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development and knew pretty much what to expect. It was simply an announcement—a change of management thing—that most consumers wouldn’t even take note of.
    “I talked to Jack yesterday. He says that the gun deal went down as planned.”
    “Good. I’ll let everyone else know.”
    Killian started to turn, but stopped when I asked, “Did you know Stacy’s getting married?”
    Killian shrugged. “Ian might have said something.”
    “Why didn’t she call me?”
    He crossed his arms over his chest and regarded me for a long moment. Killian was the oldest, the one all the other kids went to whenever they had a problem. But he was already in high school by the time Stacy came to live with us. At ten, she was a handful, but something about Killian just walking into a room calmed her without fail. If anyone knew what was going on in her head, it was likely Killian.
    “She was there, in the house, when Mom got sick, but you didn’t say anything to her. She and Kevin felt like you left them out of everything, that you took away Mom’s last good days. She’s pissed.”
    “That was her excuse for leaving for college so quickly after graduation. But that was almost five years ago. Is she never going to forgive me?”
    Killian shrugged. “I know it was Mom’s idea. Sean and Ian know it, too. But the others? Kyle and Kevin and Stacy? They’re still pretty pissed. They think you kept the truth from them because you didn’t think they could handle it.”
    “That’s not true. She simply didn’t want them to watch her suffer longer than they had to.”
    “You’ve got to talk to them about it.”
    Once again, I thought that I should probably make a trip to New York one of my priorities, but then my phone buzzed, and it was time to get to work.

Chapter 6
     
    Cassidy
    Brian handed me his cell phone, and I felt dirty. I felt like he’d just handed me the keys to his car and asked me to steal it. Like I’d just stolen the numbers to his bank account.
    If only he knew…
    I took a seat, guilt swallowing me whole when I realized that no one could see what I was doing from my place against the wall. They were focused on one another around the conference table. Only the other assistants were anywhere near me, and they were all busy texting on their phones or ready on their iPads.
    I pulled up his contacts list and my heart sank as I realized there were dozens of names here, not just his kids’ names, but business contacts and friends from the old neighborhood. I was a little surprised to recognize some of the names. Jack McGuire, obviously was one. I met Jack once, long ago, when he showed up at Brian’s rented room while I was there. We shared a bottle of good Irish whiskey together, the three of us, and he told me stories about when Brian was young. It was a good evening until Jack let it slip that Brian was married. Not just married, but married with a son and another on the way. Imagine my surprise when I learned that my lover of three months was married.
    I was not a happy girl.
    I recognized a few other names, too, guys he told me he grew up with. I was a little surprised to see he was still friends with those guys. Or maybe I was just surprised that he’d introduced me to people who really were his friends.
    I’d gone over our relationship again and again over the years, and I became less and less sure that he’d been honest with me at any point, so this evidence that there was some honesty in our relationship was almost shocking.
    I made a copy of his address book and sent it to my phone. Then I sent it in a text to the men controlling my every movement. A second later, they responded with a terse message:
    More will be required.
    I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I’d done everything they’d requested of me, yet they continued to ask for more. What did they want me to do? Was I supposed to commit some sort of crime? Was I supposed to hurt Brian? I wouldn’t do that. At least…I wasn’t sure what I was