Page 114 of The Boss
Luna’s eyes go wide.
“Cormac is there running defense, and we have overwatch and various trip wires. The Russians are leaving it alone for now. But it did take quite a few hits.” I grumble in anger and I can sense Luna feels the same. O’s hands raise, “Not my opp.”
“But you let it happen,” Luna says.
“I did. Would look suspicious if a missile came out of nowhere to protect the Irish, would it not?” Luna stares, processing. O shifts to sit in the chair where Ellie was earlier. “Let’s refocus on you. We could also say that you and Quinn split. Send you home to your father as a plant for us.” Her face flinches. She doesn’t like that option. Thank God. “You could die, our specialty. We’re all dead men. Myself and Allie died in our early twenties. Van is his twin brother now. Marco died to become Mark White. You die and disappear. You’d come and work closely with Allie. Youwant to be the boss? You can be a puppet master for the entire western world, Luna.” Another flash in my wife’s eyes.
Fuck.
If she chooses that, I’ll never see her. Just like I never see O or Allie. I can’t…I…
“I can die,” I offer quickly. “And she can run the Irish.”
O just turns to me slowly, “That…is an option.”
“What do you mean die, like witness protection?” Luna asks, eyes bouncing between me and Command.
“I’d have to change my appearance, live underground, stay in hiding. But I could see you, support you from the shack.”
“The shack? You mean the woods? Live in the fucking bunker?” She squeaks.
“Yes, but I’d be overwatch for you. Cormac is an operative for us, he’ll make sure you’re installed with no pushback in the older ranks. And you’d be the don,” I explain.
The words hang in the air. Luna blinks and shakes her head, like there is too much information to sort. I understand the feeling.
“I don’t like it,” Allie eventually says. Luna’s head snaps up, “The Irish, by design, have very little power, little influence. Aside from the terrifying narrative we created for Skulls, they’re little more than a street gang. Come work with me, move entire governments, shape elections, help us nail the bastards targeting young children on fucking playgrounds.”
“So if she dies, we never see her again?” Ellie asks, voice trembling.
“Reunions would be rare. Annually, maybe,” O says. He gestures around the room at all of us. “But, obviously, meetings can be arranged.”
“And Van, I mean Quinn, he would…?”
“Go back to life before, as a widower. Leading the Irish, who, despite my wife’sinterestingperspective, are still a major player on the world stage,” O answers.
“Command…” Luna thinks aloud.
“Yes?” Allie and Otets answer in unison.
Luna rolls her eyes, “No, I mean, you keep saying go with you. Go where?”
“Ah, yes, let me show you,” Allie says with mischief in her eyes. “We have a medbay there we can transfer you—”
“No!” Ellie surprises us all with an outburst. Mark moves to her side. “Sorry. No. She was just shot in the shoulder and hip. She needs to rest.”
“The hip was just a graze,” Allie murmurs.
“Milyy,”O calls Allie darling in Russian, “we have some time. Let’s give her twenty-four hours to recover.”
“Some time before what?” Luna asks, not missing a damn thing. Allie gives O a smug look and he raises his brows at her as if to say,you were right.
“We cannot leave the Russian ambush unanswered. Or Skulls Quinn wouldn’t. The Russians didn’t act alone,” my adoptive mother eyes me warily.
“The Remnant,” Luna interjects.
“Very good,” O smiles down at my wife. The sight makes my chest tight. “Yes, there is a small few of the old guard who don’t believe Quinn junior should be don. That he’s not ruthless enough. Quinn, by our design, hasn’t pushed for growth. His reclusive nature has weakened the Irish position and they don’t approve. They helped the Russians move in unnoticed that night.”
“Unnoticed by my men on the ground, you mean,” I grumble.
