Page 34 of Knox

We walked into the bunker. There was a half staircase leading down where they’d dug into and slightly underneath the small knoll to hide this place but left enough room to work in. One side was filled with what looked like stored boxes and canned goods, while the other side held a table, chairs, and various instruments that might have been torture devices. Might have been tools. I had no idea what they were used for, but it was questionable. The point was, Danny was eyeing them nervously. I didn’t blame him. He was tied to the chair he was sitting in. It was obvious he wasn’t here to have a pleasant chat.

Two men were already inside talking to Danny. I’d met them both when Knox moved things into the house. Piston and Rattler turned to look at us as we stepped inside the small room.

“Y’all ready for this?” Rattler’s smile was pure evil. Like he was going to enjoy whatever happened next and made no apologies for it.

Piston sat in a chair he’d turned around so he straddled the seat and rested his forearms on the back. Rattler leaned against the wall next to the table where the tools had been laid out in a neat row.

“Knox.” Danny looked scared as I’d ever seen him. He usually had a cunning look about him I’d misread in the past as him being absorbed in thought about his work. I guess he’d had to be cunning to juggle two women living in the same fucking apartment building.

Knox and Rocket exchanged a look until Rocket nodded. Permission for Knox to start? “Who told you Evelyn had been shot?”

“One of the neighbors. He heard the gunshots and --”

“Cut the shit, Danny! There were no neighbors. No one noticed enough to call the cops. No one but those of us near the house knew. So I’m asking you one more time. Who told you?”

“I can get it out of him if you want, Knox.” Rattler picked up a small saw blade, looking it over like the cheesy villain in a movie. “We can start with his toes and work our way up.”

“What the fuck? Knox! What the fuck?” Danny was panting now, looking from the small saw to Knox and back, not wanting to take his eyes off the threat. Then he turned his gaze on me. “Evie! Tell them I’d never hurt you. You know I wouldn’t.”

I had to literally bite my tongue to keep silent. At one time in my life, I might have solidly backed him up. Not now, though. He was a master at manipulating me. I’d chosen to let him by ignoring warning signs. Despite the fact he was the father of my children, despite the fact that my instinct was to support him, I absolutely would not take his side in this. These men would get the truth out of him because Knox said they would. I believed Knox because I’d trusted his father more than anyone else in my life, and he’d trusted Knox.

“Tell me what I want to know,” Knox insisted.

Danny shook his head. Knox stepped forward and punched him in the nose. Blood squished between his face and Knox’s knuckles, and Danny squealed like a pig, trying to get up from the chair but unable to because of his bonds. He probably thought he could run away, but that obviously wasn’t happening.

“No one else was supposed to get hurt.” His expression crumpled, and Danny started crying. “No one else, I swear.”

“Why Evelyn?” It was a demand, not a question. When Danny just started sobbing, Knox repeated himself. “Why. Evelyn.” There was an edge of violence about Knox I’d never seen before. It was like he was struggling to suppress his anger but was now losing the battle.

“Because Jordan won’t take me back!” Danny yelled his answer, his gaze darting to mine. I saw resentment there. Frustration maybe? I didn’t know. Didn’t much care. “She said she couldn’t live with knowing I had another woman out there I had a family with when she’d struggled to have children of her own.”

“How would killing Evelyn fix that problem? Sounds like your wife is done with you, no matter what.”

“If I had custody of the kids and Evelyn was gone, she’d let me come back. She’d have the children we always wanted, and everything could go back to the way it was!”

If he’d slapped me, I wasn’t sure I’d have been more surprised. “She actually told you that?” I knew I should have kept my mouth shut, but I couldn’t seem to. The question slipped out. Had I been living in the shadow of not one, but two sociopaths?

“She didn’t have to,” he spat at me, his anger turned fully in my direction now. “She wanted kids. She lost the one she was carrying after the fire. She’d be happy to have my children, no matter how old they are.”

“And if she didn’t, Danny? What if she wanted babies instead of older kids -- children who would have reminded her every day that you’d led a double life -- one of those lives without her. What if she rejected you then?”

“She wouldn’t,” Danny said, confidence ringing in his voice even as tears still streamed down his face.

“I didn’t ask if she would, Danny. I asked what would have happened if she did. What would you have done if you’d killed me and Jordan didn’t want Luke and Aneshya and refused to take you back?”

Danny looked away and I had my answer.

“Got any idea how a blood brother of mine has turned out so Goddamned dumb?” Knox addressed the question to Rocket who shrugged.

“Not sure. I mean, Lemon said you never struck her as particularly bright. Until you claimed Evelyn, that is.” He grinned. “I think she’d agree you’re not a dumbass. Your brother, on the other hand? Yeah. Did either of your parents smoke? Maybe it was a birth defect?”

Knox snorted. “You’ve been hangin’ with the VP too long, prez.”

Rocket scowled. “Christ. That is something she’d say, innit.” Rocket shook his head before addressing Danny. “You admit you’re the one who killed Grover Knoxville in an attempt to kill Evelyn?”

“I didn’t kill anybody!”

“But you had someone else do it.”

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