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"Everyone else stay here," Bourbon led the way from the room and down the hallway. "Coulter told me what happened. What you did to that cartel guy." He was fuming. Furious. "You killed one of their men. Disobeying a direct order." For the first time in a long time, I felt very small as Bourbon dressed me down. "I don't ask for much. Especially compared to my father. Fuck, Knight! They could've killed my--" he choked on his next words, "my family!"
"I know," I admitted, shame crawling through me like an animal tearing my insides out.
"I just wanted a few months of peace. I needed Rose to not have the baby while in the middle of a war, and look at what's happened!" he roared.
"I know." I couldn't look him in the eyes.
"How could you not trust me!" He continued, not letting me answer. "We treated you like family. Took care of you. You could have come to us. You had every right to ask for retribution for what they did to Tatiana - used official means. But instead, you acted on your own, without thinking of the consequences."
He was wrong. I had thought of the consequences. I just didn't give a shit at the time.
But I hadn't thought they would come for Rose or the baby.
"You know they want Vegas. They want this war." I said.
"You think I don't know that?"
"They don't live by the old code," I insisted. "We need to--"
"No." Bourbon's face was hard. "Not we, Knight. I."
I stilled, my insides freezing. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you're no longer a part of this family."
"What?" His words felt like a punch in the gut.
"Don't make me have to punish you in front of the whole city. Because I will."
"But, I...." I was dumbfounded. He was serious, though. I could see it in his eyes.
And I didn't blame him. His wife and kid could have died today.
"Yes, sir." I nodded. There was a knot of fear in my throat.
"You have my men to get Tatiana back. After that, you will leave the city."
A rush of anger filled me. I deserved to live in this city more than he did. My blood had drowned in it, my ancestry was rooted here, centuries ago. I wanted to protest, but I bit down on my next words. "Okay."
"Go find Tatiana. Take Dante with you."
I felt like I was choking but I met his eyes, taking the consequences of my actions. "Yes, sir."
SIXTEEN
The room ahead was as black as inky midnight and the steel clamps of my captors seared into my arms as they drug me through the hallway. They smelled like sweat, blood, and steel--a testament to their life choices. We passed through a metal door with a secure lock, the air stifling, like old flint and gunfire.
I was viciously tossed through the air, crashing onto something soft, a low grunt escaping my throat.
A mattress.
"Be careful, assholes." Antonio snapped, looming behind the two men in the dark room.
They both were huge, with bulging muscles stretching the fabric of their tight fitting shirts. One had a beard the color of fire, the other a bald head with a long, thick scar at the crown.
My gut churned as hands touched me again, but they only tugged back thick covers, then arranged me until I was lying under warm blankets. The sheets were made from a lush, expensive silk that did nothing to ease my panic.
Antonio came to stand next to the bed. "You should have movement restored in a few minutes."
