Page 32 of Reckless Seduction
“Not really selling yourself, are you?” Seamus quirks a brow. “You’re supposed to be giving us a reason to keep you alive.”
My chest tightens, eyes widening slightly at his statement. Do they really plan on killing me?
“Seamus,” Ava scolds.
Playing off my fear, I let out a derisive snort. “It wouldn’t matter what I told you, anyway.” I sniff. “I’m well-versed in howthe mafia works. If you wanted to kill me, it wouldn’t matter what reason I gave you to keep me alive. You’d still eliminate me.”
“Well-versed?” Kiernan asks.
I shoot him a smug look. “Did you think I got into investigative reporting by accident?” I snark. “My father has told me everything about how you mafioso types want to destroy the good he’s worked for.”
Chuckles of amusement rise up around the table. I don’t see what is so amusing about what I’ve said.
“Let me guess.” Dashkov eyes me from across the table. “Your father is the one who got you into reporting.”
“No,” I tell him smugly. “He was, and still is, against it.”
“But he is the one who nudged you to work on investigative reporting, isn’t he?” Is it bad manners to punch a smirking mafia boss in the face? “And when you did, he no doubt pushed you into writing your little stories about the mafia. Telling you all the bad things we do and how we’re out to get him.”
I huff. “They’re not just stories. They’re facts.”
Kiernan grunts. “Sure they are.” He smirks. “But we’ll come back to that later.”
Not if I have anything to do with it.
How and why I became an investigative reporter is inconsequential. What does it matter if my father strung me along the path? I am doing well. Helping to shed light on the criminal activity in the city.
My father never pushed me to write about the mafia or the Seattle underground. He tolerated it but did not support my career as a reporter. The only reason he allowed it was because Drew had supported it for his own personal gain.
Marriage and becoming a dutiful housewife were what my father had planned for me.
There were times when my father talked more openly about what the mafia was doing in the city. I chased some of the best leads with the information he let slip at the dinner table or at business meetings he had in his office.
“Why don’t you tell us about your father’s deal with Magnus Knight?”
Not gonna happen.
The twins exchange an unreadable look at my silence.
“Bailey.” Kiernan’s voice holds a darkened edge to it. A warning.
Good girls get rewarded. Bad girls get punished.
Yeah, fuck that shit. I won’t be telling them anything related to my father or his business. Not that I know much, but they don’t need to know that.
“What about your adoption records?” A smile spreads across Liam’s face at my sudden flinch.Shit. “No one can seem to find anything on your sudden adoption, Bailey. Not even a sealed record. I find that rather interesting.”
My hands clench around the mug in my hand. “You really shouldn’t.”
“It just piques my interest that there isn’t a single trace of you.” He leans back in his chair, eyes gleaming as his gaze challenges me. “Your birth certificate doesn’t list a father, and the woman listed is labeled as a missing person.”
“You’re a real Jack Taylor,” I drawl. “Got it all figured out.” My jaw ticks, and my teeth clench as I struggle not to give anything away. I know it is too late. I might as well have just screamed that there is something wrong at the top of my lungs. One thing I’ve never been good at is deception. My father says I wear my emotions on my sleeve. Too open and naïve, he’s told me.
“Answer the question, Bailey,” Seamus growls next to me, his hand coming to the back of my neck, applying just enough pressure to exert his dominance but not enough to hurt.
“Don’t pretend like you know anything about my family or me,” I hiss at them. “My father is a good man who’s made it his life’s mission to see men like you wiped out of business.”
“You want to know about your family?” Seamus sneers, tightening his hold on my neck. “Your father is a murderer. A coward who hides behind his social standing and the men he sends to kill those who are in his way. And for what? Prestige? To get into office? He may be a pillar of the community to the people at your fancy country club, but down here, in the real world? He’s in bed with some of the city’s worst gangs. He’s a killer, just like us. The only difference is that we do it to survive. Your father does it for his own selfish reasons. So before you laugh at how little we know, remember that you’re still the enemy’s daughter and show my father some respect. Hear me?”
