Present

 

“WHERE IS SHE?” I watched my brothers, men with the heart of a lion, fidget under my interrogation. I’d woken up to an empty hospital room and no memory of how I made it here alive. Lucas and Z had been MIA, but I’d learned half my men were on guard and now I knew why.

“We don’t know,” Z mumbled. 

“She fucking ran,” Lucas snarled. The phantom fist around my heart loosened. She wasn’t dead.

“Why?” Because she tried to kill you. I waited for one of them to answer, but neither of them spoke a word. Z looked uncertain, and Lucas looked ready to explode, which meant they both knew something, but they were holding back.

“What do you know?” My attention focused on Lucas, targeting him first. “What are you hiding from me?”

“I could ask you the same,” he shot back as he crossed his arms.

“Excuse me?”

“Who stabbed you, Angel?”

“Eliana.” The lie quickly fell from my lips, but it was obvious they didn’t believe me when Z’s gaze narrowed, and Lucas scoffed.

“Why are you lying?” Lucas accused.

“Who are you to tell me I’m lying?”

“Your brother!” he roared. “She tried to kill you, and you’re still protecting her.”

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“Angel,” Z called with less hostility. “We found Eliana dead ten feet from where you were with a perfect shot to the head.”

“And it was your knife that had been used on you. It’s also funny that the tape had been sliced clean through. Only a knife could have done that.”

They watched me, waiting for me to trust them with the truth that would condemn her. I couldn’t do it. They were my brothers, but Mian was… complicated.

Someday, we would finally destroy each other.

“Tell the attending he has ten minutes to have my discharge papers ready, or I’m leaving without them.”

“You lost too much blood, and you’ll tear your stitches.”

“Am I a pussy? Have I ever been a pussy?” Neither one of them offered an answer, but one wasn’t needed. “Brothers…” I stood carefully from the hospital bed. There was a burning pain in my gut that I ignored as I rocked to steady myself on my feet. “We have a runaway to find.”

“We can’t.”

With barely suppressed rage I said, “Why the fuck not?”

“Because an hour ago your family showed up demanding answers.”

 

* * *

TWO DAYS LATER, I sat at the head of the table in the estate’s library. Lucas and Z stood as silent forces behind me while each presumptive heir surrounded the table. This was the last place I wanted to be with Mian on the run and me still in pain, but this meeting could not be avoided.

I was on trial.

“I assume Victor and Eliana are dead.” Alistair was the first to speak after I gave a quick recount of what had happened four days ago. He was a direct descendant of Alexander, which made him as much an enemy as an ally. His entire line resented mine ever since my great-grandfather, Adan, took Archibald’s life and inherited Alexander’s legacy.

I met his assessing gaze. “You assume correct, cousin.”

“We were sorry to hear about your mother,” stated Aldric, a descendant of Meredith. I nodded, believing his sincerity.

“Thank you.”

Reginald, a descendant of Alexander and first in line to succeed me, leaned forward, and I knew whatever he had to say would tempt me to kill him. “Why do you think Victor would betray your father after all these years? First, there was Theo,” he continued before I could speak, “and now Victor. I’m not sure the family shouldn’t be concerned about the betrayal your father’s rule has bred.”

“Well, my father doesn’t rule anymore. I do.”

“Yes, but I’m not sure how far you’ve actually fallen, Angeles.”

More than a dozen gazes settled on me, waiting. “If your next stipend isn’t to your satisfaction, we can revisit this conversation.”

“The money is good. I cannot deny you that accomplishment, but it’s not enough. We need protection and to believe you won’t be the end of Alexander’s legacy.”

“Has anyone broken down your door and harmed you?”

“Fortunately, that has not occurred…yet.”

“Well, then you shouldn’t incite fate. Victor kidnapped my mother so he could get me alone and kill me.” It was at least part truth. “He’s been taken care of without any harm to the family.”

“Except your mother,” he cruelly reminded. “Or have you forgotten?”

“She was also Victor’s wife.” No one regretted leaving her vulnerable to that asshole more than I did. Lucas and Z shifted behind me. One word from me, and they would make sure Reginald didn’t overstep again.

“Reginald, I believe you’re being a bit too hard on the boy,” Alistair valiantly admonished. “Shit happens.”

“Yes. Just as long as Angel understands that shit,” he mocked, “cannot continue to happen. I see no reason to continue this meeting.”

Augustine and I locked gazes. He rolled his eyes with a smirk as our kin continued to argue. I held back my own and called the meeting to an end. It would take more than the actions of a traitor to dethrone me. Augustine, the descendant of Meredith, hung back as the rest of them filed out. We collided in a brotherly hug and exchanged grins when we pulled apart. “Try not to take their scrutiny too personally,” he said the moment we were alone. “They’re time is running out. They’ll look for any excuse to take your place.”

“And you, cousin? Don’t you want to reap the glory of being the Knight?”

He shrugged. “I’ve got my own thing going, and I answer to no one.”

I wanted to ask about his little venture, but I knew he wouldn’t tell me anything even if I ordered him. He was even more stubborn than I was. “How is your mother?” His shoulders relaxed at my change in subject. “I noticed she didn’t come.”

“You know Mother. She hates anything to do with Alexander and his legacy.”

