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“Ever since I brought her back you have played the savior and tried to intervene at every turn, why?”
Taylan drops the fried rice container and closes the space between him and I, getting nose to nose with me. Xander shifts, ready to step between us if he has to.
“What are you going to do if those records come back saying she did lose her memory and you were wrong all these years, huh?” The fucker doesn’t give me a chance to answer. “How are you going to be able to live with the guilt knowing you thought the worst of the person you were supposed to love most in this world and left her alone to be used and manipulated by her father? I mean, if they come back and show she is faking it, why not just sell her off to Gio? Get rid of her once and for all.” Without thinking my hand wraps around his throat and I drive him back until he smacks into the fridge with a grunt. Xander grabs at me but I shake him off. I open my mouth but no words come out. Tay shakes his head and shoves me off him. Stumbling back a step, I catch myself on the edge of the counter. “Decide now what your fucking choice is before you find out the truth. If it says what I think it does and one day she does remember everything, this will be the moment she remembers most. She’ll remember you blaming her and doubting her because you chose to hold onto your hatred.”
“My sister is fucking dead,” I say in an even tone, making his eyes soften.
“I know, but Lake isn’t. You need to understand that Wave may not have been our blood but we share in the pain of your loss, Knox. She wasn’t just some girl to Xander and me, she was the sister we never had. Losing her and now… River, I don’t think I could cope with losing Lake as well.”
“Boss, we got a problem.” The three of us turn to see Floyd standing in the doorway looking pissed.
“What is it?” Xander asks. Floyd chews on his lips for a second before looking at me.
“You’re all over the news and it seems Gio is the one leading the manhunt for his friend's kidnapped daughter with Percy and Karl at his side.” The three of us rush into the living room and change the channel to the news. We’re immediately greeted by the sight of Giovani Dario's hideous mug. Percy stands behind him with a distraught look on his face but it's the sight of Karl that angers me most. That motherfucker is supposed to be neutral and not choose sides in another families war, yet there he stands beside my enemies.
“We ask that the man who kidnapped Mr. Deveraux's daughter do the right thing and let her go. Lakeland has a medical condition and needs to be tended to daily by a nurse. She has been without her medication for days, without those she will be suffering.” I spy the woman herself shifting forward on the couch. The camera shifts from Gio and goes back to the news woman.
“Police are searching for this man pictured in the image above.” The screen shifts to show a picture of me from three years ago. “The man is believed to be Knox Bronson?—”
“Son of a whore,” Xander grits out. I stare at the screen, not hearing a word this bitch is saying. The guys begin discussing what we do next but there isn’t anything we can do. I own a shitload of properties and businesses under my name, they are legit but I’m worried the more they dig into my past they will find the skeletons I have buried which could cause a shitload of trouble for me. The sound of my phone ringing pulls me from my thoughts. Pulling it from my pocket I see it’s Ian–the leader of the English.
Answering the call I bring it to my ear. “What?” I snarl.
“You may run Canada, boy, but I have friends there that are telling me you have a lot of heat on you right now.” I mouth to Xander and Taylan that it’s Ian before I place the call on speaker for them to hear.
“Seems your partner is in on this shit. You know what that means, right?”
“Now, you listen to me, Knox. I’ve pulled all my men back from any work with Karl and the Irish. I will stand clear of this shit.” Suspicion curls inside me.
“Why?”
“I’m a businessman not a nark. Karl may be seen in the pictures but as far as the treaty goes, he hasn’t broken the rules. He hasn’t come forward and said a thing to the news, you can’t go after him without breaching the treaty yourself.”
“Why the fuck do you care? You and Karl have been gunning for me since I cut off my ports to you and refused to allow you to ship women and children.” Lakeland’s face is a mask of outrage and disgust at hearing that.
“I don’t want a war. You may be separate countries, but the moment you go to war with me and Karl over this misunderstanding, I have no doubt The Murdoch’s will aid you.”
I scoff. “Bishop doesn’t owe me shit–”
“He may not owe you personally but he will fight alongside you. By ending the two of us he would have ended the skin trade and we all know that is his ultimate goal here. I want no part of a war, Karl is on his own here. We have a meeting shortly with the heads, don’t bring your shit to the table, boy. If you do, they will see you as weak. I have nothing against you, Knox, you seem like a level headed kid. Don’t make me regret pulling my men back from Karl who has been a friend for decades.” He ends the call, leaving me standing here, mulling over his words—the fucker is cryptic as hell.
“Karl’s on his own,” Tay says drawing my attention to him.
I nod before looking at Lakeland as I speak. “We need to pack up and move, they know my name now so they will raid all the properties. We head to Jersey City to meet up with Knight, and then go to the meeting and gauge Karl’s intentions from there before we go after Gio.” I can’t kill Karl without risking the other families coming after me. This treaty is something that has benefited us all and I won’t be the one to break it. If I do, I’ll have the Greeks, Russians, English, Irish and the entirety of the US on my ass.
“We need a plan,” Xander says.
“We need to move within the hour,” Floyd tacks on.
“I’ll get the guys packing now, we need to get to the private airstrip before they block the roads,” Taylan adds.
“Get the pilots ready to fly within three hours,” I respond.
“I’m not leaving without seeing my sister.” The four of us all turn to Lake as she climbs to her feet and stares directly at me. “Take me to her and I’ll willingly go with you, deny me and I will fight and scream at the top of my lungs to anyone who will listen and tell them who I truly am.”
“You would go back to your father, you know that, right?” Tay gently says.
“I won’t go back to him but I will not leave without seeing River. You told me you know what it’s like to lose a sibling, would you go without being able to say goodbye to your sister?” Scrubbing a hand down my face in agitation, I shake my head reluctantly. She stares at me waiting for my response. I weigh up all our options and the prospect of being caught but all of that is outweighed by the fact she is right, if roles were reversed I wouldn’t go anywhere without seeing my sister. I would give anything in this fucking world to see my twin one more time. With my mind made up, I turn to Floyd.
