Liam’s eyes are wide as he takes in his sentence. “Mr. Murphy. Please, no!”
“Shut him up, Dec,” I say, glancing at our father. He doesn’t want to kill Liam himself. He’s ready for me to start helping with the business, and that pride swells in my chest while I step forward to dish out Liam’s punishment.
“You touched a Southie,” Declan growls, lifting Liam’s head. He yanks the handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit and stuffs it into Liam’s mouth.
The gargled sounds from Liam are muffled now, and the three of us surround him as we take turns beating him until he draws his last breath.
Chapter two
Nine Years Later
Cheersandlaughterfromthe bar ripple through the back room and into my office. It isn’t normally this loud, but my brother Paddy is having a birthday party, and he invited all of his military buddies. Those fuckers can hold their own to the Irishmen in our ranks.
A knock at the door pulls me from my work. I glance from my laptop and the door opens. My youngest brother, Sean, steps inside.
Sean is the head of the security team for both our illegal and legal businesses. The fucker is great at hacking into anything and everything, and Da relies on him heavily to keep us out of prison. He’s also got a good head on him for coding security. All of our homes are protected with whatever firewalls Sean deems necessary, and only able to be accessed with special codes. There’s more to it that I don’t understand, but as long as we’re protected and Sean knows what he is doing, I don’t really care to learn.
″Did you get what I needed?” I ask as he sits in the chair across from my desk.
Da recently went on one of his angry rampages and there was a witness to a murder he committed. He came to me to make sure the witness didn’t talk, and I went to Sean to have him clear any recordings of the event.
″It’s taken care of. Did you see it?” Sean asks. He brushes his dark hair from his face, blue eyes settling on mine.
″No.”
″He’s going fucking crazy, Cal. He is a liability. Sliced his bodyguard into fucking pieces. Over being ten minutes late.”
″Bloody hell. How was he strong enough to even manage?” Da is in his seventies. He’s in shape, but a thirty-year-old bodyguard should have been able to fend for himself.
Sean shrugs as he stands. “Got him from behind. I’ll be sad the day he dies, Cal. I will be, but it’s time you’re in charge.”
I pinch my bottom lip, rolling the flesh between my fingers as I contemplate his words. “He’s been giving me more leadership roles. He knows I should be in charge, too, Sean. I’ll talk to him.”
Though that isn’t how it generally works in the mob, I hope I can convince our father to hand over the reins before he dies. In this life, you’re mafia until death. We don’t get to retire. We live in this dangerous lifestyle until it claims our souls. Da wouldn’t want it to be any different.
But I have plans. Plans to reform the Irish Mob into more. It takes time, though, and my future children will hopefully still maintain the empire I rule. I hope they see I both want change and will help make my ideas a reality.
I want legal cash flow. More than just the bar. It’s time we move from the old rules to make new ones. I’m ready start gaining more legitimate power.
Sean stands, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his jeans. He never wears business attire, and it drives our father crazy. Da wants us in suits whenever we’re in public. I love the look of a nice suit, so the rule doesn’t bother me. Sean hates it, though. He says he can’t move, and he feels stuffy. When he wears one, he is constantly pulling at the collar.
″Are you showing your face at this party?” Sean asks.
I snort as I roll my eyes and close my laptop. “I suppose I must.”
Sean waits at the door. He glances around the small office, eyes settling on the concrete floor. He scuffs at the rug, then looks up again. “Did you know he has a woman friend who deployed with him?”
″He’s never mentioned it, so no. Is she hot?”
″She’s got an ass I could bounce a quarter off. Nasty little thing, though. She told me to fuck off when I tried to charm her.”
I chuckle, locking the office. “She probably just saw you for what you are.”
″What’s that?”
″A lousy fuck.”
Sean punches me in the shoulder. I grab his head and sandwich him under my arm, tousling his hair. “I’m just telling it like it is, little brother.”