Page 32 of King of Ashes (Kingdom of Sinners #4)

With a nod to my guards, the door to the adjacent room opens. Our captured attacker is secured to a chair, his broken arm hanging uselessly at his side. In my absence, it appears my brothers had to enact some discipline as new bright red blood drips on his face.

Two more bodies lie on the floor, covered with sheets. I pull back the fabric to reveal Carson's lifeless face, a bullet hole centered perfectly between his eyes.

"Recognize your head of security?" I ask Hampton.

The color drains from his face. "Carson was supposed to be in Miami."

"He was supposed to kill me and my brothers. Instead, he's dead. Along with his men."

I move to stand before our living captive, drawing my knife. The polished blade catches the light as I turn it slowly.

"I want you both to watch carefully," I tell the Keans. "Because this is what happens to anyone who thinks they can take what belongs to me."

The man in the chair struggles against his restraints. It’s the first sign of fear from him since he barged into my office thinking he could kill me and my brothers. "Mr. Kean, don't let him?—"

I press the knife against his throat, silencing him. "You have one chance to tell me who else is involved. One chance to make this quick."

Fear finally breaks through his bravado. "There are others besides Mr. Kean. Powerful people who don't want the Ifrinns back in control."

"Names," I demand, increasing the pressure.

"I can't—they'll kill my family."

I lean closer, voice dropping to a whisper. "I'll kill them myself if you don't start talking. Right after I finish with you."

The prisoner's confession spills out between gasps and pleas. Names of Hampton's loyal captains, details of safe houses, offshore accounts I hadn't known about. And two families who are providing support until Hampton is freed.

Hampton's face grows increasingly ashen as his empire's secrets are laid bare.

When I've heard enough, I nod to Blaise. He drags our informant away for further questioning, leaving me alone with the Keans.

"You won't get away with this," Hampton snarls, but the fear in his eyes betrays him.

I lean against the wall, studying them. "I already have."

Lana rises suddenly, her composure cracking. "We had a deal! We gave you our daughter!"

"You offered her as a sacrifice," I correct her coldly. "Like she's nothing more than property to be traded."

Hampton joins his wife, desperation making him bold. "We upheld our end of the bargain. Keira agreed to marry you. That was the arrangement for mercy."

"Mercy?" I laugh.

"You promised to spare our lives," Lana insists. "Yet you keep us locked in this… this dungeon."

I push off the wall, moving closer until only inches separate us.

"Let me be clear. Your lives were forfeit the moment you murdered my parents.

The only reason you're still breathing is because I want the world to see the great Hampton Kean brought down.

Imprisoned by the justice system he thought he controlled. "

"We gave you Keira," Hampton repeats, as if that should absolve them of everything.

"You didn't give me anything," I growl. "She chose to save your worthless lives. And every day, I wonder why she bothered."

The truth is, I wonder the same about myself. Why didn't I just put bullets in their heads the moment we took the house? Or have let Ash do it. It would have been cleaner. Simpler.

But not nearly as satisfying as watching them suffer.

I turn my back on the Keans, taking a few steps away before pivoting to face them again.

My patience wears thin with their pathetic attempts to bargain.

"Let me make something perfectly clear. Every breath you take is a mercy you don't deserve.

Your lives hang by the thinnest thread. One I could snap with a single word. "

Hampton's face contorts with rage, but fear keeps him silent. Lana clutches his arm, her knuckles white.

"The federal charges alone will put you away for decades," I continue. "Tax evasion. Racketeering. Murder. But prison might be the kindest fate awaiting you. There are many families eager to settle old scores once word spreads of your… vulnerability."

"You wouldn't," Lana whispers.

I smile coldly. "I wouldn't have to. Your enemies will find you with or without my help."

Hampton steps forward. "Then kill us and be done with it. Why this charade?"

"Because death would be too quick. Too merciful. I want you to live long enough to lose everything. Your empire. Your reputation. Your freedom. Just like you took everything from my family."

Lana suddenly breaks, tears streaming down her face. "At least spare Keira from your games. She's innocent in all this."

I study her carefully, surprised by this sudden maternal concern.

In all our interactions, the Keans have treated their daughter as nothing more than a bargaining chip.

I remember how she used to talk about how invisible she felt with her family.

