Page 14 of Shattered Empire (Shattered World)

“Surely you don’t think I would teach her such naughty things.” Mark held his hands up in a gesture of innocence, but the smirk on his face spoke to his guilt.

“Moving on,” Vas grunted. Mark winked at me before turning back to the screen. Cheeky bastard.

“I was able to decrypt a good amount of them, but there are a few my program is still working through due to the amount of data stored within them,” he continued. “From the size of the files, I would favor a guess that they are probably MP4s.” He turned his gaze to Nikolai and Maksim. “For the vintage models in the class, that means they’re videos.”

“Fuck you,” Nikolai growled, throwing his pen as hard as he could at the hacker. Mark laughed and danced out of the way of the flying object. “We’re not that old, you fucker.”

“Could have fooled me,” Vas murmured beneath his breath. I laughed, tears gathering at the corners of my eyes when Nikolai threatened to dismember Vas’s family jewels with a rusted spoon.

“Okay. Okay.” I wiped at my eyes. “What have you got from the ones that have been decrypted?”

Mark’s smile turned feral.

“Well, your instincts about your grandfather are spot on,” he told me. “Seamus McDonough has been a naughty senior citizen, and I am not just talking about him running the Irish in Boston. On top of the usual drug and weapon distribution, he has invested a huge sum of money in ground transportation companies over the last ten years secured by—”

“Knightman Security.”

“Exactly.” He nodded. “Five points to Hufflepuff.”

There went the beer I was about to drink. Right out my nose and onto the polished wooden surface before me.

The room roared with laughter while I struggled to relearn how to breathe.Assholes.The lot of them. My stomach clenched and my chest ached as I joined the raucous strings of hysterics going on around me.

Times were hard, and war was looming on the horizon. We had suffered losses our hearts could barely cope with. Blood would be spilled on both sides going forward, there was no getting out of that, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy life while it lasted.

No one in this room could even begin to guess the outcome of our battle with Christian and the unforeseen puppet master who pulled his strings. We could hope that we came out on top, but there would never be a guarantee.

All we could do was pray to see the sunrise tomorrow as we watched the sunset tonight.

Taking these moments in was vital. Without hope and laughter, we would be nothing more than zombies trudging through life unaware. Broken. Dead. It was the little things that kept up going and kept us fighting. The small smiles and comradery. The chuckles and games and beers. It was knowing we had a family to fight for. To survive for.

We all needed someone or something to live for, and the men at this table were mine. Liam and the twins were mine. The need to see them come out on top of this was greater than my thirst for revenge. I would sacrifice myself before ever sending them to die for me.

My gaze traveled to the lit-up faces of the men who stood by my side, and for the first time since I’d met Matthias, I understood the weight he once carried on his shoulders. These men and the many other men and women who followed him were his responsibility. They had families and friends. They were sons and daughters. Mothers and fathers. Nieces and nephews. They had people to go home to each night.

Now, they were mine to protect.

“Settle down. Settle down.” Nikolai chuckled, tears streaming down his face at the impression of Harry Potter Vas had been trying to mimic. His British accent was horrendous, and the stitch of laughter in my side was worsening.

Still—on to business.

It took at least another ten minutes before the overgrown men-children were ready to start the meeting again. Another round of beer was handed around, and we got back to work. The sudden breakdown was forgotten, like it was a distant memory.

“Most of the files that have been decrypted involve finances,” Mark informed us as he flipped through the screen. “It will take me a few days to sort through the numbers and associate them back to dealers and cargo, but it isn’t an impossible job.”

“Did you find anything on Maleah?” My heart flipped at the thought of finding my best friend. Archer had lied to me when he said he knew who Maleah had been sold to. Christian told me the truth died with Elias, but I refused to trust his words. Even if Archer had lied, Elias would have kept some kind of record of the sale.

I hoped.

Mark’s lips turned down, and he shook his head. “Nothing, I’m afraid.” His tone was grim, his eyes darkening. “If he kept a record of where she went, he didn’t list it outright.”

It was worth a try.

“I did, however, find a reference to your sister.”

My forehead puckered. “Libby?”

“No.” Mark swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing beneath the skin of his throat. “Kenzi.”

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