Page 86 of The Apprentice
The soft scent of lavender filled the room and I let it soothe the fear. Now that I could admit I didn’t hate Conall, I liked some of the things he’d done around this place. His essential oils were a nice touch with surprisingly therapeutic benefits.
“Yes, we did. Aodhan will be staying with the Company for a while longer. He’ll be working with the Italians to fix a problem.Elio reached out and asked for help, and honestly, it benefits the Company, too.” Sloan opened the top drawer of his desk and removed a shiny silver case. He opened it and pulled out another cigar, eyeing me with a conspiratorial smirk. “Don’t tell Conall.” He held up the cigar. “He doesn’t like it when I smoke too much.”
I chuckled. “That sounds like him.”
Sloan raised his eyebrows. “What happened between you two? Suddenly you’re more...amicable.”
I shrugged. “I want to make you proud, and Conall’s your pet. He’s important to you, which means I need to get along with him.”
That wasn’t the entire truth. After Conall helped me through the Michele and Daire situation, it was difficult to hate him. If anything, I considered him more of a friend, though I would never admit that out loud. When we passed each other in the house, we’d stop to talk or share a smile. It was nice not to use so much energy disliking him. Conall was smarter than I’d first suspected.
“Good.” An emotion I didn’t recognize passed through Sloan’s gaze as he cleared his throat and grabbed his cigar cutter.
After trimming the end, he shoved the cigar into his mouth and seized a box of matches. He made a show of lighting up. I’d never been interested in smoking, even cigars, but Sloan had been doing it for as long as I could remember. My grandfather had died when I was young, but he’d been a cigar smoker as well.
Sloan shook the match before he dropped it into the glass ashtray in front of him. He took a long puff before blowing the smoke out through his nose. “There’s something we need to discuss. Something you may not like.”
My throat went dry and a pit opened in my stomach. I fought to hold back a shudder. Nodding, I sat up straighter. “Of course, Uncle.”
I refused to look away as his emotionless stare bore into me.
Most people thought of Sloan as ruthless and cold, and while hewasthose things, he’d also tried his best while raising me. It had to be hard for him. He’d just brutally lost his brother, and suddenly, he had his kid to take care of. Sloan had always made time for me when he could. Some nights, we’d sit at the kitchen island eating olives from the jar as we talked about our day. Other nights, he’d give me lessons about being the boss of a large organization like the Killough Company. He’d made sure I was educated and prepared. A tactician in training.
At the start of my senior year, I’d demanded to be let into the Company. To be his underling. Hisapprentice. He’d needed a month to think about it before he’d finally agreed, under the provision that I graduated with high scores. During the weekends and after I finished my homework, he started to test me with hypothetical situations, and after a few months of that, he brought me out on a couple ofexcursions. They were mostly safe trips, but I got a feel for what was expected of me if I wanted to inherit the business.
Finally, I’d graduated with a solid GPA, and that was the last time I truly remembered Sloan being proud of me.
He was still my uncle, even if he wasn’t able to fully show me how much he cared for me while I was his apprentice. I trusted him.
Sloan exhaled another puff of smoke through his nose and sighed. “Lorcan O’Guinn. Lor. The one who stays here.”
I frowned, acid stirring in my stomach whenever that name was mentioned. God, I fucking hated him. “Yeah, I know the one. He teaches some of our men’s kids with Dr. Mifflin.”
“Mm-hmm.” Sloan placed his cigar on the ashtray and threaded his fingers together. “He’s the son of Lorcan Lee—even if the idiot doesn’t treat Lor like one.”
My eyebrows furrowed. I wasn’t quite sure where Sloan was going with this. “Okay.”
“Let me tell you a story. My father, your grandfather, was never truly faithful to my mother. He never loved her. Their marriage was set up bymygrandfather, who was trying to strengthen his Irish alliances. So, Dad slept around a lot and Mom never cared. She didn’t love him, either, and I’m sure she had her own lovers. Out of my father’s mistresses, there was only one woman I knew about. Dad never loved her, but he fucked her regularly. A maid.”
Sloan rarely talked about his father. From what I remembered as a child, Grandfather had never been very affectionate, either.
He made an irritated sound. “Dad wasn’t a good man, but neither was my granddad. Mom tried, but Dad had me and Eoin under his thumb, while she took care of my sister.”
I frowned. Sloan talked about his younger sister even less than his father. She’d moved back to Ireland when Sloan took over the Company, not interested in being part of the mob.
“He wanted us in the family business. Anyway, that doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter was what Dad told me on his deathbed. There were rumors that Lorcan Lee was his son. The maid was Lorcan’s mother. I didn’t know what to believe, until Dad asked me with his dying breath to make Lorcan my chief advisor.”
“Is Lorcan really Granddad’s son?” I asked before I could stop myself. Panic rose in my throat, clogging it.
Sloan laughed, but it wasn’t in amusement. “I wondered. After Dad died, I took a piece of his hair and Lorcan’s spit from a finished can of pop.” He pursed his lips. “Lorcan Lee is my half brother.”
“Damn,” I breathed out, catching myself before I could sayfuck. Lorcan fucking Lee. That asshole was the epitome of aloser. I’d always wondered why Sloan chose to keep him in the Company.
Sloan shook his head and leaned back in his leather seat. He tapped the desk with his forefinger. “Lorcan doesn’t know. No one but you and I do now. But Lor is Lorcan’s son.”
It took a moment, but the dots started to connect. “Lor’s my cousin. Your nephew.” I stood, nearly knocking my chair over. The panic intensified and swept south to my lungs, making it difficult to breathe. This was the perfect time for swearing—fuck!
Sloan raised his palm before I could say anything else. “This doesn’t change anything, Fionn.Youare my apprentice. I needed you to know the truth. Lor doesn’t know yet, and I want to keep it that way. He’s a good kid who needs some guidance and resources. His father has barely had anything to do with him.”
