Mafia King (Young Irish Rebels #2) - Vi Carter Page 0,66

me is a betrayal I’m not sure I can forgive.

“Clearly, I can’t,” I speak to Lucian. He’s the one in charge here. Kings or no Kings, he has the manpower. He has the contacts that we don’t have.

“Liam O’Reagan is a poison that won’t be allowed in the North. Have you ever wondered why no one has ever tried to join forces before?”

I had. My assumption was that greed played a big part in all this. I wanted to stop the violence. They wanted to keep it going.

“Not even his father was allowed any control in the North.”

My da shifts. That’s the way I tell how uncomfortable he gets when his family is spoken about. He had a different da than the rest. It was his da who controlled the North until he was killed.

My hand still rests on Emma’s side. She is still behind me. “So, why bring Emma here?”

“You can’t marry her. She is what ties this deal together, a deal that won’t go ahead.”

“So just ask me to call off the wedding.”

My da takes another step towards me. “Would you have? Did I not already ask you that?”

He had.

“If I walk away from this, we don’t have a seat in the South.”

Lucian lets his long fingers flutter through the air. “Another time, it might present itself in a better package.”

We would never get this chance again. I would never get this chance again.

“If I refuse?” Once again, I address Lucian.

“I’d advise you not to.”

“I’m not looking for fucking advice.”

“Shay.” My da speaks up; the warning in his gaze doesn’t stop the heat that burns my insides as it seeks for a release.

“It’s fine, Connor.” Lucian smiles at me. It’s a you-little-shit-listen-up kind of smile. “Okay. Emma will disappear.” I know what that means, and that’s not going to happen.

“You will be stripped of your title as King of the North, and you will be remembered for your betrayal to your country. The penalty for that alone, Shay, is death.”

Emma moves, and I try to push her back, but she won’t.

“I’ll leave. I’ll call off the wedding.”

“Emma,” I warn her and push her back. “What if there’s a way that I can still rule in the South and not give Liam any power over the North?”

Lucian laughs.

“You find that fucking funny.”

Lucian’s laughter stops, and my da shifts in his stance but doesn’t come any closer.

“Yes, I do. What you are saying isn’t possible. Liam wouldn’t just hand someone like you that kind of power.”

Someone like me. Lucian’s disdain for me was really showing.

I had something I could use, a card I didn’t intend to play at all, but I wasn’t losing the chance to join the North with the South. I couldn’t walk away from it. I had to make something right.

“I know something that will sway him.”

Curiosity widens Lucian’s eyes. “What is it?”

I grin. Fucking Cunt.

“If I can make the deal, you let me live my life. You leave Emma alone.”

Lucian rubs his jaw and turns his back on me. My da’s gaze holds a look of betrayal. That whatever I am sitting on, I should have shared with him. But right now, I’m glad I didn’t.

“So you get to rule alongside Jack and Liam O’Reagan in the South, and only you rule in the North?”

“There will be another member in the South; I’m not sure who Liam is selecting. But yes, only I will rule in the North.”

It was a title, but it clearly didn’t give me much power.

“I’d like to think if you can pull this off that you would consider the advice from us in the future.”

Like fuck I would. “Of course.”

“Then you have a deal.” Lucian reaches out his hand. “A deal I still don’t know how you are going to pull off.”

“Me, neither.” My da’s words are growled.

“Emma will be left alone?” I squeeze Lucian’s hand, but he doesn’t flinch.

“Yes, once you hold up your end.”

This had to work. If it didn’t, I was fucked.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

EMMA

“Are you sure coming back here is wise?” I don’t think Shay is thinking clearly. He had driven back to his apartment. I’m not entirely sure how much of the drive he will even remember. He was hunched over the steering wheel with a pair of sunglasses on his face. I offered to drive, but I knew even as I said it that he would say no.

I couldn’t drive, but that didn’t stop me from offering.

“It’s the safest place right now.” His words would make me laugh;