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35

KNIGHT

It wasn’t very often someone got the drop on me, but I also hadn’t expected my old man to knock his own son out. So, when I was attacked from behind, it took me off guard.

“This is the way it has to be,” Michael snarled.

“Always the fucking martyr, aren’t you?” I laughed as blood dripped from my lip. I fought against the men restraining me, trying my damndest to break free of their hold so I could help the only brother I had left, but my head was swimming with dizziness after I’d been knocked out. I fought back as much as I could, but there were too many of them.

“You wanted this,” Michael snarled. “I fucking warned both of you that this wouldn’t turn out the way you wanted, but you wouldn’t back off.”

“And now you’re going to finish it,” I choked out a laugh. Fuck, I was never going to see Kate again. I knew it was a possibility. The risks I was taking were steep, but it was for my brother, a man I hadn’t known shared the same blood as me until a year ago. And Isabelle…there would be no peace for her until this was over.

My father’s wisened eyes crinkled slightly as he looked me over. “You always were the strongest of my sons,” he said quietly. “Rafe was wild and followed in my footsteps. Cash is the only one with a moral compass. But you…I always knew you had it in you to change the world. I just never thought it would come to this.”

“To murder?” I growled, wishing I could break free of the men holding me and thrust my knife into my old man’s throat.

Betrayer.

I’d been warned about this. I knew it might happen, but I also assumed I would be able to take him out first. I hadn’t planned on the army that stormed in and took over.

“Murder? I wouldn’t call it that. We regulate the world,” he said stiffly. “Without us, governments would do whatever the fuck they wanted. Cartels would run wild. Despite what you may think, there’s a reason for what we do.”

We. He was one of them. This whole fucking time, Cash assumed Michael was trying to help him. We knew he might have been involved, but this…

“Who is we?”

He stiffened slightly, his eyes flicking around the room.

“Can’t even fucking own up to it?” I snorted. “After all this time…you’re holding all the power here. You have me where you want me. You could put a fucking bullet in my head, but you’re too fucking afraid of me?”

“Afraid is not something I’ve ever felt before.”

There was truth to his words, but I saw the flicker of guilt in his eyes. He liked to think he did what was needed and ignored the rest of the world, but that had cost his daughter thirteen fucking years of her life. There was no way that didn’t fuck with his head.

“I deserve to fucking know who my father betrayed us for,” I snarled. “After all these years playing the good guy—sacrificing his life for the greater good,” I laughed. “That’s what you wanted everyone to think, right? This was all some game to you, and now everyone you claim to love will know it. Tell me, does Claire know about your betrayal? Does she know that you handed her daughter over to a monster?”

His eyes flicked uneasily. “That was never supposed to happen.”

“But it did.”

“Enough!” another man snapped, walking up beside my old man. Dressed in a suit, he looked every bit the part of a respectable businessman. But I could see the snake underneath the suit. I’d been looking for reptiles like him my whole life. “End this,” the man said, handing over a gun.

Michael took the gun from him and racked the slide. His eyes met mine with a cross between fury and hatred. Good. I felt the same fucking thing right now.

“He needs to know,” Michael answered, his eyes boring into mine. “Before I pull the trigger, he will understand who I am—why I need to end this.”

“Really fucking heart-wrenching,” I snapped. “Be sure to send a card to my wife and kids. I’m sure your grandkids will understand when they’re old enough.”

“It was never supposed to be like this,” he argued. “If only you and your brother had left well enough alone. But you kept fucking pushing, and now you’re going to find out why.”

“Because you’re a self-serving asshole.”

The man behind me kicked my knee, sending me to the ground. I bit back a groan as my kneecap hit the concrete and sent pain radiating through my bones. I would never let my old man see me hurting, not for anything.

He strode forward, the gun gripped loosely in his hand. “If you and your brother had only left us alone,” he repeated. “And then Kavanaugh…” He laughed humorlessly at that.

“Yeah, you really had Cash going with that one,” I laughed humorlessly. “You can talk just about anyone into doing your dirty work.”

“You always refuse to see the bigger picture,” he sighed. “It happened with Kate—when she contracted the virus. You didn’t see what we were trying to do, and you never would have understood.”

What they were trying to do… “What the fuck are you talking about?”

