Page 24 of Sins of Innocence

Am a I bad person because I'm glad the underboss wants to get the details from his son and not my daughter? I don't want her interrogated.

Especially by this man.

But what happens after Mick talks to his son?

Kara doesn't seem upset, so I'm going to assume it won't be the imminent death of four children. But this mob world is every bit as harsh as Mick Fitzgerald claims.

And I don't want any part of it. "Why can't we just leave New York? I promise I won't say anything."

"If you leave, there is nothing to stop Kenneth from following you," Kara says with clear concern and another dose of unwelcome pity.

"If you stay and don't marry Wraith, Kenneth will continue to try to coerce you into sex. Can you be sure you won't give in to it?" Mick asks.

Gritting my teeth, I refuse to answer because the truth is, I would do anything to protect my children. And it infuriates me that if I stay in New York and don't marry Kieran, the underboss is acknowledging my current situation isn't going to improve.

In fact, it's pretty much guaranteed to disintegrate.

"He and his son both know the consequences of rape, but Kenny Jr. still attacked Sadie today with his friends," Kara adds. "Because Kenneth Shaughnessy believes he and his family are untouchable."

"Or not." That's all Kieran says but it triggers a thoughtful silence between him, Kara and Mick.

"Why or not?" This isn't a matter of curiosity but of trying to understand the game that's being played with me and my girls' lives.

Kieran doesn't answer me, but Kara does. "It's possible that Kenneth egged his son on in order to trigger mob justice."

"He wants Kenny Jr. killed?" I don't believe that. He's a terrible man, but he has an egoist's pride in his namesake.

"No, but he wants Mick to invoke the punishment so he can go to my father with a complaint and stir up more trouble among the other lieutenants and their captains."

"Because even mobsters balk at killing a child?" I ask, trying to understand.

The underboss shrugs. "Aye."

"But you wouldn't?"

The underboss doesn't answer, but the unemotional expression on his features does it for him.

"Mick would look for other alternatives first," Kara says with absolute conviction.

"Aye, because I have a conscience." The look he gives his wife is so elemental it hits my own atavistic instincts.

On his own, Mick Shaughnessy would mete out mob justice without remorse or compunction, but because of his wife, he is capable of mercy.

She is his conscience.

I cannot imagine being that important to another human being. Troy and I loved each other and it hurt when he died, but I never felt like I wanted to dive into his grave with him.

These two? Are that primally necessary to each other.

"But Shaughnessy doesn't know that," Kieran says, like he's making an effort to explain it to me.

Kara nods. "What he does know is that my father would never sanction the death of a child as punishment."

"You're saying what happened to my daughter was part of some plan Kenneth Shaughnessy has concocted to undermine your husband's position in the mob? Those boys could have raped her!"

"Doubtful. Seeing what happened today in light of what we believe Kenneth's plans to be, Kenny Jr. meant for Fitz to find them. What they didn't count on was the strength of my son's reaction or their inability to defend themselves against it," Kara says with some satisfaction.

"What they did was traumatizing enough. She'll need counseling." If those words had come from Kara, they wouldn't surprise me. But they come from the underboss and I'm too shocked to reply.