Patrick

I’d fled Nya’s house so quickly that I was embarrassed.

Even if I had my reasons, appearing as a coward was something I didn’t like and never would. She’d given no indication she’d found my departure noteworthy, but with Nya, I couldn’t be certain.

Part of me hoped that if she had noticed, she would interpret my hasty departure as eagerness to be away from her.

It was anything but.

I’d wanted to put her back in my car, take her back to my house, and drag her back into my bed where she belonged. Even now, the strength of that impulse, when I was no longer in her presence, still raged, as did my desire for her.

I wouldn’t give in to it, though, because Nya probably hated me, and I would never allow myself to be ruled by my emotions, not even desire as deep as mine for her.

So instead of going back to Nya, I went to the hotel.

I’d been honest with Michael yesterday about wanting to see how my investment was paying off, but I hadn’t told him how proud the place made me, how good it was to see my brother throw himself into something, no matter how reluctantly, see him accomplish things I suspected he didn’t even know he was capable of.

More than any of us, Michael had absorbed the lesson that Murphys were brutes, only as good as their willingness to kill or die for our name and our family. I was determined he see it another way. If he chose this life, it would be just that. Not something he did out of tradition or because he didn’t know he was capable of something different.

I parked my car in the employee lot and walked into the hotel, searching for any signs of the disturbance.

There were none.

Of course Michael would have done everything to ensure that the hotel was back up and running, but there wasn’t a hint that there had been a problem, that yesterday had even happened at all.

Michael’s false alarm plan had worked brilliantly. The bar and lounge area was filled, a low yet excited murmur of conversation at a hum in the lobby, and employees and guests moved in and out of the front doors as they would on any other day.

I was impressed.

I continued on, past the lobby and to the office suite. I was met at the door by Gerald Collins, the hotel’s general manager. He’d been with the property for more than thirty years, and when I’d bought it, I’d decided to keep him on.

“Mr. Murphy, pleased to see you again tonight,” he said, extending his hand, which I shook.

I wasn’t surprised that Gerald had seen me, either now or last night. He called himself the eyes and ears of the building, and made it a point to know who, especially VIPs, were where and when. I thought he took the whole thing a little too seriously, but he treated all of the customers well, which meant he made me a lot of money, money that made it easy to overlook his stiffness.

“Everything is well?” I asked.

The elegantly dressed, impeccably formal man nodded.

“Everything is in order,” he said.

He kept his expression passive, but I could see the pride in it anyway. Collins was an excellent general manager, but he took his role seriously, and took any problems at the hotel seriously.

That was exactly why I had kept him for the job. It had taken him a while to accept the change in ownership. Before, he’d run the hotel with no oversight and had resisted the idea of someone taking it from him. Michael had been against the idea, too, but between Gerald’s decades of experience and a gambling debt he had no hope of repaying without my assistance, he’d been the perfect choice. And he ran a very tight ship.

“Where’s Michael?” I asked.

“He and the other Mr. Murphy are downstairs in his private office,” Gerald said.

I nodded and then walked away, ignoring the vague hint of disgust on Gerald’s face. I knew that Michael annoyed him, but Sean was so much worse. He didn’t give a shit about anything but his next drink and his next fuck, scandalous for a stiff asshole like Gerald.

I continued through the staff quarters, reminding myself to have Michael change the key code, and headed down a flight of stairs. Gerald had suggested, bordering on insisted, that Michael use the upstairs office space, he vetoed the idea, instead taking a corner near the laundry.

No matter how we sometimes presented ourselves to the outside world, we weren’t suits who spent their days in corporate offices.

Downstairs was the place to go.

I moved hurriedly across the concrete floor, anxious for a distraction, anything to think about that wasn’t Nya. I still couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was about her. Her amazing body, the mind-blowing sex were great, but those shouldn’t have been enough to so fully capture me, especially not under these circumstances. But it did, she did, and I didn’t like that one bit.

“Our fearless leader has returned.” Sean, my youngest brother, grinned at me as I entered the room, the glow of the computer screen shining off his glasses, but not at all dimming the amusement in his eyes.

