Page 122 of A Knight’s Revenge: The Complete Series

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

BENNETT

M y posture was rigid, reminiscent of my father, as I sat behind the desk in Andrea’s old office at the Euphoria Club, awaiting my scheduled meeting. My navy suit was pressed to perfection, my shoes shined, and my hair freshly cut and styled by Rocky’s barber next-door.

I took a sip of the glass of scotch that sat on a golden coaster on the ostentatious desk, then I adjusted my cufflinks as I cast my critical stare around the room.

Zach had officially taken full control of the Club after Andrea’s death, but erasing her presence from this place would take longer than the two weeks he’d had.

The gaudy trinkets and the worst of the artwork had been removed, but the furniture was still frilly and way too fucking French.

It was Friday night, and it was also John Tyler’s birthday.

Having learned a hard lesson last weekend about throwing giant, ridiculous birthday parties, Zach suggested an intimate gathering at the Club so that he could swing by and check on things.

Our small circle of friends was out on the floor at the VIP table, enjoying the music, the drinks, and the show.

For the past week, Zach, Noah, and I had watched Jolie like a trio of jumpy, obsessive stalkers, which she’d fucking hated but also kind of loved. If I didn’t know exactly where she was at this very moment, I’d have struggled to keep the placid, calm demeanor I desired for this meeting.

My phone buzzed against the top of the lily-white desk.

Zach: I offered JT a night upstairs for his birthday present but he declined

Angel: he has a thing for Devin, how have you not noticed?

Noah: oh no wonder he looked so awkward

Zach: ha shit, my bad

Zach: excited for your meeting, Spencer?

Me: I’m beside myself with joy.

Sarcasm aside, I was actually looking forward to crossing another thing off our list. Harper was finished—released into the custody of her parents but expelled from Holywell.

Chad’s parents were frothing at the mouth to press charges against her, and the infighting between the two Spencer Tier One giants had already rattled my father’s few remaining staunch allies.

I suspected Benedict Hendrickson was itching for some new way to throw his weight around because he’d been on house arrest ever since Jolie sent the feds to his door and those of every other member of his little child porn club.

Only a few more dominoes left to fall.

A knock sounded.

“Come in.”

The Club’s new head bouncer, a hulking man named Demetrius who I knew from Dom’s gym, stuck his head in the door.

“I have your ten o’clock appointment to see you, Mr. Spencer.”

I waved a hand. “Send her in. Thanks, D.”

He disappeared, and the door creaked open further to reveal the reason I was in a meeting on a fucking Friday night instead of enjoying time with our friends.

Elise Proctor.

She prowled into the office, her smile sly as she ran her ravenous gaze from my face down my body and to where my hands lay clasped on the desk.

She’d changed out of her usual sexy-secretary-themed work attire and instead wore something more suited for a night at the Club—a slinky red dress that dipped low between her large breasts and clung to every curve of her body.

Her strappy heels added four inches to her stature, bringing her to just about Jolie’s height in bare feet .

“I’m so pleased you agreed to see me, Bennett,” she said, her voice breathy and excited.

She helped herself to one of the chairs in front of the desk, making sure she crossed her legs slowly and deliberately, letting the hem of her dress ride up her thighs.

“You certainly look like you belong behind that desk. The desk of the leader of the Four Families.”

I didn’t respond, instead just taking a sip of my scotch as I eyed her, detached and bored.

After my father’s last plan to take my Angel from me failed miserably and got the son of one of his closest associates killed, he hadn’t called me. Spencer Tower had been suspiciously quiet, but Elise had reached out to me two nights ago.

And she’d done it via a burner phone, which was how we knew she had finally abandoned hope that my father was her ticket to a life of power and luxury.

Her coy smile didn’t falter. “I’m sure you’re curious as to why I’ve requested a meeting.”

“I can guess, Elise.”

Her smile grew. “Of course. You’re an intelligent, capable man, Bennett. It’s clear to me that it should be you at the helm of Spencer. I’m ready to assist you… in any way you need.”

I leaned back in my chair, steepling my fingers under my chin just as my father would have, and I pretended to consider her.

“I have certainly learned some things about you, Elise,” I said quietly.

“It appears you played a crucial role in a plot that almost made my father richer than anyone else on the planet.”

She chuckled, her grin smug. “It takes a woman to get things done, Bennett. Men are… simple creatures. Present company excluded, of course.”

“Of course,” I agreed. “I suppose it took very little effort to play Anders like a fiddle.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far, sweetie,” she replied with a tinkling laugh, looking me up and down again. “Anders very much enjoyed my efforts . It wasn’t the most fun I’ve ever had, but it was all for Spencer.”

I lifted a brow. She apparently thought I’d find her admitting she’d whored herself out for the Family attractive. “And yet, your efforts were for naught, weren’t they? Jeffrey Knight’s discovery is now in the hands of a charitable foundation and twenty research universities around the world.”

She bristled. “Trust a man to screw it up in the end. Anders was useless after all, unfortunately.” She uncrossed and recrossed her legs, then her sultry smile was back.

“But I hear you’re the one who rid the City of his whining once and for all.

James was in a rage about it all, but I have to say I found the thought rather… stimulating.”

Christ.

“And yet here you are, abandoning Spencer,” I said, tutting. “The disloyalty to my father, Elise.”

“ You are Spencer, Bennett,” she replied, leaning forward now so I had a clear view down the front of her dress. “I’ve known it for a while now. I am ready to serve you. To see to your every need.”

