CHAPTER 2

Adam

May 2005

Smirking at the text I’d just received from my sister-in-law Maya, I shook my head, thinking my younger brother was a lucky fucker.

Maya – Call me if anyone other than Johnny comes to the back door of The Lounge ??

It was understandable. They were newlyweds, but they didn’t get a lot of alone time. Between my Da still living in the same house as them and their two children needing their parents, getting any privacy had to be hard for them. They’d still managed to make another baby, though, so they couldn’t be that hard up.

I’d keep an eye out for her as she’d asked, although I doubted that Johnny was far behind his wife and only a few of us had access to the club out of hours. With that in mind, I sent Zack and Liam a quick message.

Me – The Lounge is out of bounds for the next couple of hours.

Liam – For fuck’s sake.

Zack – OK. Glad I have my own office.

Snorting another laugh at their replies, I went back to what I’d been doing, scheduling my guys for upcoming jobs or at least trying to.

I’d never realised how lucrative security was until we’d stopped running guns. Between the close protection clients and the bouncing we did in various clubs and pubs up and down the coast, we were kept busy. I was toying with the idea of starting to offer setting up security systems but didn’t have the first clue on how to go about putting together a team. Reaper and the Crow MC had helped us set up the security for the clubs and my business.

With that thought in mind, I send a quick text to Draco.

Me – Hey, do you know of anyone I can hit up for information on adding security system setup to O’Shea Security?

I waited a bit, but he didn’t reply straight away, so I went back to working on the schedule.

Eventually, I had to give up. There were too many jobs and not enough people to cover them, no matter how much I played around with it.

Getting up from my desk, I stretched and went to get a cup of coffee, hoping my spreadsheets would show me something different when I came back.

My phone beeped with a new message as I sat back down. Picking my phone up from the desk, I saw that it was Draco who had messaged me back.

Draco – I might. Let me get back to you.

Me – Thanks. Hey, do any of your younger crew want to earn some cash this weekend bouncing at the clubs? I’ve got too many jobs and not enough people.

Draco – I’ll check and let you know.

Me – K

If a few of the Crows would do the bouncer jobs this weekend, it would free a few of my guys up to do the close protection gig I’d booked for this weekend.

I knew I needed to hire more people but had been putting it off.

Now I had no fucking choice. I was reluctant to bring in people that hadn’t been through the trenches with us. It was either I hire or I scale back on jobs.

Liam would need to be told. I hated to put more work on his shoulders, though. As head of our family, all decisions were run past him first. It was a position he’d never wanted, and both Johnny and I tried to limit the amount of pressure we put on him.

There was nothing for it, though; I needed more people. Knowing he had a meeting this morning and not wanting to disturb him if it was still running, I shot him a quick text.

Me – Hey, bro, I need more security people, or I’m going to have to start turning away jobs.

Liam – Okay, have Zack spread the word. Let’s recruit from those we know first. Whoever comes on board has to pass a fitness test at the gym and be run through their paces by Carly.

I’m guessing his meeting must have finished early as he responded so quickly.

Me – K

Liam – Fuck’s sake, Adam, just add the fucking O to OK. It’s one extra letter.

Snickering at his reply, I continued to work on the schedules. To most, I come off as a grumpy fuckhead, but actually, I’m just quiet. I always have been. As the third-born son, I never felt the need to be heard above the rest. From a young age, I realised I learned much more from staying quiet and listening.

Not something that Johnny knows anything about. I’m convinced he was born talking and just never shut up. As for Andy, the less said about our youngest brother the better; just thinking about him raised my blood pressure. Spoilt little fuck; after his last escapade, we’d washed our hands of him.

Thinking about family has me reaching for my phone again to send my cousin Tommy a message. If anyone knew anything about security, it would be a retired assassin.

Me – I need to pick your brain about security systems and setting them up.

Tommy – Okay, just let me know when.

Me – Tomorrow? I’m waiting on Draco to get back to me. I know you don’t want to work full-time.

Tommy – I don’t, but I’m happy to help. I’ll be at the office tomorrow.

My next text was to Zack, asking him to spread the word that I was looking to hire more bouncers and close protection and what they’d have to do as part of the interview process.

We liked for Carly to put them through their paces because it sorted the wheat from the chaff pretty quickly. I didn’t want men on my team that wouldn’t take orders from a woman. One of my best bouncers happened to be a woman. Similarly, I didn’t want to employ a woman if she wasn’t able to protect to the standard that I held all my team accountable for. If some training was required to get them to that level, then that was fine. The same went for the men in my employ.

All my team regularly hit the Crawan Gym. I paid the Crow MC a small fortune to ensure all my team were fit and kept up with their martial arts training. If anyone slacked off, then Carly let me know and they got a written warning. Up to now, nobody had been fired yet.

My phone beeped again with a message; this time it was from Blaze.

Blaze – Draco says you’re looking for help this weekend. Bond, Cairo, and I are up for it.

Me – Thanks. You guys will be covering my bouncers. I’ll send you the list of clubs, and you guys can choose which ones you want. Let me know, and I’ll add you to my roster. Appreciate the help.

Blaze – No worries. Are you looking to hire?

