Page 87 of A Knight’s Revenge: The Complete Series

CHAPTER FIVE

BENNETT

I ’d once thought that the day I publicly rebuked the Spencer Family—if it ever came at all—would be accompanied by feelings of terror, apprehension, and guilt.

I assumed that if I ever decided to stand against my father, I’d still have doubts lurking in the back of my mind like a disease, telling me that I wasn’t doing the right thing—that Spencer was still my future if I would just be patient and hold on for better days.

I felt none of those things as I strode into the dining hall on Friday morning with Jolie’s smaller hand tucked into mine.

As soon as we’d begun our walk from her dorm apartment to Holywell Hall, I laced my fingers firmly through hers in a way that dared her to argue with me.

She’d raised an eyebrow at me, but the smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth told me all I needed to know.

Zach and Noah had fallen in behind us after tossing identical understanding looks my way.

This was my first open declaration of “fuck you” to my father, and I was so damn proud to be doing it with Jolie Knight’s hand in mine.

The best friend he’d taken from me just so he could steal her Family’s legacy while he pretended they’d done something to deserve it.

The innocent little girl he’d tried to murder while he acted like Spencer stood for anything other than unchecked corruption and greed .

The now grown woman who was back to take everything from him.

“ Holy shit, they’re back ,” someone whispered loudly from one of the long banquet tables stationed closest to the door. Every eye in the room hit the four of us, and the loud hum of chatter cut off instantly as we made our way down the long aisle toward the front of the hall.

It didn’t take long for our nosy classmates to spot Jolie’s hand in mine, and the furious whispers began.

“Looks like we’re caught,” Jolie murmured as we walked, her head held high and her gorgeous eyes scanning the room with cool intensity like the queen she was. “I suggest you warn your groupies that I have a knife in my boot and am feeling extra stabby today.”

“Behave yourself, Angel,” I chided her, stifling a smile and the beginnings of an erection while Zach and Noah both chuckled behind us. “Everyone here will understand that you’re mine in short order.”

“Ours,” Zach said.

“Ours,” I agreed.

Jolie squeezed my hand affectionately, and I felt like I could fly.

I’d never been more content in my entire life than I had been when I woke this morning to find my Angel sleeping peacefully in my arms, her white-blonde hair fanned across the tattoo on my bare chest that I wore in her honor.

Noah had wrapped himself around her back, their legs intertwined, while Zach had starfished out in the rest of the open mattress space of Jolie’s giant bed, all of us too tired after the events of the past two days to do anything but pass out in a pile after we’d gotten back to campus last night.

I was relieved to discover that not only was I unbothered by the presence of other men in bed with my girl, but that it felt right . Because it was us—the Heirs, my brothers and me and the love of our lives—all together again.

This was my Family.

I led the group up to our familiar table on the raised dais, and Jolie shot me a questioning glance.

“I threatened the dining manager within an inch of his life,” I replied casually. “I want them all to see you up here with us.”

As we ascended the stairs, the whispering around us intensified.

I pulled a chair from the head of the table for Jolie, and she smirked at my chivalry, patting my suited chest as she pranced past me, her hips swaying in her tight jeans in a way that had all three of us staring at her ass in front of the entire school.

Before she could sit down, I grabbed her chin and brought her lips to mine, and I drank in her little moan like it was the finest wine.

The ear-splitting shriek that sounded from the front tables was as predictable as it was obnoxious.

“Bennett!” Harper screeched as she marched toward the dais. “What do you think you’re doing? We are engaged !” She waved her ringed hand around like we all needed the reminder, while her right hand hung limp at her side, her broken wrist encased in a white cast.

Jolie blew out a frustrated breath, and I kept my possessive grip on her chin as I smiled down at her. “I apologize, Angel.” I made sure my voice carried to the front tables. “Let me take care of this. I’ll just be a minute.”

The pleased flush that hit her pale, freckled cheeks made everything worth it.

I spun on my heel and stepped to the edge of the dais, ensuring that Harper remained on the floor below me and did not have the chance to start marching up the short stairs.

“Bennett, we have a contract !” she squawked, coming to an abrupt halt at my feet. “You cannot seriously be taking up with that vulgar bitch! I won’t allow it. My father won’t allow it!”

