Page 82 of When Kings Fall

“Never stopped loving you, Lev. It was just frustrating beyond belief and that was leading the way for a while.”

“A bad long while,” Colton interjected.

Mason nodded, then smiled over at my son. “Too long.”

Levi returned his smile. “Yeah, way too long.”

“I’m glad you’re on good terms again,” I spoke.

“Working hard to keep it that way,” Mason told me.

He was sitting beside me at the oval mahogany dining room table, with Colton and Levi opposite. I’d put Brianna at the head of the table between Levi and Mason and the boys had been happy about that. I wasn’t one for formalities. Nor for distance. The table was rather narrow so when I sat down to dinner with my guests, we could be close and not forced at a distance by the size of a ridiculously large table.

I looked at Brianna who was sitting there rather quietly appearing to be taking everything in, looking like the sweetheart she was for my boy and his brothers-in-arms, in a bubblegum-pink scoop neck top and a little gray skirt. None of them had arrived with dress clothes because they’d been in hiding at the safehouse with just the bare essentials that they’d packed. So, I’d kept it casual at the table too in just a white open collar shirt and a pair of navy jeans, to ensure they hadn’t felt uncomfortable or ill-equipped for dinner at what people perceived as the great Knight Estate. Like I said, formalities weren’t my thing. Not when I could avoid something so trivial. However, I did like to dress to impress while outside my home, hence my designer suits and my strange title as a business style icon to the outside world and the media. Perception was an interestingly complicated thing.

“I assume you have a lot to do with this peace between the boys,” I spoke to Brianna.

“A little,” she responded modestly.

“More like everything, dark angel.”

Dark angel? Interesting. It spoke to that edge that my son needed in a woman.

“These friendships, this sort of special bond, is a rarity. Something to be cherished,” I told them.

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Colton said in that bold and brazen way I was familiar with when it came to him. Definitely his parents’ son.

I chuckled and my guests joined me.

“Perfectly stated,” I told him.

He was most definitely the heart of their unit.

“So, Mason, I’ve heard you’re returning to your tattoo designs?”

He hesitated and tugged at his pale-blue long sleeve tee. “I was just bored up at the safehouse. It was something to do.”

“That’s a shame. I was meeting with a business associate a couple of days ago whose son has just opened a new tattoo studio. He’s looking for an artist to mentor.”

He looked around the table.

Colton was smiling excitedly.

Brianna was looking on hopefully and giving a thumbs-up encouragement.

And Levi was watching curiously.

“Well, it’s just a hobby. Law is my career path.”

“Come the fuck on,” Levi grunted.

“Lovely,” I heard Brianna say quietly to him. “You’re pushing it too hard.”

“Screw this,” Colton uttered all of a sudden, then turned to me, revealing, “It’s because of the other mission we’re working.”

I looked between them. “Other mission?”

“Peter has surveillance footage of Mason killing somebody from that shitshow five years back. That’s what he’s been holding over Mason’s head to force him into Law and every other thing he decides he wants Mason doing. Ruining his fucking life basically.”

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