He was the one who got the information to Blake. He stopped evil men from taking out an innocent woman and child, then got the necessary information to Blake so she could pursue the committee responsible for unleashing the virus on the American people. But I kept my mouth shut, unsure of where he was going with this.

“Everything is so black and white to you,” he chuckled.

Behind him, men emerged from another room, each of them dressed the same as the stupid fuck who handed him the gun to kill me. I watched them file in line behind Michael, standing stoically before me.

Michael spread his arms wide, motioning to all the men around him. There had to be thirty of them. “We are the Shadow Government. We control everything going on around the world. That firefight in Peru? That wasn’t just rebels fighting back. The drugs running rampant in Venezuela? Put there to strategically maneuver our men into position. The religious wars in the Middle East?” He shook his head, his eyes narrowing on me. “We’ve been around since before you were born. Hell, since before I was born. We control the world’s leaders, maneuvering them like chess pieces. There is not a single major headline in the world right now that wasn’t somehow created or strategically positioned for the benefit of our group. For the good of the entire world.”

My heart hammered in my chest as I realized the implications behind what he was saying. When I thought the government was screwing us over, it went so much deeper than that.

“The men in my unit,” I choked out.

“Killed for the cause,” he answered.

“And the Senators behind it?”

“Put in place because we knew before they did what greed would do to them. They were never fighting for a noble cause. They were money-hungry bastards who only saw dollar signs. The lives of those soldiers was the cost.”

“And you fucking knew it,” I snapped. “You let good men be killed, and for what?”

“To keep the balance,” he answered simply. “Everything comes at a cost. Whether it’s one life or a hundred, there will always be a price for freedom.”

“What freedom? You manipulate everyone!” I shouted. “You play us like puppets!”

“Because it’s what needs to be done.” He glanced down at my brother, still passed out on the floor. “He will either join us or he’ll suffer the same fate as you.”

“Then put the fucking bullet in my head right fucking now. Be the father I always knew you were. More interested in furthering your own agenda than ever being the man who stood for right and wrong.”

A smirk tilted his lips, but again, the guilt in his eyes shone bright. I just couldn’t put my finger on why. But slowly, his face grew serious again. “It was why I knew I had to distance myself from you. You could never be turned. Not even when Kate was taken from you. I found that out the hard way. But Cash…”

His eyes flicked down to his other son.

“With the right leverage, Cash can be turned. All it took was one simple request.”

Rage was boiling under my skin at the implications of his words, but I needed to hear it for myself. “What request was that?”

“All it took was whispering in his ear,” he answered, his voice drifting off. “Rafe did all the hard work for me. He went to the island. He got himself taken and got on Zavala’s bad side by beating his wife—your sister. And when he was about to be burned alive, all I had to do was ask for one simple thing.”

I swallowed hard, my gaze drifting to Cash’s prone body. “You asked him to shoot Rafe.”

He nodded. “He couldn’t stand to see his brother suffer. It’s amazing what a little plea like that will do. The guilt was eating him alive. He would do anything to get revenge for what happened to his brother, and in search of the answers he so desperately craves, I’ve managed to turn the tides in my favor.”

“Seems maybe a good initiation would be to have Cash shoot his brother,” the man next to my father said. “Have him prove himself. Otherwise, we’ll never truly know if he’s on our side.”

Michael stiffened, but agreed. “Get him tied up. We leave in ten.”

Then he turned on his heel and walked away. I was yanked to my feet as two of the men grabbed Cash. I knew there was no way I was getting out of here, but the rage burning in my gut made it impossible not to attempt to escape. With the last bit of energy I had, I snapped my head back and hit the man behind me in the face. I swung hard to my right, slamming my fist into the man next to me, but another of the suits was already on me, tackling me to the ground. With a quick twist, I wrapped my leg around his waist and spun him over. I didn’t bother with fighting. I grabbed his head and twisted hard, snapping his neck.

A hard boot hit my side, cracking my rib. Grunting in pain, I fought through the nausea rolling in my stomach and kicked out, but I wasn’t fast enough. A meaty fist slammed into the side of my face over and over until I collapsed on the ground. Blood pooled in my mouth as another boot slammed into my side.

Black spots filled my vision as I laid on the ground, staring at my brother. He was still out cold, and I might never get the chance to tell him he was fucking wrong.

He should have called Eva.

I should have never gotten involved.