Page 55 of Nolan (The Doherty Mafia)
So the safest assumption to make was that everyone knew Amelia was Aldo’s child. His only biological heir.
“We don’t have to do this,” I said, before we left my apartment.
Amelia looked nervous. Way more nervous than she had looked the first time she met my family. I was aware that she’d spoken with my father too. He seemed to have taken a shining towards her back when they first met, but that could have all changed by now. Especially since he would have found out she’d been spying on us the whole time.
“You have to do this, right? This is your family. And if I…if you want me to be a part of your life, then I have to do it too. I have to face them,” she said bravely.
Maybe she just couldn’t picture what was coming for her. She never before had to face the firing squad that was my family.
We arrived at the house. Thankfully, Reese and Killian were there at the door to greet us. I sensed Reese felt protective of Amelia, knowing she was her little sister. But not even Reese, the family favorite, could have defended Amelia from the barrage of accusations that were about to come at her.
Our father wouldn’t look so kindly on a girl who’d acted as Aldo’s spy and was also his daughter.
Reese led Amelia into the house with an arm around her, talking to her in whispers. I stood with Killian at the door.
“You ready for this?” he asked, thumping my shoulder encouragingly. He clearly knew what was to come.
I didn’t know how to answer that question because I didn’t know what to expect. Whatever my family would to me, I knew I deserved. I’d been self-absorbed, I’d been broody for too long. But if they were going to attack Amelia, I wasn’t going to stand by and watch it in silence. I had every intention of defending my woman. I was willing to walk out on my family if I had to.
“Yeah, ready for anything,” I replied, but it was also a warning.
In our father’s office where he had invited all of us to meet, all the women were absent. They were usually not invited to these meetings because they weren’t directly involved with the decisions or the family business. But it seemed like Reese was especially left out of the meeting because our father didn’t want things to get overly emotional with her around. Killian may have already warned him that his wife and Amelia had formed a quick and special bond.
Amelia stood close to me while we both stood in the middle of the room. Everyone else had formed a circle around us—almost like they expected us to escape and they wanted to block it.
“So you are Aldo’s daughter,” our father began, fixing a deep threatening stare on her.
My first instinct was to block his view of her but I didn’t make a move. Not yet.
Amelia nodded. “I just found out that I am. I didn’t know about it until Reese and I made the connection yesterday.”
Dad made a grunting sound and sat back in his chair.
“But you have also been working as a mole for him. Infiltrating our family for information by…sleeping with my son.”
At this point his eyes moved to me and then swung back to Amelia again. So he did blame me for this. Just like I’d expected.
Amelia shifted from one foot to the other nervously.
“I didn’t have all the facts. I didn’t know what I was doing. I thought I was doing the right thing…and I…I wanted to sleep with Nolan. It wasn’t an act.”
She looked at me helplessly and I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“If you called us here so you could chuck accusations at us and burn her at the stake, then we’re outta here.” I grabbed Amelia’s arm, pulling her to the door.
Surprisingly, none of my brothers stood in my way.
“Go if you have to, Nolan, but I’m just trying to have a conversation here. I’m just looking for the facts so that we’re all clear on it. Do you understand what I’m saying, son?”
He stood up and came towards us. Amelia and I stood close to the door. I gripped her arm hard, but she didn’t pull away. She wanted me to hold her like that—like I’d always stop her from slipping away.
Dad stopped in front of us, staring at Amelia now.
“But you didn’t give him anything. You didn’t warn him of our plan.”
Slowly, she shook her head.
“I wasn’t going to betray Nolan. I’ll always be loyal to him.”
“Because you’re in love with him?” This time a smile curled on his lips. I felt the pressure drop from my shoulders.
Amelia nodded. He turned to me again.
“You want her?”
I nodded.
He had no idea how much I wanted her.
“Then you can have her. We start with a clean slate. For her and for you,” he said. Then he clamped his hands on my shoulders and shook me lightly.
