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It creates an emptiness inside your soul that cannot be filled with any amount of wealth or distraction.

So I understand Knox’s pain… but his hatred of wealthy people feels less like grief and more like anger.

It feels like a trauma far deeper than a loss.

As if the culprit behind her death was money itself.

“Was she rich?” I ask.

“No.”

“Then what does it have to do with—oh… Did someone with money kill her?”

“In a way, yes.”

“Shit…” I whisper, rubbing my face with my hands.

“So don’t take it personally. Knox hates working as a bodyguard for rich clients because he feels that by helping and protecting men with money, he is, in a way, betraying his mum.”

Oh, God…

If he feels like protecting them is a betrayal of her memory… imagine how he must feel touching one of them.

Wanting one of them.

“But you are also filthy rich, Alistair. Why doesn’t he hate you?”

“Because I am incredibly charming and lovable, obviously,” he smirks, but I don’t buy it. “…And because we’ve known each other since we were nineteen years old. His mother was alive back then.”

“How does a noble Prince of England—”

“Duke,” Alistair corrects. “Not Prince.”

“Of course, Your Grace. How does a future Duke of England get to be best friends with a nineteen-year-old, working-class Knox?”

“Logan,” he says, and I wait for the rest of the story, but Alistair stays quiet.

“Wow. You talk so much; I can clearly see why you’re a successful attorney.”

Alistair laughs, shaking his head. “I met Logan when I was eight years old. My parents used to travel to Napa Valley every summer for the wine auctions, and they became close friends with Logan’s parents and an Australian family. We kids grew up spending our summers together. At eighteen, Logan joined the military and met Knox in the service, so I met Knox the very next summer I visited them.”

“Wow… so you, Logan, and Knox have known each other since forever.”

“Pretty much.”

“I thought the media legend said the Harknett 8 were strangers.”

“I thought you knew nothing about Harknett.”

“I don’t… but it’s hard not to know how it happened when there was a hostage shooting at the subway,” I say defensively. “I do read the news.”

“Some of the Harknetts met that way. Logan and Knox met Björn, Dami, and our doctor that day on the subway when they stopped the shooters. Logan called me a week later to see if I wanted to run the legal division.”

The doctor?

Oh, right… They are supposed to be eight, and I’ve only met seven.

“Who is the doctor—”