Breath of Deceit Read online

  Breath of Deceit

  Dublin Devils 1

  Selena Laurence

  Golden Age Press

  Books by Selena Laurence

  The Lush Rockstar Series

  A Lush Betrayal (Lush 1)

  Loving a Lush (Lush 2)

  Lowdown and Lush (Lush 3)

  A Lush Reunion (Lush 4)

  The Rhapsody Rockstar Series

  A Lush Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novel)

  Racing to Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novel)

  Dreaming of Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novella)

  Addicted to Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novel)

  The Powerplay Series

  Prince of the Press (A Powerplay Novella)

  The Kingmaker (A Powerplay Novel)

  POTUS (A Powerplay Novel)

  SCOTUS (A Powerplay Novel)

  The Dark Horse (A Powerplay Novella)

  The California Cowboys Series

  Cade’s Loss (California Cowboys One)

  Vaughn’s Pride (California Cowboys Two)

  Ty’s Heart (California Cowboys Three)

  Standalones

  The Heir: A Standalone Greek Billionaire Romance

  Pax (Lush the Next Gen)

  The Czar: A Standalone Hockey Billionaire Romance

  The Hiding From Love Series

  Falling for Trouble

  Secrets in a Kiss

  Concealed by a Kiss

  Playing with Fire

  Copyright © 2018 by Selena Laurence

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  About Breath of Deceit

  Praise For Selena Laurence

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Excerpt from Brush of Despair (Dublin Devils 2)

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  About Breath of Deceit

  "This book has it all—turn the page suspense, a story of the bond between brothers, betrayals, secrets, and romance. " — Sandra Owens, Author of the bestselling K2 Team and Aces & Eights series.

  Cian MacFarlane is the oldest son of Chicago's reigning crime family. Now the defacto boss of the organization after his father's retirement, Cian is feared by his enemies and revered by his brothers. But what if Cian isn't all he seems to be? What if his end game isn't to maintain his father's empire but to topple it? As the MacFarlanes broker a deal with the owner of the world's largest dark web site, Cian brokers a deal with the FBI. But when he meets Lila Rodriguez, a genius hacker working with the dark web, his feelings for her only make life more complex.

  Determined to save his brothers, even if it means sacrificing himself, Cian lives moment to moment in a deadly underworld of cybercrime, drug deals, federal agents, and a vengeful parent who won't hesitate to remind his oldest son what it means to be a MacFarlane. Through it all, Cian fights for his brothers to make it out of of Chicagoland crime. But will the pieces fall into place before his breath of deceit is discovered?

  Praise For Selena Laurence

  "Laurence’s tightly woven story is a superb mix of sexual and political tension that’s certain to please fans of both." — Publisher's Weekly review of The Kingmaker

  "Delicious and Intriguing." — Lauren Blakely, NYT Bestselling Author on A Lush Betrayal

  “Selena Laurence has the ability to bring to life complex characters you instantly start rooting for from page one. Passion, humor, and a sexy hero all make for one read you don’t want to miss.” — Ilsa Madden-Mills, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author on Playing With Fire

  "I totally fell in love with Nico and Tess’s story." — Cindi Madden, USA TODAY Bestselling Author on The Heir

  "The plot is deftly written and readers will be totally engrossed in the story" — InD'Tale Magazine review of A Lush Betrayal

  “Selena Laurence delivers on the promise of heat, and love with her sexy romances!” — Nana Malone, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  "And in the end you're completely alone with it all."

  Tony Soprano

  Chapter 1

  Cian turned the corner and glanced behind him, making sure no one was on his tail as he started down the darkened alleyway. One small light shone over the dirty metal door at the back of Banshee, the nightclub he and his brother Connor owned. He passed under the illumination quickly, his shoulders tense beneath the supple leather of his expensive jacket. Five steps farther, he was enveloped in darkness again when a small flame flashed three feet in front of him.

  “Fuck,” he hissed as he ground to a halt, the odor of garbage shifting in the air around him. “A little warning next time if you don't mind.”

  The lighter flickered to life again as a sharp-featured face interrupted by shadows peered back at him.

  “Lucky I’m not one of the Vasquez boys,” the owner of the face said with a sneer in his voice. “You might be facedown in all this muck by now.”

  “If you were one of the Vasquez boys,” Cian snapped back, “you’d be the one facedown in the muck right now. With a bullet in your head.”

  The man’s eyes went cold, disdain slithering over his features. Cian was used to it, the fear mixed with disgust that people turned on him if they knew who he was. Unlike his brother Liam, Cian could move around in the outside world without being pegged for what he was, but it didn’t really matter because sooner or later everyone found out his name, and then he might as well have been sporting a shaved head with tattoos on his scalp and an orange jumpsuit. No one normal and decent wanted to know Cian MacFarlane.