How they were so focused on money and status.

Only Ronan got any attention because he was the son.

"Since when do you care what happens to Keira?" I ask. "You offered her up without hesitation to save yourselves."

Something flickers across Hampton's face. A look I can't quite decipher. Guilt? Fear? Something deeper?

"She's our daughter," he says stiffly.

"Your daughter.” I sense there's more to their relationship with Keira than I've understood. "What aren't you telling me about her?"

Hampton and Lana exchange a look that sets my teeth on edge.

"We knew about you two," Hampton finally says, his voice oddly resigned. "Did you really think you were being so clever, sneaking around our property? Helping her sneak out to be with you?"

"You knew?"

"Of course we knew," Lana says with a dismissive wave. "A mother always knows when her daughter is in love."

“I could have stopped it, you know,” Hampton says with more bravado than he’s had since I locked him up.

“Didn’t you, though?” I remember Keira telling me he’d put guards on her to keep her from seeing me. From warning me. Was that a lie?

“Not until your father disrespected me by saying Keira wasn’t suitable for you.” Hampton’s face burns with hate. "He wouldn’t allow his precious heir to marry a Kean? He despised me. Thought I was beneath him."

I knew my father wouldn’t have wanted Keira for me, but I’d planned to talk to him. Surely, he’d let me marry her for love. But Hampton took that away from me.

"He saw you for exactly what you are," I spit back. "A treacherous, power-hungry snake who'd betray his closest allies for a chance to climb higher."

"Your father was an arrogant fool," Hampton sneers. "He believed in outdated codes of honor while the world changed around him. I offered him partnership, a true partnership, business and family, and he rejected me."

"So you murdered him?" The rage burns hot in my chest. "You killed my parents, tried to kill all of us because my father wouldn't bow to you?"

Lana steps forward. "It wasn't personal, Phoenix. It was business."

"Business? You burned my family alive. You tried to kill children. My brothers were teenagers!"

"A necessary evil," Hampton says coldly. "Your father left us no choice."

"There's always a choice," I growl. "And you made yours. Now you'll live with the consequences."

“You never could see your father for who he truly was,” Hampton says with frustrated anger.

“I’m the one who pushed for you to be with Keira.

It’s your father who refused. He was insulted by the mere suggestion.

Said his son would never marry a Kean. He didn’t give a fuck about what you wanted, Phoenix, and I’m the bad guy? "

I realize finally that my father did know about Keira and me.

I hadn’t talked to him, but the Keans had, and he’d dismissed her without even asking me about her.

My father, whom I'd idolized, whom I'd spent a decade avenging, had been dismissive of what Keira and I shared. Sure, I knew he wanted to find me a wife from a family that could help expand his business, but surely, he’d have supported my love for Keira.

"That doesn't justify murder," I manage. I pull myself together. “So you got Keira to help you.”

Lana’s brows furrow. “Help us what?”

“Don’t bother.” Hampton gives me a look of distaste and pulls his wife back deeper into the room. “He’s set in his thinking. Let’s just bide our time until…”

“Until what?”

He shrugs. “You kill us or send us to jail.” He sits on the cot, tugging Lana to sit next to him. It could be that he’s given up, but I don’t buy it. He’s toying with me. He knows something.

There are voices outside in the hall. Ash pokes his head out and then comes to me. “The wives are back from their outing.”

I turn back to the Keans, frustration burning through me. There's more to this story and I'm certain they're still hiding crucial pieces. Just like Keira is hiding something.

"This isn't over," I promise them, already moving toward the door.

"What about Keira? Can we see her?” Lana asks.

I pause at the threshold. Turning back, I fix them with a cold stare. "Don't worry. You'll see her again on our wedding day."

“I could help her with the plans.”

I shake my head. “Keira is quite capable of making the plans.”

“What about Brigit?” she asks.

The question catches me off guard. In all our confrontations, they've never once mentioned the girl. Why now?

"Your god-daughter? Why the sudden concern?"

Something passes between them, a look loaded with meaning I can't quite decipher. Hampton recovers quickly, his expression smoothing into practiced neutrality.

"She's just a child," he says evenly. "Innocent in all this."

"Like my brothers were innocent?" I counter.

"Phoenix, whatever you think of us, Brigit is precious to this family. To Keira especially."