I’m an Irish King. I take what I want. And I want her, the one woman I should leave the hell alone.
I’m Devlin Lyons, second-in-command of Montreal’s ruling Irish Mafia family. I give no quarter to any man—or woman. And then I meet her, Dr. Katrianna Bell, a blue-eyed angel who heals the sick and cares for the wounded.
I didn’t intend to fall for her, but now I can’t live without her. She’s going to be mine, body and soul, no matter how hard she fights against us being together…or how much fate is trying to keep us apart.
Because I never let go of what’s mine.
Reader advisory: This book contains scenes of violence, and sex trafficking. There are mentions of murder and crime.
General Release Date: 4th June 2024
“What’s the matter, Joey?” I glanced up from the drink I was pouring myself to the young male hovering near the bar. The Emerald Club, our Montreal base for the Lyons family, was doing brisk business tonight. I was surrounded by Saturday-night revelers looking to hook up for a good time, while I kept a sharp eye out for trouble.
My natural state was to always expect complications. My father, and now my brothers and I, didn’t rise into the upper echelons of Montreal’s Mafia scene without being paranoid. And we had lots to be paranoid about, with enemies lurking around every corner wanting a piece of the action. Wanting nothing more than to take the Lyons down like a pack of bloody hyenas.
My father passed a legacy onto the family through sheer hard work and tenacity that involved a great deal of sacrifice, so the least we could do was to uphold his trust. Though trust in human beings other than immediate family was sadly lacking these days in me. Perhaps I’d seen too much, experienced too many jaded men and women in my time. The only exception I’d seen to date was my brother’s new wife, Aria, but she was one in a million.
Luck like that only strikes a family once in a lifetime.
Joey glanced my way, indecision obvious in his excessively blinking eyes behind the black frame of his glasses. “Nothing. Just checking if you need anything?”
“I’m good, but you’re looking a bit pale.”
“I’m a bit skint is all. I was wondering about an advance on my salary?”
“Again, Joey? We not paying you enough? That’s the third time this month.”
Suspicion grew in my mind. Was he using drugs, gambling, being blackmailed? It was important to get to the bottom of it without scaring him off. Though Joey was as loyal to us as they come, he was too easily talked into things that weren’t good for him. “You been hanging around Big Mike’s lately?”
“Yeah.” Joey rubbed the back of his neck as if something or someone had taken a big chunk out of it. One of his tells. “Those guys, they play cards so darn good, I always end up losing.”
My blood simmered with that bit of intel. So that was the way of it.
“How about we head over there now and I’ll stake you.” It wasn’t a question.
Joey bobbed his head. “Sure, boss, that would be great.”
“I’ll just have a word with Quinn and we’ll head out.” I strode across the bar and up to my brother’s office on the second floor of the club, taking the stairs two at a time.
Quinn was at his desk. He looked up as I entered.
“Everything okay?” he asked, his forehead creased. We Lyons brothers looked so much alike it was like peering in a mirror. Same dark hair and strong facial features that women said reminded them of a young Pierce Brosnan, that charming Irish movie actor. No complaint from me when it led them straight into the sack. Though maybe that was more because of me being seen as a challenge by the fairer sex, never going with the same woman more than twice.
In my world, if there was one thing I’d learned, it was best to keep my guard up and my heart on lockdown. Safer for everyone involved. Bed them and leave them happy. Something I’ve been told I excel at so it’s not a boast.
“I need to step out for about an hour. Can you handle it? Something’s come up about Joey.”
“Joey O’Toole?”
“Yeah, I need to take care of a situation.”
“By the look in your eyes, I’d say that someone’s going to get their ass kicked to the curb tonight. Go, I’ll hold down the fort. Enjoy the stress reliever.”
“No doubt about that.” I turned and vacated the office, picking up the naive Joey O’Toole on the way. We arrived down the street at Big Mike’s deli business five minutes later. It was an unusually warm May evening, which did not bode well for a Quebec summer, though it would bring in the thirsty punters. We could do with more rain and fewer wildfires though.
A discreet knock on the back door, a quick glimpse at my mug through the peephole, and Joey and I were inside.
Big Mike was all smiles, though his gaze darted between me and Joey, no doubt wondering what was up. Not often a made man showed up with a gofer.