Me – Yeah. Why? Do you know someone?

Blaze – A couple of people we were in the army with are getting out. One of them is the one Draco was thinking of.

Me – Send them my way. We’ll see if they’re a good fit.

Blaze – Will do.

Well, that was a fucking relief. I made adjustments to everything and then sent the updated details to all the team leads. An hour later, I was finished and was thinking of ordering something for lunch when there was banging on the door. Looking at the security monitor, I was surprised to see Reaper at the door.

Pressing the buzzer under my desk, I let him in before standing and walking out to meet him.

My eyes widened and my heart thumped when they met the pained, dark-eyed gaze of the gorgeous, tall blonde following in behind him.

My jaw clenched when I got a good look at her face; she was covered in bruises, and her nose had definitely been broken. She held the hand of a dark-haired girl on one side and had an arm wrapped around another who looked like she hadn’t fared any better than her mother. Anger burned in my stomach at the sight of them; somebody had worked them over really good. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the anger down to be dealt with later.

Lifting my eyes to Reaper’s, I saw the same anger in his gaze, “Reaper,” I acknowledged.

“Adam,” he nodded. “Can we take this to your office so the ladies can take a seat?”

Draco opened the office door, walking in behind them. His face tight with anger. Fuck, it seemed we were all on the same page. I had a feeling that the punching bags at the gym were going to be put to good use tonight.

At Reaper’s request, I nodded. Turning on my heel, I led them into my office.

“Please,” I said softly to the woman, waving my hand towards the couch. “Take a seat.”

Leaning back against my desk, feet crossed, arms folded, I looked at Reaper.

“What’s going on, Reap?”

Reaper’s gaze flicked towards the woman, who nodded. Sighing, he ran a hand down his face, “This is Tilly and her daughters. Tilly’s ex is also Maya’s ex.”

Now I was confused, “I thought he was dead?”

Tilly sighed wearily, “So did we, but it seems he’s not.”

“Okay, so what do you need from me?”

“Tilly wants to speak to Maya. That’s why she’s here. To warn her.”

Frowning, I looked at Tilly, holding her gaze, but I couldn’t find anything malicious in it.

“You know Johnny’s not going to like this?” I responded to Reaper.

“I know,” Reaper agreed, “but it would be best to get them here as quickly as possible so that Tilly and the girls can rest.”

“Okay,” I inform him, picking up my phone. Before phoning Johnny, I call Liam first.

“Adam.”

“You need to come to my office right now. It’s important. I’ll explain when you get here.”

Ending the call, I try Johnny’s phone, which rings and rings until it rings out. Not letting up, I keep trying until he answers. Not allowing him to say anything, I tell him to get to my office and end the call.

Reaper turns to Tilly, smiling at her, “I’ll leave you with Adam. I’m sure that Liam is on his way and Johnny won’t be far behind. Thank you for coming here to warn Maya. If there’s anything we can do to help, you just let Adam know and we’ll come back.”

Scowling at his words, I am surprised at my next thought, ‘Not bloody likely. If anyone was going to look out for them, it would be me.’

Standing straight, I wait as Reaper and Draco go to leave, shaking their hands as they walk past. “Call us if you need anything,” Reaper insists.

“Will do,” I agree, though I have no intention of doing that unless I have no choice. No, whatever this was, it would be handled the O’Shea way.

It didn’t take long for Liam, Johnny, and Maya to arrive. The anger that filled me as Tilly told us her story had me grinding my teeth.

It would be a cold day in hell before I let them out of my sight. I’d just have to figure out how to get them to stay.

And then Maya, my wonderful sister-in-law, did it for me. I could have kissed her when she insisted that Tilly and her girls come home with us. I hadn’t hesitated to offer my house to them, taking both Johnny and Liam by surprise. As for me, I knew it was the right thing for all of us. I’d work my arse off to get them to trust me, but first I needed to get them home and in bed to rest. I could see both Tilly and Ally were in pain. The quicker I got them out of here, the better, as far as I was concerned.

Crouching down in front of Ally, I said, “Hey, Ally, would it be okay for me to pick you up and carry you to the car so that we can get your mum and you to my home to rest?”

Her pain-filled blue eyes searched my face, for what, I wasn’t sure. She shared a glance with her mother, who nodded. “Okay,” she agreed softly, “I’m really tired.”

“I know, ceann beag, let’s get you home,” I answered her softly before scooping her gently into my arms, with Tilly and Jeanie following me as I carried her to my work vehicle. Once I had them settled in, I went back to lock up the office, stopping to speak to Johnny and Maya first.

Liam had already left to go and pick up our niece and nephew.

Getting back into my car, I pulled out of the office parking and out onto the main road.

Checking in the rearview mirror, I saw both girls have already fallen asleep.

Turning to the woman sitting quietly beside me as she looked out blindly at the scenery flying past our windows, I can’t help but reassure her.

“It’s going to be okay, a stór .”

“Will it?” she questions softly, turning to look at me with haunted dark eyes.

“I’ll make it so,” I promise.

Her eyes hold mine for a long moment before she nods, whispering, “Okay.”

Closing her eyes, it doesn’t take long for her to fall asleep.