plenty of time to catch a nap.” He shifts off of the window ledge and points at me. “You look like death. Go get some sleep before you hit the road and get back to your girl.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Maggie
I’m still hurt, and confused, and worried, but most of all, I’m fuming by the time morning rolls around. I watch the sun break the horizon, and it’s not a beautiful sight. Not to me. I’ve been up all night dwelling on Liam and his confession and the fact that my fucking father knew who he was all along. He knew I was sleeping with the ex-con that he put away. And not just any ex-con, a Doyle! That family has consumed my father for years. Dad knew the kind of baggage Liam was carrying around. He knew what Liam’s skeletons were, and he pretended like he didn’t.
I realized in the very early hours of the morning that there’s only one reason why my dad would keep something like that from me. He wants something from Liam, and he’s been using me to get whatever it is. He allowed Liam to stay, to spend time with me and the family, because he thinks it will help him take down Liam’s brother. And that’s why the emotion most at the forefront right now is anger. He claimed to like seeing me happy, but it was all a lie. I can compartmentalize the rest until I have time to lick my wounds. Right now, I’m pissed.
I’m wearing yoga pants and a hoodie as I make my way down to the patio where I know Dad is likely hiding out. He’s the kind of man who likes to watch the sun come up but only on the weekend. I know he won’t miss this ritual, even if he has to do it on a resort patio. I catch my reflection in one of the mirrors as I’m walking through the lobby. I look like shit. Bags and circles under my eyes, my hair is a mess, tied up in haste when I finally gave up on sleeping and instead did a few hundred internet searches on Liam Doyle and family. There’s surprisingly very little out there. No social media accounts, no articles, no news reports.
I even went as far as to attempt to call him, but it just rang once and then disconnected. It didn’t go to voicemail. He’s unreachable. No digital footprint to speak of. Even if I wanted to find him, I couldn’t.
It’s like he’s a ghost, like he doesn’t exist at all.
And that makes me feel awful on so many levels. Whatever connection we had is gone. Severed. Never to be revisited.
My dad has his back to me so he doesn’t see me coming. The sun has just crested the horizon fully, and the rays are breathtaking in a wholly symbolic way. I pause for a second and consider how each new sunrise brings clarity, renewal, and the possibility of a fresh start. For me, in this moment, it brings me a sense of empowerment.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I circle around Dad and block his view of the sun.
He startles, grabs his heart, and flicks his sunglasses up. “Dammit, Mags, you scared the piss outta me!”
“Dad, Liam told me.”
He takes a drink of his coffee, eyeing me over the ridge of the mug, and winces a little. Hard to tell if it’s because the coffee is too hot or because he knows I’m going to rip him a new one.
“Dad!”
“What should I have said, Maggie?” he says as he lowers his drink.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe hey, Daughter, your new boyfriend happens to be part of the crime family that I’ve been obsessing over for years. In fact, I was the one who put Liam away. You might want to cut him loose before he hurts you.”
Dad leans forward looking like he’s ready to jump up. “Did he hurt you? That son of a bi—”
“No, Dad, shit!” Okay, I didn’t think that one through completely. “Calm down.” I pull the chair opposite him out and slump into it. “I didn’t mean physically, anyway,” I mumble.
“Where is he?” Dad doesn’t settle back in his chair. He keeps me locked in his detective stare.
“He left.”
“What happened? Tell me everything.”
“No, you tell me everything.” A waiter comes and sets down a plate of pastries, all things forbidden by Mom. I bark out a laugh at the irony that is Dad—big bad cop having to sneak sweets at the only time of day that he knows Mom won’t catch him in the act. “I guess this is just something you do, huh? Keep secrets from the people who care about you?”
Dad growls at me. I nod when the waiter offers to pour my coffee for me. “Thanks, I’ll have some of that.”
Dad waits until we’re alone before he speaks. “Okay, I recognized him right away. Liam Doyle, going by Liam Walsh, one of his aliases, and yeah, I flipped out at first, thought maybe you were pulling some stunt to piss off your mother or something. Imagine if she found out you were dating an ex-con and a Doyle? Whew, heads would roll.” He laughs awkwardly as he rubs the back of his neck. “But then I found out that Liam didn’t tell you who, exactly, he is, and from what I know of him, despite the fact that he did time, he’s not a bad guy.” He shrugs. “I mean, he’s not totally innocent, either, but in the realm of bad guys, like truly bad guys, he’s got morals and standards, and he’s loyal—loyal enough to do time for his no-good brother.”
“He told me that. Said he wasn’t a snitch.” Even with my dad’s endorsement, I still feel stupid and naive and tricked. “That still doesn’t explain why you let him stay. Were you using me to get to his family?” I choke on those words, and tears burn my eyes. I need to hear him admit it. “Did you need him so badly that you decided that it would be okay to play with my emotions?”