  “Just get to it, MacFarlane.” The man leaned back against the brick wall and flicked the lighter again as he lit a cigarette and blew the smoke out in a whoosh, mere inches from Cian’s face.

  “Where’s Don?” Cian asked, refusing to be rushed even though he was risking his own life standing around in the filthy alley with this guy.

  “He has other things to work on. You have something for me or not?”

  Cian reached out, snatching the cigarette from the man’s fingertips and flicking it onto the ground. “That shit’ll kill you,” he said as the man shoved off the wall and snarled at him.

  Holding up both hands in a “no harm done” gesture, Cian grinned at his nemesis. “Just trying to help you live a long life.”

  The man’s eyes narrowed. “Thanks for your concern. Now, I have places to be. You got something for me or not?”

  Cian’s grin fell away as he turned the last twelve hours over in his mind. Did he have something for Bruce Adams, federal agent? Yeah, he damn well did. But he never enjoyed giving it up.

  A hot wind shot through the alley, and both men immediately fell silent, turning to look through the gloom toward the entrance to the narrow walkway. Once they were satisfied they were still alone, Cian began to speak.

  “Vasquez is pushing back against the Juarez cartel. He wants to cut a new deal with a bigger percentage for him.”

  Bruce spat on the asphalt ne
xt to Cian’s feet, and Cian had to count to ten to keep from smashing the man’s head into the brick wall behind him.

  “And what’s the cartel’s response to that?” Bruce asked, his expression making it clear he already knew the answer.

  “They’re less than interested in the proposal, seeing as it gains them nothing.”

  “And is a war imminent?”

  Cian’s gaze checked to the end of the alley as a group of drunk twenty-somethings stumped past.

  “I don’t think so, but Vasquez is on a bender, pushing boundaries in all directions. It’s bound to cause fractures within his own house. He’s getting greedy and sloppy in the process.”

  “I want a play-by-play of what he communicates to the cartel,” Bruce demanded.

  “You’ll get what I give you.” Cian’s voice was cold as an arctic night.

  “Do you want to keep your brothers out of lockup or not?” Bruce asked, that lip curling once again.

  Cian moved fast, his arm pinning the fed against the wall by the throat. He nudged his knee between Bruce’s legs, the threat to cock and balls clear as the guy gasped for air from his rapidly bruising trachea.

  “Do you want to keep your life?” Cian growled. “You’ll get what I give you. And not one iota more. You make it work or don’t, that’s not my problem, but either way, my brothers aren’t part of the discussion. Are we clear?”

  Bruce squirmed, but Cian could tell it was an attempt at a nod of affirmation. Cian slowly released him, waiting for the agent to draw down, but his hands went straight to the collar of his button-up shirt, loosening his tie as he coughed and struggled to catch the breath Cian had just squeezed out of him.

  “You won’t fucking get away with this, MacFarlane,” he croaked.

  Cian brushed off the front of his five-hundred-dollar dress shirt. “Watch me,” he said before flashing a smile and silently making his way back up the alley.

  Lila Rodriguez wondered if her new job was going to be more trouble than the six-figure salary was worth. As the new systems coordinator for Rogue, she knew she’d be expected to find ways—mostly illegal—to advertise and sell items on the dark web. She’d been doing that for years and had no problem with it, but now her boss had gone and begun discussions with Chicago’s notorious Dublin Devils, otherwise known as the Irish mob in the Upper Midwest. Of all the things she’d figured out how to sell on the internet, drugs had never been one of them, save the occasional ounce or two of weed. But the MacFarlanes, the family who ran the Devils, were proposing Rogue sell large quantities of opioids and heroin—online, shipped via United States Postal Service. It was like the whole damn world had lost its mind.

  “Vacuum packed and submersed in lavender bath salts,” her boss, Xavier Rossi, said as his eyes darted between her and his computer screen.

  “You really think that’s going to be enough? You do realize drug dogs smell in parts per million?”

  Xavier shifted in his big office chair. He wasn’t terrible looking but was dripping with awkward boy-nerd-computer-genius vibes—nervous, uncomfortable, and taciturn. The only good thing was he rarely approached her because he hated talking to anyone. Unless business required, he left her well enough alone, and she was fine with that.

  “Actually it’s per billion,” he corrected. She rolled her eyes internally. “The vacuum packing alone is probably enough, but the oil is another blocker, and the lavender odor won’t hurt either. They only bring in the dogs if the inspectors suspect something. MacFarlane’s people have researched it. They’ll pack it up nice and tight. It’ll look like any other shipment of bath shit. Lavender Love is the name of the company. It’ll wash our money at the same time. A win-win.”

  Lila shifted from one leg to the other, the back of her neck tingling with a warning that this was a very bad idea. Lila was a risk-taker, but a thoughtful one. She liked a challenge, but not being stupid. She was a lot like her father that way.

