Page 11 of Ashes of Sin

I grind my back teeth.

In any case, thanks to me, she won’t have to endure it because I’m going to kidnap her.

I’m about to strip him of his pride and humility. Something an insecure and controlling man like him would rather die than succumb to.

My lips twitch.

The moment he announced his engagement to Ms. Fox, I saw a vulnerability, and like a rapid dog, I snapped my teeth, knowing I was going right for the jugular.

Pierce won’t be marrying for love.

Kyra’s disappearance is going to cause all kinds of confusion and trouble. Trouble I’m going to coax and orchestrate like a conductor.

“Crass is your middle name?” Parker snorts and tugs Zayne’s phone, peering at the screen. “Jesus she’s young... and smoking.”

“Congratulations, you have a hot stepmom, Maddox.” Travis gives me a lopsided grin.

They are all fucking perverts.

Not that I blame them.

Kyra Fox is beautiful.

“Not yet,” I reply darkly and keep my plans to myself. It’s so tempting to tell them, but while we all might have some questionable morals—I mean we spent half our lives beating kids into a bloody mess so we could sleep at night—this might be going too far.

She’s innocent, after all.

They’d stop me.

Or try to talk me out of it.

I know this is the right path to take. Nothing will bring my father to his knees faster than being humiliated. His young bride suddenly leaving him days before his wedding is going to be hard to overcome in today’s public world.

I have the power and financial backbone to do this.

The five of us have spent the last ten plus years accumulating wealth and influence.

Killian, who owns Dune, is a successful restaurateur where the rich and famous from around the globe come to dine.

Parker is an investor. If you can call it that. He buys failing businesses, pulls them apart, and then puts them back together again. Ruthlessly. If he’s not in the business news once a quarter for letting go of a few thousand people, someone journalist hasn’t done his job. What they fail to report are thenewjobs he creates, which are far more sustainable, and the contribution that has made to the economy.

Those jobs would have gone when the companies inevitably failed. But then again, that’s a boring story and doesn’t get clicks and likes.

Zayne was an early investor in AI and works with both policy makers and industries as an independent to ensure it contributes positively to humanity and doesn’t fucking destroy us.

It scares the shit out of me, while also being exciting.

“It’s been around for a lot longer than people realize.” Zayne told me one day. “And everyone is using it. Like every stage in human civilization, we need to keep pivoting and evolving. Or we die.”

“Or the bots kill us.” I lifted my brows.

“Well, we won’t be around to complain about it, so right now we have to put policies in place to ensure it doesn’t. Not just put them back in a box. That day has long since passed.”

Jesus.

I knew he was right.

“The risk of nuclear war is the greatest it’s ever been.” He shrugged. “People should be more worried about that.”

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