“No!” Dad leans forward and touches my knee. “I would never do that! Sweetie, you really were having fun with him. I saw that. You were glowing and happy, and I know how miserable your mother and your sisters can make you. I didn’t see the harm. I knew he wouldn’t hurt you.” He sighs, pulls back, takes his hand away. “I also wanted to help him. He deserves another shake at life.”
I try to swallow those words, to understand that my father is telling me something important. Dad doesn’t help criminals. He doesn’t feel sympathy for ex-cons. “You get what you get,” is what he always says when it comes to doing time. “What do you mean?”
“Liam’s brother Shawn is a fucker.” He pauses. “Excuse my language.” He drinks his coffee and looks like he’s considering his words before he speaks again. “His brother set him up for a fall, put him in the wrong place at the wrong time holding onto the wrong product, and Liam went away for it. As you know, I want Shawn, badly. He’s up to no good, and with Liam out of the way, he was able to manipulate the other brothers, Ronan and Cormac, to do things that Liam won’t stand for. So I knew Liam being here was an opportunity for me to talk him into letting me help him.”
“Letting you set up Shawn, you mean.”
Dad has the sense to look sheepish at least. “That’s what I hoped. Knew it was probably a long shot, but I figured he was here anyway, and
you seemed to be enjoying your time with him.”
“So you were using me.”
Dad chokes on his coffee. “I told you, no! I did not!”
I slap my hand on the table, shaking our cups. “Yes, Dad, you did! You knew that I was blissfully ignorant to some pretty important information about a guy I was enjoying my time with.” I air quote the last words. “And you let me carry on that way in hopes that you could convince Liam to help you bust his own brother. How’d that work out for you, by the way?”
Dad cocks an eyebrow my way. “Why don’t you tell me what happened last night? He wasn’t at the movie, so I’m assuming he had to leave. Did you two fight over something?”
I let out a long breath, frustrated at how Dad always manages to turn a conversation his way somehow. “He got a call from one of his brothers, Mac, I think he said, then had to leave because his other brother, Ro? Was hurt.”
Dad nods but doesn’t say anything, encouraging me to speak just by letting the silence hang, a cop trick that’s surprisingly powerful. Just ask my sixteen-year-old self after I tried to sneak in to the house when I missed curfew.
“He went to deal with that and came back after midnight with a split lip, black eye, and a pair of busted-up hands. He said he got into it with Shawn and that he had to leave. Dad, he literally disappeared. I tried to find him online, nothing. Even his phone isn’t working.”
“Did he tell you anything else before he left?”
I nod but take the time to drink my coffee. “He said to tell you that the tip you’ve been looking for is in your car.”
“My car?”
“I let him take your car to deal with his brother situation.”
“You let him take the Charger?”
I smirk, feeling slightly vindicated at knowing that Dad cherishes that car more than anything else he owns. “I’m sure it’s fine. After all, Liam is such a responsible, loyal, criminal type.”
Dad is already out of his chair and ready to walk away when I remember the second half of the message.
“Oh, Dad, he also said that you’ve got until noon to collect.”
Dad stops, scrunches up his face as he pulls his phone out. It can’t be later than six-thirty, so he’s got some time to figure things out.
“Where are my car keys?” he growls at me.
I reach into my pocket and pull them out. “Here,” I say as I toss them toward him. “And don’t even think I’m keeping your little secret from Mom!” I pick up his uneaten danish and take a bite. “You’re going down, big guy. See how you like being on her shit list.”
“Oh, I’ve been on her shit list plenty of times, sweetie.” He smiles. “She doesn’t scare me.”
I snort, wipe the sugar from my lips with the back of my hand, then take another giant bite. “Liar,” I whisper as I watch him beeline for the parking lot to his precious car.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Liam
There’s no way I’m sleeping, and I can’t understand how Mac can. But he does, and when I can’t wait any longer, I wake Hailey up and get her to fix my face. Not just medically, either. If I’m going back to the reunion, I need to appear as normal as possible. She does her best to clean me up and hide my bruises with makeup, but there’s only so much you can do for a battered face.
I have no way to contact Maggie. Her number was on my burner, which I demolished before leaving Boston—a precaution I took more to keep myself from reaching out to her after I left the resort than for security reasons. I’m regretting that rash choice now. It’d be nice to call and tell her what’s going on, why I’m coming back, that I want to see her and touch her, and that I’m sorry.
By the time I make it back to the resort, the sun has risen and I’m pulling up to the Detective’s Charger just where I parked it.
