Page 141 of Sins of Innocence

"This is something we should have talked about beforehand," I tell him in as even of a voice I can manage, making my throat ache from the strain of not yelling.

Which really? I don't yell. Or I didn't.

Until Kieran.

What is it about this man that unlocks the gates on my usually dormant temper? It's like I feel safe getting angry with him.

Which makes no sense. He's a dangerous mobster. How am I less worried about holding him accountable than standing up to a man like Kenneth Shaughnessy? Who is not even in Kieran's league when it comes to being genuinely, personally powerful.

"Told you, boss man," Ellie singsongs.

I glare at my bestie. "You knew about the phones?"

She raises both her hands palms out and shakes her head. "Nope. But I knew Kieran's tendency to think he knows what's best for everyone around him and certainty he has the right to act on it was going to run right up against the wall of your independence."

"This is not me being independent." Though that's not a bad thing. Is it? "This is me being a concerned parent and not liking my primary role in my daughter's life being usurped without a single conversation."

"But dads can buy phones for their kids, can't they?" Neeve asks, looking worried.

"Not in our family. That's a two-parent decision." When every decision for the last six years had been mine alone.

Wow. Okay, this might be about more than buying cell phones for the girls without my permission.

It's about trusting him to make choices like this. I still want a say, but we have to make these decisions together. Not me alone. Not him in unilateral mode.

Both of us.

That is going to take some getting used to.

Troy wouldn't have asked if he wanted to buy the girls phones, my pesky inner voice, tapped directly into my conscience, says.

But I don't want my marriage with Kieran to be like the one I had with Troy. I don't care if he has millions in the bank, when it comes to decisions within our family, Kieran and I are equals.

"Oh." Joy's face falls. "I can't call Minnie Mouse?"

After meeting Minnie Mouse at the park, Joy is convinced they're besties.

"No. Silly. We don't have her number." Sadie softens her words with a side hug for her little sister.

We just finished eating dinner, when Kieran arrived hours earlier than the last few nights, and dropped identical slim boxes in front of each girl.

Looking way too unconcerned for a man so close to being murdered by his wife, he reaches for Joy's phone and shows her how to unlock it before handing it back. "There's an app already loaded on your phone where you can text with Mickey and his friends."

"For real?" Joy squeals.

Kieran nods and taps on the screen to show her. "It's a learning app with preloaded text prompts and replies," he tells me. "All the phones have parental controls turned on. The GPS only turns off if the battery is dead. I set the contacts up so they can only call or text people you approve. Or me."

He gives me a look that says: See, I’m looking out for them.

Which is so not the point. "I never doubted you'd take the safety measures necessary."

Kieran, without a hint of irony, tells the girls, "Don’t use them at school. They’re for emergencies."

Like that's going to stop them.

Neeve perks up. "What kind of emergency?"

"If any kids call you names, you text me right away." He looks at Sadie. "If you start your woman’s thing and don’t have the stuff you need. Uh—" He hesitates.