Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

THOMAS

I t had been so long since I had walked into this house with an invitation, I almost expected it to feel overwhelming, or to have some type of emotional reaction. It just felt weird, like walking the halls of a school you graduated from.

Still, I received the invitation for a family get-together. It was to be the entire extended family as well. Including the Astrids.

If Amelia was there, then more than likely Rose would be there, too. She left so quickly after I had untied her, I didn’t have time to talk to her again. I had wanted to pick her up and carry her to my bed, lay her there and tend to her, make sure that she was okay and I didn’t push her too far.

Then I had planned to spend the next several hours convincing her to admit her love for me. If the pain of burning wax didn’t work, then I was going to go for overstimulation. Hours between her legs licking and sucking and making her come over and over until she was so delirious the only thing that she knew was how much she loved me.

But then I heard that fucking tacky woman with her garish lipstick, Mrs. Donahue, wandering around the hallways under the church looking for me. I told Rose to hide, and I would get rid of Mrs. Donahue. Instead, the little minx took it as an opportunity to sneak out.

Fine.

I would give her some time to come to terms with the truth and then I would pull it from her lips.

When I walked into the living room, I didn’t really recognize anyone there other than my sisters, Charlotte and Olivia.

Charlotte immediately stood and ran into my arms, and I wrapped her in a tight hug, spinning her around a few times as she giggled the same way she did when we were children.

“Oh, I didn’t think you were going to come. I missed you so much. You need to meet my husband. Don’t worry, he’s not nearly as scary as he looks.”

A large man in a suit and a bolo tie behind her grunted something about being scarier than he looked.

Still, I offered my hand to shake and welcomed Reid into the family. He, Marksen, and my sisters were apparently in some heated debate about a TV show in Montana? And cow herding? There were not enough words in the English language to properly describe how uninterested I was in that conversation. Olivia, picking up on my disinterest, whispered in my ear that Luc and Father were in the billiards room, discussing billions instead of bovines.

I gave her a grateful nod and made my way down the once-familiar hall to the dark-wood-covered billiards room I couldn’t remember anyone actually using.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” I said as I stepped into the room.

Both Father and Luc wore stern expressions as they faced off against each other on the opposite side of the pool table. Each of them had a cue in their hand. That neither of them had lined up a shot told me that their current battle had less to do with the actual pool table and more to do with whatever business contract they were arguing over.

As much as some things changed, some stayed the same.

When they looked over at me, both of them also wore matching looks of surprise.

“I was invited, I believe,” I said, moving to Father’s crystal decanter of whisky.

“You were. I just didn’t think you would show.”

“I like to keep you on your toes,” I said, pouring myself a double.

Father laid down the pool cue and moved to stand next to me, pouring himself and Luc a glass as well.

“So, I hear you gave the Irish the blackmail that Mary Quinn had been hoarding?” Father said. I assumed it was his attempt at casual conversation.

“I did,” I confirmed. “There was a lot of juicy information in those files, and a lot I wish I had never seen.”

“I also heard that the Manwarring file seems to have gone missing,” he added.

“You know, I heard the same thing,” I said, taking a seat, wanting to know if he was actually going to have the balls to ask what he wanted to know.

“What did you do with the file?” Luc asked, still standing with his arms crossed over his chest and scowling down at me. There was a faint bruise at the corner of his jaw, and I had to admit I was pretty fucking proud of that.

“What’s wrong, big brother? Don’t trust me?”

“Can you be trusted?”

I was pretending to think about it for a moment, tilting my head side to side like I was weighing my options. Then I looked at him and said, “No, probably not.”

“Where’s the file?” my father asked. “Do you know what’s in it?”

“The file is in a pile of ash in my fireplace. There aren’t even any fragments left for people to hold over your head. No one has that blackmail,” I said, before downing the rest of my drink.

“Why?” Luc said, still not trusting me. I couldn’t blame him. It was hard to trust people you didn’t know. Although I was still mad Luc didn’t come to my defense like he should have seven years ago, me being sent away was hardly his fault.

“I didn’t do it for you, and that is all you need to know.”

Luc went to open his mouth and say something else, but Father raised his hand, stopping him.

“It’s over. The Irish have nothing to hold over our heads. Let’s just be grateful for that. But you wanted our connection to the mafia to be over. It’s done and thanks to your brother, it will not come back to bite us in the ass later.”

“Well,” I said with a laugh. “I wouldn’t go banking on that, but nothing that Mary Quinn had on you can be used against you. As long as she’s the only one that had it. I didn’t make any copies. Nothing is leaking from this end, but I don’t know how smart Declan’s predecessor was at keeping shit quiet.”

“It’s handled,” Luc said in a creepy and not at all ominous way.

“Why did you do it?” my father asked, his eyes narrowing.

I did it for Rose. I did it because I didn’t want anyone to ever come after her for what her mother had on people. I did it because some part of me wanted to believe that maybe the weight of my name would be protection for her as well.

“It’s my last name too,” I said, finally figuring an answer that, although it wasn’t a lie, it also didn’t give him any information that I didn’t want him to have.

Luc looked at me for a moment, his eyes narrowed, and then he nodded, finally trusting that I may have the family’s best interest at heart.

I meant, I couldn’t care less, but whatever. If it made him happy, he could cling to it.

“Dinner is ready in five,” a pretty girl with soft brown hair said, sticking her face into the room.