He’s nowhere to be seen, and I have to wonder if Maggie just said fuck it and didn’t bother sharing my message. I can’t believe how naive I’ve been, thinking that Shawn would just let me be to keep an eye on the family. Of course he’s watching me here. I look around the parking lot, wondering if I’ve been followed all the way to my cottage as well. My one oasis…
I slam my hand into the steering wheel and regret it immediately. The cuts are barely scabbed over, and every pull on them is painful.
Everything is feeling out of control, like I just can’t get a grasp on things. I was so caught up in Maggie that I just didn’t notice a tail and I fucked up. I hurt Maggie and ruined everything for her, which is why I don’t deserve to have nice things.
And now I’ve lost her—or at least, I know I can’t have her, can’t keep her in my life. No matter what happens today, Maggie and I will never be safe together.
I glance up when I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and see the detective racing down the path looking like his ass is on fire. He opens the driver’s side door of his Charger. I get out of my truck and walk across the parking lot. “Detective!”
He’s got one foot out of the car, the door open. He leans his head out, and his eyes widen when he sees me. “Liam, I thought you’d left.”
“Just getting my brother squared away.” I motion to his car. “Brought it back in one piece.”
He hasn’t gotten out of the car, and as I get closer, I can see that his hand is on the GPS.
“Anything wrong?” I lean on the door, bending so that I’m at eye level then give a slight nod over my shoulder.
Detective Chandler catches my eye, and I can see awareness dawning. He glances over at the GPS then lowers his hand. “Maggie mentioned that you had some trouble with this thing on your way back.”
I shake my head. “Yeah, I reset it, so I think it’s good now.” I straighten, relief flooding through me. I need to get him out of the car. I don’t know if the car is wired and if someone is listening to our conversation. I don’t want Shawn getting any hint that I tracked his location on the detective’s GPS.
“What happened to your face?”
I shrug. “Walked into a wall.” I laugh awkwardly then glance around the lot. There are people strolling, cars coming and going. Nothing too hectic for this time of day but movement enough that it’s impossible to notice someone around who’s only there to keep an eye on us.
Detective Chandler slides out of the car and clears his throat. “You ever play a round?”
“Of golf?”
He pats my back and motions to a path on the other side of the lot. “Yeah, miles of open space, peace, quiet, and a few hours of hitting a little white ball.” He shifts his gaze over the parked cars, assessing the surroundings. “Just the two of us.”
I nod, perfect. “Sounds good.”
“I didn’t bring my clubs, so we’ll have to rent a set.”
“Perfect.” No way to bug a rented set of clubs.
…
“We’re being watched?” Detective Chandler is driving the golf cart toward the green.
“It’s possible.”
“And the coordinates in my GPS will take me to…”
“Where you need to be.”
He clears his throat.
“How’s your brother doing?”
“Maggie told you?” Of course she did. I sigh. “How mad is she?”
“At me? Spitting mad.” He shakes his head. “I think it’s safe to say that we’re both in the dog house. Shouldn’t have lied to her.”
“I wanted this weekend to be perfect for her.” I lift my hand. “She wanted to be able to have fun.” And I ruined it for her.
“Her mother and sisters have been pretty hard on her over the years.” He shakes his head as he slows the cart. “But I should have told her what I knew about you. I was acting selfishly.”
“Me, too,” I admit. I wanted to make Maggie happy, but my motivation for asking to come to the reunion in the first place was part getting away f
rom Shawn and his bullshit, part keeping him from sending one of his goons, and part need to be around Maggie, no matter how bad I knew I was for her.
Look at how that worked out.
“You ever play before?” He stops the cart and gets out then moves to the back where the clubs are.
I climb out as well and stand to the side, scanning the surroundings. “Nah.”
“You got anything on you that might be wired?”
I threw my phone away, not that I think Shawn had it bugged. I use burners exclusively, picking up a new phone every few weeks. We’re far enough away from any vehicle. “Nothing on me.”
“If someone’s watching, they’re doing it from the woods.” He glances at our surroundings. We’re boxed in by forest, but it’s far enough away that someone could watch but probably not hear.
“I agree.” I scan the tree line.
“Maggie said I have until noon.”
I nod. “Cormac is heading back to make sure the deal goes down the way it should so that Shawn doesn’t get suspicious. He’s probably got a guy here keeping tabs on your movements more so than mine. You can’t go.”
“If I can get those coordinates, I can call it in.”
“Mac says that Shawn’s got guys on the inside.”
“Boston PD?”
“Yeah.”
He pulls out a club, a ball, and a tee. “Okay. I can work around that.”
We walk away from the cart, and he sets things up.
“You’re going to need to keep your eye on the ball.”
“Huh?”
He points to the golf ball with the club then points west. “Hit it as hard as you can, that way.”
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