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I shook my head, not wanting to believe it. It was always possible, but we took measures to avoid one of our own turning against us like that.
“I can’t see how they’d get through the security like that, though,” Saul argued, saying what I wanted to. “We have too many independent firewalls and layers to manage that protect the surveillance cameras. Even a good hacker would struggle to skew our footage like that.”
Nik smirked. “Never underestimate what a hacker can and cannot do,” he mumbled.
Since he was a spy, I knew he had to deal with his share of hackers, both the ones he hired for our family and the ones he went after when he was spying on our enemies. As far as I knew, Nik had limited knowledge of how to hack anything, but he probably had more connections with cyberwarfare and cybersecurity than I did.
“Are you thinking of someone specific?” I asked him.
He furrowed his brow and hesitated to reply. “Maybe.”
“Is your hacker someone we could ask to investigate this? Would he be a resource to consider as we try to figure out who the fuck compromised our system?”
He shook his head. “She probably wouldn’t be available.”
“She?” Saul asked.
Nik nodded.
“Let me see what I can get out of this fucker first.” Damon cracked his knuckles as he turned to stare hard at the captured man. “I think he’s an independent agent. A contracted killer. He’s got nothing traceable. No scars, no tattoos, fucking nothing.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. If one of our enemies was trying to gradually pick at us and bring us down, this was a hefty escalation. Hiring an independent contractor meant they wanted to avoid being caught coming after us. And that would make the hunt that much harder.
“I’ll go back up and talk to the security team,” Saul said after Damon went back to the torture chamber.
“Good. Let me know of any developments. I’m going to check on Father again.” It still felt weird to be my brothers’ boss, but I wouldn’t slack in my interim duties now. I hated how this could sound like a power trip because I preferred when I was just one among them, one brother of the group. We worked best with teamwork as brothers, and I hoped again that Father’s recovery wouldn’t be set back at all.
Nik joined me, seeming pensive as the excitement and suspense of the incident faded. Without a word, he accompanied me to Father’s room. The nurse who’d so bravely hit the panic button wasn’t on duty anymore. She had been spared, taken to a guest room to rest and recover. Another nurse was in here now, a male, and he nodded at us upon our entry. Without needing to be told, he backed up and made himself scarce as Nik and I stood over Father’s bed.
He looked peaceful, yet not. Even in his sleep, he had a fierce appearance, but with the absence of his leadership, he seemed out of reach, locked away in this recovery he had to endure because someone had come to inject him with those drugs.
“I just had to see him,” I said after several minutes of quiet.
“Me too. Just to see with my own eyes that he’s all right,” Nik replied just as quietly.
Lying here unbothered, he seemed so protected and untouched by tonight’s danger. In the back of my mind, though, I was fully aware of how close he could’ve come to death—again. Security would need to be increased once more. I would spare no expense until he was back on his feet again and well, until we found our enemy who was coming at us.
“One day, we’ll be old like that,” Nik mused.
I frowned, glancing at him. “He’s not dead.”
“But helooksold.”
I wouldn’t deny that. In his sleep, and maybe because of the sedatives he was on, Father did appear paler and older.
“He’s not dead,” I repeated, unsure whether I was telling him or myself. Obviously, he was still with us, but just barely.
“One day, he will be, though.” Nik shook his head, seeming too stuck in his dark thoughts. “And when the time comes, he’d have so much to be proud of. He brought the family back from the threat of ruin from Beatrice’s affairs. He took the organization to greater wealth with his investment decisions.” Facing me with a somber gaze, he shrugged. “Sometimes, it’s hard to put it all in perspective.”
“To put what in perspective?” I asked, surprised by his deep, pensive mood. Father being poisoned had affected us all, but I had been so busy I hadn’t personally checked on whether my brothers were traumatized at all. They weren’t weak men. But everyone was vulnerable to suffering at times. We’d lost our mother. It would be a hard hit to lose our father, too.
“WhatIcould be proud of when my time comes.”
I frowned, looking back down at my father and hating how Nik’s self-reflection struck a nerve with me. I’d been so stuck in relying on Father to outlive me for many more years that I hadn’t really considered my future or my personal accomplishments. We were one. All of us in this family, we acted as one.
“What would you be proud of?” he asked me without judgment or teasing.
Sloane.