opposite mine was empty and as I looked down the table at my assembled unwanted family members, I realised that my most dangerous, and favourite, uncle was missing.
"Where's Niall?" I asked casually as the rest of my family started up their posturing crap, boasting about the money they’d earned the family this year and trying to point score off each other while in ear shot of the head of the family.
Not that I ever got the impression Liam cared much. I was pretty sure he had every single dollar that had passed hands within his criminal empire marked down and accounted for and that he knew exactly which family member was responsible for bringing it in. But that didn’t seem to be what he was looking for in those he offered favour to. I mean, why the fuck was I being gifted a seat at his left hand tonight when I'd literally tried to cut ties with this fucking family a few months ago and never look back? I certainly wasn't earning them any money either. The only money I earned came from taking part in the illegal fights I attended in Murkwell and I certainly never shared so much as a dime of that with this bunch of assholes.
"He's taking care of something," Liam said dismissively, letting me know that his youngest son had earned a free pass for being late with whatever task he was currently performing.
My uncle Connor took up the chance to dominate Liam's attention with some rambling story about an enforcing job he'd carried out last week and I let him more than happily, relaxing back into my chair and digging into the food in front of me.
"So how much is Kyan paying you to sit there with him, sweetie pie?" Dougal asked from Tatum's other side, leaning in close and releasing a puff of smoke in her face. Every fucker at the table was smoking of course, though I didn’t feel the need to join them just yet.
"Kyan doesn't need to pay me for my company," my girl replied coolly, stabbing her broccoli. "I'm his and he's mine."
"Well, property is always up for sale..." Dougal leaned forward and laid a hand on her thigh with a leering smile and she smacked it away with a snarl of rage, but I wasn't going to leave it at that.
I twisted my fork in my grip, shoved to my feet and slammed the piece of silverware straight down into his other hand which was lying flat on the table.
Dougal roared in pain, the cigarette falling from his lips and bouncing onto the table as he tore the fork free, clutching his hand to his chest and blood spilled down his arm.
Everyone at the table stopped eating to stare at us as I shoved my chair over and rounded Tatum to grab the front of Dougal's shirt and pull his face close to mine.
"Do I need to beat your ass in front of the entire family, or are you going to apologise to my girl?" I snarled in his face.
Dougal sneered at me as he clutched his bleeding hand to his chest before glancing around at the assembled family members and clearly taking a moment to figure out his odds. But I had about fifty pounds of muscle on him as well as the rage of a demon and he knew well enough that he was outmatched. The rules of the family said I couldn’t kill him, beating the fuck out of him was fair game.
He barked a laugh as he yanked himself out of my grasp and sketched a mocking bow to Tatum who was still sitting in her chair. To her credit, she was hiding her shock well, looking up at us as she watched this drama play out. But in reality, this was barely even the start of the shit that would happen today if history was anything to go by. The more the family drank and smoked and talked shit, the more brawls would break out.
One year my cousin Aiden was stabbed so bad he bled out. But he had been fucking Dermot's girl, so I wasn't sure what else he'd expected to get. Liam let Dermot off for that death seeing as he’d only stabbed the fucker in the leg and it was really just bad luck he’d hit the artery. He had cut two of the fingers from his left hand in payment for it though, which had kinda ruined my appetite