The lower the sun falls, the higher my anticipation and impatience grows. I’m not sure what’s going to happen tonight. Things could go well, things could go dangerously wrong. At this point, it’s honestly a coin toss.

We are heading into enemy territory, and while I have a solid plan, any deviation or surprise could send this mission in a totally different direction. It could send us down a path that none of us want to explore.

“Kace,” Falcon’s voice draws me from the haze in my head and I turn to look over my shoulder. “We’re ready to get this show on the road.” Gone is his jovial laughter and in its place is the face of a man who knows how I’m feeling and just what he’s getting himself and his men into.

He is wary. I know he trusts me and is willing to go out on a limb to fight for our cause, but essentially his focus is to protect the boys under his command, and I know that he will do exactly that. Even if it means leaving me to fight this battle on my own, a sure-fire way to get killed.

I understand, though.

On more than one occasion, I’d had to let someone else suffer in order to get the members of my team to safety. It is what it is. They come first, before anyone or anything and before even myself. Because that’s what a good leader does, and Falcon, he’s one of the damn best.

He crosses his arms over his chest as I move across the room to him. His arms bulge and stretch at the fabric of his T-shirt, accentuating the thick and well-toned biceps that can rival those of men half his age.

Falcon is a force, a sharply trained, experienced, intelligent, deadly force.

And he is on my side, thank fuck.

“Everything packed up?” I ask, brushing my hair back from my face.

He nods. “The cars are packed with supplies, you and your boys…” a throat clears and Falcon pauses to acknowledge Tanner with a polite dip of his chin to which she grins back. “Sorry, you and your team will be traveling in the vehicles. Me and the boys will ride in front and behind. I’ll also send one ahead to check for any potential problems so things run smoothly.”

I clap him on the shoulder with my hand. “Thanks, I’m grateful to have you all at our back.”

I’d given Falcon and his brothers the chance to back out of tonight’s mission, given that if things went wrong, it had the potential to start a war between the Syndicate and Malice MC.

This isn’t their fight, and I didn’t want to bring any danger or pain to Axel’s friends and family, but I think the feeling of just how important this is, not just for us but for the entire fucking country, weighed heavily on everyone.

“All right, let’s get this shit moving,” I say loudly and the room fills with noise as men begin to head for the doors.

A feather light touch on my hand fills my lungs with air and I grasp onto Lily, pulling her around in front of my body. She comes willingly, her hands going to my waist where she grips my black shirt in her fingers as though she’s never going to let me go. I dip my head and place a soft kiss to her lips, nuzzling her nose with mine.

She stays silent, her eyes drifting closed as she inhales deeply. “Please… just be safe,” she whispers, refusing to open her eyes and look up at me. “I don’t… I’m not sure… what else to tell you.”

Lily knows that what we’re about to do involves to the two men who are essentially her half-brothers. She’s scared of what they’re capable of, of the blood that runs through their veins, but I can tell there’s a part of her that’s curious. She wants to know if they’re really like the sadistic sperm donor who gave her life. She wants to know their background, whether they’re tainted with anger and poison like the Syndicate. And I know deep down, as much as she wants to hate them for coming after my team—her friends—there’s a part of her that needs to know why they’re so hell-bent on claiming her as their sister and exacting their revenge.

They don’t know her.

Yet, they’re willing to start an all-out war in order to avenge her death?

It doesn’t make sense.

“Tell me you love me.” I smirk, earning me a small smile.

Finally, she opens her eyes, and I have to hold my breath so I don’t drown in the deep pools shining back at me. They make me weak, but they also bring me strength. Doing right by Lily is the goal, giving her the life I’ve promised I would and offering her a world where she doesn’t have to run anymore. She’s my constant reminder that sometimes blood isn’t thicker than water.

My mother is destroying everything we hold dear, but I won’t let her fucking destroy us.

“Is it going to be like this every time?” she asks. Her question has me raising an eyebrow questioningly. She sighs, tightening her grip on my shirt. “Every time you go on some kind of mission. Will it always be like this? Me freaking out. You acting like you’re not going out to save the world?”

