Page 103 of His Forced Irish Mafia Bride

His jaw tightened a little. “It could’ve made you a lot of money.”

“But it failed,” I replied. “On purpose.”

“Yes.”

I didn’t look away. “Why Hugo Fernández?”

He hesitated for a moment. “He was a pressure point.”

“For who?” I asked.

No answer came at first. I didn’t move. “Say it,” I said.

He looked down at the table. “For your family.”

Maeve went still beside me. I stayed focused on him.

“Continue,” I said.

He let out a slow breath. “It was meant to shift control,” he said. “To remove stability in key areas.”

“Say it properly,” I demanded.

His eyes lifted briefly, then dropped again. “Your father’s position was too powerful.”

I nodded once. “Patrick wasn’t the target.”

“No.”

“He just took the fall.”

“Yes.”

I watched him closely. “Who pushed him into it?” He didn’t answer straight away.

“It had to be him,” he finally said.

“That’s not what I asked,” I replied.

His fingers tightened on the chair. “He was warned about the consequences of telling the truth,” he said.

“Meaning what?” I asked.

He spoke more carefully now. “Exposure. Loss of safety…Maeve’s safety.”

Maeve’s breathing changed beside me, but I didn’t look at her yet.

“Maeve was leverage,” I said. He didn’t deny it, so I moved on. “So Patrick took the blame.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Another pause. “He needed to.”

I nodded slowly. “Explain.”

He finally broke eye contact. “He was given support,” he said. “Scheduled payments. Protection for his family.”