Page 127 of A Knight’s Revenge: The Complete Series

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

JOLIE

I flicked open the app that Marcus had installed on my phone this morning, then I pressed its face up against the security scanner outside the balcony doors.

“This better fucking work, Marcus,” Zach growled into his earpiece. “I am not crawling back onto that crane.”

“Of course it’ll work,” Marcus retorted in our ears. “What? Oh, don’t fucking look at me like that, Silver. If you could build a better program, you would’ve done it already.”

“Children,” Noah snapped. “Focus.”

“Sorry, sir,” Silver muttered.

“You two need to fuck already,” Zepp chimed in.

“Zepp!” Silver hissed, sounding scandalized.

The scanner beeped with a flash of green light, so we were in and moving on from the bickering of our brilliant tech professionals. Bennett yanked open the heavy glass door, and we followed him into the dark, deserted office that had been James Spencer’s base of operations in his law firm.

“Looks like someone had a tantrum,” Zach mused, eyeing the sleek computer monitor that was in pieces in the middle of the floor.

“Typical,” Bennett grunted. He held up a gloved hand as we reached the office door, and we all paused to listen for anything that could indicate we weren’t alone up here.

We could make out the faint sounds of the battle raging outside, spilling into the streets from the lobby on both sides of the building, but the middle floors were silent.

Bennett lowered his hand and said in a quiet voice, “Let’s move.

There’s an elevator on this floor that has penthouse access. ”

We exited the office and treaded silently down the marble-tiled hall, our boots occasionally rustling a paper or file that had been tossed haphazardly on the ground.

It appeared that the employees of James B.

Spencer and Associates had dropped what they were doing the instant we’d shut it all down and just… left.

When we reached the elevator bank, Bennett jammed his gloved finger angrily into the button.

For a moment, the four of us just stood there, milling about, checking our watches or our phones as we waited for the elevator like it was the most normal fucking thing in the world while we ignored the muffled shouting and popping of gunshots in the distance.

The elevator arrived, and we climbed aboard. I raised my phone to the security sensor once again as Bennett smashed the button for the penthouse. The flash of green light said we were a go, and up we went.

“Weapons ready,” I whispered to my boys. “We should have the element of surprise, since they won’t have clocked any of our team leaving the ground floor.”

They all nodded, raising their pistols as the elevator finally came to a stop.

The ding announced our arrival.

“Extraction Team is going in,” I announced into my earpiece.

And then it was on.

We moved quickly, a seamless team, striking at the three Enforcers stationed in the lobby only seconds after they comprehended they were being attacked. Shouts rang out from the living room, and the four guards who rushed into the foyer met the same end.

“Foyer and living room clear,” Bennett barked.

Zach hissed from behind me. “Motherfucker, that stings.”

I whirled, the panic rising into my throat and nearly suffocating me. “Zach! Are you hurt?”

“Bullet just grazed the vest, baby girl,” he replied with a wink that had no business being sexy at this moment. “Totally fine. ”

The sound of boots stomping sounded from the floor above us. “We need to move,” Noah said. “They’ll have put out the call to downstairs, so we should expect more Enforcers to try to make their way up here.”

Bennett was already darting toward the stairs, and we quickly fell in behind him. At the first appearance of an Enforcer on the stairs, Noah fired and did not miss. He took down two more before we’d crested the stairs.

“Second floor is clear,” I announced, then I turned to Bennett. “You think he has her upstairs in their bedroom?”

“Likely.”

Dom buzzed into our ears. “Extraction Team, Spencer’s helicopter is landing on the roof as we speak.”

“Shit,” Zach swore.

Bennett was already running for the stairs to the third floor. “Dom, are there still Enforcers on the roof?” he barked.

“We took out all of them but one who's cowering behind a cement pylon. If anyone exits that helicopter and moves into our line of sight, we’ll get them too.”

