Chapter Nineteen
Finn
I kept on surprising myself.
My control seemed to grow exponentially as each hour passed, even when I felt sure it would fold in on itself, crumble, leaving me a raging lunatic, it didn’t. Its limits increased until I knew even Aidan Sr. was impressed.
Not that he could judge.
The fucker had zero control, and if Lena had been the one who was targeted today, then I knew he’d be on a rampage. Exactly how I wanted to be.
I didn’t just need to cut some motherfuckers, I craved it. Craved it like no good Catholic ever should, but screw that shit. If they thought they could get to me through Aoife, they could think again while I hung them up from their wrists like a dead cow on a hook. The slaughterhouse was there for a reason, just waiting for me to figure out what the hell was going on.
“The Russians are either working on their own, or have united with the Colombians,” Conor stated something we all knew but didn’t want to say.
“That’s not like Vasov,” Aidan Sr. grouched, rubbing his chin.
“He said it himself. The Colombians are his biggest suppliers,” I murmured, my voice hushed as I traced the lines of the mahogany table around which the council was seated.
Only Aidan Jr. wasn’t here, and he wouldn’t be for at least another eight weeks thanks to the new steel pins in his leg.
All the other O'Donnelly brothers, myself included, were here though, as well as the three men Aidan considered advisors, but I thought Tony, Mark, and Paul spoke bullshit. Aidan only kept them around because they’d come up together from school. They were dipshits, but they knew to keep their mouth shut unless Aidan asked them anything, so I could handle having their dumbasses around.
“Aoife’s certain he’s Russian?”
“She said he was. Why would she lie?” I countered, frowning at him and the question he’d posed. “She was fucking shitting herself, Aidan.”
“You should have seen her, Da,” Eoghan rasped. “Shaking like a leaf, looked like a kitten could push her over.”
Aidan slammed his hand against the table. “No one should be able to get into our homes. What the fuck went wrong?”
Conor scrubbed a hand over his face. “They hacked our systems.”
“And I thought you were our resident boy genius?” he sneered, making fury flash in Conor’s eyes.
“I developed that code myself. It’s good. But someone beat it. I need to develop something else.Evidently,” he bit off. “I’ll be putting in extra safe guards too.”
“It’s because of Conor that we knew to get back there ASAP,” I told Aidan, who was on his feet now, pacing back and forth like a pissed off lion in a cage. “When the guy broke into the system, I got an alert on my phone.”
“We all did,” Brennan added.
Aidan sniffed, but didn’t apologize.
“I think retina scans might be the next step,” Conor inserted on a heavy sigh. “It’s hardcore to get into your fucking home, but with the threat level this high?”
“Do it,” I insisted. “I have a wife to protect.”
“She’s in lockdown now, son. She’s safe,” Aidan tried to comfort, but it wasn’t much help.
“She should be at home. She’s sick. She doesn’t need to be in an unfamiliar environment.”
“Lena will look after her the best she can.”
I wanted to snap that it wasn’t good enough, but I didn’t. Aidan was trying to help even if he was only succeeding in pissing me off even more.
I ran a hand through my hair as I slouched over the table. “Why target her? Why me?”
“You’re the money man,” Declan pointed out softly.