The brothers make an unlikely pair.
Liam O’Grady and Finn St Just. Sharing the same father. & Their father, Sean O’Grady had been a small-time Irish gangster who fell madly in love with a hooker who had run away from France. Elyna St Just charmed him and he followed her about, besotted, while Sean’s loyal wife, Maggie, waited for him. But the French woman grew tired of him soon. Seven months after Elyna St. Just had delivered his son, she disappeared. Humiliated and repentant, Sean had brought his little son home, to his wife, Maggie. She had stormed at him, thrown him out of the house, wept and wept. But being the large-hearted woman she was, Maggie O’Grady had made Sean swear upon his sons in church– for her own Liam was just a baby- that he would never have another woman in his life. And being the good Catholic that he was, Sean had kept his word and remained faithful to her till the day he died. He had concentrated on expanding his power, and had become a popular mob Boss by the time he died, a peaceful death no less, Maggie had accepted Finn St Just, for the boy had kept his mother’s name, and loved Finn like her own son. And Sean had trianed his stwo ons in the ways of the world of crime. From his humble beginnings in a trailer park, Sean had set up a mini empire by the time he breathed his last. But his sons, particularly Liam, had carried his legacy to even further heights. Liam O'Grady ensured tht he was the unchallenged King of the East, along with his fatihful brother, Finn. & Now Finn watched his brother speculatively. Despite being teh older sibling, he took his lead from Liam, who was always one step ahead of everyone else. & In appearance, they were quite different. While Liam took after his Irish mother, with black hair and bright blue eyes, Finn had inherited his mother’s coloring. His eyes, the golden orbs that drove women mad, were only one feature that set him apart from his sibling. He was taller and unlike the stockier Liam, he was leaner, but both the brothers were packed with muscle. Liam was a gangster, cloaked under the guise of a realtor and a loan shark. But his excessive energy found an outlet in fighting; underground fight clubs were his ‘scene’ as he told Finn. He was also a businessman, brilliant to a fault whereas Finn was the muscle of the setup. With his violent temper and fierce, handsome looks, people automatically obeyed the towering Finn who seemed to be carrying a burden of anger around him constantly. His aggressiveness was unleashed upon the hapless submissive who he and his brother chose but even as he whipped them, they screamed for him to take them. Yes, women loved Finn. But then, they also loved the suave, charming Liam. Together, the two brothers had run through most of the women in Hunters Wood. He knew that he did not have the razor-sharp acumen of O’Grady but he had the undying loyalty of his troops, the men who worked for the O’Grady mob. And, most importantly, the brothers had a deep, unshakable bond. Both of them had discovered, early in life, that they were Doms, alpha males who enjoyed subjugating their partners. And the common bond only meant that they shared everything. Including their women. * The brothers shared a liking for women and had long ago discovered that they enjoyed having the same submissive cater to their needs. Helen Douglas, who had been the latest in a long string of subs, had fitted the bill nicely but she had begun to grow needy and Finn had suspected that Liam was about to send her packing. Now he looked at Lam who turned, his blue eyes sparkling as he drawled, “Finn my lovely brother, don’t you think we should get ourselves a new woman?” &&& Bianca Cruz The building looms in front of me and I stand in the rain, shivering in the cold as it whips around my legs. My jeans, my best pair, are already wet and I know that I look like a soaking wet kitten. I know I feel like one. Miserable and cold. And scared. So very scared. *** Pressing my lips together, I take a step forward then another. Then the doorman, who gives me a quick up and down look, lets me in, his face reflecting his incredulity though he hides it as he asks, politely, ‘Are you here to see Mr St Just? Or Mr O’Grady?” I dredge up a half-hearted smile. As I meet his eyes, pushing my damp tendrils of brown hair away from my face. The hoodie is damp too, I think, clutching my old umbrella and blurt the first name that comes to my mouth. “Ummm…Mr St Just.” I say. He does not look deceived but he lets me in. probably out of pity, I think. & I can see the thoughts racing through his mind as I step into the wooden floored foyer and stop awkwardly. The doorman’s face seems to say, What does this bedraggled teenager, with her wet hair and old, pitifully poor clothes, want to do with a loan shark like Finn Walker? I square my shoulders and pop my wet umbrella into a place where there are other dripping umbrellas. Then I march to the reception determinedly, pretending to know what I am about to do. It is only the memory of my younger sisters, the twins, Annabelle and Rosemary, their pretty blonde hair and perfect features with sparkling blue eyes, that keeps me going. And of course, the look on Dean Nelson’s face. The leery, ugly look as he ran his bloodshot brown eyes over my sisters and me. His voice, was hoarse and greedy, as he stepped to me, his beer-laden breath almost making me gag as he snarled, “You better rustle up the money, pretty gal. Or your sisters and you are going to be on the streets, sweetheart. Or shackin’ up with me…” He had laughed, a high laugh, like a donkey braying, said my four-year-old sister Rose and I tightened my fists.Ria Delano was at her desk at Shangri La, going over the details of a conference that had just been held. Browsing the papers, she looked the picture of a working woman, thought her husband, the Capo, who had come in, silently, like a large panther. He would never get tired of looking at his wife, thought Philippe in admiration, his chest puffing out with love and pride. Ria wore a pair of tortoiseshell glasses, for her eyesight had suffered after the injuries she had received in the car crash, when she had lost her baby. Her long blonde hair was twisted into a messy bun on the top of her head, tendrils having escaped to frame her beautiful face. As Ria studied her phone and then flicked her eyes to the screen in front of her, she glanced up and noticed her husband. Leaning back and stretching, she arched her back and dimpled, taking off her glasses.“Don’t you have anything better than to stand at the door and gawk at me, Philippe the Capo?” she said, but her voice was teasing. A p
