Shared by the Sinners: a Mafia Romance (The Prohibition Sinners Book 1) by Diana Stark

Author:Diana Stark [Stark, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter ten

Kieran

I nodded to the woman who ruled Dionysus from the shadows. She came to greet me herself. She must have readied herself as soon as my car was sighted from the windows.

“Mr. O’Shea!” she exclaimed. “Sweet to see you.”

“Likewise. You’re always a delight.” Politeness cost nothing and could be impressive. Not as impressive as a brandished gun, perhaps, but it could mightily reduce the need to use the latter quite as often.

“Thank you, Mr. O’Shea.” She looked between me and Declan. There was not a shred of surprise in her eyes. “Will your brother be…”

I shook my head. “He’ll be dining in the next room. Already booked.”

To her credit, she didn’t waver. A lesser woman would have expressed more fear at the growing possibility of brains being splattered on the walls of her beloved establishment. She merely nodded.

The room where I was taken did not hold one person but two. When I first saw that, my brain went to the single, blazing word betrayal. On second glance, I saw the individual sitting by Jimmy Howard’s side was not only female—I wasn’t stupid enough to discount someone for that reason—but also very familiar to me. Celia Howard was ravishing in green. Ravishing and cold as the barrels of her brother’s guns.

“Kieran O’Shea.” Jimmy Howard grinned. “I thought you weren’t going to come.”

I was on time, and knew I was on time. This trick to try to make me lose my footing was worthy of a schoolboy. If the whole evening was going to go like this, I was in no danger whatsoever.

“As you can see, I’m here.”

“Care to sit?” He gestured magnanimously at the table as if he owned the place. As if it weren’t the neutral territory for all the gangs of Atlantic City.

Not that I discounted their audacity. It would have been just like them to break this unspoken truce. I sat down. Jimmy poured wine in his sister’s glass and made a gesture to do the same for me. I looked at him silently, inexorably. To wait on me as if I were his lady would have been a step too far. Evidently, even Jimmy knew that, for he put the bottle on the table instead.

“My congratulations on the trial,” he said. “It was bold of you.”

“Thank you. I haven’t wanted this meeting to exchange compliments with you, though.”

“Why, then?” Celia’s smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“To discuss your imminent withdrawal from the race for New York expansion.”

“Old Nucky talked to you, too, then,” Jimmy mused, confirming my conclusions. “I can’t imagine why you think we would withdraw.”

“It’s unwise to think about expansion when you can’t even hold your home turf.”

“The Wheelers have been dealt with, as you know.”

My brothers would have exploded at this point, shouting that he knew damn well we weren’t talking about the Wheelers. But I wasn’t like my brothers, and sometimes good results demanded a cool head.

“The Wheelers, perhaps. But you couldn’t even protect the coast guard officers you let slip on my men.

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