I laugh softly, pressing my lips to hers once more and savoring the taste of her lip gloss. “No… it’ll probably be a lot worse.”

Her dark glare tells me she’s not impressed with my sarcastic tone, and before she can deliver a sharp retort, I slam my mouth down onto hers, enjoying the way her tight body instantly melts softly in my arms.

I pull back and lick my lips, stifling a groan. “I don’t know if it will always be like this, but hearing you talk about our future… fuck me.”

She tip-toes up so her face is almost level with mine and looks me directly in the eye. “Then you better damn well come back. You hear me?”

I smirk, squeezing her waist with my hands. “I hear you.”

With that, she twists on her heel, releasing me and turning her body. Her footsteps as she walks away are sharp and hard. I know she’s forcing herself to leave, not even looking back over her shoulder in case she changes her mind.

Unfortunately, even if she did, there’s nothing that she could say that will stop me from going out there tonight and bringing down total hell around the feet of the Syndicate.

Taking note from Lily, I head for the door and out into the cooling night air. My feet move silently across the ground outside the clubhouse. The outfit I’ve picked out for the night blending with the darkness as I approach the convoy paused at the gates, ready to leave.

The second I’m inside the car, the roar of engines fills the air, the loud drone lifting like music as Axel pulls our vehicle out of the compound and onto the road.

“You ready?” Luca asks from beside me, his tone and face unusually serious.

The sky darkens as we head out of the city and onto the open road and I allow it to fill me—fuel for destruction. “I’m ready to remind these assholes just who they’re fucking with.”

“We bringing them in alive?” he questions, even though we’ve already had this discussion earlier today.

“If possible,” I answer simply. “If not…” I let the words hang in the air, Luca doesn’t question them, letting us slip into a comfortable silence.

We’re only an hour from our destination when his cell phone starts to ring and he releases a loud groan. He holds it up for me to see.

BOSS CALLING.

I snort. “You better answer.”

He inhales a deep breath and plasters a happy smile on his face as he flicks call and quickly switches the phone to speaker so I can hear. The moment I hear her voice, it takes everything inside me not to scream profanities and call the bitch out on her shit. But instead, I let Luca handle it.

“Where in the goddamn hell are you?” she screeches, causing Axel to force down laughter from the driver’s seat.

He grins over at me before he answers, “Family emergency. My cousin’s uncle’s ex-wife’s father’s dog died and I need to go to the funeral.”

“Luca…” she growls, her voice laced with hate and annoyance. “Why the fuck is Blair in the hospital?”

I sit back in amusement as I watch his eyes move back and forth as if he’s flicking through his brain for a feasible excuse. “Okay, so you see… we wanted to boost morale in the SO. So we decided to do some fun team building exercises. Then there was this miniature pony accident and things got weird… we would have asked you to come, but—”

“Luca! Tell me what the hell is going on right now. That’s a direct order!” she screams, her voice unlike anything I’ve heard before.

“Oh no… I’m going through a tunnel,” he starts to make scratching noises that don’t sound real at all. “You’re… breaking… up.”

“LUCA!”

He hastily hits the end call button before falling into fits of laughter. Axel and I can’t help but join him.

“Okay, so… we’re turning off our phones now.”

I chuckle and nod. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

 

 

The Malice MC ride into the port, along with my team, but we pull in a fair way down from Pier 81. The obvious drone from the hogs is a warning we don’t want the Syndicate to hear. We pull off right at the end of the road before it meets the port and walk the rest of the way between the rusted red and green peeling shipping containers on the dock. On the port side, boats are in the dock for restoration and repairs, some even for preservation, as they slowly bob up and down in the dark of night against the slow rhythm of the river water. If I had time to stop and admire the boats, they would be all kinds of inspiring, springing thoughts to mind of when Dad used to take me fishing when I was young. But I can’t reminisce right now, now I have to act as we all rush forward toward Pier 81 where the intel told us the Syndicate ship is said to be located.

