Mafia King (Young Irish Rebels #2) - Vi Carter Page 0,23

you and your father can get rid of me?”

Jack tilts his head. “Shay, this can work. It’s a bit more complicated, but that’s my father. He complicates everything.”

My own da had warned me, but I hadn’t listened. Staying here in the south with so much at stake wasn’t an option. Emma is still rocking but has stopped her wailing. Her cheeks are bright red, her green eyes wild.

I can’t show any weakness in front of Jack. I can’t trust him, not after this.

“The attack yesterday, who was it?”

“My father has a man in to question.” Another lie.

“Really?” My hands tighten around the lighter and cigarettes that I extract from my pocket.

Jack takes a step back to me. “Shay. I don’t want to see you get hurt, but you need to understand what you are up against.”

I light the cigarette and shrug. “I know exactly what I’m up against.”

Not just one cunt, but two cunts.

“Shay….” Jack trails off and frowns. “It’s different down here.”

Yeah, loyalty wasn’t a word they would ever understand. Money, that was the motivation in the south. For us, it was freedom. It was taking back what was rightfully ours. It is taking back the land under our feet. It was a hundred-year-old battle. Down here, it was drugs, women, and too much fucking money.

“You can leave now.” I turn my back on him.

Silence follows, and I know he hasn’t left. “Why would your father have you marry her?”

“Her father is a legend here in the South.” Jack’s voice is flat.

I turn to him. “A kid killer?” No wonder my da hated Liam. I think all the brothers did deep down, no matter what they said. I think he was a poison within his family.

Jack doesn’t answer, and Emma stops rocking in the chair.

He still hasn’t left, and I have no idea what is keeping him here, but something is.

“The man that my father’s security captured after the shooting had a marking on his neck.”

I don’t ask what. I’m sure he’ll tell me.

“It was a skull with the Irish flag painted on it.”

I don’t react initially. “Any clown can paint an Irish flag on a skull.”

It’s there in his eyes, and my gut tightens again.

“The skull’s mouth has a shamrock in it.”

There it was—one of our own men. Now all I can think of is, did my father send them? Was it to kill Emma or Liam, or both? I’m ready to tap my thigh where my own tattoo is.

Had word gotten around about who Emma was?

“Your da must have pissed off a lot of people.”

“Shay, he’s my father. If he’s harmed, I’ll go to war.”

I nod, expecting no less from Jack. I’d do the same if it were my da. Where this left us… I had no idea. But none of this was good.

“What does your da want?” Liam did this all for a reason.

“I don’t know.” Jack looks me in the eye, and I don’t see a lie.

“What am I expected to do now?”

“In four weeks, you marry Emma and take your place on the panel with my father and me.”

I snort. “As a King?”

“Yes.”

But I would no longer be King of the North. Was that Liam’s plan all along to take the kingdom from my father’s hand by using me? My father’s only living son.

“How many security men do you have here?” Jack’s question has me on high alert, and I take a quick glance out the window to see if Bernard is still there. He is.

“Two.”

“I’d up that number.”

I want to ask if that’s another threat? but if they wanted me dead, I’d be dead. Liam needed me alive for whatever sick fucking plan he was slowly unfolding.

“I’d also untie her and be careful what they see.”

I grin again, but it holds no fucking humor at all. “The security that your da supplied for me, I couldn’t imagine them betraying me,” I say sarcastically.

“I’m trying to help you, Shay,” Jack says, but he’s taking a final look at Emma before he nods. I don’t take my eyes off him as he leaves my home. The moment the door closes, I throw the cigarette on the tiled floor and stamp on it. I’m still staring at the door before I bend down and pick it up.

“We are leaving.” I don’t move until Jack’s vehicle disappears out the front gates.

Time is ticking.

CHAPTER NINE

EMMA

Leaving? I spit the gag out; it takes a few tries, but it finally tumbles down and lands in my lap. His name is