“Stella, dear,” Father said, and his entire demeanor changed. He seemed to shrink, but not in a bad way. In a way that he suddenly wasn’t overbearing or intimidating. His face lit up with a gentle smile that looked foreign. “Come meet my other son, Thomas.”

I looked over at Luc, utterly confused.

Luc shot me a look back that said, “yeah, that happened.”

“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you. Your father speaks highly of you,” she said with a bright smile, and I couldn’t bring myself to doubt her. Though my father didn’t speak highly of anyone. Ever.

“It’s very nice to meet you, too. I’ve been meaning to come by for a while,” I said. I had planned to be a complete ass to this poor girl, but I just didn’t want to anymore.

We all went to follow Stella into the dining room, but Father put his hand on my shoulder and held me back for a moment.

“I wanted to let you know that arrangements have been made, and no one is talking about excommunication anymore. The entire deal has been handled and swept under the rug. If you would like, you can go back to your life in Rome. Or you can stay here in New York. The choice is yours.”

He said nothing else, just pushed me toward the dining room.

It was a big decision. Going back to Rome, to my life of hedonism and parties, should have been a no-brainer. After all, it was what I had intended to do as soon as I got my revenge. Technically, I should have been on a plane before Mary Quinn’s body was even cold.

Something was holding me back. Or, more accurately, someone was holding me back.

What would Rose think of my staying? Would she want me to stay? If I could get her to admit that she was mine, that she would love me, I would absolutely give up my unencumbered life in Rome.

Though the idea of keeping her as a pet, a dirty little secret, was no longer nearly as appealing as it had been. For some reason, I wanted more. I just didn’t know what that meant.

Still, at the dinner table surrounded by the siblings that I had grown apart from, their spouses who I didn’t know, and my father, a man I should have hated with everything I am, I still just looked for Rose. There were a few sets of empty seats, one between Luc and Stella. I assumed one was for Amelia and the other for her sister. Amelia wasn’t here yet, so maybe she and Rose were just finishing something up at the school.

So I relaxed, I drank, I ate, and I enjoyed the company of people that I didn’t realize how badly I missed. People who had changed so much I hardly recognized them. Father was laughing, laughing like with genuine, light-hearted laughter.

“I didn’t think it was possible,” I leaned over and whispered to Charlotte.

“No, he’s been like this for weeks, months now. Being with Stella has really brought something out in him. I don’t think any of us knew it was possible. He’s like a completely different man,” Charlotte whispered back.

“It’s true,” Luc said, leaning over to me. “At first, I thought it was some kind of switch, like Brown-Forman sent in some kind of body double to learn the secrets of our whisky?—”

“Like Jack Daniels could ever measure up to Manwarring,” I snorted.

“Facts,” Luc said, clinking his glass with mine. “Even so, he’s been a completely different person. Now, my money’s on alien abduction.”

“I’m sorry, did you just say ‘facts’?” I asked, dumbfounded. Luc didn’t use teenage slang when he was a teen.

He hung his head, and Charlotte started giggling.

“Amelia is picking up a few things from the kids she works with, and certain words have just worked their way into his daily vernacular. It’s hilarious.”

“My point,” Luc interjected. “Is that clearly Father has been replaced by a pod person.” As Luc said that, a roll flew across the table and hit him in the head.

The entire table sat in stunned silence trying to figure out where it came from when my father stood, straightened his tie, and looked at Luc. “I would like to remind you that you were a power-mad asshole before you met Amelia, and she straightened you out.”

“He’s got a point,” Marksen said.

“And you were a petulant child who kidnapped a girl because Mary Quinn was so easily able to manipulate you,” Father shot at him, making Marksen duck his head a little. “If it wasn’t for my Olivia straightening you out, who knows where you would be, probably in some Middle Eastern prison hoping your daddy comes to rescue you.”

The entire table broke out in laughter.

“This one”—he pointed to Reid—“was flat out ignoring his responsibilities and inheritance to go play soldier in a foreign war just so he had something more interesting to do, until my Charlotte reined in his wild ways.”

“I don’t know if—” Reid defended himself when Father threw another roll, this time at Reid’s face.

“And that one over there was running around like nothing mattered other than his entitled sense of justice while working out his daddy issues in the DA’s office.” My father pointed behind me and I turned to see Harrison walk in with his bride on his arm.

“What the hell did I do?”

“You’re late. Take a seat,” my father said, pointing to a few other empty chairs on the other side of the table. “I’m simply pointing out that the love of a good woman can change a man in unexpected ways.”

“He’s right,” Harrison’s bride, I think her name was Eddie, said.

Harrison narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, then kissed her forehead and led her over to the empty seats.

A few moments later, Amelia came downstairs looking a little frazzled as she smoothed down her hair and her dress and practically floated into the dining room.

“I am so sorry I’m late, everyone. I was stuck on a parent-teacher conference that was… challenging.”

“Everything okay, honey?” Luc asked, standing and pulling her chair out for her.

“Everything will be,” she said with a serene smile.

“Is Rose coming too?” I asked, trying to seem conversational and not like I was desperate to know where my angel was.

“No,” Amelia said with a smile. “She was going to be here, but she found an earlier flight, so she could settle into her new apartment before school starts.”

She left. She left again, and she didn’t tell me. My heart pounded in my chest, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. She was gone, again. I couldn’t get to her. How was I going to make her admit she loved me if she wasn’t here?

“Oh, where is she going to school?”