Noah is working on his device, tapping into the security of this place making sure to loop the feed from before we arrived. We pull up behind a large broken down fishing vessel on a trailer and we all stand back looking to the peer across from us. Two guards stand at the gangplank leading up to the ship docked to Pier 81. The Syndicate ship ironically named Lady Liberty. Such a patriotic name for something that’s having a hand in actually destroying the damn country.

I look back at my team and the MC members who are here and nod my head.

“Okay, we do a sweep first. Locate and take out the guards then have them tell us where Ares and Ezra are. We go from there. It’s a simple snatch and grab. We get the brothers and leave. Try for minimal casualties, if possible. Got it?” I whisper.

Everyone nods and I look to Luca who winks at me and then looks to the two guards on the gangplank.

“Who gets the guards?” he asks.

I smile and nod. “Let’s go,” I say to him and he grins wide as I look back to Falcon gesturing for him to keep everyone here until I give the signal. He nods as Luca and I stand up and casually start walking over to the gangplank, although our full head to toe black outfits screams anything but casual.

The two guards instantly see us raising their rifles aiming them right at us and taking a threatening pose. “Halt, this is a restricted area. Please turn around and leave,” a guard calls out.

I raise my hands as does Luca and we start to chuckle as if we’re drunk. “Oh man, we’re so lost. We caught an Uber but the guy was totally drunk and made us drink with him and he dropped us off here, and now we’re like… hey, let’s go fishing and wow! Is that a real gun? It’s so shiny—” Luca dribbles as we step up to the guards.

“Back away!”

“But it’s totally fake, right? Let me see?” Luca asks as we reach the guards. They watch us unsure of our drunken wobbling. When we both straighten up right in front of them, we grab their guns at the ends twisting them up, so the straps come up and off over their heads. I push the guy in the chest making him fall back on his ass before he has a second to register what’s happening, and I take the gun from him pointing it back in his direction as Luca does the exact same thing to his guy. They both sit on the ground of the peer, dazed looking up at us shaking their heads.

“Who the fuck are you?” my guy asks.

“We’re asking the questions. Where are Ares and Ezra?” I ask.

Luca’s guard scoffs making us both point the guns directly at him.

He jolts back and clears his throat. “They’re not here… they’re hardly ever here.”

I glance to Luca and he furrows his brows. I’m normally pretty good at reading people and for all intents and purposes this guy appears to be telling the truth.

Fuck!

“If you came here to find those brothers you really came to the wrong place, guys,” my guard states.

I clench my jaw tight and shake my head slightly. I can’t just leave without looking inside, that would be stupid. Nodding over at Falcon, I turn toward the fishing boat. He and the others all scurry over and I hand one of his men the gun.

“Watch the guards, we have to go in. They say they’re not here, but I can’t take their word either. Have a couple guys stay out here while the rest of us scope out the inside,” I say and Falc nods.

“Good plan. Ruin, Mack, you guys take the guards, the rest… come with us,” Falcon murmurs and we all head up the gangplank.

I take the lead, Luca covers my six, Noah is behind him keeping a close eye on all the camera action. The rest follow behind in a single file. We have no idea what we’re walking into, or if we’re going to find the brothers but we have to try.

I step onto the ship and it’s nothing like I expected. It’s not like a ship at all. The inside has been completely demolished and is like one big workroom. Bollards line the room keeping the area in sections, but it’s basically been gutted. A sweatshop with tables and tables of men working on building things. Luckily, in the entrance there are piles of boxes that we can hide behind as we file in.

I take a good look around and realize that the workers are all making explosives. Over near the back, people are packing the explosives into cargo boxes as if they’re going to be shipped off out of the port. It’s a flawless plan. Build the explosives on a dock where no one would suspect and ship them directly from the port in cargo containers all around the world. No wonder they’ve been getting away with this for so long.

