I cross my heart with my fingers. “Scout’s honor. This is a friendly visit.”
“Then why is my nan’s favorite vase broken?” she asks without even glancing at the broken shards on the floor next to Sean.
I offer a slow shrug. “My brother is clumsy.”
She gets to the bottom step and turns her attention to Sean.
“My grandmother made that vase herself,” she says. “It was a family heirloom.”
“Saoirse!” Padraig bleats in a warning tone.
Saoirse.
The name suits her. It’s feminine. Powerful.
She ignores Padraig completely.
“I’ll ask again: what are you doing in our home?”
“Your father owes us money,” Sean explains. I guess he’s given up our thin excuses. “Two thousand euros, to be exact.”
She doesn’t so much as blink. But she doesn’t look at her father, either. She doesn’t seem all that surprised.
“Well, then we’re even,” she says without skipping a beat.
“Excuse me?” Sean asks.
“The vase,” she explains with a point. “It was worth much more than two thousand euros. We’re even.”
I burst out laughing.
When I do, I get exactly what I’m after: her eyes on me.
“Is something funny?” she asks calmly.
You’d think she was used to being confronted with two strange men in her home every day.
“What’s funny is the notion of that thing being worth a damn cent, let alone two thousand euros,” I tell her. “It’s ugly as hell.”
“It’s a family heirloom,” she snaps.
I smirk back at her. “Bullshit.” I extend my hand out to Sean. “Can I see that vase for a moment?”
He hands it to me after only a moment of hesitation. He’s wondering where I’m going with this, but he doesn’t want to question me in front of our target.
The top of the vase is completely gone, but the bottom is relatively intact.
I flip it over and take a look at the bottom.
“Well, would ya look at that?” I drawl, glancing towards Saoirse. “I don’t know many other family heirlooms that come from Penney’s.”
I can see the fuck in her eyes.
And my grin only grows wider.
She opens her mouth to fire a retort back at me, but Sean cuts her off.
“Cillian, why don’t you take Saoirse outside for a moment? I need to discuss a few things with her father.”