Chapter 1
Killian
The low hum of conversation hit me before I even stepped into the room, a blur of voices and clinking glasses that belonged to my father’s world. A world I will never be fully comfortable in.
I don’t do parties, I do business. But this wasn’t just any party; it was my father’s, a show of power, the usual suspects in suits and silk. Aidan, my brother, flashes me a quick grin from across the room and excuses himself from a group of the said suits and silk to greet me.
The closer Aidan got to me, the heavier my shoulders felt. I haven’t been home for more than a few days in the last year. Networking as father calls it, just another mission that kept me busy enough to not act on how much I loathed his business that lingered underneath the numerous construction projects ran by Donoghue Enterprises. Father ensured that the Family was well versed in all underground business activities, and that the said activities were not limited to one city or even country.
“Didn’t know you’d be back tonight. Thought you had some business to handle.” Aidan’s tone was casual, but there was something sharp about the way he said it. “Or... should I have expected it? Her homecoming would naturally extend your stays here, after all” Aidan gives me another grin whilst giving me an enthusiastic slap on the shoulder.
He knew I was kept in the dark before I spoke, I could see it in the glint in his eyes. “Aidan, it’s been a long three weeks, and I don’t have a drop of alcohol in my system to even comprehend, nor entertain, what you’re talking about. Tomas made it very clear that father expected all members of the family to be here tonight, you know this.”
Aidan has always been the trickster in the family. His excitement of knowing something I obviously was not briefed on was palpable. “Killian” Aidan tsked, “Have you not heard? Despite that this party is for father’s entertainment; the little dove has returned from Rome, a true reason for celebration.”
As if Aidan’s words opened a portal, there she appeared in my line of sight, Sofia fucking Reilly.Her presence hit me like a storm, the way she seemed to glide across the room with the kind of poise that made the rest of the guests pale in comparison. I hadn’t known she would be here; I hadn’t seen her nor spoke to her for years either. Five years to be exact.
She was wearing a red dress that looked as if it was sculpted around her. She was speaking to some of the family’s more trusted associates, and I had a complete view of her side profile. Her dark hair was longer, falling down her back in curls but from one glimpse I knew her body has blossomed from the small eighteen-year-old she was when she left.A feeling of something unfinished, something not quite said washed over me, but I returned my gaze back to Aidan.
“You’re telling me that she’s back?” I tried to keep my voice even, not wanting to give Aidan the satisfaction, though something inside me twisted. She’d been the one constant in my life as a child and a young adult, but then she’d disappeared five years ago. To Rome for her studies, or so they said.
My brother chuckled softly beside me, pulling me from my thoughts, he casually shrugged “Yeah, pretty much, and my has the little dove grown into a beautiful swan.”
My stomach tightened at Aidan’s honesty, because its true to even a blind man – she is absolutely fucking stunning. I forced myself to keep my expression neutral. I expected a lot of things tonight, to be bored out of my mind, to listen to another one of my father’s never ending speeches on the powers of the Family and the importance of keeping it strong. I expected a few aunts to try and persuade me to date their daughter, niece or even sister. I expected Aidan to give me a hard time for being away, and then finally disappearing to my room for the night.
I certainly did not expect this, her. But here she was, standing in the middle of the storm, just as dangerous as the last time I’d seen her.
Just like always.
Aidan got pulled away before I could answer him with actual words, one of father’s men asking for something, probably about cigars, whisky or some other nonsense someone needed to feel important.
That left me standing there with a drink I hadn’t poured, I’m not even sure when Aidan gave it to me, and a memory I hadn’t asked to relive. My entire being was focused in on her, my body automatically turned to her, my eyes never straying too far… my mind was throwing flashbacks at me which I had no right to recall.
Sofia was still talking, or listening rather, to Rían Kelleher, our European liaison, so to speak, and a few others I recognised from the European side of our business. She didn’t look uncomfortable, but she didn’t look thrilled, either. She was playing the part, of course, she was, this was what we were taught to do.
I crossed the room without thinking, glass in hand, like it was some kind of shield. She didn’t see me at first, or maybe she did and chose not to react. She had always been good at that, at giving people just enough and keeping her true self for a very select few, if any.
“Didn’t think you remembered how to find your way home,” I said.
Her head turned slowly, and for a second, just a blink, something flickered across her face. Not shock. Not surprise. Something deeper. Then it was gone — replaced by a small, sharp smile.
