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“And now you’re going to finish it,” I choked out a laugh. Fuck, I was never going to see Kate again. I knew it was a possibility. The risks I was taking were steep, but it was for my brother, a man I hadn’t known shared the same blood as me until a year ago. And Isabelle…there would be no peace for her until this was over.
My father’s wisened eyes crinkled slightly as he looked me over. “You always were the strongest of my sons,” he said quietly. “Rafe was wild and followed in my footsteps. Cash is the only one with a moral compass. But you…I always knew you had it in you to change the world. I just never thought it would come to this.”
“To murder?” I growled, wishing I could break free of the men holding me and thrust my knife into my old man’s throat.
Betrayer.
I’d been warned about this. I knew it might happen, but I also assumed I would be able to take him out first. I hadn’t planned on the army that stormed in and took over.
“Murder? I wouldn’t call it that. We regulate the world,” he said stiffly. “Without us, governments would do whatever the fuck they wanted. Cartels would run wild. Despite what you may think, there’s a reason for what we do.”
We.He was one of them. This whole fucking time, Cash assumed Michael was trying to help him. We knew he might have been involved, but this…
“Who is we?”
He stiffened slightly, his eyes flicking around the room.
“Can’t even fucking own up to it?” I snorted. “After all this time…you’re holding all the power here. You have me where you want me. You could put a fucking bullet in my head, but you’re too fucking afraid of me?”
“Afraid is not something I’ve ever felt before.”
There was truth to his words, but I saw the flicker of guilt in his eyes. He liked to think he did what was needed and ignored the rest of the world, but that had cost his daughter thirteen fucking years of her life. There was no way that didn’t fuck with his head.
“I deserve to fucking know who my father betrayed us for,” I snarled. “After all these years playing the good guy—sacrificing his life for the greater good,” I laughed. “That’s what you wanted everyone to think, right? This was all some game to you, and now everyone you claim to love will know it. Tell me, does Claire know about your betrayal? Does she know that you handed her daughter over to a monster?”
His eyes flicked uneasily. “That was never supposed to happen.”
“But it did.”
“Enough!” another man snapped, walking up beside my old man. Dressed in a suit, he looked every bit the part of a respectable businessman. But I could see the snake underneath the suit. I’d been looking for reptiles like him my whole life. “End this,” the man said, handing over a gun.
Michael took the gun from him and racked the slide. His eyes met mine with a cross between fury and hatred. Good. I felt the same fucking thing right now.
“He needs to know,” Michael answered, his eyes boring into mine. “Before I pull the trigger, he will understand who I am—why I need to end this.”
“Really fucking heart-wrenching,” I snapped. “Be sure to send a card to my wife and kids. I’m sure your grandkids will understand when they’re old enough.”
“It was never supposed to be like this,” he argued. “If only you and your brother had left well enough alone. But you kept fucking pushing, and now you’re going to find out why.”
“Because you’re a self-serving asshole.”
The man behind me kicked my knee, sending me to the ground. I bit back a groan as my kneecap hit the concrete and sent pain radiating through my bones. I would never let my old man see me hurting, not for anything.
He strode forward, the gun gripped loosely in his hand. “If you and your brother had only left us alone,” he repeated. “And then Kavanaugh…” He laughed humorlessly at that.
“Yeah, you really had Cash going with that one,” I laughed humorlessly. “You can talk just about anyone into doing your dirty work.”
“You always refuse to see the bigger picture,” he sighed. “It happened with Kate—when she contracted the virus. You didn’t see what we were trying to do, and you never would have understood.”
What they were trying to do… “What the fuck are you talking about?”
He was the one who got the information to Blake. He stopped evil men from taking out an innocent woman and child, then got the necessary information to Blake so she could pursue the committee responsible for unleashing the virus on the American people. But I kept my mouth shut, unsure of where he was going with this.
“Everything is so black and white to you,” he chuckled.
Behind him, men emerged from another room, each of them dressed the same as the stupid fuck who handed him the gun to kill me. I watched them file in line behind Michael, standing stoically before me.
Michael spread his arms wide, motioning to all the men around him. There had to be thirty of them. “We are the Shadow Government. We control everything going on around the world. That firefight in Peru? That wasn’t just rebels fighting back. The drugs running rampant in Venezuela? Put there to strategically maneuver our men into position. The religious wars in the Middle East?” He shook his head, his eyes narrowing on me. “We’ve been around since before you were born. Hell, since before I was born. We control the world’s leaders, maneuvering them like chess pieces. There is not a single major headline in the world right now that wasn’t somehow created or strategically positioned for the benefit of our group. For the good of the entire world.”