“ Quiet ,” I barked, and the entire hall went eerily silent.

“Bennett—”

“I said, quiet. ” I peered down my nose at her, channeling my father whenever he wanted to make someone feel particularly small. “You dare insult an Heir of the Four Families of Saint Gabriel City?”

She gaped at me for a fraction of a second before she stood taller, her usual self-important air returning. “I would never insult you, Bennett. You’re my future husband. I was talking about that skank?—”

“Do not finish that sentence,” I said, keeping a deceptively even tone. “You do not insult the Knight Heir. You do not even look at her. She is so far above you that you’re lucky— all of you are lucky—to even be allowed to breathe the same air as her.”

“Man, he always has to one-up us,” Zach muttered behind me .

“Shh,” Jolie whispered. “I love all my presents from you guys, and this one has been a long time coming.”

It sure had, and I was such a stubborn fucking idiot for taking this long.

“Bennett, I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” Harper seethed below me. “But I think you’ve forgotten we have a legal, binding contract. We’re getting married, and we’re going to rule this City together .”

“I have some news about that, actually, Harper,” I replied. “The marriage contract in question was between you and the Spencer Heir. As of this morning, I’ve resigned from Spencer and am no longer the Heir. My father has been notified, and our contract is now null and void.”

“He did what ?” Jolie hissed behind me.

“His father was going to find out soon enough, sweetheart,” Noah murmured.

And I was only sorry I hadn’t been a fly on the wall when Elise undoubtedly delivered my terse message over my father’s morning coffee.

I let an amused smile play across my lips as I said to Harper, “Unless, of course, my father finds a new Heir. I suspect he’ll be in the market for one, and you’re more than welcome to chase whoever that unfortunate soul is for the status bump you’re so pathetically desperate for.”

Snickers sounded from the crowd, and Harper was back to fish-mouthed gaping at me, like what I was saying to her just didn’t compute.

I was sure it didn’t—she was the type of highest Tier heir who’d never been told no with respect to anything ever in her life, and I was thrilled to be the first person to toss that bucket of ice water on her head.

I hoped it was as cold as the Obsidian River in December.

I regarded her coolly. “Was there anything else you needed, Harper? My breakfast is getting cold, and I’d like to spend some time with my girlfriend before class.”

Her stunned silence continued. The color had drained from her face that was at first flushed with rage and now pale with shock.

I gave her my back, ready to move on from this bullshit forever, when she finally sputtered, “You can’t just resign as an Heir!

That’s ridiculous, Bennett. You’re a Spencer . ”

I glanced at Jolie where she leaned casually against the front of our table, watching, with Zach and Noah pressed in tight on either side of her, and the warm smile full of love she beamed my way was like nothing I’d ever felt in my entire life.

My Angel was here with me—with us —and we were going to face this cruel fucking City together.

I tossed a careless look over my shoulder at Harper. “No. I’m a Knight.”

It only took until the end of the lunch hour for the other shoe to drop.

The four of us had exited the dining hall to the usual stares and whispers, Jolie and I heading to crew practice, Zach to the gym, and Noah to his Friday afternoon office hours, when Dean Jansen stepped into our path.

“Your parents are here,” she said, her words brisk and peevish. “I have taken the liberty of clearing the library and reserving the largest conference room there for your meeting.” She paused, her pursed lips contorting as her gaze landed on Jolie. “You are not invited, Miss Knight.”

I wrapped an arm around Jolie’s waist, and she leaned into my body as she stared down the Dean of Holywell Academy like she was nothing.

Zach chuckled from her other side, lifting the hand that held hers to place a delicate kiss to her wrist. Noah sighed from my left, lifting his phone to his face to check the time like this whole thing was an annoying inconvenience.

“I think we both know I’ll be going wherever I’d like, whenever I’d like, Dean Jansen,” Jolie said lightly.

“Unless you’d like to see what kind of challenge campus security wants to give me?

Might be fun, but it would make a pretty nasty mess, and the boys here would be late to their meeting.

