The Wedding Pact (The O'Malleys #2)(59)

Pathetic. He could almost hear his old man’s voice in his head, letting him know just what Victor Halloran thought of his son getting twisted up over a woman, let alone an O’Malley woman. A distraction. That’s all she is. Nothing good will come of it.

He bypassed the kitchen—no point in eating until he dealt with his brother—and made his way downstairs. It was eerily quiet in the basement, the silence broken only by the occasional sound of the house settling. Even though this place wasn’t old, it still had the feeling of something tired and exhausted, the history of too many bad memories weighing it down.

I’d like to light a match and leave it to burn.

He unlocked the door to Ricky’s cell and walked in. His brother lounged on the rickety old bed, his head propped on his arms as he stared at the ceiling. “James.”

“Ricky.” He moved to lean against the wall opposite. Ricky didn’t look like a broken man, but then, this was the least of what their old man had put them through. His brother had nearly the same scars James did. He opened his mouth, and then reconsidered. There had to be a better way to do this—all of this. “What do you want?”

“Everything.” Ricky sat up. “But since that’s not on the table, I’d settle for you not treating me like your annoying kid brother and actually showing a little fucking respect.”

He had two options. He could leave his little brother down here to rot, secure in the knowledge that he wasn’t causing trouble. Or he could take a risk and see if a little more responsibility would be the thing to get Ricky on track. And it was a risk. But James was all too aware of the whispers that circulated among his men. Plenty of people weren’t happy that he was rolling with the peace talks instead of striking directly into the heart of the O’Malleys and Sheridans. If they thought he was locking away Ricky because he was scared of him, it would put James in a precarious place.

If he could somehow get his brother on the same page, it would kill multiple birds with one stone. Not that he was going to trust Ricky—the only reason his brother would suddenly have a change of heart is that he wanted something and had to go through James to get it.

But maybe he could channel that to his purposes.

“I’ll show you respect when you earn it.” He made a show of looking around the bare room. “Which you’re not going to do down here. Are you ready to man up and show you can take orders?”

Ricky narrowed his eyes. “You’re letting me out.”

“I’m willing to work with you, if you’re willing to obey.”

He seemed to think it over, but there was no masking the excitement in his eyes. Apparently his brother hated this room almost as much as James hated putting him down here. “What do you want me to do?”

Here was the crux. “You’re going to run protection duty on the border businesses. If you can manage that without starting shit with anyone, then we’ll talk.”

“How long?”

Long enough to make sure he was actually, genuinely wanting this to do right and not just playing James. “Until I say so.”

“Fine.” Ricky stood and held out his hand. “I’ll play soldier.”

James shook it, but he held on when his brother would have let go. “And, Ricky, stay the fuck away from Tit for Tat. Your shadow darkens that doorway, and a few days in this room will look like a goddamn paradise.”

He hesitated, and then gave a jerky nod. “Sure thing. I was done with the tired-ass tail that works there, anyway.”

Sure you were. He couldn’t control his brother’s actions across the board, but he could at least make sure that the girls who looked to him for protection were actually protected. That thought brought him back to the shipment coming in soon. He expected the proprietors to be in touch within a few days, and then he’d have to decide once and for all what he was going to do about them.

I could do some good in this world. Maybe then I’d be able to keep myself from the slow, final slide into being the monster my father was.

He kept coming back to Carrigan’s idea of a nonprofit. It wasn’t something he could do on his own, but he’d seen the way she lit up with excitement at the idea of running something like that. With her helming that side of things, he could do his part by sliding a portion of the girls into various jobs in Boston. They’d make a hell of a team.

Except we aren’t a team. She’s marrying someone else, and no man worth his shit is going to let her work with me on something like this.

“James?”

He blinked. From the tone of Ricky’s voice, he’d said his name a few times. “Yeah?”