Shannon (9 page)

The brothers lined up—Conall, Fionn, Kieran, Shannon. It had taken a few months, but once they located the old man it was a simple case of hunting him down. In the end, the bastard never left South Boston. All the wrongs perpetrated against them came down to that moment.

Paddy gazed up at them, defiance and hate clear in his bright green eyes. Gone was his crew—there was no one left to protect him. The layers he’d built over the years as a shield disintegrated. Dead men were the only testament left to their da’s crumbling empire. A warning that the O’Shea brothers now controlled the area. It was time for a new era.

Their father straightened, squaring his shoulders. His coat hung off a gaunt frame. The once large man was a mere shell of himself. Slowly, each brother raised his arm. Their guns varied from a thirty-eight to a 9-millimeter to a couple three-eighties. Paddy met the gaze of each man, his sons. A wistful smile lifted the corners of Paddy’s mouth. He raised his arms out from his body. They pulled the triggers, riddling his body with bullets.

Falling back and to the ground, their father lay dying as they continued to rain down fury on a man who had done everything in his power to destroy them.

It was done. The devil had his pound of flesh.

***

“We don’t have to get married,” Shay insisted, a touch of panic in her voice. “I mean, people live together all the time. You can just do you, and I have the boys at Home keeping me busy…”

It was cute the way marriage frightened Shay. Shannon always thought it was the guy scared of taking that final step. Of course, him being Irish, there would only be this one marriage for them. He would sell his soul to keep his woman happy and satisfied.

But with Shay he never had to. Now the specter of his father was gone, she could move freely between their home and Home, where she taught the boys and ran the school with iron-clad efficiency. Even Eamon was slightly terrified of her.

Fuck, this woman made him the happiest son of a bitch alive.

“We don’t have to, but we are,” he responded, tackling her to the couch. “And you will be Shay O’Shea, my dear. That I promise you.”

Shay scrunched up her nose at that. “Shay O’Shea? Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?”

Yeah, he did. Just couldn’t be moved to care. “It sounds perfect to me. Therefore that’s what it’s going to be.”