THE CALLAHANS (A Mafia Romance): The Complete 5 Books Series Read Online Free

bar. The bartender didn’t have to wait to be asked, he came over and poured more drinks.
    “The cops are getting too close,” Killian said. “Jack needs to do something about that.”
    “I’m sure he will.”
    “He’s going to lose a shipment one of these days,” Sean added. “Those cops…”
    “As long as you boys stay out of jail, that’s all that matters to me.”
    “What if Jack goes down?”
    I shrugged. “I’m protected. As far as the law knows, he and I are just business associates. He goes down, MCorp is mine.”
    “Sweet deal.”
    “Your mother was a good woman. She insisted we all sit down with a lawyer before we got into business together.”
    “She thought you were legit,” Ian pointed out.
    “For a while, yeah, she did.”
    “Did she know about this, about us?” Killian asked. “Before she died?”
    I looked over at him, but I didn’t think it was something I needed to answer. I swallowed the fresh drink in one gulp and picked up a handful of peanuts, swallowing them in one bite, too.
    “I should go,” I said. “Got meetings in the morning.”
    “Busy man,” one of the boys grumbled.
    “Aren’t we all?”
    I was stumbling out the door—booze seemed to go straight to my head these days—when I nearly ran into a beautiful woman I knew instantly. I’d thought I’d seen her a few times over the last week or so, but I kept telling myself it was just my imagination. But here she was, on the arm of some ruddy-faced man I’d never seen before.
    “Cassidy?”
    I had her arms in my hands to hold her up—or maybe she was holding me up—and her pretty face turned up to mine, a soft blush and the dim light hiding the expression in her perfect blue eyes. I’d never known a woman like her before or since I’d met her. She was a student at Boston College when I first met her over twenty years ago. Abigail and I were separated for the first time, her disillusionment with my association with Jack getting in the way of our blissful marriage. Killian was a toddler and Sean on the way, but Abigail was set on the idea that she couldn’t be with a man who could so carelessly break the law.
    And then Cassidy…she was young and beautiful and fresh and new and everything I needed at the time.
    Those days with her were the best six months of my life.
    “Hello, Brian,” she said softly.
    “What are you doing here? I’d thought you’d gone home long ago.”
    “I did. Lived in Austin for years. But I’ve decided to make my home in Boston now.”
    “Why?”
    She shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
    I studied her face, sensing there was something wrong with what she was saying. But I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
    “We should go inside,” the man behind her said. We’d both forgotten about him.
    She glanced back, then at me again.
    “It’s nice to see you, Brian.”
    I slipped a business card out of my wallet, somewhat relieved that I still carried them despite the fact that I hadn’t handed one out in months.
    “Call me. We’ll get together sometime.”
    She nodded, studying the card as she held it between her delicate fingers. I had a flash of memory of those fingers moving over my chest as I laughed at something she’d said. She hadn’t changed. She had the same beautiful curves and the same lovely smile she’d had back then. There were a few new wrinkles around her eyes, a splash of white in her dark hair. But otherwise, she could have been that same blue-eyed beauty I’d met all those years ago.
    She moved around me and slipped into the bar, gone like a ghost. Like she’d never been.
    I was suddenly less interested in going home than I had been before.

Chapter 4
     
    Cassidy
    My hands were still shaking. I spoke to him. That was the first step.
    And now…lunch. It was just lunch. Why did I have to keep reminding myself of that?
    I stared at myself in the mirror, patting my hair with wet hands, trying to smooth my already smooth hair back away