Page 3 of Her Michigan Mob Boss

Ciaran smiled. “Let me guess. You did one of those ancestry things, the DNA test?”

“No, I mean, yes.” I had done one of those in the past. “But I didn’t find anyone in Detroit through that. I’m going by the stories my mother told me.”

“Oh, did your mom come with you?”

A lump formed in my throat, the loss still raw. “No, she died six months ago.”

Ciaran reached over and rubbed my arm reassuringly before sitting back again, putting some space between us.

“Anyway,” I continued, breaking our moment of connection, “she always wanted to track down her grandfather’s family. I thought it would be nice to find them.”

“Family’s important.” Ciaran took a swig of his beer and grimaced. “So, who is it you’re looking for?”

“A distant cousin. His name’s Danny Mulhearn.”

“Danny Mulhearn.” Ciaran’s tone was suddenly flatter. “He’s Irish. I thought you said you were from Scotland.”

“I am, but my great-grandfather came from Dublin. He moved to Detroit with his brother, but only stayed a month. He didn’t like it much, so he decided to try his luck in Scotland. When he met my great grandma, he fell head over heels in love and married her.”

“But his brother stayed here?”

“He did. He settled down and raised a family. Danny’s the only name my mom could remember. I came here tonight because a guy I met at the ice rink told me I might be able to find him here.”

“Ice rink?” Ciaran asked.

“The arena, uh, Little Caesar’s Arena.” Why did I say that as if I didn’t expect him to have heard of it? The man just told me this was his hometown. “My mother remembered hearing that Danny’s father operated the ice-scraping thing there.”

“You mean the Zamboni?”

“Yes, that’s it. Anyway, he retired years ago, apparently, but this security guard knew Danny. He suggested I try here.”

Ciaran pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb as if I was giving him a headache.

“So, let me get this straight. You’ve been running all over the city, asking about the Mulhearns. Some random guy told you you’d find him at a strip club and you came on your own to this shithole neighborhood to look for him. Is that what you’re telling me?”

I bristled at the tone of his voice. We’d only met a few minutes ago. The man had no right to chastise me.

“I know it was risky, but I’ve gotten nowhere so far, and I fly home the day after tomorrow.”

“Why didn’t you just track your relatives down online?”

Admittedly, that would have been easier and a hell of a lot less expensive.

“I thought it would be more fun to do it the old-fashioned way, you know, putting in the legwork. I suppose I was looking for an adventure.”

“Adventure?” Ciaran scoffed. He set down his beer bottle and leaned closer to me. “Listen, Annie, you seem like a sweet girl, so I’m going to give you some advice. Don’t bother looking for Danny Mulhearn. Whatever it is you need, he can’t give it to you.”

“But…”

“No buts, sweetheart. My associate will take you back to your hotel.” He pointed to a tall blond man roughly the same age as him, who was standing by the door. In a black suit and tie, despite the lingering heat, he looked like an undertaker. The grim expression on his face certainly didn’t help. “Tomorrow, you’ll do a little shopping or visit a gallery, whatever it is you like to do. Then you’ll get on your plane, go home and tell everyone you failed to find your family, but had fun trying.”

My mouth fell open in shock. How dare he dictate to me like that? “I…”

“I’m not done.” The command in his voice killed my protest.

I shouldn’t have found the authoritarian tone hot, but my traitorous thighs clenched anyway.

“If you disobey me, I will find out about it. Be a good girl and our paths won’t cross again. If they do, I’ll spank your ass raw. Do you understand?”

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