I look to Luca and shake my head. He grits his teeth and looks to the boxes in front of us, some marked Iraq, some China, there basically going everywhere. These fuckers are supplying shit to anyone and everyone. It’s gotta stop. This place has to be shut down immediately.

Noah comes to my side and shows me his handheld device. “I’ve hacked into their feed. I’ve checked the decks below this main room and I can’t see the brother’s anywhere, Kace…” He shakes his head. “They’re not here.”

I look back at the main room, we can’t let this slide. I glance to Luca and Noah, and Luca huffs.

“Kace, I know we said minimal casualties, and the brothers aren’t here so we could just leave, but this place… can we in all good conscience just leave it here?”

I glance to Falcon and he shakes his head as I look to Noah who’s riffling through his backpack. I grit my teeth as we continue to hide behind the boxes still hidden from the Syndicate, not even knowing we’ve invaded their turf.

Noah pulls out a stick of C4 from his backpack and grins widely at me. “Always be prepared,” Noah says sprouting off the three fingered Boy Scout salute.

I shake my head and huff. “This isn’t minimal casualties. This will go up… massively,” I say.

“The needs of the many,” Luca murmurs softly.

I look at the men in the ship sweatshop. They know what they’re doing. How they sleep at night is beyond me. How do they justify in their minds that spending their lives building weapons that take lives is okay. They know that it’s wrong. So now their lives are about to be taken for that cause.

I hope it was worth it for them. It’s all about the money and money breeds contempt.

Glancing around, I realize that there are no other civilians on the port. This is purely a business hours area, so I grit my teeth and nod. “Do it,” I say and signal for everybody to get the hell out.

Everyone bolts for the gangway. I watch Noah place the stick of C4 into a shipping container and set the timer. We both hightail it the hell out of there. We don’t have long and I have no idea what the hell kind of explosion this is going to rain down on us. But I know it’s going to be massive. We all run off the gangplank without stopping, without looking back. The two guards call out to us as we all run. We should have told them to run too, but time isn’t on our side.

I sprint the hardest I’ve ever done in my life. My legs pushing into the concrete so hard my feet start to feel heavy. My breathing becomes hard and fast, and become more difficult with every step.

Then it’s as if time stands still. All the air is knocked from me and I’m pummeled forward by a shockwave. A blast of heat flows over my body, but not flames, just the feeling of the explosion behind me. The funny thing is I don’t hear anything, not a sound. It shocks me for a moment until I realize it’s because all I can hear is a ringing sound in my ears which persistently becomes louder and louder. The noise becomes sharper and more high pitched as my body is flung to the ground with the force. I smack into the ground rolling into a shipping container. My hands come up to cover my head instinctively, and I gasp trying to gain any air possible, but it’s hard when the air is so hot and heavy. Plus my lungs are recovering from the shockwave and mad dash. Opening my eyes finally, I look to see everyone on the ground cowering, like me, but everyone is in one piece. It’s enough to snap me into action. My eyes widen more to look up and see the Syndicate ship completely annihilated and sinking to the depths of the port’s river floor. A smile creeps across my face as I try to sit up and look around to observe the damage. The ships on either side are also pretty much blown to pieces and the ones either side of those are alight and sinking quickly too. Collateral damage is not something we wanted, nor thought about, but to take out the Syndicate’s bomb making sweatshop—sometimes collateral damage is unavoidable.

The ringing in my ears starts to soften to a dull ache as I sit up along with everyone else.

“Anyone got any marshmallows?” Luca asks.

I roll my eyes and reach out slapping him upside his head.

It won’t be long before the authorities arrive, but hopefully the Syndicate members we’ve been waiting for will show up too. Until then, we’ll make our way to a rickety building opposite Pier 81 to watch what unfolds.

After about ten minutes the glorious sounds of sirens fill the dry night air as fire engines speed down the road. Luca and I watch from the shadows as dozens of police officers and firemen leap out and make quick work of drawing hoses from their trucks and connect them to the closest water hydrants.

