Page 138 of Wicked Empire (Knight's Ridge Empire 3)

“We’re not fucking dying, Princess. And I’m pretty sure you and Seb already claimed those titles.”

“Meh, we make our own rules here." I take his hand in mine and lead him back to the table. “You need to listen to the rest.”

“Fuck me.” He scrubs his hand over his face.

“Sorry, bro,“ Theo says with a wince. All of them watch us closely as we rejoin them.

“Go on then, hit me with it,” Toby demands once we’re seated again.

“You’re not Jonas’s only son.”

A bitter laugh falls from Toby’s lips as he presses his fingertips into his temples.

“Of course I’m not,” he mutters, his voice empty, like he’s got nothing left to give. “Let me guess. He’s a Reaper.”

“Bingo,” Seb says.

“Jesus.” Toby sucks in a couple of deep breaths before he sits forward and looks Theo dead in the eyes. “So what’s the plan? How and when are we killing these motherfuckers?”

And just like that, Toby sheds his soft skin and pulls his mask down.

“Waiting for word from the boss on when to strike. We’ll take Joker out—”

“Wait,” Alex says, lifting a hand to pause Theo. “Joker?”

“Yep.”

“He was at Helen’s funeral,” Nico adds.

“Right under our fucking noses,” Theo hisses.

“He even spoke to me,” I confess, making Seb jolt in surprise.

“He fucking what?”

“When I was coming out of the bathroom with Calli and Emmie. We walked into him and he spoke to me. Normal as fuck. Didn’t really think anything of it. Can’t even remember what he said.”

“Cheeky fuck.”

“I saw him the night of the fight, too.”

“Is there any times you haven’t fucking seen him, Hellion?” Seb snaps, clearly pissed that I didn’t confess to all of this.

“It didn’t seem important. He was just a no one. If I suspected anything then—”

“We know, Stella,” Theo assures me, cutting Seb off before he can argue. “What happened before doesn’t matter. The only thing we need to focus on is what happens next. This ends. Right fucking now."

* * *

My dad joined us a few minutes later, telling Theo and Nico that Damien wanted them, and after checking that both Toby and I were okay, he disappeared behind them, leaving the rest of us to sit and wait it out. And tidy up, because Toby had made one hell of a fucking mess.

I swear to God that it’s one of the longest days of my freaking life.

We had a good clue as to what they were all discussing, but fuck, it took forever. As far as I could see, all we needed to agree on was that we were going to find the two fucks and put a bullet between each of their brows.

I guess it wasn’t actually that simple.

Calli came back at some point, looked between us all and correctly read our grim expressions.