Page 45 of Black Wedding

“I didn’t lie. You know about Liam and Bree anyway,” Mia stutters defensively, but with a shake of his head, it’s clear that’s not what he means.

“You know I’m not talking about them. Do you want to tell me, or shall I tell you what I know?” Kellan asks, this time pronouncing his words loud enough for me and Liam to hear. Mia looks very unsure and a little intimidated. I have never known her to lie, and thank fuck because she is shit at it. Her discomfort is evident from across the room.

“What do you...think...you know?” she asks. The pauses before and after make it pretty fucking clear there’s so much more she isn’t saying.

“Your father, Mortimer Whitlock, his accountancy firm is another one of Vernon’s money men. But your father is so much worse than washing dirty money. He is a pervert and a rapist. But none of the cases ever went to trial. Even though the girls were all fucking underage, they were paid to drop the case and refused to testify,” Kellan spits, and I can’t help but recoil. I know her dad is an asshole who does business with my dad, but I had no idea he’s that much of a nonce.

Mia’s face starts to crumble, and she looks as though she may cry, her chin trembling slightly. Her voice was strong and animated when she spoke before, but now it’s barely above a whisper, monotone, and sad. “I have detached myself from him. That’s why I’m doing this job to pay for school. I could have taken his blood money handout, but I refused.”

With a shrug of his shoulders, like he doesn’t give a shit about Mia or that he’s hurting her, he continues. “What about Kyle Fratacello?” Mia freezes at the name. Kellan waits for Mia to unfreeze and talk, but she seems lost in her own mind. The only movement is a single lone tear that trails down her cheek. When she doesn’t speak, Kellan starts talking again. “Kyle runs one of the northern syndicates but works for Bree’s Family overall. What I want to know is what happened that summer you spent with him just after turning eighteen. A marriage request form was submitted, but you never went through with it. I couldn't find a marriage license on file. What happened? Are you still engaged to that psychopathic piece of shit?”

Mia remains still, but now her tears are falling freely, and she begins to sob. She doesn’t answer his question, and Kellan just rolls his eyes. On the other hand, I cannot stand by while my best friend sobs her heart out just a few feet from me. So I hand Hallie over to Liam and approach Mia. Kellan starts to stop me, but I give him a fierce glare making it fucking clear I do not intend on being messed with.

Putting my arm around Mia’s shoulders, I pull her into me. “Hey, Mia, it’s okay, darling. I’m here. Shush, you don’t have to cry anymore,” I whisper in her ear before turning my attention to Kellan. “What the fuck do you think you are playing at? I said you could interview Mia, not fucking interrogate her.”

“Maybe you don’t know her as well as you think, Bree. I saw the look on your face when I said the name, Kyle. You had no idea that your best friend almost got married to a fucking wannabe gangster nearly twice her age. I’m sorry for upsetting her, but I have to think of what’s best for Hallie. Any unknown criminal connections put her at risk. Fuck, being around you two recently feels like I am in the middle of a war, and I cannot have my daughter caught up in that. I want someone to care for her so that I don’t have to worry about her while I’m working for you. I don’t want to have to continuously wonder if my employee is working for my mother or if they have links to Hallie’s past,” he says poignantly. He’s clearly referencing any ties to the woman who birthed Hallie and doesn’t deserve to be called a mother.

“That was over three years ago, and no, I don’t know exactly what happened, but I do trust Mia,” I say, looking straight at Mia as I stroke the hair out of her face and wipe the tears from her eyes. She gives me a small smile, and I am just pleased the sobbing has stopped.

“Well, I don’t. So, I’m sorry, Mia, but I won’t be hiring you,” Kellan says firmly and I look over at Liam. He just gives a slight shoulder shrug, effectively telling me to keep my nose out of Kellan’s decision. I huff, not happy that I can’t fix this.

“That’s not a problem. I’m actually glad you didn’t hire me. I don’t want to work for an asshole who would rather trust a fucking piece of paper than a real person. What you have there is one small piece of a much larger story, but you didn’t think about that. You didn’t think about the psychological trauma you may have caused by bringing up a time I have spent three years and a fucking shit load of money going to therapy to get over. So no, I don’t want to work for such a massive dickhead, no matter how adorable your daughter is. Just know that researching someone’s name on the computer does not give you a full story,” Mia explains as she stands. Her whole body is trembling with fear, but her voice stands tall as she talks. With every word she mentions about trauma and needing therapy, I feel like my brain is about to explode. How could my best friend be in this much pain, and I never saw it? She begins to leave, but I take hold of her arm to pull her back to me.

“Mia...wait,” I start, but she cuts me off.

“I didn’t tell you because I couldn’t. When I find the right words, you will be the first to hear them,” she whispers.