I resisted the urge to pinch my brow. “You mean you’re ready to fuck me, Elise. Stop playing coy.”

She sat back, unruffled, that persistent smile remaining on her painted red lips. “I would show you things you could never have dreamed of while you’ve only been with little girls and hookers, Bennett. It’s time you had a real woman by your side.”

I sighed. This charade had gone on long enough.

“So, let me get this straight,” I began, finally letting some of the venom I felt for this reprehensible woman seep into my voice.

“You saw the writing on the wall as each one of the remaining Families fell under the sword of Jolie Knight. Attempt after attempt on her life has failed. Peter Hargraves is long gone. Andrea Ferrero is dead. Spencer is on its last legs. And instead of going down with the ship—instead of staying loyal to the man you’ve literally destroyed lives for over these past eight years, the man you’re fucking —you thought you could waltz into this office, hop onto my dick, and I’d shove everything aside to make you the queen of my new kingdom? ”

Her seductive grin had faltered as I went on, her eyes widening in true shock as I laid the truth right at her feet.

“Bennett—”

“No,” I snapped. “I’ve heard enough out of you to last me five lifetimes, Elise.

Listen carefully: I wouldn’t touch you if you were the last woman on earth.

You are the reason I lost the love of my life for seven long, brutal fucking years.

You are the reason her parents were senselessly murdered right in front of her.

You are the reason my mother can no longer stand to be in her own home.

You are a despicable, conniving cunt, and your time is up. ”

She stood abruptly, smoothing her dress, her simpering smile strained. “Well, I can see I have wasted my time and yours, Bennett. I’m just sad you’ve been led this far astray from who you were born to be. I’ll see myself out.”

“Oh, I don’t think so, you evil fucking bitch.”

Jolie stood in front of the closed office door, casually twirling her knife through her fingers and looking like a fallen angel ready to burn down the world.

Her skin-tight purple top, short black skirt, fishnet tights, and chunky black combat boots were a striking contrast to the soft, ethereal waves of her white-blonde hair that framed her face and the sweet dusting of freckles on her cheeks.

The hints of the little girl who’d been my best friend melded seamlessly into the gorgeous phoenix risen from the ashes of what the Families had wrought.

And I was so in love with her, my whole body ached at the sight.

Elise stopped cold, unaware that my Angel had been sitting quietly in a recessed corner of the office just inside the entrance where Andrea had kept her fully stocked bar cart. Elise’s lips pursed, and her nose went into the air. “Jolie Knight. We meet at last.”

Jolie’s answering smile was slow. Eager. “Indeed. I did have the opportunity to get acquainted with your sister, but I’ve been looking forward to our introduction for some time now.”

Elise flushed at the mention of her sister, who was still bedridden in her mother’s apartment in Baltimore, last we checked. “Yes, the entire City is aware of your penchant for using your fists to get what you want like the ghetto-raised deviant you are.”

Jolie’s blonde brow quirked. “Ah, yes, instead of using my pussy like high-class ladies such as yourself.”

Elise scoffed. “Stones and glass houses, Miss Knight. You’re screwing all three Heirs of the Families, and look what it got you.”

Jolie advanced, causing Elise to take a startled step back.

“First of all, two of my boyfriends are the heads of their Families now, and the third will be the same imminently—you just said so yourself. Second, everything I have I got without opening my fucking legs. I planned, I earned the loyalty of my people, and I took back what was mine. And then I buried the people responsible for killing my Family and stealing from me.”

Elise’s backside hit the chair she’d been sitting in earlier as Jolie crept toward her, the blade of her knife glinting under the office’s harsh fluorescent lighting. I kept my blank, bored stare even as my dick was growing hard under the desk.

“How does it feel, Elise?” Jolie murmured, stopping to run her icy eyes over Elise’s stiff form, her lip curling with disgust. “How does it feel to know all that dick you’ve ridden over the years in hopes of becoming queen of the City has only led you here?

Staring into the eyes of the little girl you were ready to see executed next to her parents to please your master? ”

Elise was seething. “You really are just a little girl playing at being a queen. Your parents are dead because they were weak , and this precarious little kingdom you’ve built by stealing from the real leaders of this City is going to crumble around you.

” She straightened, standing tall and sneering at her like Jolie was her equal and not a predator that had cornered her prey.

“And you’ll never be able to please Bennett like I could. ”

With a movement so fast I almost missed it, Jolie ceased the lazy twirling of her knife, grasped the hilt, and buried the blade in Elise’s stomach.

Elise gasped, then she shrieked in pain as Jolie jerked the knife free.

She lifted her heavy boot and kicked Elise to the floor, and she crumpled in a heap of red satin and blood.

She coughed and screeched as Jolie jumped on top of her, pinning her flailing arms with her knees.

I watched in awe and utter fascination as Jolie leaned down until the two of them were almost nose-to-nose, her face hardening into the cold, focused killer I knew she harbored inside of her.

“Fuck you, Elise Proctor,” she growled. “You will never destroy another family, and you will never, ever have Bennett Spencer. He. Is. Mine .”

She slit Elise’s throat with a flash of her blade, and then as fast as it had happened, she was on her feet. She kicked the body away from her before turning to face me, breathing hard and saying nothing.

I jumped to my feet and strode quickly around the desk, and I stopped just a few feet in front of her, holding her fiery stare with mine, looking desperately for a sign that my Angel was still with me—that she was okay.

She tossed her knife to the floor without a second glance, then she threw herself into my arms, wrapped her legs around my hips, and plastered her mouth to mine.

I groaned against her lips. There’s my Angel .