“She would have run away with you years ago if Alan hadn’t kept her under lock and key.” Augustine may not have wanted me dead, but his grandfather was another story. I could never prove my suspicions, but I was sure he had been responsible for a couple of the attempts on my life. When you were a crime lord, people tried to kill you. Every job had its hazards, but when treachery is rooted from within your circle, it was more than just a hazard. It was a goddamn problem.

If I ever did prove Alan was behind the hit, I would have no choice but to make an example out of him. It was the very reason my friendship with Augustine skated on very thin ice. Killing his grandfather would no doubt make us enemies.

“Alan won’t just need to kill me for the legacy.”

Augustine chuckled. “That old bastard doesn’t have much time left, and he knows it. You better watch your back,” he warned good-naturally, although we both knew it wasn’t an empty warning. Alan wasn’t the only one who wanted control. He was just one of the few willing to kill me for it.

Nodding to Lucas and Z, who watched our exchange silently, he didn’t stick around after that.

“I don’t trust him,” Lucas said as soon as the library door closed behind Augustine.

Z, still staring at the door, nodded his agreement. “He’s got too many secrets.”

“Let him have his secrets for now. It’s not him I’m worried about. Reginald is getting bolder in the quest to dethrone me. I want you to find out what he’s up to.” They didn’t hesitate and stood from the table. “Oh, and Z?” I called, stopping him in his tracks. Lucas paused too, his frown deepening. “Where are they?”

 

* * *

 

“ IS SHE, Anna?” I stood in front of Mian’s friends ignoring the burning pain in my gut and praying I had the patience not to harm them. Mian would never trust me again if I did. Maybe it was why both of them were refusing to talk.

By now, I would have started lopping off body parts when someone refused to talk. Because they meant something to her, I held back. Z stood back observing with a careful eye. Lucas, however, never strayed too far from Anna. He stood behind her seemingly detached, but I knew instinct would make him protect her from me, brother or not. I would have questioned his loyalty if Mian hadn’t stirred the same need in me.

“She’s far away from you, and that’s good enough for me.” Her arms closed tight over her chest as she pierced me with her stare. Her friend, however, didn’t display the same bravado.

“And what about you?” I challenged as I moved to stand in front of him. “Is dying good enough for you?”

“Don’t say anything,” Anna ordered. One look from me had her lips pressing in a tight line and the color draining from her face.

I gripped the back of his neck and leaned into him as I brought my knife to the side of his throat. “So?”

“I don’t know where she went,” he stumbled. “She just took off.”

“It was your car she just took off in. Where were you planning to take her, hero?” I pressed the knife against his skin until I saw the first drop of blood.

“To the bus station and that’s it. They didn’t tell me anything else. I swear!” Anna’s face twisted with disgust when she turned her glower on Joey. Fortunately for him, I believed him. 

“Do you believe us now,” Anna demanded. I shrugged and put my knife away as I stepped back.

“Are you going to let us go?” Joey questioned with hop.

When I shook my head. She surged forward as if to attack, but Lucas’s hands closing over her arms stopped her. “Why not?” she growled. “You have no reason to keep us.”

“You’re her friends. She trusts you, which makes you valuable to me.”

“My mom will be looking for me,” Joey threatened as one of my men dragged him off.

“Then you better pray for her sake that she doesn’t find you.”

Another stepped forward to take Anna away, but one look from Lucas had him quickly retreating.

“Why can’t you just leave her alone?” Anna fought to free herself from Lucas’s hold. He looked as if he had more trouble keeping control of his patience. “You’re going to get her killed!” Lucas tossed her over her shoulder and stormed from the office. We all listened as she spewed curses and threats until a door slammed, cutting off her screams.

“We need to talk,” Z spoke from the corner. He had been silent as always during the interrogation, but this time I knew was different.

“Yes, we do.” I leaned back in my chair and regarded him. “You let her go.” 

“I did.”

“Why?” I forced myself to keep a level head long enough to hear his answer. It had better be good.

“Because I thought she was better off away from Chicago.”

“Why shouldn’t I kill you, brother?”

To my surprise, he cracked a smile. “She had it on good authority that you wouldn’t.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I mean just as much to you as she does.” He waited, willing me to tell him if she had been right. His betrayal made me reluctant to confess the truth.

“Find her, Z, because if you don’t, brother or not, I’m killing you.”

I held my head in my hand once I was alone and breathed through the pain in my abdomen. Moments later, my phone was ringing, and I thought about letting it go to voicemail when I noticed the number of the family attorney.

“This is Knight.”

“Mr. Knight, I’m so happy to catch you. I have some additional paperwork that we forgot to transfer to you during the reading of the will.”

“What paperwork?”

“Your marriage certificate.”

“My what?”

“After your father’s death, we were entrusted by your grandfather to keep the certificate in our possession. Of course, now that you’ve inherited from him, the certificate can be transferred to your possession if you wish.” I could tell by his tone that he found it all strange, but it wasn’t his job to ask questions beyond legal necessity. “I assume you were aware of this?”

I was ready to tell him it was a mistake, that I couldn’t be married. The only girl I ever intended to marry disappeared three years ago until she’d broken into my father’s home and forced me to kidnap her son. But just as the words formed, I quickly pieced the puzzle together and realized what my father had done.

There could only be one name next to mine on that certificate.