Page 77 of A Knight’s Revenge: The Complete Series

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

JOLIE

I braced myself as the elevator dinged, and the doors slowly opened to reveal my Family home—a place I hadn’t been since the night I was ripped from my bed and my parents were murdered in front of me.

A small wave of relief hit me as I took it in.

The Knight penthouse had apparently been extensively remodeled after we’d all died, so the debilitating pangs of nostalgia I’d expected to feel never surfaced.

The marble tile of the foyer had been replaced with gleaming dark hardwood floors, and the classic chandelier that had lit the entryway was now made of sleek, modern metal.

The colorful rugs my mom had favored were gone, and in their place were understated neutrals.

“Uncle Anders?” I called out.

“In the kitchen!”

I veered left, finding the formal dining room had been opened to an updated kitchen complete with all new appliances, white cabinets, and a gunmetal-gray tile backsplash.

Anders paced behind the counter, his face looking even more gaunt than the last time I saw him.

He wore a pale green dress shirt as though he’d just come from the office, and his thinning hair stuck out at odd directions like he’d been running his hand through it.

“Oh, there you are,” he said as I entered, still as jumpy as ever. “Have a seat.” He motioned to one of the sleek barstools parked at the kitchen counter.

“Like what you’ve done with the place,” I said mildly as I slipped onto the chair.

“What? Oh, yeah, I guess you haven’t been here since….” He lifted a glass of water to his lips and took a big gulp. “The Foundation paid to have the place redone. Hired a very well-known designer. I didn’t really pick anything out. But it’s… nice.”

“It is,” I agreed. While I didn’t love the idea that it had been so easy to erase my parents and me from our home, I understood why. I wouldn’t have wanted to rattle around this big place with the ghosts of my Family either.

He eyed me nervously. “So, what’s going on?”

“I wanted to ask you what you knew about what my dad was working on before he was murdered,” I said. “And who else might’ve known about it.”

His blue eyes went wide. “Why? Did you….” He gasped. “Did you find the key to Jeff’s drive?”

My inquisitive stare turned suspicious. “What do you know about what was on Dad’s flash drive?”

He’d stopped his pacing, and he now gripped the counter so hard, his knuckles were white. “I told you, Jolie. I just know that Spencer wanted what was on it very badly.”

“I’m aware, Uncle. My question is about Dad’s last… project. You were on his research team. How much did he tell you guys? Who else would have known what he was working on? Would he have talked about his work with the other heads of the Families when they met?”

He shook his head, resuming his pacing. He grabbed another glass from a cabinet, and he flitted around the kitchen before sliding a glass of ice water in front of me.

“Jeff had been very… secretive with his work,” he told me. “It hadn’t gone unnoticed by the rest of Knight and the other Families.”

I took a sip of water. This was getting me nowhere. “But you don’t know what he was working on or who else he might’ve told about it?”

He stilled again, leaning forward on the counter to squint at me. “The answers are on Jeff’s drive, Jolie. So, you have to tell me if you unlocked it so we can make a plan. What did you find? Did you bring it with you? Where was the key?”

I shook my head. Why was he being so demanding about this? “No, I didn’t bring it with me.”

He slammed a hand down on the counter. “Where is it? Where’s the flash drive and the encryption key, Jolie?”

Finally, a little alarm bell went off in my head.

Confusion swirled around me. “Why do you need to know that, Uncle? I can tell you it’s safe. All of it. Spencer will never get his hands on it.”

Anders stared at me. The flighty nerves, the flop sweat, the skittishness—it had all been replaced by an almost manic look of determination.

“It would be better for both of us if you handed it over to me, Jolie. It would save us a lot of pain and heartache. So just tell me where you’re keeping the drive and the key. ”

“No.” My head was fuzzy, and I needed to get the fuck out of here.

“ Jolie .”

“No!” I barked, grabbing my backpack from the seat next to me. My gun was still tucked into the waistband of my pants under my sweatshirt, and I slid a knife from the pocket of my bag up under my sleeve. I hopped down from my chair, and the floor wobbled under my feet as I hit the ground.

What the fuck?

“Jolie, I’d advise you to sit back down. You might hurt yourself.”

This motherfucker had drugged me. I could feel it muddying my brain as I tried to steady myself.

This was bad.

The elevator dinged out in the foyer. I needed to pull my phone out of my pocket and call for help, but when four black-clad Enforcers—the personal guard that I’d allowed Anders to keep in my fucking tower—marched into the room, I needed to pull my gun from my pants more than I needed to grab my phone.

“Apprehend her, but keep her alive, please!” Anders yelled, still keeping the kitchen counter between all of us like the sniveling coward he was.

I whipped my gun out, taking aim at the first guy into the room. My bullet hit him in the side of the neck instead of the head like I’d intended, but the room was tilting on its axis, so I was lucky to hit him at all. He dropped, and I shot at the next guy, nailing him in the shoulder.

The third Enforcer fired at me, and I dove behind the dining room table.

“Alive!” Anders screeched.

I rolled, attempting an army crawl under the table. The two not dead or injured Enforcers rushed at me, throwing chairs out of the way on a mission to drag me out from under my hiding spot.

I flopped onto my side to let loose several shots in their direction, emptying my magazine. My aim was shit for a few reasons at this point, so they were able to duck away without being hit before one of them dove to the floor and grabbed my leg.

“Motherfucker,” I hissed, kicking him in the face with my free foot.

“Settle down, you little bitch,” he growled, yanking on my leg.

I dropped my gun before I shimmied my knife down from where it was tucked under my sleeve and into the palm of my hand. I whirled with as much force as I could muster, slashing violently down at where the asshole gripped me around my ankle.

“Fucking shit!” he screamed as my strike somehow landed exactly where it needed to. I’d sliced right through his wrist, and he was going to bleed out in short order unless his buddies switched their attention from me to him.

He released me and collapsed just in time for Enforcer Number Four to kick my knife from my hand and grab me by the arm, hauling me out from under the table.

“Damn, this one is fucking feral,” he grunted. “It’s over, girl.”

He swung a punch at my head that I managed to dodge, twisting my wrist from his grip and dropping to the floor. I crawled desperately toward where my knife had landed a few feet away, only to be jerked away again by my leg.

I rolled, kicking Mr. Bullet-in-his-Shoulder in the face. “Fuck!” he shouted as my sneaker crushed his nose, but he didn’t release me.

I screamed, kicking and flailing as my vision began to dim. Big hands held my legs still, and another set pinned my arms, and I knew before a fist flew at my head that they had me.

Pain exploded through my skull, and everything went black.