Our boots pounded on the stairs, all attempts at stealth abandoned the second we stepped off the elevator with guns blazing.

“He’s making a run for it. I’ll fucking kill him,” Bennett growled as he came to a stop on the third-floor landing—the same place Frankie had pulled me back down the stairs and wrestled my pack away from me just a few short months ago.

Being back here again, invading Spencer Tower with my boys at my side, the four of us united in the common goal of eliminating James Spencer once and for all, was a fantastical dream I could never have dared to hope for the last time I stood on these steps.

Bennett raced for the main bedroom, and we darted after him. “Where the fuck is that bastard?”

“Here, son.”

James Spencer stepped into the shadows at the doorway to his bedroom. His suit was wrinkled, his tie askew, and his dark hair—so similar to Bennett’s except for the graying at his temples—looked as though he’d yanked it in four different directions.

He also held a trembling Bridgette Spencer in front of him like a shield, his small black handgun pressed to her head .

The four of us froze. No one lowered their weapon, but not even Noah was confident enough to take a shot at Bennett’s dad while he hid behind Bridgette.

“Let her go,” Bennett snarled. “Your fight is with me, Father.”

“I don’t think so,” he snapped. “I’m not an idiot, Bennett. You’ve broken into our home, and you’ve brought your little girlfriend here to finish me off. She’s spun you this noble tale of justice while you’ve had your dick inside her, and now you’ve destroyed everything .”

Bridgette struggled, but he only clamped down harder with the arm he had wound around her neck. Her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed, and I wanted to tear her away from that evil fucking man this instant.

“Is John alive?” she croaked at Bennett.

“Shut up,” James hissed into her ear. He jerked her into the hallway and began backing around the corner, still holding her in front of his body as he headed straight for the stairs to the roof.

“Martinez is okay, Mrs. Spencer,” I said softly, catching her eyes. “He’s awake and missing you.”

She let out a shaky sigh, giving me the tiniest of nods.

James scoffed, still taking slow steps backward as the four of us inched forward, following them. “You approve of your sweet, innocent mother fucking her bodyguard, son?”

We all knew Bennett did not exactly approve of that, but he gave no indication he’d even heard that question as he held his father’s glare with the same cold fury he had since the second he stepped out of his shadow.

“What’s your plan here, Father?” he asked, just the edge of a taunt in his voice.

“Despite the fact that you have a gun to my mother’s head, I have no intention of handing Jolie over to you, and I have every intention of letting your failing business empire stagnate and rot.

This little outburst has accomplished nothing. ”

“It would have if all of these meatheads I pay to guard this tower weren’t so fucking worthless!

” he bellowed, making Bridgette flinch in his arms. “You’d think that fifty trained guards would at least manage to eliminate the Knight bitch, if not her and your traitorous Heir friends.

Then you’d have seen it, son—you’d have seen what a monumental fuckup this whole thing was for you.

” He began to climb the stairs, taking careful steps backward, his gun never leaving Bridgette’s head and his hard brown eyes never leaving his son.

“We could’ve left here as a Family, started over with your trust fund and my personal accounts.

Maybe someday you would’ve proved to me that you were truly my son and worthy of the Spencer name. ”

Rocky’s voice sounded in our ears. “Hey, Extraction Team, you’ve got incoming. We have it mostly contained down here, but we lost four or five of them when they got the distress call from the penthouse. I’ve sent a group after them, but you guys need to be ready.”

“Fuck,” Zach muttered. He nodded at Noah, understanding passing between them. “We’ll be back, Princess,” he said softly.

Noah gave my hip an affectionate squeeze, and they turned to run back down the stairs.

I refused to let my brain touch even for a second on the worry that I might not see them again.

James and Bridgette were at the top of the stairs now, while Bennett and I stood shoulder to shoulder on the bottom step, both of us stalking our prey with singular focus.

“I don’t want your fucking name,” Bennett growled at his father, taking one more step forward.

