Page 70 of Arranged Obsession
“That must be a pretty early memory.”
“I guess so.” Finn frowns, arms crossed and watching as I run my fingers along a bed frame. “Cormac was just odd. Not malicious. Not unkind. But strange. I don’t remember him talking much. But by the time I was old enough to understand he was different, he was already joining the family business.”
“Really? At twenty?”
Finn snorts, nodding. “I can’t remember a time when Iwasn’ta part of the life. We did little shit back when we were kids, like running messages and tailing after our dad, but yeah. That’s always been the way things were.”
“When did he become, you know—” I lower my voice. “The ghostman?”
Finn grunts and rubs the back of his head. “Later on. I was fifteen, I think, and still in high school. He’d been having some problems around the family. Mom never really gave me the details. But I remember seeing him with black eyes, brokennoses, all beat up and shit like he’d been getting into fights. I don’t know when Dad officially named him our Ghost. I just sort of became aware of it one day.”
I try to wrap my head around that. Young Cormac, different from other people, violent and vicious. He’d probably been killing for the family before Finn even realized it.
What does that do to a person? How can a man grow up normal and sane if blood has been a part of his life since he was young?
Finn seems uncomfortable like I started dredging up bad memories, and I decide to leave it alone for now. Instead, I gesture at the bed frame. “I’m getting this.”
“Excuse me?” He cocks his head, looking confused. “Like I said, you do realize your husband is rich?”
“Yep, I’m aware, but he’s also a controlling prick.” I turn to my brother-in-law, grinning viciously. “We’re going to cut a deal.”
He groans, shaking his head. “No fucking way. If you’re about to ask me to do something that’ll piss him off, I’d just rather not.”
“He’s going to keep pushing you to watch me during the day, right? I bet he’d flip if he knew you let me go wandering around the neighborhood today.”
“That’s not what we’re doing,” he says, his expression darkening.
“But he’ll see it that way, especially if that’s how I present it to him.” I smile sweetly. “Unless you make a deal.”
“Well, fuck me sideways.” Finn cocks his head, looking at me like I’m a new woman. “You’re devious, aren’t you?”
“That’s the thing.” I step toward him, showing teeth. “You never bothered to get to know me.”
He laughs once without mirth. “What’s the deal?”
“You buy me what I want. You arrange delivery with the shop. And I promise to order lunch to the office for the next two weeks.”
“Four weeks.”
“Twoweeks. I’m not negotiating. We both know I have the leverage here.”
He stares at me, and I look right back. Let him get pissed. That doesn’t matter. I’m the daughter of a mafia Don. I’m the sister of a mafia prince. I’ve been in this business all my life, just like him, and I’ve learned a thing or two.
Maybe I reject all the violence. I don’t love the way my family sells drugs and ruins lives.
But I sure as hell know how to negotiate.
“You run a hard bargain,” he says, shoving out a hand. “You’ve got a deal. If Cormac asks though, tell him this was all on you.”
“Oh, don’t you worry. I plan on it. But one more thing. I have a very specific request for when they drop off my stuff…”
Chapter 23
Bianca
Ilug the last drawer into the house, up the steps, and slide it into the second-hand bureau with a groan. My back hurts, and I’m all sweaty from carrying this stuff down the sidewalk and in through the front door.
Letting them drop everything right out front would’ve been easier. But Cormac might’ve noticed.