“Good to see you, Devlin. To what do we owe this honor?” He squinted his beady little eyes at Joey, perspiration dotting his meaty complexion. Big Mike liked his own cooking way too much. The deli owner pulled out a handkerchief and swabbed at his flushed face.
“Hot in here tonight. You’d better get that air conditioning fixed,” I said as I sat down. I took the last seat at the card table quickly vacated by one of the minions.
“Deal,” I ordered.
The room became so quiet we could have heard a mouse fart. Vermin—one of the reasons I never ate out if I could avoid it. My mom’s home cooking was the best anyway.
Big Mike dealt out the cards. I looked around at each of the guys who’d been robbing young Joey, and I didn’t even turn my hand over. “I won. Deal another hand.”
Everyone at the table knew better than to object. Big Mike did what I said.
“How ’bout that. I won again. Deal another hand.”
It went on for almost an hour, the temperature in the room soaring. I took every penny off the bastards, several thousand dollars, and handed it off to Joey. No one would ever cheat him again. And one hour away from serious business was fair enough. Hell, it had even been a bit of fun.
Then Big Mike got that look on his face, mutinous, that clearly said he wasn’t taking this lying down, his piggy eyes steely. Bad idea, asshat.
“That’s more than we took off of Joey. That’s not fair.”
I casually opened my jacket, exposing my gun in its holster. “Shall we draw for it? Wanna die for a measly wad of cash?”
“Not so measly,” he muttered.
I could read the indecision in Big Mike’s eyes, the thoughts lumbering behind them. How fast was I? As good as my reputation?
“Let’s make this easy for you. I’ll let you draw first. I’ll still kill you, but it will save your friends’ lives if they stay out of it. No honor lost then, right?”
The whites of Big Mike’s eyes exposed and he fumbled the cards he was holding, spilling them on the floor. Then he reached down, feigning a maneuver of picking them up but instead reaching for the pistol strapped to his calf, drawing down on me. That gave me no choice.
I had the gun in my hand in a nanosecond, the quick action almost impossible to see with the naked eye. I drilled him through the left shoulder.
“You’re fucking lucky we’re running low on lime. But this happens again, you’re a fucking dead man.”
Lime was an essential ingredient of disposing of a body so that it didn’t stink and alert cadaver dogs. Another easy way was alligators. Unfortunately they were hard to come by due to the cold winters that Montreal was known for.
Joey and I strolled back to the club together. He had no trouble with my recent actions, having seen far worse in his time and knowing the importance of keeping his mouth shut.
“That was great, Mr. Lyons. Now I can afford to take my girl to that concert she wants to see this month. And I want to buy her something nice too. What do you think she’d want more, a necklace or a bracelet?” His young, earnest expression squeezed at my heart. The kid had it bad.
“Put half in the bank for a rainy day. Take half of what’s left and give it to your mother, then make a decision on how much you want to spend on something frivolous.” I knew Joey still lived with his mom, a single mother—the main reason we’d taken the kid on.
“But buying something for Tiffany isn’t wasted. She’s extra nice to me when I get her something.”
I snorted. “Of course she is. Doesn’t mean she cares for you more. You can’t buy love, Joey. No one told you that yet?” I thought of my new sister-in-law, Aria Byrne, and how lucky my brother Quinn was in finding the real deal. A once-in-a-lifetime love story that meant that all the good luck of the Lyons family had in that regard was used up. My chances of finding a good woman were about nil. Not that I needed one—hell, I was doing just fine on my own. An outlaw’s life is a lonely one. Best to accept that and move on. Loneliness was just the cost a man had to pay, easily dealt with by a warm and willing female body. Just not the same one every night.
My cell phone fired off just then and I glanced at it as I shepherded Joey in the door of the Emerald Club.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” I asked, picking up the call.
“It’s Grandma. She’s at St. Mary’s Hospital. She’s having chest pains. I’m not home yet—my flight doesn’t leave until the morning. Of all the times to be away! I need you to go there and see how she is.”
My breath left my body in a rush. Grandma Rose, the matriarch of our clan, the woman who never had anything but a kind word for everyone, who loved nothing more than sitting by the stove in the sunshine crocheting things for our family needed us now.
“Have you called Quinn?”
“No, I’ll do that now.”
“Don’t bother—I’ll tell him and Farrell. We’ll see that she’s taken care of. We’ll pick you up in the morning from the airport. Try not to worry. Okay?”
Easier said than done.
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