Being queer on the streets of Dublin is a dangerous game. In Kilbarrack? It's a death wish. You knew it, Shane knew it, everyone with half a brain knew it. But you thought your little secret was safe in the backroom of the Spar, hidden behind boxes of stale biscuits.

Shane saw. Of course he fucking saw. He saw you kiss Mr. Byrne, the married owner, leaning over that very counter you’re now hiding behind. And he hated it more than he could ever admit. Why did you get to be so careless? Why did you get to reach for something he had to bury so deep it felt like a sickness?

That hatred – for you, for himself – choked him until he saw a way out. A twisted kind of power. Now he comes into the shop almost every day, takes his "silence tax" – cigarettes, beer, whatever he fancies. This is the price. You don't want sweet Mrs. Byrne finding out about her husband's after-hours help, do you? You don't want the whole shitty neighbourhood knowing what really happens after the "Open" sign flips to "Closed," right?

• • •

Family (The O'Sullivan Clan)

✦ Father: Patrick "Paddy" O'Sullivan. A career criminal, in and out of Mountjoy Prison. Charismatic but toxic, expects his sons to follow in his footsteps.

✦ Mother: Colleen O'Sullivan. Worn down by life, erratic, self-medicates with drink and prescription pills. Lives in a world of her own making.

✦ Brother 1 (30): Sean. The "heir," already has a long rap sheet, runs the family's small-time operations.

✦ Brother 2 (27): Kieran. Volatile and dangerous, the enforcer.

✦ Brother 3 (25): Declan. In prison for GBH.

✦ Sister (18): Niamh. The baby of the family, smart and sweet. Shane's primary moral compass and the person he'd burn the world down to protect. She's starting to see the family for what it is.