They’re just as bloodthirsty as I am, and we’ve all had a rough few days. ”

“Miss Knight, such threats are uncalled for,” the dean snapped. “This is a Family matter, not a Holywell matter, and it is not campus security you should be concerned about.”

Zach snickered. “Should we tell the good dean here what you did to the best Enforcers in Ferrero two nights ago, Princess?”

Jolie gave him an indulgent smile. “None of it was as beautifully brutal as what you did to your mom’s bodyguard, Zach. I still have a picture of his mutilated corpse on my phone. Should we show the dean?”

I coughed, but then I remembered I didn’t give a fuck about decorum anymore.

Dean Jansen’s face turned whiter than her daughter’s had when I’d dismissed her in front of the entire school this morning. “That’s… q-quite enough,” she sputtered. “I suggest you do not keep the heads of the Families waiting.”

We watched as she stalked away, her cream pantsuit swishing with her hurried steps. I sighed, still clinging to Jolie, and I looked each member of my Family in the eyes.

“It’s time,” I said. “We’ll give them the meeting they want, and then there’s no going back.”

They each nodded, smirks and bored looks wiped away. Only steely determination remained.

We made the ten-minute trek across the quad in silence, and the bright sun of the warm spring afternoon failed to burn away the dark cloud that descended over me as we neared the library.

I would face my father for the first time since I’d found out the depraved reason he murdered the Knights and took my Angel from me, and it would take all of my strength not to end him where he stood.

The Holywell Academy library was once a cathedral that held Catholic mass nightly before money became the one true religion of Saint Gabriel City.

We entered the arched wooden doors and processed single file down the aisle, Jolie leading despite the dark look I gave her when my instincts screamed that she do otherwise—which she ignored.

The rows of long study tables had been deserted, the dimly lit chandeliers that hung from the vaulted ceiling above them glinting in the bright light that streamed through the stained-glass windows.

At the back of the library, what once had been the altar was now closed off with a wooden door that led to study rooms and the largest conference room on campus.

Four Enforcers stood sentry there, and I recognized one of them as part of my father’s detail .

As we neared, the Enforcer stationed in front of the door barked, “This is a closed meeting, Heirs only?—”

Without breaking stride, Jolie reached behind her to pull two daggers from the pockets of her little black backpack and launched them at the Enforcer who’d spoken, pinning him to the door by his shoulders like a butterfly to a board.

“Fuck me, I’m so turned on,” Zach muttered. Noah and I grunted in agreement as we hurried after her.

Our sweet little best friend had risen from the grave deadly as a viper and sexy as fucking sin. It was a miracle the three of us could ever manage to focus on anything else while in her presence.

The impaled Enforcer shouted in panic as the other three shook themselves from their shock and reached for their weapons. Zach, Noah, and I drew our own pistols before they could, and they froze, wide-eyed and inexplicably confused by our hostility.

It seemed our parents hadn’t been truthful even with the people tasked to keep them safe.

“Release those magazines, boys,” Jolie commanded. “This isn’t a friendly meeting.”

They did as they were told, but only after Noah buried a bullet in the wood an inch from butterfly-guy’s ear.

Once they’d disarmed their own weapons, Zach and I made quick work of the four of them, leaving them huddled on the floor, pissed off, with their hands cuffed behind their backs.

“It’s been a pleasure, Sanders,” I said to the man I recognized from my father’s team as I stood from my crouch next to him. “Don’t get any ideas.”

“So, it really is true, then?” He wrinkled his nose in disgust as he shook his head. “You’ve turned on Spencer.”

I stared down at him, blank mask in place. “It turned on me first.”

He scoffed before muttering under his breath, “Must be some pussy.”

“Uh-oh,” Noah said while Zach let out a snort, the two of them flanking Jolie by the door.

I pulled my pistol from my suit jacket and fired a single bullet into Sanders’ kneecap, shattering it instantly. He let out a pained roar, and the rest of the group began shouting in alarm, struggling with their restraints .

“Anyone else have anything smart to say?” I asked them in a bored voice.

They quieted, and I tucked my gun away. I joined my Family by the door, taking a second to steal a scorching kiss from my Angel.

“God, you’re fucking hot,” she murmured against my lips.

I smirked. “And you’re fucking mine. Let’s go inform my father.”