Serena opened her eyes slowly. She was still too weak to move. Her body ached; her mind was still in a state of fugue. She kept drifting in and out of consciousness.Her mind was in a fog. Thoughts drifted in and out of reach. Where was she? What had happened? Her body refused to move, her arms numb, her legs unresponsive. Panic rose in her chest until a soft hand found hers — warm, trembling, real.“It's okay,” the voice said again, closer now. He was crying. “You're safe now, love. You came back.”And then, slowly, like stars blinking into a night sky, memories began to return.Louis. Her beloved Louis.Serena turned her head ever so slightly, a monumental effort. Machines beeped softly around her. The hospital room was quiet, save for her labored breath and his. He was beside her, eyes red, clutching her hand as if it were the only real thing in the world.Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. She was alive. Broken, weak, barely whole — but alive.And for now, that was enoug
Once Piers Delano took charge, things moved swiftly.And young Siobhan was also bundled along to the hospital, as someone informed her, despite her reluctance to go along with the strangers.Siobhan Sweeny was flustered. She never let anyone get to her, had never known what love was. As for making out, she had been too disgusted with the creeps who kept climbing into her bed when her ma was out, dead drunk, to want to chance it with a boy of her age. Fighting her mother’s suitors off ever since she had blossomed into a curvy young woman, with her long, dark hair and flashing green eyes, had made her curl her lips in disdain when her friends at school drooled over boys. Having seen and heard her Ma in bed with some of her men friends, Siobhan thought it looked and sounded gross.But the sight of the tall, broad man, older than her by a few years, in his twenties certainly, was making her behave in a way she had never reacted. When Rudolph had crashed onto her body, she had felt somet
Again, thought Claude, his eyes misting over, his father had said that before. What had he meant?Claude shut his eyes and tilted his head to heaven as his father growled on,“We need to find the leak. Get Paddy on it, boy.”The call ended.The second Delano son lowered his head, his shoulders slumping. A quiet desperation engulfed him. Nothing he ever did would come up to his father’s high standards, ever…Unlike Louis. Or Rudy, who was appreciated by Lucien Delano. And of course, Piers, the man who ran the mob with an iron hand, now. But he, Claude…? The big man sighed and lowered his head.If he did not know better, he thought bitterly, an unusually cynical smile touching his firm lips, he would ask himself if he was really a Delano. But his looks, mirroring his brothers and sisters, put that doubt to rest. And of course, he thought, his heart clenching, his Mumma would never… He wanted nothing more than to call his Mumma, to listen to her soothing voice. He felt he had f*cked
he hospital room was still, quiet except for the soft hum of the machines and the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor. Pale morning light filtered through the half-drawn blinds, laying stripes of warmth across the woman's motionless form.Serena’s eyelids fluttered once, then again, longer this time, as if something deep inside her was stirring. The faintest crease formed on her brow. Her lips parted slightly, dry and cracked, but trying to shape a breath, a word, a question she didn’t yet remember.Inside her, awareness moved like a tide returning. First came the sound—the sterile buzz of the hospital, the faint echo of footsteps down the corridor, the steady pulse of her own heartbeat in her ears. Then the weight of her body registered, like waking from a long and heavy dream. Her fingers twitched, a subtle, nearly invisible movement.She didn’t open her eyes yet, but the world was no longer completely dark. Shapes floated behind her eyelids, shadows of memory, fragments of voices
Rudy spun around. A slight creaking sound alerted him. Dusk had fallen, and there was little light in the narrow ley. He stood, listening carefully, tuned to the sound of the night. A creak of a window, long past repair. The sigh of the wind as it shifted down the desolate alley.And…Something was off; he thought his senses heightened, aware of danger.The muscular young man began to move, stealthily, like a shadow, as he closed in on the sound. His men had dispersed, and he had been returning too, for Piers' message had come.“O’Grady and St Just heading your way. Come back. Still no sign of Hila.”Clipped. Short.Accordingly, he had indicated that the men with Rudy should turn round and go back the way they had come; but something made Rudy hesitate.O’Grady had turned the corner. He raised his hand in silence, signalling that he was waiting for Rudy to join him. The tall, lean figure of St Just appeared behind him. The brothers had each other's backs, almost thinking in tandem, to