Luckily for them, there isn’t a lot of damage these fires can do, as long as they keep it contained away from the port and the massive storage buildings that surround it. It won’t take long before the boats will begin to sink completely below the water level and be swallowed by the river.

Loud explosions continue sporadically, and I can see the police officers on the scene crowding into a group. They’re no doubt trying to figure out what the hell is on that boat that’s causing such chaos and destruction, given that this port is used specifically for rebuilds and preservation of old and unused water crafts that haven’t sailed in years.

Another detonation goes off, shaking the ground beneath us and causing the building we are settled in the shadows of, to creak and groan.

“This thing isn’t going to fall on us is it?” Luca asks, looking up at the monstrous wall.

I shake my head. “It’s solid…” then I add “…how fast can you run?”

He frowns, shaking his head to let me know he doesn’t appreciate the joke.

Everyone else is tucked away in the forestry behind us. If shit goes south, they’re nearby, but Luca and I will have to hold our own until they can reach us.

My ears perk up as I hear the groan of a heavy motor. An old school American muscle car skids into the lot, braking only feet from where the police cars are set out in a firm barrier, no doubt waiting for the media presence who will soon catch wind of the situation.

An older man climbs from the vehicle, his face lit up with the fiery glow. The anger on his face almost reflects the scene in front of him, a burning fury.

“This looks like he could be important,” I whisper to Luca who takes a quick peek around me.

The man approaches the cops, waving his arms around wildly. We can’t pick up his words, the noise smothering the sound of his voice.

“He looks pissed,” Luca observes.

I nod.

Unfortunately, it’s not him we’re after.

We want the brothers, and I’m a little surprised they haven’t already arrived to see their family business burning to the ground. “Come on you assholes, where the hell are you?”

We watch the scene unfold from the shadows as everyone scrambles to fight the flames that continue to leech onto other boats moored inside the port area. They flicker and dance against the dark night sky, grasping hold of anything within reach, the slight breeze doing nothing to aid the firefighters in their attempts to extinguish it.

“Oh lookie lookie,” Luca comments, drawing my attention back to the crowd. “Our friends have arrived.”

My heart pumps a little faster as I watch the brothers climb out of their car and jog toward the other man who’s screaming into his cell phone.

Ezra stares on in awe, while Ares brow is creased in what seems like confusion. Two officers walk toward the three as they huddle together, the older man jabbing his finger into Ares’ chest.

Quiet words are exchanged and one officer pulls the brothers to the side while the other drags the venomous old man practically kicking and screaming in the opposite direction.

“Time to move. You got your ID?” I say to Luca, who flashes me one of the many fake badges we’re assigned, assuring us that we can work our way into many situations without being questioned. “Let’s go.”

We move swiftly along the side of the building, hiding ourselves in the darkness until we can move in from a position that won’t look suspicious, or like we’ve just appeared out of thin air.

Weaving our way through vehicles, we slip in behind the officer who’s scribbling furiously on a notepad in his hands. He hasn’t noticed us yet, but the two brothers flick their eyes up at the same time, catching our movement.

They see Luca first, their eyes shooting open in surprise, but when Ares shifts his gaze to me, I can see the instant he recognizes my face. He purses his lips and the muscles in his thick neck tighten and contract, as though he’s trying to stop himself from leaping at me.

I wish he fucking would.

His gaze doesn’t move from me as Luca slips up next to the officer and places a hand on his shoulder. He turns in surprise, opening his mouth to speak, but Luca quickly cuts him off. “My partner and I…” he gestures to me, the officer’s eyes following, “…we’re FBI. And we have reason to believe these two are linked to another case we’re working on. We are going to need to question them first before you boys get your hands on them.”

The officer screws up his nose, it’s not unusual for police working a case to get annoyed or agitated when FBI agents attempt to step in. But the reality is they hold precedence.

“Can I see your identification please?” he asks sharply.

Luca grins, handing him the identification badge. He studies it for a few moments, and Luca uses that time to look over at the silent brothers and throw them a shockingly wide smile. The officer begrudgingly hands the badge back to Luca.

