Hesitantly, I asked, “Are you okay with me attending? I don’t want to cramp your style or anything.”
“What style?” she asked wryly. “Anyway, before, I probably would have told them you were a bitch, but now? I like you. Weird that it took you killing Father for me to realize that.”
I laughed a little. “We really need to stop being okay with this.”
Inessa shrugged. “He was a prick. What are we supposed to do? Mourn the bastard who married me off to a man I’d never met? Or the one who pushed you to run away because he wanted to tie you to an ancient creep?” Her grin made another reappearance. “Anyway, the way we live, the way our men make their livings, it’d be pious and hypocritical of me to condemn you for it.”
“When you put it like that—”
Her nod was stout. “Exactly.” She leaned forward. “Guess what.”
“What?” I whispered.
She tapped her nose. “Have you heard of The Whistler?”
I blinked, then frowned when I thought about that name. “It rings a bell. Is he a sniper or something?”
“Yep, he’s a sniper.” Banked heat flared to life in her eyes. “Eoghan’s The Whistler.”
A surprised gasp escaped me. “No way.”
“Way.” She bounced on her seat. “Isn’t that the hottest thing ever?”
I laughed. “I mean, I guess, if you’re into that type of thing which you quite clearly are.”
“I guess it’d be funky if you were into that too.”
“More than funky,” I agreed. “What does Brennan do? In the Points, I mean.”
She pursed her lips. “Mostly, I think he’s the go to guy to get everyone out of trouble. I think he started off handling some of their shipments, maybe managed their stock of whores, but I think it’s morphed over time.”
“Into what?” The idea of him working with hookers made my stomach twist. Even though prostitution was as much a part of this life as dying violently.
“Well, a bit of everything. He deals with the gambling dens and the protection rackets too. It’s not fair really. He’s taken on Aidan Jr.’s jobs, so he has his hands in a lot of pies.”
When I thought about his schedule, it fit.
“What’s going on with Aidan Jr.? Why has Brennan taken on a lot of his work?”
She leaned closer. “On Aoife and Finn’s wedding day, they were shot down in a drive-by shooting. I only learned this afterward, but that was when the Irish made a deal with Father. I was the sacrificial lamb.” She pulled a face. “Anyway, in the shooting, Aoife got hit really badly. She almost died. And Aidan, well, he got hit too. Ever since then, he’s been hooked on pain meds.”
I whistled under my breath. “Shit.”
“About sums it up,” she agreed. “So, he’s a liability, but they all protect him from Aidan Sr.”
“Doesn’t he know? I mean, he seemed pretty shrewd to me.”
“He is, but the guys cover for Aidan. I don’t think they want to cause him trouble with their dad.”
“That’s sweet, I guess.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Depends on if it’s making things too easy for him, you know?”
“You think he needs to bottom out?”
“For as long as I’ve known him, he’s been wired. I think he definitely needs a short, sharp shock.”
I pondered that. “You know... when I was at their folks’ place, I saw something.”