He had heard all the tales about his daughters. Declan had given him the gossip, so he wouldn’t hear it from strangers. He had been shocked but, more than anything, he had been so hurt. That he had unknowingly harboured such poisonous vipers, such vacuous females, had really shown him the truth of his life. Carmel, God love her, had trusted them implicitly. She was even more outraged than he was about their exploits.
Everyone around him had known about his daughters, and the lifestyle they had chosen to pursue, while he was left in the dark. It was the worst kind of betrayal for a man like him who prided himself on never being taken unawares. He had no option but to face it, hold his head up, and front it out.
But if anyone ever had the nerve to say anything to his face, he would kill them without a second’s fucking thought. He was going to find out who the father of his grandchild was, and the names of every single man who had taken his daughters to bed behind his back. Patrick’s reputation was everything to him; it was something he had to fight for, and he would do exactly that.
Chapter Thirty-Five
‘Listen, Pat, this has all got to stop, mate. You are making a fucking fool of yourself.’
Michael Flynn was asking for trouble, but he had no choice. Patrick was out of control, he seemed to have completely disconnected from reality. He had never seen anything like it in his life.
Declan stood watching him. Michael knew that he had not really believed that he would actually say anything to Patrick, even though they had planned this together. Patrick wasn’t a man who encouraged any kind of criticism about himself, in fact he had a serious problem dealing with it. But something had to be done, and Michael was the only person with the balls to do it.
Patrick looked at Michael. The contempt in his voice was evident. It was not something he had ever thought he would hear directed at him, let alone from young Michael.
‘I don’t give a flying fuck what you might think, Michael. You need to remember that you work for me, mate, not the other way around.’
Michael steadied his voice, aware that he had to try and defuse the situation. But, by the same token, this had to be sorted, things had to be said. ‘And you need to remember who you are, Patrick. If you have any brains you will stop this fucking witch hunt. Think about it. If your daughter actually knew who had knocked her up, don’t you think she might have fucking mentioned it by now? I really do understand how you’re feeling, but you are making a laughing stock of yourself. It’s a joke, Pat. You’re not the only man whose daughter is having a baby on her own. It’s the eighties, it isn’t even a fucking big deal these days.’
Patrick recognised that, on one level, Michael was speaking the truth. He was chasing after nothing. But he just couldn’t stop himself. He hated that his daughter had let herself down so much and that, at the same time, she had let him down, shamed him in the worst way possible. He blamed Carmel. She was a fucking disgrace, she had failed him miserably. She was another trollop, another user. It was a family trait, by all accounts, and his daughters had not inherited it from him. That’s if they were his daughters, of course. He was wondering about that now. He couldn’t eat or sleep. His whole life was consumed with thinking about his daughters, the lives they had led, and his complete ignorance of it all. He couldn’t believe that he had been so na?ve. He had always told his girls how lovely they were, how beautiful they were; he had treated them like princesses, totally convinced of their goodness. He had assumed they understood the importance of decency, had cherished their virginity, known the value of self-respect. But that had been a complete fucking myth on his part. They had apparently lain down for anyone who gave them the time of day. He had never once even suspected them of anything untoward. Now he could only wonder what else he had missed, what else had been going on beneath his nose. Every day he was finding it harder to believe they were his flesh and blood.