Page 113 of Hard Knot

Just as I deserve for the sins of my Father.

The memory isn't done torturing me yet, which is why I am still in my place, attempting to ignore the constricting pain in my chest.

Carter's laugh had been hollow, edged with a bitterness I rarely heard from him.

"You really think you're the shit, don't you?" His voice dropped lower, more lethal in nature. "When you're currently our weakest fucking link?"

"Carter," Felix warns sharply, "don't go there."

Another laugh — this one higher, almost manic — had torn from Carter's throat. He'd thrown his hands up, spinning to face us both.

"Oh, that's rich coming from you, Felix. Should we review the facts? The ranks?" His eyes had locked onto me, they had to be because the burning intensity was so grand that I could feel it even through the silk barrier. "HE'S supposed to be our leader if we're going to talk statistics and hierarchy."

Supposed.

Lack of…

A disappointment again and again.

The words had hit like physical blows, each one precisely aimed to draw blood.

"The Giovanni Empire is what's holding this damn pack by a thread." Carter's voice had risen, filling the space between us with ugly truths I'd been trying to ignore. "Because every fucking day, the Holmes Empire gets closer to the pits of fucking hell, and Felix! YOU’RE still building this from scratch!"

Felix had shifted beside me, his usual composure cracking slightly.

"I know I've been slacking," he'd admitted quietly. "But I can pick up at any time. My connections in the tech world?—"

"No." Carter had cut him off. I hear a sound that makes Felix let out a breath, and I can only assume Carter’s poked him with a finger or gave him a light push. The gesture had been sharp, decisive. "We're no longer 'taking our sweet ass time' with anything." His voice had dropped to a growl as he'd continued, "This sinister world runs on three things: power, money, and connections." A harsh laugh had escaped him. "And guess what? James has all of that and more."

"You don't know that," I'd muttered, the words tasting like ash on my tongue.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Then Carter's laugh — a sound that held no humor, only derision — had filled the room.

"You really are a blind fucker, aren't you?" The words had dripped with contempt. "The Morrison Empire has been systematically taking over every major territory in the underground for the past three years. They're not just dealing drugs anymore — they're controlling entire supply chains, manipulating market prices, buying out competitors or eliminating them entirely."

Each word had been carefully chosen to cut deep, to expose the truth I'd been trying to ignore: that while I'd been hiding behind my blindfold, playing at being in control, my empire had been crumbling beneath my feet.

“But you wouldn’t know that, would you? Of course, neither of you would. Information that’s been fed to only the elite worthy of sitting at those resin tables that reflect body parts and stained blood of various individuals who were once in our very shoes, but didn’t make the cut in the end,” Carter announces, which makes me swallow down the lump forming in my throat. “Y’all continue to think we’re playing students when one wrong move and we’ll be chopped body parts across the seven fucking seas, and the crappy part is no one is going to give a damn because you all carried debts worthy of a plague and our elimination is simply “good riddance” to everyone else watching on the sidelines in wait for our end.”

The weight of it all — the crushing debt, the bounties, the constant threat of assassination — pressed down on me like a physical force.

The silk against my eyes felt suffocating, a reminder of everything I'd lost and everything I stood to lose.

How fucking ironic.

The thought rises unbidden, bitter, and sharp: if it weren't for the Giovanni Empire — for Carter's influence and protection — I'd have been dead months ago. The vulturescircling what remained of my family's legacy would have torn me apart at the first opportunity.

I guess it won't be for long now.

The realization settles in my chest like lead.

With Morrison in the picture, wielding power I can't hope to match, my usefulness to the pack is rapidly diminishing.At least, whatever I’ve been faking.The carefully constructed balance we'd maintained — Carter's strength covering my weakness, Felix's potential making up for our limitations — was crumbling.

And Elizabeth...

The lingering of her scent that’s seeping past the door and taunting my nostrils this entire time makes my cock throb even now, floods my senses.

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