“Don’t you worry about that,” Derrick said as he approached his wife and kissed her.
Courtney looked back to her cousin. “It’s good seeing you.”
Sean didn’t respond.
She turned to Ryan. “How’s Brady?”
Ryan grinned. “Perfect.”
Courtney’s features lit up. “He is. And Lynn?”
“Perfect.” Ryan shrugged. “At least that’s what she tells me.”
Courtney giggled.
“You have your money, I expect not to hear from you again,” Sean said and turned to leave the office.
“Sean,” Derrick said, handing his son off to his wife.
Sean glanced over his shoulder.
“Tell me. Why shouldn’t I charge you interest on this loan? After all, if you’d gone to a bank the interest rate is what, six, seven percent.” Murphy stuck his hands into his suit pockets.
“Derrick,” Courtney softly rebuked.
Her husband shot her a warning look over his shoulder.
Sean spun and took two direct steps to Murphy. Derk and Jack, who’d just re-entered the room, were immediately between them. Ryan jumped into the mix to defend his brother. Smith and Carl, who’d remained oddly silent during this time moved into positions next to their boss.
“Don’t you dare do this in front of my children!” Courtney screamed. “Don’t you dare! I’ll walk out of this office, and all of you will never hear from me again if you lay one hand on each other in front of my babies.”
“Courtney, it’s time for you to leave,” Derrick said, his focus never leaving her cousin.
“You’re right. It’s time for me to leave,” she agreed too easily.
Murphy picked up on that, his gaze swinging to his wife who was grabbing her daughter’s hand.
“Stop,” he yelled, but she ignored him. "Sean and Ryan, get the hell out of my office now.”
Both men brushed past their cousin, Ryan laying a hand on her shoulder, kissing her cheek with a small farewell.
“Courtney Murphy,” Derrick warned, his tone hard and unrelenting. “If you walk out that door and force me to chase you, you won’t be happy with the outcome.”
Yeah, Mrs. M was a runner, which put her life in danger if she was on her own. How many times he’d had to search for her? Countless. It was exhausting. The wife of a notorious mob boss was too good of a target for Mr. M’s enemies, and there were plenty.
Courtney spun on her husband. “My relationship with my cousins can’t afford your anger toward them. I understand it, Derrick. I do. You’re my husband. You have my back no matter what. I could murder a room full of nuns, and you’d defend me until your last breath. But you can’t add gasoline onto the already out-of-control flames. I don’t know that Sean will ever forgive me. I see Ryan pulling away, probably because he feels he’s protecting Lynn and Brady from our world. But there’s nothing more we can do. I can’t force Sean to forgive me for my stupid actions and mouth. I can’t force Ryan to visit and spend time with us. Does it kill me? Yes. Does my heart break every single day? Yes. I want so badly to be a part of the twins’ and Beth’s lives. But that’s up to them now. At least that’s what I tell myself every morning when I wake and that damn gaping hole is there.”
She cracked and tears fell down her cheeks. Murphy inhaled sharply and pulled his wife into his arms and embraced her fiercely.
Derk had to look away from the utter single-minded devotion the couple had for one another. He couldn’t handle the scene. To watch them in love with each other mocked him. To witness their unconditional support for one another snapped his hard exterior. For the first time in his life, he wanted what the Murphy's had. That soul-providing relationship. With Mackenzie. There wasn’t another woman who’d touched that part of him before. There wasn’t another woman who he would consider moving into his home. There wasn’t another woman that he’d actually laughed with, spent meaningful time with, took care of when they’d been ill or injured. He could see himself defending her just as Murphy defended his wife. He suddenly got it. He understood how a man could put everything on a backburner for the woman he loved. To want to protect her from every harmful thing that might destroy her, even her own family. To love a woman so indelibly that he’d kill with his bare hands for her. For years he never understood Murphy’s obsession with his wife. Now he did. At that very second, it hit him upside the head like someone had taken a tire iron to him. Mackenzie wrecked him. And he’d never be the same.
27
Mackenzie needed to make a hundred dollars to pay the cable bill. The money she’d managed to save was used to pay off her attorney at the beginning of the week. Not that she’d had much in the account to begin with. She split all the bills with Kayla, which hadn’t given her much opportunity to start a significant savings. Her best friend didn’t want to collect a dime from her, but Mackenzie insisted. She wasn’t going to freeload off Kayla just because the girl came from a wealthy family who provided for her.