“They’re part owners of one of the ships that have been destroyed. I need to get statements and information from them as soon as you’re done.”

I snap a salute. “No problem. It won’t take long, then they’re all yours.”

As the officer turns to walk away, I slip my gun from the small of my back and smirk at the brothers who still have yet to speak. “Let’s go boys. We need to find somewhere nice and quiet to talk.”

Luca ushers them forward, back in the direction we came. We slip between two of the buildings, the noise of the chaos drifting away behind us.

“You really think we’re just going to follow you and do what you say?” Ares jokes as we walk behind, directing them to the back of the building and into the dense forest. “Where the hell are we even going? I can’t see shit,” he complains as he stumbles over a log, catching himself before he tumbles to the ground.

“The lights up ahead. Head there,” I snap, shoving Ezra in the back as he stalls for a moment. He looks over his shoulder and snarls at me before continuing through the thick brush and into a tight open space where our vehicle is parked, headlights casting strange shadows over the darkness.

They spin around to face us. “We aren’t going anywhere with you fuckers,” Ezra growls, then spits at my feet in a show defiance.

“I don’t think you have much of a choice,” I throw back, my words echoed by the crunch of leaves and sticks as bodies begin to step out of the darkness and into the light. The brothers swing their heads around, their muscles tightening as though ready for a fight.

“Axel, Noah… frisk them,” I order, raising my gun and pointing it directly at Ares’ head.

“Don’t worry…” Luca grins, doing the same to Ezra, “… they have very soft hands. It’ll almost be pleasant.”

We hold our standoff as my men pull a couple of handguns and a knife from the brothers’ bodies. When they’re sure they have everything, they step back, joining the brothers of the MC that surround us.

“You guys are awfully calm,” Luca observes.

“I’d like to know why I’m standing here talking to a fucking dead man,” Ares says, his eyes watching me carefully, almost as though he was expecting me to disappear into thin air at any moment.

I grit my teeth. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”

He folds his arms, puffing out his chest. “True, I heard your team was the best. Yet, our previous meeting seems to have proved that theory wrong.”

I can’t hold back, allowing my rage to fuel me. Tossing my gun to Luca I step forward, drawing my fist back and plowing it through his smug fucking face. He stumbles backward but remains on his feet. I rush forward again before he can shake off the daze, throwing low this time and connecting with his ribs.

He groans, hunching over.

“I have a man in the hospital because of you!” I try to keep my voice low, but I know I’m letting my anger get the better of me. My breathing is heavy and hot air shoots out my nose as I attempt to rein myself in.

Ezra stands off to the side, Luca right with him, ready to jump in if the other brother decides to take me down. Ares finds his composure. He’s a big guy, but I can tell I’ve caused him some pain. He swipes at his nose with the back of his hand, smearing blood across his face.

“Your fucking team killed our sister,” he huffs, pulling himself back up so his shoulders are squared.

I take a step back, throwing my arms out. “Why do you even care? What does it matter to you?”

“Because she’s like us,” Ezra interrupts, surprising me. I don’t turn my gaze away from Ares though, knowing he’s most likely looking for a moment of weakness. He doesn’t care if there are fifteen men around him, ready to shoot him at will.

“Shut up, Ezra,” he says pointedly at his brother.

“No, they need to know the kind of person that they destroyed. They came after her because of her ties to the Syndicate. Ties that were fucking fabricated,” Ezra demands. “She’s like us because she didn’t let her bloodline define her, and neither do we. We knew where we came from, but we don’t feed into it. It just makes us more determined to not be like him.”

As the words sink in, my brain starts making connections, trying to understand exactly what he’s saying and not thinking about the contradictions it’s making. My eyes move over to my team, the varying looks of confusion on their faces tell me that something’s not right here. This isn’t what we’re expecting.

“Come again?” I hear Luca ask from behind me.