  “I still don’t like it. That’s major prison time. One postal machine breaks open a box and USPS is looking through it, and then we’re screwed.”

  “Again,” Xavier said, impatience winding its way through his voice, “all they’ll see is the bath shit.”

  “Okay, if you say so. I’ll start setting it up. I’ll have to put a system on that verifies their IP before it allows them onto the page.”

  “I want a basic-level background check on any customers too,” Xavier said. “If they don’t want to provide it, then we won’t sell to them.”

  She nodded. “On it, then.”

  His gaze went back to his screen. “I’m figuring out the final agreement with MacFarlane, but you need to be point on the project. You’ll be working with Finn MacFarlane on the technical details, but the head of the family, Cian, wants to meet with you too.” He clicked something on his keyboard. “I just sent you his info. He’s expecting to hear from you this afternoon.”

  Shit. Was he serious? The guy was a mobster. She’d always worked with shady people, she was a hacker at the core after all, but it had always been online. And shady computer geeks were a far cry from an honest-to-God mobster.

  “Uh, what do you mean, be point?”

  “Sit down with him, hammer out all the details about the ordering, shipping, packaging, payments, offshore accounts. Make sure the entire process is foolproof. Then you can present it to the rest of us.”

  Lila swallowed. “I’m not sure if I’m the best—”

  Xavier waved his hand dismissively. “I hired you because you’re the best. You’ll figure it out, and the MacFarlanes are pros. Between you and them, it’ll all be fine.”

  Fuckity fuck fuck, she thought as she nodded tightly and slouched out of his office. “Jesus,” she muttered to herself. Six figures definitely wasn’t enough for this. But she couldn’t resign now. It would look like she was a security risk at best, and an undercover fed at worst. The idea of being hunted down by the MacFarlanes didn’t really work with her long-range plan to live to the age of ninety-eight. Her hand shook as she picked up her phone off her desk and looked at the text Xavier had just sent.

  You really screwed yourself this time, Lila, that little voice inside her head said. Yeah, her penchant for flipping off the law, even if somewhat thoughtfully, might have finally gotten her in too deep. Her chest burned a little with anxiety as she tapped the number and pulled up a message box.

  This is Lila from Rogue. I’ve been told to contact you.

  The answer came almost immediately, and Lila couldn’t help the sinking feeling that cascaded through her as she held the phone and read the screen.

  Hi, Lila from Rogue. Let’s meet asap. What’s your schedule this afternoon?

  Shit. Xavier wasn’t kidding. They wanted to get this rolling immediately.

  I can be somewhere in an hour.

  Good. Meet me at this address…

  She read the address, then quickly clicked on it to bring up Google Maps. Her breath rushed out in relief as she saw it was a very innocuous Starbucks in the trendy Wicker Park neighborhood.

  Ok. See you at two.

  She locked the phone and put it away, wondering what kind of a mobster met business associates at the local Starbucks. And also what kind of a twenty-seven-year-old woman spent her days helping sell illegal items on the dark web and her nights worrying that she’d never balance the bad karma from her days.

  Connor MacFarlane jabbed and struck gold, his opponent’s face mask giving way, jaw snapping left as Connor brought his arm back to repeat the motion before his brother Liam could return the favor.

  “Dammit,” Liam groused as he took a quick step to one side to avoid the second jab. “What the hell’s gotten into you today?”

  Connor bounced lightly on the balls of his feet, grinning at his bigger, burlier, and meaner older brother. “Nothin’s different with me, sunshine. You’re just hungover and slow as hell. Maybe you should give the whiskey a rest before you come out to spar.”

  Liam pulled off one glove
, signaling the practice session was over, and Connor sighed, wishing his brother Cian had come along so there’d be someone else to work out with. He was strangely wired and needed to blow off some steam.

  “Whiskey’s never stopped me from landing a solid punch. You’re like the fuckin’ Energizer Bunny. You hitting the product?”

  Connor snorted in disgust. “Please. I might be younger, but I’m not dumber.”

  Liam grunted, whether in agreement or disagreement Connor couldn’t tell and didn’t really care, because at that moment, all the air went out of his lungs as the door to the gym swung open and Jessica O’Neil walked in, her long dark hair swinging out behind her and her fine ass squeezed into a pair of exceptionally tight faded jeans, complete with holes that gave glimpses of her silky skin. The holes weren’t the kind that came with the jeans, but the kind that had worn naturally over time, caused by many washings, and Connor was pleased to recall, his fingers trying to get to certain places under the jeans. In fact, he distinctly remembered causing that hole right beneath Jess’s left ass cheek.

  “Oh hell,” Liam muttered. “Don’t do it,” he warned.

  “Don’t do what?” Connor asked, already pulling off his gloves and face mask, tossing them over the ropes of the sparring ring.

  “Seriously?” Liam asked, spitting water into a bucket on the floor as he leaned over the ropes.