Page 35 of Knox

“How do you know it was me? It could have been Jordan.” Danny gave a nervous laugh. “I’m broke! I don’t have a job. Never had a job! Jordan is the one with all the money. Her and her parents.”

There was movement at the door. I started and moved my hand from Knox’s to his arm, gripping tightly and moving so that I was sheltered in the strength of his body. I knew I was safe here, or thought I was, but I was so off-balance I wasn’t sure I could hold it together much longer.

Crush stepped inside and shut the door behind him. He met my gaze and ducked his head. “Sorry, Evelyn. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s OK.” My voice was barely above a whisper. “Not your fault.”

He patted me on the shoulder awkwardly before tossing a file on the table where Piston sat. Rocket picked it up and thumbed through it, his face hard and unreadable.

“You confirmed all this.” It wasn’t a question.

“Everything. Byte did the initial research. I corroborated everything he dug up.”

Rocket tossed the folder back on the table and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Did you find the shooters?”

“Yep. Ringo took care of them. He’s currently spreading them over the Everglades region outside our territory. Different… regions.” Crush looked very uncomfortable as he glanced back-and-forth from me to Danny.

“Good. Knox? There anything else you need to know before we take care of this?”

Knox looked down at me. I shook my head, blinking back tears. “He’s insane,” I whispered.

“He’s a megalomaniac,” Crush said. “He was in it for the power and the money.” He shook his head slightly. “Power from being able to keep you and the kids on the line without his wife knowing. Money from his wife and her family. He’d been slowly siphoning off funds from a variety of his wife’s accounts. Looked like he’d recently gotten into some of her father’s accounts as well. If things had gone on the way they had been, I have no doubt he’d have cleaned them both out eventually.”

“That’s not true, Evie,” Danny jumped in. It was easy to see the sweat on his face. “You know me.”

“Yeah, Danny.” I sighed, shaking my head. “I know you. And you’re lying. You did all of that. And tried to have me killed. You’d have killed your own children to further whatever scheme you were playing at.” I thought I’d have some kind of breakdown, but I felt strangely at peace. I’d weathered what could have been the worst thing to happen in my life outside of my parents’ death. Grover hadn’t tried to replace my father in my life, but I came to think of him as an extension of my father. They’d have liked each other. “I have no idea what’s going to happen to you, but I’m sure it won’t be pleasant.”

“Damned straight,” Knox muttered. He pulled me into his arms, and I let him. Right now, there was no other place I wanted to be than with Knox.

“You want me to have Lemon come get her?” Rocket spoke softly.

“Evie! What about the kids? They need their father!”

“You lost the right to call them that when you had someone try to kill me with the kids nearby.” I jerked, shoving away from Knox and moving closer to Danny. “You tried to kill me, Danny. With Luke and Aneshya right there.” My voice shook. Hell, my whole body trembled.

“Yeah, Evie, I heard you the first time,” he muttered. That was the Danny I knew. The one who talked down to me when he got drunk or was generally frustrated. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, I wanted to make him hurt the way he’d made me hurt. I thought that, now, maybe I could dish out what I should have years ago.

“You did, huh?” I wanted to hit him. To hurt him like he’d hurt Grover. Unfortunately, not only did I not have something to hit him with, I wasn’t that kind of person. I didn’t have it in me to really hurt someone unless it was in defense of my kids. It was the thought that they could have been hurt that brought me to this state of mind in the first place, but they were home safe with Lemon, Apple, and three of Grim Road’s men protecting them. So I did the only thing I could do. I spat in Danny’s face. “Did you hear that? No? That’s the sound of how many fucks I give about you. You disgust me!”

“Evelyn. Evie.” Danny gave me his best pleading face. “You know they’re gonna kill me unless you do something.”

“I’m not sure I could do anything to change the outcome for you even if I wanted to.” A hand rested on my shoulder gently. Without even looking I knew it was Knox. “You dug your own grave. Now, it’s time you lie in it.”

“Come on, Evie!”

I turned and buried my face in Knox’s chest. “I want to go home.”

“Then that’s where I’ll take you.”

“Evie? Please.” Danny actually sounded like he was going to cry. “You and the kids are all I’ve got left!”

I took a deep breath and turned back to him. “Goodbye, Danny.”

Chapter Thirteen

Knox

There was nothing in this world I wanted to do more than to see to Danny’s demise myself… except take care of Evelyn. She said she wanted to go home, so that’s where I was going to take her.

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