Ares snorts. “You think blowing up the Syndicate is going to destroy us. But instead, you did us a fucking favor. We didn’t want to be a part of that shit. We’ve wanted out for so long. Now the only thing left that would make me happy is to know that all of you were dead for what you did to Lily.”

“I’d protect her with my life. Fuck you for thinking I would ever bring any harm to her. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. You need to back down before you fuck things up more than you already have,” I sneer.

He takes a threatening step forward and lowers his tone, “She’s already dead. I don’t have a thing to fucking lose now. I’ll take down as many of you as I can before you kill me, you can bet on that.” He’s poised, calculated, ready to pounce on me at any moment and to be quite honest, I’m prepared to shoot the fucker in the head and get this bullshit over with right this second. But I can’t help but hear Ezra’s words resonating in my head, and I know that there’s something going on here that isn’t right.

I hold my ground, catching the people around us tense as he comes toward me. “This is not what she wants.”

He swings at me but I duck, throwing my body forward and driving my shoulder into his stomach. I push him backward as he scrambles to find his feet and grab some kind of traction. A couple of men jump out of the way and I slam Ares into a thick tree trunk before leaping backward. He’s only stunned for a second or so, but soon uses his hands to push himself off the tree and propel his body at me.

This time, his fist finds its mark, connecting with my stomach and forcing the air from my lungs. I don’t fault, though, curling my body and lifting my elbow up and driving it upward into his nose, which is already most likely broken. He falls back, cursing, as Axel and Eli step in between us.

“This is not what she wants,” I tell him again.

“And how would you know what she wants,” he yells at me, his chest heaving and blood streaming from his nose.

“Because she’s still fucking alive!”

The sudden stillness of the night air and the people around us only reinforces the impact of my words. They can’t not hear me now, they can’t ignore what I’m telling them. If their real mission is to bring us down because of Lily’s death then this is the end. This is where it stops because their mission is a fucking joke.

I watch as Ares’ eyes flick to where Ezra stands behind me, surprise clearly evident but soon masked by a look of suspicion. “I’ll rip your goddamn throat out if you’re fucking with me right now.”

I scoff, my body relaxing as I shake off the electricity in my muscles that have me waiting for an attack at any second. “I’d like to see you try. But fortunately for you… I’m not.”

“Prove it,” Ezra demands. Ares agrees with a nod of his head.

On a heavy sigh, I nod my head. “She’s a few hours away. You think you can behave yourselves and not give us any bullshit until then?” I turn my body, eyeing both the brothers with narrowed eyes, letting them know I’m not fucking around. “I’m not letting her get caught up in any kind of danger. You hurt her in any way, you try and take her from me… I’ll kill you.”

“You prove to us she’s still alive, and I won’t kill you,” Ares counters.

“Fine,” I huff. “Get cleaned up. I don’t want blood in the fucking car.”

Noah pulls a first aid kit from the trunk, Ezra joining his brother as I move closer to Luca.

“You think this is a good idea?” he questions.

I rub away the pain in my ribs. “It’s the only option we’ve got right now. My gut is telling me there’s more to their story. And if they really don’t want to be involved with the Syndicate, then we need to know who the fuck we just pissed off.”

“It’s strange, but can we really trust them not to out us to Camilla?”

I hear his concerns, they’re ones that I have myself. But for now, if Lily is really that important to them, we have the power and the men behind us to control them. Which could come in handy soon.

“Trust me, I won’t be letting them leave the compound alive until we’ve got this mess sorted.” I refuse to let any more people I care about be hurt in this giant mess that I’ve created and refuse to let Camilla get away with this fucking bullshit. She thinks she can play one side off against another, that anger and fear and revenge will fill us all and we will destroy each other before either of us figure out what the hell is going on.

That’s not what I want. I’m not going to give her that satisfaction.

This is one win she won’t take.

Even if it means I have to join forces with the enemy in order to bring her down.

She thinks we’re all aboveboard, that we won’t do what needs to be done. She’s going to witness firsthand the monsters that she and The Agency created us to be.