Redemption (Cavan Gang #2) by Laylah Roberts

clothes on his back. He arrived filled with hope for the future. Things had been bad back in Ireland, but he was looking for a new start. He was willing to work hard to earn a living, but things didn’t work out as he’d planned. He could barely keep a roof over his head.
    “So he turned to more illegal means to make money. It sounds bad, but he wasn’t really a bad man. Back then, he was involved mainly in illegal gambling. And he gave a lot of immigrants jobs, not just Irish immigrants. People who were desperate. I remember how much people liked him, you know?”
    “You loved him.”
    “Yeah, I did. He died when I was ten. After that, things changed.”
    “Your father took over?”
    “He wasn’t like my grandfather. He was determined to make the Cavans the biggest and most powerful gang in Texas. He might have succeeded if he hadn’t been killed in a car accident. He wasn’t even fifty.”
    “So you took over.”
    “I never wanted to. I never wanted this life. But the bastard made me promise.”
    And he didn’t go back on his word. It was something his grandfather had always told him. A man is only as good as his word.
    “How did he get you to take over?”
    “When I was seventeen, I had plans to go to college, to do something with my life. I wanted nothing to do with the gang. There were some problems with the Seven Sinners. They were a new gang who didn’t respect boundaries. They were pushing shit on our territory. My friends overheard some of my father’s men talking and they decided they’d help.”
    “What? Were they crazy?”
    “Naive. It was Aedan, Dylan, and Lucas.”
    “What happened?”
    “They found two young members of the Seven Sinners selling drugs on our territory. They even managed to scare them off, remarkably. It gave them an inflated sense of indestructibility. They went back the next night. Only, this time, the Seven Sinners were armed and Lucas was shot. I had followed them to drag them back home. He died in my arms.”
    “Oh, Rogan. I’m so sorry.”
    “I told Dylan and Aedan to leave. I didn’t want them involved in the messy aftermath, and it was messy. My father kept them out of it all.”
    “In return for your promise to take over the gang.”
    “Yes.”
    “That asshole.”
    He smiled at the fierceness in her voice.
    “Yeah, he was. But he did his best to find the shooter. Unfortunately, the Seven Sinners got him out of town quickly. When they wouldn’t produce the shooter, my father decided to destroy them. I have no doubt he used the shooting as an excuse. He must have been working on a way to get rid of them. He set up an alliance with the Russians and the Vipers. Within a year, the Seven Sinners were gone.”
    She frowned. “But now they’re back.”
    “I’ve been trying to find Lucas’s killer. I thought, if I let them have a bit of territory, I could flush him out.”
    “Oh, Rogan.”
    She hugged him tight. “I get it and I’m really sorry about your friend.”
    He held her, letting her soothe some of his pain. Eventually, she fell asleep in his arms and he held on, wondering what he’d done to deserve this.
    To deserve her.

Chapter Six
     
    “Hi, what can I get for you?” Miller stared down at the worn-looking man studying the menu. He might have been handsome if not for his scowl.
    “Just coffee. Black.”
    “No problem. Be right back.”
    Something about him set off her spidey senses, but she couldn’t figure it out. As she turned away, she spotted Cillian gesturing at her.
    She preferred having Colm watching her, but Rogan had decided Sofia was too much of a distraction for the other man. She’d argued with him, but this was one area he wouldn’t compromise on, damn him.
    “What?” she asked.
    “The guy you just took an order from? He’s a cop.”
    “Really?” Maybe that’s what her senses had been telling her.
    “Yeah. And he’s been trying to get something on Rogan for months. So stay away from him.”
    “I’m getting him