“You’re a craven, murdering narcissist. You’re a shitty husband and a prick of a father.

Let Mom go, and I’ll give you a ten second head start to run to your helicopter like the sniveling fucking coward you are. ”

James just shook his head like he was disappointed in his son before he moved with some of the stunning catlike speed Bennett possessed. He shouldered the heavy door open and yanked a struggling Bridgette through, shoving her forward and disappearing out of our line of sight.

“Shit!” I yelled. “Dom! Hold your fire. Spencer and Bridgette are on the roof, and we’re coming out.”

Bennett and I sprinted up the stairs, barreling onto the roof in hot pursuit. The rooftop was brightly lit by both security lights and the cool blue glow of the obnoxious Spencer trident that jutted from the top of the tower.

Bennett’s father continued to shove his mother toward the waiting helicopter, digging one bruising hand into her bicep and the other still holding a gun to her head.

The lone Enforcer left on the roof chose that moment to make a last showing for his boss, popping out from his hiding spot and taking a shot at Bennett and me. We both dropped to the ground, rolling away from each other, and it was all Dom needed for a clear shot.

Dom’s gun cracked, the Enforcer dropped, and I jumped to my feet again just in time to see one of the guards that had been hiding in the helicopter open its door to receive a struggling, shrieking Bridgette.

She kicked and flailed, and I fired a haphazard shot at the door of the helicopter, high enough so that I was sure to miss Bridgette. It clanged against the metal, and it startled the guard enough to drop her.

Bennett was also on his feet, sprinting toward them. I continued to fire shots at the side of the helicopter, trying to keep the guards inside at bay.

“Worthless!” James roared at the helicopter. “All of you!”

With one last mighty yell, Bridgette tore her arm from James’s grasp and slapped the gun out of his hand. It clattered to the ground at the same moment that Bennett reached them.

Time slowed. My breath hitched and my stomach dropped as Bennett shoved his mom clear of his father and tackled James to the ground.

Bennett’s bigger body slammed into James’s strong but smaller form, and they skidded across the concrete until they crashed into the railing that bordered the tower’s roof.

It took every ounce of willpower I possessed not to run to them; instead, I continued to fire shots at the helicopter to keep the guards from exiting and snatching Bennett’s mom or hurting Bennett to retrieve his father.

I screamed, “Bridgette! Get behind me!”

My shouts were barely audible over the deafening whirl of the helicopter’s blades, but she didn’t need to be told twice. She ran for me, and I tucked her safely in between my back and the railing.

“We’ve got the penthouse cleared!” Noah called into my ears. “Zach and I are on the way back up.”

“Rocky’s team is staying on the penthouse entrance inside in case more Enforcers make their way up from the ground,” Zach added.

At the sound of their voices, I released one tiny fraction of the tension I was holding, even as Bennett and his father grappled on the ground like wild animals.

“We’ve still got at least three guards in the helicopter!” I shouted. “Dom doesn’t have a clear shot, and I’m running low. ”

Suddenly Max came online. “Delivering you a package, Jojo. Hang tight.”

“What?” I shouted again over the noise.

Just as Zach and Noah burst from the penthouse door, the end of the long metal arm of the tower crane appeared, just peeking over the edge of the roof.

Frankie vaulted from it like fucking Spiderman, his tank top a streak of neon yellow soaring through the sky before he landed on light feet and disappeared behind the helicopter.

Within thirty seconds, three bodies were tossed unceremoniously out the bay door, and Frankie’s lithe form appeared in the cockpit.

“Did you know he could fly a helicopter?” I asked Zach as he skidded to a stop beside me.

Zach could only look on with well-worn resignation. “He can’t, as far as I know.”

Frankie tossed us a jaunty salute from the cabin’s window, then I watched, momentarily struck dumb, as the helicopter rose from the roof and disappeared into the night.

Silence settled over the rooftop—until Bennett’s angry roar pierced the air, jerking us back to reality.