Page 100 of The Apprentice
Daire squeezed my hand, and I’d almost forgotten he was still holding it. I must’ve been nearly strangling his in my alarm.
Rowen cleared his throat. “Boss, do ye need me here? Because if ye don’t?—”
Sloan’s attention fell to him instead, and I sighed, leaning back in my chair. I let them talk some more and sent Daire a small smile in thanks. He leaned against me, and I breathed in his cologne, letting his presence be the steadiness I needed.
I vaguely listened as Sloan gave Rowen the job of promoting more recruits to soldiers, and once Rowen left, Sloan turned back to me.
“Okay, Fionn, you’re in charge of this rat issue. What do we do next?”
Four sets of eyes fell on me, Daire’s included, and I took a deep breath to center myself. This was my chance to make an impression on my uncle, and I wasn’t going to fail.
“I’ll call my IT contact and find out how far along he is with cleaning up the other people that left the garage in that time frame.”
Sloan waved his hand. “Do it, then.”
I jumped to my feet, nearly knocking over my chair in the process—which made Conall chuckle—and escaped from the dining room so I could have privacy. As soon as I was in the hallway near the kitchen, I tugged out my phone and found Zak’s contact information. I tapped on his name too hard on the screen. My hand was shaking as I placed the phone against my ear.
My heart galloped and I touched a hand to my chest as I tried to calm myself. A few rings later, Zak answered.
“Hey, Fionn. The person I wanted to talk to. Ijustfinished cleaning up the images. I’m emailing you now.”
“I could kiss you.” I pumped my fist in the air. “You’re the best, Zak. I’ll send over the second half of the payment now.” I ended the call and quickly opened my inbox, finding the email that Zak had sent me.
“Who are you going to kiss and should I be worried?” Daire’s amused tone had me turning toward the door, where he leaned against the frame, and I grinned at him.
“No time for jealousy, Daddy. Your boy’s about to solve one of the Company’s problems.” I bounced on the tips of my toes, unable to stop the excitement from surging through me until my skin was full of goose bumps and my insides buzzed. I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs and do a dance, but instead I stayed calm like Sloan had always taught me.Emotionless in front of your men, he’d said,and never celebrate too early. Maybe he should’ve exercised that caution when it came to the Miami situation, though Ardan’s manhadsaid that it was Joaquin they’d killed. It was his mistake, not Sloan’s.
I stalked back into the dining room, and Daire was right behind me, his strides long and purposeful.
Sloan glanced up at me when I entered. Ardan had left, and so the only people in the room were Sloan and Conall. I took the seat to Sloan’s left again.
“He sent the images.” I opened the email on my phone as Daire took the chair on my other side. The very first photo attached was of Diaz in her car coming out of the garage, and I showed the screen to Sloan. “Confirmed she was there. So, Zak’s also given me photos of the people who left the garage around the same time as her. We should be able to recognize someone.”
Sloan smirked and stared at me for a long moment, and I waited, prepared to hear whatever he was about to throw my way. I’d seen my uncle in many different moods, but I thought this was a good one. “I’m proud of you. You’ve done good work.”
I froze, his words echoing in my mind until they finally sank in.Proud.Good work. I didn’t think he’d ever said those words to me together, and I wanted to bask in this moment, my chest filled with bubbles of happiness that left me breathless.
Smiling, but not so large that Sloan would think I was acting weird, I forced myself to stare down at my phone again. If I saw Conall rub Sloan’s shoulder with his own sense of pride, I didn’t acknowledge it. I swiped through the pictures until a familiar face hit me square in the chest—I was suddenly gasping for an entirely new reason.
“Who is it?” Conall asked.
Beside him, Sloan leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. He seemed calm, but it wasn’t him I was focused on. Instead, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the photo and the face I’d known since I’d first moved into Sloan’s home.
Daire’s hand rested on my lower back, the weight of it bringing me down to Earth and the reality of what I was seeing.
I exhaled, my breath stuttering. “Donal.”
Conall’s eyes widened. “McMahon?”
“Yes,” Sloan said, earning my attention almost immediately. “Donal McMahon.”
“You knew,” I murmured, not quite sure if I believed it or not, but it made sense because Sloan wasn’t surprised. He was too relaxed. Donal had once told me that Sloan knew more than he let on, and Daire had said Sloan always did something for a reason, and now I understood more than ever. “How?”
“Donal’s been angry since Carolina’s death. She bought the drugs from one of our men that day she OD’d, and he’s blamed our business ever since.” Sloan glanced toward Conall, whose eyes were wide, and reached over to slide his fingers into Conall’s. “His anger festered until it became toxic.”
“How long have you known?” Daire asked, and I stared in his direction. Sloan never left him out of this sort of information. Didn’t he know? He inclined his head at me, gesturing that he was in the dark about this as well.
The corner of Sloan’s mouth twitched. “After Rourke dealt with Diaz. His reaction to her death gave it away.”