“So you’re the other Mr. Murphy. I was hoping it was Declan,” I said as I settled in the chair across from Sean.

“You know I couldn’t be Declan, because you have Declan watching some chick, who I’ve been told is very hot,” Sean replied.

“Watch your mouth, asshole,” I said, knowing full well Sean was just busting my balls.

Sean smiled deeper and I frowned, glaring at him. “Don’t you have important shit to be doing?” I grumbled.

“I can multitask,” he said, typing as he spoke as if to prove his point.

“What did you find, Sean?” I asked in the tone of voice I used when I was fed up with his antics, one that seldom did anything to change them.

Instantly, Sean’s demeanor changed. Gone was the fun, playful brother, and in his place was the laser-focused Sean he so often tried to hide.

“There were two shooters, right?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“I think I isolated them.”

He gestured toward the camera and I walked over to stand behind him. I’d expected Michael to join us, but he hadn’t moved.

“You’re not watching this?” I asked.

“Seen it,” he replied.

So Michael was still pissed, but I didn’t care about that, not now.

“Show me,” I said.

Sean tapped a few keys and the screen came alive.

“You see this, here?” he said, pointing at the sliding doors leading into the hotel lobby.

I zeroed in on two figures on the screen. They weren’t even close to each other, but even with that quick glance, I knew they were who I was looking for.

“Smart,” I said as I observed them.

“Yeah. They seem to know where the cameras are, and are making sure they don’t catch a clear image. It has to be them. One person avoiding the cameras and it not meaning anything? Maybe. But two? No way. They’re up to something,” he said.

“Yeah. Professionals,” I said, having confirmation of something I’d expected all along.

“That’s my guess,” Sean replied.

“Who do you have problems with?” Michael asked.

“No one,” I replied.

“You being followed?” Sean added.

“What the fuck do you think?” I replied, insulted he asked, that both of them didn’t know I’d already run through these questions.

“Don’t get bitchy, Patrick. You’re a businessman now. Might have lost the touch,” Sean said.

“Why don’t I knock your fucking teeth out? Show you that I still have it,” I said.

“You’d have to catch me first, old man,” he said.

“Old? You’re only six years younger,” I said.

“An eternity, especially if you’ve gone soft,” Sean said.

I knew he was fucking with me. It was just something he did, but I was in no mood.

“Sean, you’re so full—”

“Knock it the fuck off. We have serious shit to deal with,” Michael said.

I glanced over at him and could see how annoyed he was, knew that he had a point. And if Michael was providing the voice of calm, I knew I needed to get myself back under control.

I looked at Sean, who flashed a shit-eating grin, one that rekindled the urge to punch him.

Michael stepped in, though. “Patrick’s right, Sean. Someone is going to knock your fucking teeth out one of these days. And I can catch you.”

Sean laughed but then turned his attention back to the computer, as much of an apology as I would ever expect from him.

It was funny, Michael and Sean were only ten months apart, but they couldn’t have been more different in temperament. Of course the same could be said for me and Declan, also only ten months apart.

The few years between Declan’s birth and Michael’s were some of the only peaceful ones I could remember from my childhood. Everything had changed after Michael, got worse after Sean. But that had pulled us close, tightened our bond, even when we wanted to kill each other. And I knew that an attack against me was something none of them would stand.

“Do you have video from any other floors?” I asked.

“Yeah. I have the penthouse, even the elevators, but they aren’t any help. Almost as soon as the elevator doors closed, they put on masks, and in the few seconds they weren’t wearing them, they managed to obscure their faces. So there’s nothing there.”

“You need to fire the security staff that was working that morning, Michael,” I said.

“Why?” he responded.

“They didn’t notice two men putting on ski masks in the elevator? Sounds like a fireable offense to me,” I said.

“And grounds for a beating,” Sean replied.

I agreed and I knew Michael did too. But that was one of the downsides of the legitimate business. If they had been my men, a beating would be the least of their worries.

“I’ll look into it,” he said, looking angry, though that wasn’t exactly unusual for Michael.

