Page 40 of North (The Moral Compass 2)

“Okay, you two, I’ve just about had enough of the dramatic hair rubbing and the roughing up of your faces. Who the hell is this guy, and why have you two just shit your pants?”

West starts laughing while North looks at him with daggers.

“So, Kara, the reason North has just had a baby right in front of you is because there is a long-standing instruction from Xander about his daughter. If any one of us was to go anywhere near her, there is a ten-million-pound bounty on their head. He never gave a name but said that we would know if we ever came across her. She is her father’s daughter, after all. It does answer the question why Stella and Ralph have not been simply killed. He’s making them suffer for what they did to you.”

West looks over to North and starts laughing.

“Oh, dear brother, you are well and truly fucked.” His laugh is bordering hysterical.

“You think this is funny? I’ve got a ten-million-pound price tag on my head. He’s got to know by now. Jesus. We’ve been together for ages! How the hell am I still alive?” North is up on his feet and pacing again.

“Can you stop that fucking cackling?” I point at West. “And can either of you please tell me who the hell my father is to you?” I shout above West’s laughter.

They both stare at me.

“You really have no idea?” West asks with his head cocked as if he doesn’t quite believe me.

“No, I don’t know anything apart from he fathered me and that he also got sent down, got out for eight weeks, and then got sent down again. End of story. So, please feel free to fill in the missing twenty odd years.”

North is still pacing, but now he has a whisky in his hand.

“I think you need to visit him, Kara,” is the only thing West says. He writes out an address of a prison and an email address. “Drop them a line and ask for a visitation order. I guarantee it will be granted. You need the answers from him. But I would do it fairly quick if you think anything of North.”

He gets up and heads over to the elevator, patting North on the back as he passes. He whispers something in his ear and laughs again. The doors open, and he’s gone, leaving me and the brooding pacer alone.

Chapter 29

North

HowdidInotsee it? How did I not know she was Xander’s daughter? Could I have stayed away from her? No. Am I going to die? Yes. Shit. My mind is spinning.

I know I’m being a bastard right now, but I can’t think straight. I’m still wondering why I’m still alive. He must know about Kara and me. He knows about Stella and Ralph and look what he’s doing to them. Every time they get well enough to be sent back to prison, they end up back in the hospital. He’s slowly torturing them from the side-lines. There is no route back to him from any of the attacks. He’s not even in the same prison. That would not be a problem for Xander, though.

I look over to Kara who is sitting, looking at her phone, searching for any information she can find on him. My chest is constricting. I don’t want to be without her. That is not an option, but I also don’t want to die. Xander’s deaths are never a straight kill and be done with it. He takes his time. It’s very rarely him, so I wouldn’t see it coming.

He’s spent so many years behind bars, but he is still one of the most powerful and dangerous men in this country.

How the hell did I get myself mixed up in this? I pace some more and have another whisky.

Kara can search every night for a week, but she won’t find much. All his real work is on dark web and very well-hidden. I don’t need to search for anything. I already know it all, or I thought I did.

“So, I’ve looked as you knew I would, and I can’t find much. Can I use your stuff to search on?” Kara asks.

“No!”

“Okay, then, you will have to tell me what you know. And I want to know why you and West are acting the way you are.”

“No!”

“What the hell, North? You told me we are a ‘we’ just before I told you his name, and now, I’m frozen out. I don’t understand, and you’re scaring me.” She starts to sob.

She’s scared. Hell, I don’t even want to think about what my death is going to look like, but I know now it’s going to be sooner rather than later. A text comes through from West telling me he’s put Zed on twenty-four-hour security watching me, and he will be here in the hour. With the size of the price tag, I need people around me who are not going to be tempted to off me for the money. It would be one hell of a pay day for someone.

Standing right in front of me, she yells, “Are you going to talk to me or are you just going to keep saying no?”

I can’t even look at her. If I do, I’m going to crumble. I love her so much; I love the bones of her, but her being with me is putting us both at risk.

“Let me get this straight, then. Daddy dearest has instructed everyone on earth not to come anywhere near me. Is that right?”

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