“He offered us a deal.”
“You got him to talk?”
“Not…exactly.”
There’s a beat of silence before Ronan talks again. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. Finn has agreed to give us information for a price.”
“What kind of price?”
I snatch up a vintage bottle of Macallan whiskey and take a swig straight from the bottle before setting it down on the bar top.
“His freedom.”
Ronan barks a laugh. “Please tell me you weren’t stupid enough to fall for that.”
My hand tightens around the neck of the bottle, and I take another gulp as Ronan lets out a string of curses on the other end of the line.
“For fuck’s sake, Kieran, you agreed? What the hell were you thinking?”
I run a hand through my hair and force myself to take a breath so I don’t launch my very expensive bottle of whiskey at the wall.
“It’s done, Ronan. I’ve had the contract drawn up and everything. I’m going back in the morning to seal the deal.”
“The guy’s a compulsive liar. You know that. We can’t trust him, Kieran! He lies about everything just to save his own skin.”
“He has information that proves that someone on the inside is paying him to wreak havoc on our family, including murdering our father.”
“That’s utter bullshit. He only said that to get you on his side. And clearly, it worked.”
“Brennan confirmed the documents on Finn’s laptop.”
“Brennan knew? I’m going to kill him too.”
“Once the contract is signed, Finn will hand over the bank statements that reveal the identity of who is behind the payments.”
“This is a fucking waste of time. We all know it’s Sean behind the payments.”
“That’s not what Finn said.”
“Well, that’s what Riley said, and I trust her word a hell of a lot more than Finn’s.”
Fuck, I hadn’t thought of that.
I still haven’t asked Riley for the evidence she offered our family, but it seems my hand is being forced. I’ll need to check it out before heading back to the warehouse tomorrow morning because if it does indeed conflict with Finn’s information, I need to know before he walks free.
“According to Finn, someone within our own ranks is behind the payments.”
“Of course he’d say that! He knew you wouldn’t want to risk making the same mistake I did with Stephen, especially now that Riley is in the picture.”
My brother makes a good point, but I’m not about to tell him that.
“If he’s lying, I’ll take care of it. You asked me to step up, and I’m stepping up. Not every decision has to cross your desk first.”
There’s a pause, and it’s heavy enough to feel like it’s pressing down on my chest. I take another shot of whiskey and hiss through my teeth as it burns my throat.
“You’re right.” Ronan’s sigh sounds more frustrated than resigned. “All we can do is hope you made the right choice. Just…don’t screw this up.”