Ryan Reign (New York Ruthless #4)(27)

He holds out his arms. “It’s good to see you, kid.”

I walk into his embrace. “It’s good to see you too, Pol.”

We hug for a few seconds and I realize how much I’ve missed him. After my mom, my Uncle Paul was my favorite grown up when I was a kid. He taught me how to shoot and how to skin a rabbit. The former skill I have been grateful of, and have perfected over the years. The latter, not so much. “How the fuck did you know I’d be here?” I ask as I step back from him.

“What?” he arches an eyebrow at me. “O’Connor has been telling every fucker who will listen he’s meeting you here today.”

“He never could keep his mouth shut.”

Paul arches an eyebrow at me. “I hear he’s got a busted face and a broken arm.”

“Yeah? Well, he touched what didn’t belong to him.”

“A girl?” Paul chuckles softly.

“My girl.”

Paul nods his head. “She something special, is she?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Oh, I can believe it,” he says with a nod and a faraway look in his eyes that makes me wonder who he’s thinking of.

“Where the fuck have you been Pol? I thought you were dead?”

“Here. There. Everywhere.” He shakes his head as though he’s annoyed with himself about something.

“You married? Got any kids?”

“No and no.”

“But there is someone, right?” I ask, thinking of his reaction a few seconds earlier.

“Hmm. There was.”

“Was?”

“Is,” he snaps and I wonder what the story is there because I have definitely pushed some kind of button. “Look, we gonna stand here reminiscing or are we gonna get in there and fuck up Sean O’Connor’s day?”

“And what makes you think I’m going to do that?” I frown at him.

“Well, you’re not handing operations over to him, are you?” he asks, a little more of his Irish accent creeping into his voice the more he talks to me.

“Not a chance in hell.”

“After you then, kid,” he says as he indicates the door.

I pull it open and walk inside the room with my uncle close behind me. There are a dozen men in the room. Sean O’Connor sits in the middle of them, the ringmaster of this particular circus. His face is a mess and his arm is in a sling and I can’t help but smile as I approach him.

“You’re late,” he snarls.

“What can I say? My girl wouldn’t let me get out of bed.”

“I bet,” he snarls. “She looked like a slut.”

I don’t have to act because Paul does it for me, walking straight over to O’Connor and grabbing him by the throat. “Apologize!” he snarls as O’Connor’s men look on. Although, I suppose they are no longer O’Connor’s men. They are mine.

O’Connor’s face is turning blue. He fumbles at his jacket but Paul only squeezes tighter and Sean looks like he’s about to pass out. “Sorry!” he eventually wheezes and Paul releases him.

“Thank you for coming here this morning, gentlemen,” I say as I shove my hands in my pockets and finger the brass knuckles I have in there. I’ll be happily using them on Sean O’Connor’s face if he utters one more word about Jessie. “I won’t keep you long, but I wanted to tell you how things are going to be now that my father is dead.”

Sean snorts and shakes his head.

“You got something to say first?” I snarl.

“Yes.” He pulls a gun out of his jacket and points it at me. “We are going to tell you how things are going to work around here. Now that your father is dead, the reign of the Ryan family is officially over.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “You think so?”

“I know so,” he spits.

I look beside him at his second-in-command, Cormac Macaulay, who rolls his eyes.

“Can someone kindly escort this piece of shit out of here?” I ask as I look around the room for a willing volunteer. Five men stand up.

“I can, Boss,” one of them says.

Sean stares at them with an open mouth and waves his gun at me again. Cormac stands up and no doubt thinking his right-hand man is leaping to his defense, Sean stands with him.

“I think it’s only right that I do it,” Cormac says.

“What the fuck?” Sean snarls but Cormac has disarmed him and has his arm up his back before he can even finish the sentence.

“Didn’t you know Cormac and I are old friends, Sean?” I frown at him. “I would have thought a man of your intelligence would have figured that out by now.”

“Snake!” Sean spits. “Macaulay, you ungrateful cunt!”

“Yeah, okay,” Cormac chuckles. “Your time is up, Sean, but I’m willing to at least let you walk out of here with a little dignity.”

Sean shrugs Cormac off him and straightens his coat. “Cheeky fucking cunts! Every one of you!” He points at the men seated around the room. “You will all fucking regret this!” he hisses and then he storms out of the room.

Once he is gone, I turn back to the assembled men. “As I was saying, here is how things are going to work from now on. I’m going back to New York as soon as my father’s funeral is over. I don’t have time to be back and forth to Ireland every five minutes to check on what you are up to. I trust Cormac, so as far as you’re concerned, he speaks for me. I trust that all of you will just keep doing what you’re doing. There is no need for anyone to be negatively affected by my father’s death. Things will continue as they were, but with Cormac at the helm. Understood?”