Page 7 of Coup De Grâce
I hadn’t seen him in well over a year, but we knew that would happen. It wasn’t like he could bring his son into the fold and then keep him by his side the whole fucking time. That wouldn’t instill much confidence in my abilities, nor would it prevent the one thing we needed to avoid.
Suspicion.
“Who called it?” I asked, wondering who would show up this time.
“Miles. We leave first thing in the morning.”
I nodded and headed back to my truck.
“Aren’t you interested in what the meeting is about?” he called out.
“I’m sure you’ll tell me in the morning.”
“Seven o’clock,” he said right before I slammed the door.
I raised my hand slightly, showing him I understood, then cranked the engine and headed home. It wasn’t often I was able to sleep in my own bed at night, but this job had been only forty-five minutes from where I laid my head. While it was better than a hotel, it didn’t give me the comfort I craved.
The moment I walked through the door, I closed my eyes, leaning back against the door with a sigh, pressing my hand to my chest. Fuck, I missed them. Each day that passed was getting harder and harder to deal with.
I missed my kids. I missed their smiles and laughter. But I fucking craved my wife. I was desperate to feel her in my arms and my cock sliding into her sweet pussy. I couldn’t even remember how long it had been since the last time I saw her. Time didn’t seem to exist when I wasn’t with her. I was just caught in an endless loop of fear for her life and our kids.
“You didn’t even fucking check the shadows,” the familiar voice called out.
Opening my eyes, a faint smile twisted my lips and I pushed off the door. At least I still had him. Barely.
“What are you doing here? Are you trying to get spotted?”
Knight snorted from where he sat at the table. “They won’t catch me. None of them are smart enough.”
I hesitated to remind him that they were, in fact, smart enough. That’s why we were having such a hard fucking time taking them out. Walking over to the table, I laid Sally across it and pulled out my own chair.
I could feel his dark gaze on me, checking up to make sure I was okay. Knight wasn’t on board with this plan, but he knewit had to happen if any of us wanted to survive. It was the only fucking way.
“Another kill?”
I nodded. “A businessman.”
“Anyone of importance?”
I shook my head. “Just another test.” They were all bad men. I wasn’t blind to the fact that they were testing me with targets that really weren’t of any use to them. But I pretended I was perfectly happy to do my part.
“If they don’t let you in soon, we’re fucked,” he reminded me.
My eyes finally met his, but I looked away quickly, still unable to look him in the eye after what I had done.
“You know what will happen if we do this,” Shadow snapped. “You know what they’ll ask of you.”
I looked at Knight, well aware that in order to end this, I had to join the Shadow Government. And the only way to do that was to prove my loyalty to them. They’d been watching for some time. They would know about my connection to Knight. If he wasn’t so goddamn righteous, they might have recruited him. But as it was, he’d already proven that while he was willing to take anyone out who threatened his family, he also didn’t tolerate anyone who killed good men and women.
They couldn’t bend and mold Knight. He might seem like a man on the brink, but he had a strong moral compass that couldn’t be adjusted for anyone. As for me…Well, I used to be able to say that. Then my brother was burned at the stake and I was forced to pull the trigger.
My actions since that day had inadvertently sent the right message to them. They needed to know I had what it took to do the hard jobs. And while I got retribution for Rafe’s death, I hadn’t cut the head off the snake. So, I did what I had to. I pushed my family away, knowing it was the only way to keepthem safe. I twisted myself into a man I no longer recognized in order to finish the job.
And it worked.
Sort of.
“We need to do it,” Knight said. “It’s the only way.”