“Your eldest brother was in mortal danger, but more importantly, someone infiltrated your hotel. Yet you’re pissed about firing incompetent security guards?” I said.

“Yeah, I’m mad about you getting shot at, but I’m supposed to be running your hotel, remember? And firing those assholes means I have to do paperwork and talk to that fucking tyrant assistant general manager you put over human resources,” he said, his scowl deepening.

“A Murphy bitching about paperwork. What have we become?” Sean said.

Michael scowled at him, and I did as well. Now wasn’t the time to antagonize each other. We needed to stick together.

“Michael, I appreciate that this has created some difficulties for you, but that kind of incompetence can’t be tolerated. There have to be consequences or it will fester and grow until everything we’re working for here is destroyed. That kind of failure has to be cut out before it infects the whole hotel,” I said.

I went quiet then, both because I hated lecturing Michael and because as I hated sounding so much like the man I despised.

“You think I don’t know that?” Michael snapped.

“Then stop fucking scowling and complaining about human damn resources and act. And while you’re at it, I want to know everything about every person working here. And about any of the guests last night that stick out,” I said.

“Starting with your new girlfriend, right?” Michael said.

“What the fuck does she have to do with this?” I asked.

Michael smiled, which should have been my clue he knew exactly what he was doing. But even the slightest reference to Nya had me on the defense, something that increased when he continued.

“You said anyone suspicious. She was actually with you, so she’d be at the top of the list, especially since no one knew you were coming last night.”

“She’s not involved,” I said flatly.

“How do you know?” he responded.

“I know because she told me.”

Michael’s dark brows dropped low. “And you’re taking her word for it?” he asked, skepticism dripping from every word.

“Michael,” I said, my voice taking on an edge, “don’t be an asshole.”

“Then stop thinking with your dick,” he replied.

I glared at him. “Michael, I—”

“He has a point, Pat,” Sean interjected.

I shifted, looked toward my little brother, who seemed serious for once.

“What point?” I said through gritted teeth.

He shrugged. “You got the basics, I’m sure, but what do you really know about your—”

“Her name is Nya,” I said in a cutting voice.

Sean continued, unaffected. “What do you know about Nya?”

“You’re the one who got the intel on her,” I said.

Sean shrugged. “That was nothing. Name, friends, that kind of shit. I didn’t have time to go deeper.”

“And you don’t need to. She’s not involved,” I repeated.

She’d told me so. I believed her. Stupid, but true.

“Fuck that, Patrick,” Michael said. “I don’t care what she said, and if you weren’t—” He stopped when I stood from my chair, though his expression didn’t soften a bit.

“You were saying?” I said.

“I was saying that if you weren’t…distracted, you wouldn’t just take her word for it. Nya might be a saint, but I’m not going to let you gamble your life on her word,” he said.

He glared at me, and I didn’t have to look at Sean to know he agreed. And were the roles reversed, I would have said the same thing.

“I want to know everything you find,” I finally said, for some reason hating to speak the words, but knowing there was no other choice. No matter how I may have felt, how instantly I’d connected with her, she was a stranger.

And strangers could not be trusted. I might have wanted it to be different, especially with Nya, but wanting it didn’t change the truth.

“I’ll start looking into the employees, but I doubt you’ll find any surprises there,” Michael said with certainty.

“I hope not,” I said.

And I meant it. This hotel was more than just a building, another way to make money. It was the first step toward making me, my brothers, more than we’d ever dreamed we could be. I wanted to protect that, but I’d tear this place down brick by brick to find the person who’d tried to kill me and put Nya at risk.

“Have we considered other possibilities…?”

When Sean spoke this time, he was deadly serious, somber. The subject he was alluding to would allow nothing less.

“I’m considering everything,” I said, my own voice solemn.

“You think he’d do it?” Michael asked.

“Would you put anything past him?” I said.

Their silence was not surprising, and I stayed quiet as well, all of us considering a person we tried so hard to pretend didn’t exist.

I’d done illegal things, terrible things in my life. All of us had. I had enemies, people who hated me, but there was only one person I knew of who wanted me dead.

My father.