“How did I not notice? How could I not see all this pain?” I ask, although I am not sure if I expect her to answer. She reaches around to hug me, pulling me in tight.

“I didn’t want you to see. You saw what I made you see. It’s not your fault. You are not to blame in any way,” Mia cry’s once more causing her voice to hitch.

“Mia…” I start, my voice raising slightly at the end, making it obvious I intend to ask her some questions. She knows all my tells, and that’s why she’s looking very apprehensive. She indicates for me to ask whatever I need to, but first I want her to know I’m here for her.

“Mia, do you want or need to talk to me about this shit? Should I be worried?” I ask, genuinely concerned about my best friend, right now.

“I don’t talk about it. Not to anyone except my therapist. Maybe one day I will open up to people, but that day is not today. Okay?” she replies, her mood becoming more sombre. I need to bring back the bright and bubbly best friend I have come to love.

Just then a thought enters my head, and I know this will never make up for whatever trauma she has gone through, but it may act as a distraction. “Will you be my maid of honour?” I finish, and the smile that brightens up her face is exactly what I wanted to see. As she is leaving I make a joke about insisting she wears a bright pink dress to the wedding. I am pleased when Mia starts cursing and telling me there's no chance in hell she’s wearing any pink. When she finally leaves a few minutes later, thankfully, she goes with a smile and looks a lot more relaxed. I understand Kellan has to be protective over Hallie, but not at the expense of other people’s feelings.

When I walk back into the room, I am ready to tear Kellan a new asshole, but he has taken Hallie upstairs. Luckily, Liam calms me down and reassures me he bollocked Kellan enough for the both of us. Looks like my idea of setting up my friends so they could help each other out was a massive mistake, or maybe it was a blessing in disguise.

Perhaps having whatever this is, out in the open will help Mia and me become better friends, more talkative with each other. I thought we were close before, but obviously she hasn’t shared a lot of important parts of her life with me. It might be through fear, or pain, but she should still have told me. We need to fix that, but at a later date. Only time will tell, if our friendship can be fixed. But for now, I enjoy a moment curled up on the sofa with Liam while we spitball ideas for our wedding.

For several days after the shitshow of an interview, I tried to reach Mia, but she has reverted into her shell. She has sent me the odd text here and there, but it’s not like her to not reply to my messages. My mind whirls with all the possibilities of what could have happened in her past. What things she hid from me, and why. The more I thought, the more I spiralled. Was I really such a shit friend that I didn’t notice my friend going through a hard time? I knew she was unavailable during the summer holidays while we were at school. Still, I thought it was because she was with family. That’s what she always told me.

On top of dealing with my overactive imagination, Kellan’s walking around with a face like a slapped ass. I have no idea why he is moping when Mia is the one who left here in floods of tears. Liam says he is ashamed of what Kellan did, and that’s why he is acting out. I don’t think he knows how to cope with being in the wrong.

In addition to their meltdown and the constant array of worsening threats making their way to our house, we also have to deal with my Gramp’s imminent arrival. He gave me plenty of warning, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because I could prepare, not just myself but Liam too, but bad because the anxiety is killing me. He will be here any minute, and I think I have actually worn down the carpet where I have been pacing up and down the corridor.

His car arrives, and Liam walks over to meet me. He had been sitting on the sofa watching me pace back and forth. If he’s nervous, he definitely doesn’t show it. He kept out of the way because he knew nothing would settle my nerves. I jump when the doorbell rings, even though I knew it was coming, I just couldn’t help it. My nerves were practically shot at this point.

Liam chuckled. “Relax, Bree. He is just your grandad.”

I look over at Liam, giving him the evilest stare I could muster. He deserved to be glared at for underestimating Patrick O’Keenan. He may look like a pleasant old man, but he is far from it.

Taking several deep breaths, I pull open the door to welcome my Gramps. To anyone observing, it looks like an ordinary girl welcoming her grandad. He looks just like you would expect someone who plays golf five days a week to look; dark, smartly pressed trousers, sporting polo shirt, and a flat cap that is hiding the bald patch on the top of his head. The rest of his hair is thinning and grey, his face wrinkled but sunkissed from lots of trips abroad. He pulls me into a hug, and that smell of sandalwood, cigars, and lavender transports me back to the summers I used to spend in Cork. My Gramps is obsessed with lavender, convinced it helps him to relax and sleep. He has it in his bath products and even uses an aromatherapy mister to infuse it into the air while he sleeps.

Releasing the breath I didn’t know I was holding, I squeeze him tightly before inviting him into the house. Kellan has taken Hallie to the local park since we don’t want to expose her to any more potential danger. Not after she tried to pick up the last “gift” sent to me; a voodoo doll made to look like me with several cuts all over its body. The news of our engagement party seems to have confirmed to people that we are seriously getting married and therefore they are upping their threats.

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