Page 103 of Dublin Beast

Tag Quinn is not only intimidating, he’s devastatingly handsome. He has the same dark hair and stunning green eyes as his brother, but an aura more stern than Bryan’s angry and broody.

After a long moment, I’m fairly certain he has no intention of telling me anything, but then he surprises me. “I will confide a few truths—off the record, of course.”

I hold up my palms. “Of course. I promise you, I’m asking for purely personal reasons.”

He nods. “I believe you.”

Thank goodness.

“The first thing you need to understand is Siobhan Daley doesn’t deserve your pity—her death was justified. The second is that if it hadn’t been for our oath to protect women, she wouldn’t have lived long enough to murder our father.”

What?

The words hang in the air between us, ugly and raw.

Bryan said nothing about her killing his father. Was that because he knew I would suspect he’d kill her or because it was private family business?

Tag grows quiet and I fight my instinct to break in and ask questions. Tempering my curiosity with patience has been the hardest lesson for me becoming a journalist.

But when he seems to be lost in thoughts, I speak to draw him out again. “I read that your father died of a heart attack.”

He blinks and meets my gaze, fury and guilt warring in his eyes. “We thought so, too. We buried him thinking nature took him to reunite with our mother. That was yet another of the bitch’s deceptions.”

He rakes a hand through his hair and leans forward. Resting his elbows on his knees, he laces his fingers and meets my gaze. “You were right when you mentioned Bryan seemed like it wasn’t his story to tell. It is mine. Siobhan was my first love—a teen flame back when I was young and trusting. She grew up in my neighborhood, my school, my circle of friends. I thought we were a lock—until I learned the truth.”

I shift my weight to the side and tuck my foot beneath me, leaning against the arm of the sofa.

“I dumped her when I saw through her lies, but like a damn parasite, she never left. Always hovering. Da didn’t trust her, but he left it up to me to decide if she was welcome in our business.”

I swallow. “Bryan mentioned she had a way of getting people to talk.”

Tag’s lip pulls up in a sneer. “She was a professional manipulator, and I made the mistake of thinking we could harness her skills to be useful. The sad truth was that she manipulated us, too. She was playing both sides, working for us and the McGuires.”

I press my lips together, my heart hurting for the part of this story I know tore Bryan’s heart out. “Did she kill your father for the McGuires?”

Tag nods. “She had access to our home and was on familiar terms with our house staff. She offered to deliver Da’s afternoon tea tray, and she poisoned it.”

Now the hatred and betrayal Bryan emitted every time Siobhan’s name came up makes sense. “From researching your family, I read it was your father who brokered the truce between families and divided the territories to be north and south of the river, right?”

“Aye, but not only our family and the McGuires. The truce included all the heads of families in Ireland. Ye see, our da loved Ireland with a pride that inspired, and he didn’t want blood in the streets.”

I roll my shoulders, my muscles aching to move. “And he was the one who drew up the Quinn Laws, right?”

“Aye, that’s right. Da believed our family could hold the line and set an example for the others. But after he died, well, Mad Mattie McGuire was free to do what he wanted and what he wanted was to eliminate us and take all of Dublin for himself.”

I let that information settle and sort through the dozens of follow-up questions bombarding my mind. “How did you find out your father didn’t have a heart attack?”

“Nora—Brendan’s girl—found Da’s autopsy in her father’s files. He was the head of the anti-crime task force.”

My eyes pop wide. “Awkward.”

Tag lets out a soft chuckle. “They didn’t realize who the other person was until they were both in too deep. When her father was killed—” he lifts a finger of warning, “he was saving his daughter from an ex-con seeking revenge, nothing to do with us—Nora gave us a copy of all the files.”

I sit back and let that wash over me. So, she lives and works as a Quinn informant, comes and goes from their home, poisons their father for the rival family, and then runs to the authorities and agrees to testify for immunity.

“Don’t get distracted by the fact that Siobhan was a woman, Harper. We killed her—I won’t deny it—but it was justice. For Da. For everything we lost. She got what she fucking earned. And honestly, having her neck snapped when she was half-drugged was too good for her. My brothers and I had a list of torture we wanted to put her through. Bryan gave her a quick, merciful death, which was more than she deserved.”

I close my eyes and let out a long breath. I hadn’t considered that. I’m not so naïve to miss the fact that Bryan is a violent and angry man. Given Siobhan’s betrayals against his family, Bryan probably felt cheated simply ending her.

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