Page 94 of A Knight’s Revenge: The Complete Series
Noah whirled, pulling both of his pistols from where he wore them under his suit. A quick glance over my shoulder revealed that the janitor bitch had unlocked the emergency stairwell door, and half a dozen more non-disguised Enforcers had entered the hall.
“Kill the girl. We need the Heirs alive!” one of them shouted as they began to rush forward, weapons raised.
Max laid down cover fire as Noah squared up, taking out two of the invaders with clean headshots right off the bat. The others scattered, and we used the lull to sprint out into the large circular television studio.
We found Lucinda Montgomery, Raif’s mom and legacy Tier One heir to the Montgomery Star Media Empire, cowering behind the plush sofa where she interviewed her guests, her two camera men with her.
“What is going on?” she cried. “Are those gunshots?”
No one answered her, the five of us fanning out into the wide room and readying ourselves for battle.
“Stay down!” Bennett ordered as he flipped the long metal table sitting along the wall onto its side, spilling coffee service and pastries across the floor. “And roll the cameras!”
Bennett ducked behind the table, and Jojo and I were quick to join him. Noah had taken up a post behind the couch opposite Lucinda, and he now had the best sight line to the door. Max was shouting into his earpiece, which meant the fun was really about to start.
I shot my own message to my team, darting a quick look out of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the studio, the midmorning sun giving us a technicolor view of the City streets four floors below. “We’ve got eyes on the building’s entrance,” I announced. “In case there’s a second wave.”
“There will be,” Bennett replied, grim, and Jojo just nodded like that was a given.
“Someone fucking leaked,” she muttered as she checked her magazine and shoved it back into her gun. “The Montgomerys have a mole.”
“A dead one,” I grunted.
Just as the Enforcers streamed out of the hall and into the studio, guns blazing, a loud crack sounded, and the glass window behind the couches shattered in an explosion of glass.
Martinez and Rocky flew into the room, abandoning their perch on the window-washing platform outside.
“They really tried it, huh?” Rocky shouted as Martinez and Max managed to tackle two of the Enforcers to the ground. Rocky popped off a shot at another guy who dove out of the way, sliding across the floor and coming to a stop in front of our table.
I kissed my girl’s cheek before I said, “I’m taking this one, Princess. Be safe.”
Then I vaulted over the table and pounced on the guy as he scrambled for his gun.
Chaos ensued. I made quick work of my captive, and it didn’t take much longer for the others to do the same. Jojo dropped the last guy, who’d turned to take aim at me where I crouched over the body of his buddy, with a perfect shot to the head.
“Is that all of them?” she asked as we all stood dusting ourselves off.
“In here, yes,” Bennett replied, tucking his firearm away as he made his way over to check on Lucinda and her crew.
Shots rang out from the streets outside, and we realized Noah had disappeared out onto Martinez and Rocky’s platform.
I jogged over to stick my head out of the shattered window. “How many are in the second wave?” I shouted at him.
He fired down at the street below. “I got three, and I’m pretty sure Dom got at least five from the patio of the restaurant across the street.”
Jolie appeared next to me, surveying the street with a critical eye. She had blood spattered up her arm that was not hers, and her once perfectly curled hair was wild around her gorgeous face. “And Dom thought he was going to get to eat brunch over there undisturbed.”
An ear-splitting scream rang out, and a black-clad body fell from the floor above us, dropping right in front of our window and heading for a very painful end on the pavement below.
“What the—” Jolie began, when another body sailed past us, meeting a similar fate.
I snorted. “Yeah, I figured Frankie might be here somewhere. He’s both always around and never around, somehow.”
She just nodded sagely. “Right.”
Max stuck his head out of the adjacent shattered window. “Got the all-clear. Mrs. Montgomery is freaking out, so you should probably let her know if you still want to do the interview.”
Jojo snorted. “Fuck yeah, I do. The Families sent the cavalry in here to stop me from doing that exact thing. They don’t get to win this one.”
Noah climbed back in through the window, and as his feet hit the studio floor, I turned to press my girl right up against him, her back hitting his chest. He held her tight as I smashed my lips to hers, my adrenaline still pumping and making me horny as fuck.
“Go get ’em, Princess. I’ll try not to mount you on that couch in front of everyone, but it’s going to be a fucking test of self-control. ”
She moaned as Noah dragged his lips up the column of her pale, delicate neck. “It is such a shame,” he said softly. “You’re so sexy when you’re in warrior mode, and it’s never convenient for us to fuck you afterward like we’re dying to.”
“Ugh, stop it, you two,” she whined, all the while fisting my dress shirt in her wandering little hand and leaning into where Noah nuzzled at her neck. “I have to get my game face on.”
“She’s right. Let her go, you horny fucks,” Bennett groused as he approached. He yanked Jojo away, grasped her face in both hands to lay a greedy kiss on her lips like a hypocritical dick, then led her to the couch.
Then we sat on that couch, all four of us still dirty and bloody from the brazen attack on our girl by the Families, as Jojo told her story to Lucinda while the cameras rolled.
She reminded the world of what she’d witnessed when she was eleven years old, and this time, the three of us were there to confirm, on the record, that we saw it too.
She described the discovery of her dad’s miraculene breakthrough and Anders’ confession of the true motive behind the Knights’ murder. The wide-eyed, confused look she’d given Lucinda when she asked if Jojo knew the whereabouts of her uncle now was a very nice touch.
Finally, she laid out what she’d done with her dad’s research by taking the biggest tech discovery of the decade and essentially giving it away for free to research universities while also starting the largest scholarship program for low-income students in the world.
Bennett, Noah, and I took turns describing the decaying state of our Families, our love for Jolie, and the “horrific attack” we’d suffered only minutes prior to the interview, which Lucinda promised would be spliced together with the footage of Spencer lackeys invading the studio like locusts.
By the end of the hour, the Families looked like despicable, desperate pretenders, while Jolie looked like the righteous angel not to be fucked with that she was .
“Thank you, Miss Knight,” Lucinda gushed as we wrapped. “This is going to be a look at the Families that no one has ever been privy to before.”
Jolie eyed her coolly, her congenial interview persona now nowhere to be found.
“Lucinda, you have a rat in your house. No one outside of my team or yours knew I would be here today and for what reason. However, the Families not only knew, but they were also able to get past your paltry security with a weak disguise. It’s unacceptable. ”
Lucinda gulped. “I…. It couldn’t have been one of ours.”
“It certainly wasn’t one of ours,” Bennett replied, and she wilted under his stony glare.
When her eyes darted my way, I gave her my chilliest smirk. “I suggest you find the rat and have him or her delivered to Knight Tower in short order, or we’ll let Frankie Fingers comb through the entire company himself.”
She paled, nodding mutely.
“Excellent,” Noah said with his bright smile. “It’s been a pleasure, Lucinda. We’ll have our cleanup crew invoice you once they’re finished here.”
With that, we left the studio. I drove us back to the Academy in my Ferrari, Noah and Bennett both declining to ride shotgun so they could wrap themselves around Jojo in my tiny backseat.
No one spoke, and I cast glances in my rearview mirror the entire drive, drawing comfort from the image of them huddled together, my brothers and my girl, as the events of the day finally settled over all of us like the crushing weight they were.
Reality sank into my skin, hardening me from the inside out.
When this whole thing was over, my mom would be dead.
It was the only way I wouldn’t lose my girl again—this time, for good.