Page 10 of Legacy Of Ashes
Tommy Byrne leans back in his chair. "With respect, Miss Kavanagh, your father still runs things. Maybe we wait?—"
"Wait for what?" Ice coats every word. "For the Morettis to steal our harbor routes while you sit here with your thumb up your ass?"
Christ. That sharp tongue does things to me it shouldn't.
Mickey Flanagan snorts. "The princess knows about harbor routes?"
My gun's in my hand before I think. "Say that again."
"Easy, Conall." Mickey raises his hands, but sweat beads his forehead. "Just talking."
"You were disrespecting her." I keep the gun out. "Do it again and I'll paint these walls with your brains."
The room goes dead silent. Twenty years of killing for Tiernan earned me that reaction.
Saoirse doesn't even blink. "The Moretti family increased dock presence thirty percent this quarter. They're offering union contacts fifteen percent over our rates. They've approached three major shipping clients promising faster customs clearance."
Every man stares. They expected a spoiled brat, not someone who knows their business inside out.
"Your profit margins dropped eighteen percent last month, Mickey." She slides papers across mahogany. "Care to explain why?"
Mickey's face reddens. "Business fluctuates."
"Business fails when you're too stubborn to adapt."
She walks behind his chair and my pulse spikes. The predatory grace reminds me of her father in his prime—dangerous, calculating, absolute. Heat pools in my groin watching her work.
"The Benedetti family used our exact playbook in Philadelphia." She places another document down. "Because they hired away three former associates who knew our methods."
Jimmy Crowley examines the papers. "Shit. They are using our strategies."
"While you fought yesterday's wars, tomorrow's enemies positioned for attack." Saoirse stops at the window, silhouetted against harbor lights. "I may have been gone, but I wasn't sleeping."
The authority in her stance makes my blood sing. This is Tiernan's daughter—bred for power, born to rule.
"Look, sweetheart—" Mickey starts.
"Finish that sentence and die." I'm ready to pull the trigger.
"Miss Kavanagh," he corrects quickly. "This is... unexpected."
"Change happens whether you like it or not." She turns back to face them. "Adapt or get buried with the dinosaurs."
For the next hour, she outlines plans that would impress Wall Street executives. Cryptocurrency integration. Digital security protocols. International partnerships beyond traditional Irish connections.
Each proposal shows genius-level understanding of modern criminal enterprise. My pride swells alongside dangerous hunger.
When the last lieutenant files out, we're alone. She stands at the window again, shoulders tense.
"You didn't need to threaten Mickey."
"Yes, I did."
"Why?" She faces me, fury blazing in those sea-green depths. "Do you protect me because you believe in me, or because daddy gave orders?"
The question punches my gut. She's close enough to touch, close enough that her perfume floods my senses. Close enough to kiss.
"Both."
