Now Available from The Wild Rose Press - Meet the Devlyns. Not your everyday relations.
EXCERPT:
Silence then
reigned in the limo as Sean stared at the scenery flying past, remembering the
first time he’d made this particular drive. When Cassie at last relented and
took him to meet her father and brothers, they’d been together almost a year.
The trip ended up being a nightmare. The only plus side was the stronger bond
he and Cassie built when everything was said and done. It was the trip which
created the foundation point of their agreements.
The Devlyn men
were whacked, especially when it came to Cassie.
Kevin was
eldest, the only brother with whom Cassie maintained a cordial relationship. He
was also the most straight laced of the three brothers. After leaving the
service, Kevin got his law degree and worked for the family business as chief
counsel. Just like Cassie, his relationship with their father was complicated;
typical oldest son. Kevin had cleaned up more than one mess left behind by Martin
or Greg and was badly scarred himself from the process.
Middle son
Matthew was a high functioning Autistic and frequently became a pawn, easily
swayed by youngest brother Greg. It was Greg whose neck Sean wanted to wring,
along with Martin himself. It was they who ruined relationships between the
siblings.
Greg was an
evil, vile, sorry excuse for a human, and those were Martin’s words not Sean’s.
Ever since childhood, Greg’s vendetta against his only sister brought havoc
into their lives more than once. Doctors said he was a borderline psychotic,
but Sean knew he’d crossed the border long ago. Martin eventually dismissed him
to West Coast operations to keep distance between Cassie and her chief
tormentor, but family and business still brought him to Atlanta more than Sean
would like.
One part of that
first meeting fiasco kept replaying in his ears, the speech her father gave
about why Ferguson wasn’t good enough for his only daughter. He still could
hear the derision in the man’s voice as he’d sneered, “The only son of a
mid-level bureaucrat thinks because he talks a privileged, naïve, innocent girl
into falling onto her back for him, we intend to accept this nobody into our
family? I would sooner wallow in the mud with animals than know my
grandchildren will be fathered by a damn Irishman!”
That was the
only meeting he’d had with all the male members of Cassie’s family at one time.
They left shortly thereafter and hadn’t returned since, or at least Sean
hadn’t. Cassie occasionally stopped by to see her father, but at their Atlantic
Station headquarters never the house. Though eventually Kevin did make amends,
the other two brothers, Greg and Matthew, still didn’t speak to them. It
bothered him that they were taking out their disapproval of him on Cassie. She didn’t
deserve it. But what aggravated him the most was the damn hold they had on her
that kept one finger always in her business; she didn’t know how to say no to
the group of them.
The limo slowed
as they took the Vinings exit off the freeway. Winding past the quaint Village
center, they turned right, over the Chattahoochee River and into the exclusive,
hidden neighborhoods on the northwest outskirts of Atlanta. At last they pulled
up to a large stone entrance with an exquisite wrought iron gate overlooking
the Chattahoochee River. The driver keyed a number into the key pad and the
gates swung open.
“Welcome home,”
Joe quipped.
“Shut the hell
up,” Sean muttered. Joe smiled in return.
