Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 126485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
The question was how it ended. Why didn’t he ask Imogen for her hand if they started off in a similar fashion like we did? Or maybe he had and she just wanted his money for the photographer and not a husband. Imogen had never cared for marriage, and she’d always said the only reason why she would marry would be if she met a ninety-year-old billionaire without heirs who didn’t insist on a prenup. Lorcan had money but he wasn’t close to dying, at least not by natural causes.
“Do you know where my sister is now?”
“We believe she had to run from New York because she took a lot of money from Lorcan but didn’t give him what he wanted in turn.”
So maybe she pretended she’d marry him to get more money and then she ran off. “So you don’t know if Lorcan caught her?”
“Lorcan is a resourceful man. Even if your sister managed to talk him out of several thousand dollars, that wouldn’t get her far. Fake papers, a new look …that’s expensive, and I assume she’s not used to running from the mob.”
I nodded.
Maybe I should grab Finn tonight and board the next airplane back to Dublin.
“That doesn’t mean your sister’s dead. We believe Lorcan might have sold her to the Russians. They deal with sex slaves. The clan, due to their connections to the Catholic church, refrain from partaking in sex workers, but that doesn’t stop them from blurring the lines on occasion.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Information about Lorcan, about the clan, about his meeting with the Russian mob. They seem to seek a new partnership. We’d like to know what that’s about.”
“Lorcan doesn’t share much about his business with me.”
“Gain his trust, be a bit more approachable. Give him whatever he wants so you can give us what we need to arrest the clan and save your sister.”
It wouldn’t be that easy. I couldn’t believe I’d allowed Finn to come to New York.
But was he really safe in Dublin? As long as Lorcan and his clan were free, none of my family would be safe.
“I’ll help you as best as I can.”
I knew this was a huge risk. If Lorcan found out, I’d be doomed.
“Ideally we’d put a wire on you, but considering your intimate state with Lorcan that’s probably too risky.”
“No wire.” I felt icky when I considered carrying microphones on my body.
Desmond opened a small box with three very small devices. “These are bugs. You can put them under the bed, inside Lorcan’s car and his office.”
“What if he uses detectors?”
“If you don’t act suspicious, he won’t have reason to search his own home and car. So be careful. If you can hide one of the bugs in his office at the docks, that would help us the most. That’s where he talks business with his crew.”
I stuffed the box into my handbag.
“Your sister isn’t the only one in danger,” Desmond said. “Our contacts told us that your mother is on the hitlist of the Devaney clan.”
“That can’t be,” I said. “They never bothered her while she lived in Dublin.” At least, that was what I thought, but I wasn’t really sure. Mum hadn’t really been an open book about these things. Was this the reason she wanted Finn to come to New York? Did she know that she was in danger?
“That’s because they forgot all about her. Your mother was lying low, but then your sister showed up in New York, and she insulted another Devaney. Now you are here. Some voices have become loud that the shame of the past needs to be rectified.”
I wondered if this was true. But I couldn’t really ask anyone. I didn’t trust Gulliver. His loyalties obviously lay with the mob and not his family. Even God came in second place behind his criminal allies. And Mum would never tell me the truth. She’d try to deal with things herself. I had to trust my instincts, but even those were giving me mixed signals right now.
“We can protect your mother and you. We can put you in the witness protection program once we have your testimony.”
If I ever made it that far. I nodded because right this moment there was nothing else I could do.
“I have to go,” I said, glancing at my watch. I needed to pick up Finn at nine o’clock. That was in two hours.
“We’ll try to meet you again next week. Same place. We’ll know when you’re around.”
I returned to the pathway and hurried out of the park, desperate to get home and get rid of the bugs. With them in my handbag, I felt in immediate danger. The moment I stepped inside the apartment, I attached one bug to the underside of the table and the other to the back of the headboard in the bedroom. I flushed when I thought about what the police would listen to …though after seeing Lorcan with Imogen, the idea of sleeping with him made me feel sick. But how could I get out of being intimate without making him suspicious? Maybe I could blame it on Finn, at least for a few days, but Lorcan probably wouldn’t accept that excuse for very long. I used a knife to cut a hole in one of my tampons and stuffed the last bug inside. I’d keep it in my handbag like that until I was in Lorcan’s car and could put it under the seat. I wasn’t sure when I’d ever be in Lorcan’s office, so for now the bugs in the apartment would have to suffice. Lorcan had never talked about anything compromising in the apartment, as far as I could remember. For some reason, I was glad that I didn’t have the chance to hide it in his office. It was a dangerous place, one he probably searched often and one where he’d probably spill some secrets that might put him in jail.