“Killian Donoghue,” she said like it was a joke, or a threat, I wasn’t sure which. “From what I hear I could say the same for you.” She tilted her head, studying me. “You haven’t changed.”
“I’d argue you have.” That earned me a small laugh. A quiet, unamused one.
“Rome will do that to a girl,” she said, sipping from her glass. Red wine, of course. My gaze stayed lazer focused on her, trying to see whether any hidden reaction towards me would sparkle in those deep dark brown eyes, or if her voice would hitch an octave higher but none of it came. I seemingly did not have the same reaction on her which she had on me, or we were both just so well trained in keeping our masks on.
“Killian, it’s good to see you. I heard you have been branching out the business, but I have not seen much of you in Europe.” Rían Kelleher spoke as he shook my hand and pulling my gaze from Sofia. “Rían, yes, I have been scoping new landscapes to broaden Donoghue Enterprises’ horizons. My father has been satisfied with Europe’s projections, unless you think it’s necessary I come pay a visit?”Rían’s expression dimmed at my question, and he shook his head “No, no certainly not. The only change in Europe is the loss of Ms Reilly over here. If you will excuse me, it seems I am needed by your brother.” I wonder if Aidan truly needed him or just planned this all along.
“How long are you back for?” I asked, turning to Sofia, trying to keep it casual. Trying to keep my eyes from tracing the way the dress hugged her like it had a vendetta against my focus.
Her gaze didn’t flinch “I’m not sure yet. It depends.”
“On?”
Her smile grew dangerous now “On whether home still feels like home.” I hated that I understood that.
I looked over her shoulder at Tomas, who was deep in conversation with my father. Sofia followed my gaze, then turned back to me with that same unreadable look. “Some things never change,” she murmured.
“No,” I said, watching her closely, “but some things come back different.”
Another pause. Another flicker of something behind her eyes — maybe recognition, maybe warning. “Careful, Killian,” she said, voice like velvet, “you sound like you missed me.” And just like that, she was walking away.
And just like that, I realized maybe I had missed her. She was different but still the same all in one and I realised I’ve been craving that familiar presence ever since I heard about her departure to Rome.
I stood there, drink untouched, watching her vanish into the crowd like a phantom slipping through smoke. She looked like Elena now, I thought. Not in the obvious way, not physically, but in the way she held herself. In the quiet steel behind her smile.
Sofia Reilly wasn’t born into this life, like Aidan and I, but Tomas had made sure it ran through her veins all the same.
Tomas Reilly, my father’s second in command, known as ’The Hound’ for his fierce loyalty but dangerous nature. His presence alone could make grown men fold. Fierce, loyal, unshakable. And yet, of all the monsters I’d grown up around, Tomas had always been the one I respected the most. Maybe it was the way he refused to play the game like the rest of them did or maybe it was what he did the day he brought Sofia home.
Elena, his wife, couldn’t have children. Everyone knew it though no one dared speak about it. Most men in Tomas’ position would’ve done what tradition expected: taken a mistress, claimed an heir. But Tomas wasn’t most men. He stayed with Elena. No affairs. No secrets.
Except one.
Sofia’s mother had worked in one of the family’s brothels. I was too young to know the details at the time, only that she died not long after giving birth. And Tomas, he didn’t turn a blind eye. He didn’t let the child vanish into the system like so many others would have allowed. He took her. Gave her to Elena. Gave her a name. A home. A place in the family and, eventually, a place in my life. Sofia wasn’t born a Reilly, but she was forged into one. And now she was back, older, sharper and even more beautiful than I remember. Wearing the mask of someone who knew how to play the game.
As if I didn’t feel tortured enough, a red silk dress on the dancefloor caught my attention, being twirled by Rían Keller no less. It seems the two became friends whilst Sofia was in Rome, maybe even more than friends by the look he’s giving her.
I downed the whiskey in my glass in one go.
Rían spun her again, and she laughed, open, easy, the sound like honey. I remember that sweet laugh when we were still young. She looked nothing like the girl I used to know and exactly like the kind of woman men lost wars over.
And there he was, eating it up. His hand lingered on her waist. His eyes raked down her neck like he had the right. Like she was his to touch, to admire.
Suddenly the music faltered, and a gasp ripped through the crowd near the terrace doors. On the ground lied Colm O’Hara, lifeless.The only good thing that can come from this is that Sofia’s dance with Rían was cut short.
