We are certainly not his subjects.
The man has short, black hair and brilliant blue eyes. The angles of his face are outlined by a rough stubble that gives his features a dark edge. The man looks like the young pirate Hook from that silly modern fairy tale show Bailey insisted I watch with her.
Aine, or who I assume is Aine, stands next to him, her head bowed slightly as she whispers angrily to her uncle. Her soft features don’t match the rugged tone of her voice when we spoke on the phone. I half expected her to be wearing ragged denim jeans and a ripped AC/DC top. Instead, she stands demurely next to Sully wearing a collared lace blouse with peasant sleeves tucked into a gentle peach tulle skirt with a pair of white flats.
Her long raven hair is braided back loosely, a few strays framing her gentle porcelain face. When she looks up at me, her ocean blue eyes are anything but submissive and I love it.
Aine O’Malley may have been forced to play dress up but that doesn’t mean she likes it.
“Welcome.” Sully’s voice is strong, dripping with honey. His gaze roams over me. Not leering, just curious. He tilts his head and studies me. My red hair hangs in loose waves around a makeup free face. I chose to wear black leggings that I tucked into a pair of low-heeled leather boots. A loose olive wrap completes the ensemble.
Stylish but also loose enough that if we are attacked, I can easily move and bend.
I approach the table, my father on my right and Vasily on my left. Both are dressed to the nines in Armani suits and gold Rolexes. The woman at Starbucks this morning had a field day with them when we ordered our coffees.
Neither of them noticed of course. They just smiled, placed their order, and moved to surround me as if a barista attack is imminent. One of them did eye me with thinly disguised hate when Vasily all but brushed off her obvious advances.
Sully stands and reaches out his hand to me with a disarming smile. I take it with a smile of my own. Once we all exchange the pleasantries, we sit.
“Thank you for coming.” Sully leans back in his chair comfortably.
I glance at my father and then at Vas. Smirking darkly, I say, “I was under the impression I wouldn’t get the box of evidence I wanted if we didn’t. Not the best way to start relations. Is it?”
Sully chuckles. “No, I suppose not,” he admits. “You’ll have to forgive me. I have been trying to get your father to agree to a sit down for years now.”
My father snorts derisively. “Then you shouldn’t have been trying to push into my territory.”
“And I have tried telling you that it wasn’t us.”
“Men bearing the mark of the O’Malley clan don’t lie,” my father snarls. He points his finger at Sully. “Each of them were selling your drugs stamped with your mark and so were they.”
Sully waves his hand at him dismissively. My father growls. “Do you honestly believe I would be that careless? Also, if they were truly my men, I would have retaliated.”
“You did.”
Sully snorts. “I never retaliated and that has been why I’ve been trying to sit down with you,” he explains calmly. “Your territory is nice and all, but I don’t need it. I have my own and I like it here. Why would I want to give that all up for a territory that’s three hours away?”
“Shipping ports,” Liam says confidently.
“I don’t need your shipping ports, Kavanaugh,” he tells him. “I run one of the most successful ground transport companies in the nation. Boats aren’t my family’s thing, and you know that. It’s why my father turned down your offer all those years ago.”
That catches my attention. Liam was out of town on my grandfather’s request to scope out a trucking company here in Portland. It is his alibi for the night my mother went missing.
“You never bought it from him?” I ask my father. He shakes his head.
“No.” The muscles in his jaw clench tightly. “Nearly got me killed coming down here. Luckily, Owen O’Malley didn’t have an itchy trigger finger, or I would be dead.”
“He set you up,” Sully deadpans.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” my father snarls. Vas and I exchange a knowing look. “That man raised me.”
“No, he didn’t,” I say at the same time as Sully.
Well shit.
Sully looks at me with mirrored surprise. “Looks like I’m not the only one who’s been digging where they shouldn’t.”
“What the hell are the two of you going on about?” Liam roars, his face turning red. “Seamus McDonough raised me as his own son. Arranged for Katherine and me to go to college together.”