Page 111 of Queen of Anarchy (Dirty Broken Savages 2)

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Knox

It’s notthe plan I had in mind when I agreed to marry Natalie Maduro, but I can’t be mad that instead of having to marry some frigid bitch who’s not half the woman River is, I get to fuck shit up instead. It’s like my ideal scenario, and just thinking about it makes me grin in the sort of way that often sends people scattering in fear.

I meant it when I said I didn’t give a shit about marriage. It’s just a damn piece of paper. All it really changes is how you file your taxes or whatever.

My parents were married, and they hated each other. Hell, my uncle was married too, and that didn’t stop him from abusing me in secret. It didn’t change anything. Didn’t make any of them better people or make them realize the power of love or whatever.

It was just a ring and a title and some fake promises they made to each other and then probably immediately started breaking.

So whatever.

But still, not tying my family, my brothers and River, to the goddamn Maduro family is pretty relieving. It could’ve been good for our business, maybe. We could have tried to leverage that connection with their organization into greater power in Detroit. Gage is good at that kind of shit, so maybe he could’ve worked to spin it into something that benefitted us.

Even if he could’ve, though, it wouldn’t really have been worth it. I’m not power hungry like some fuckers. I like what I’ve got. I just want a place to call my own, a family to call my own, and the chance to torture a few fuckers from time to time.

I don’t need much. Simple pleasures and all that.

Anything else is just extra, and it’s more for our standing than anything else. So we get respect and have connections and all that. But we can build that ourselves. We already have, just with what we have—our wits and Gage’s brain and the fact that we don’t take shit from anyone. We don’t need to ride the Maduros’ coattails to get somewhere in the city. We’re doing fine.

I shake myself out of those thoughts after a bit and focus on my project.

Once River’s sister left yesterday, we sat down and hashed out a plan. And a damn good one, I think. We’re going to simulate an attack on the church on the wedding day, creating a distraction and giving ourselves cover as we get Hannah and the kid out of the church.

There will be a lot of criminal underground types there—the types who are always looking out for the next threat—so all my brothers and I are going to do is present it to them. Give them a reason to think they’re under attack.

In the chaos, we’ll grab Hannah and Cody and steal them away. Get them out of Julian’s hands and somewhere safe.

Then I’ll tell Natalie to go fuck a bedpost.

I grin. It’s a good plan, and I like it.

I’ve got a floor plan of the church where the wedding will be held spread out in front of me on the counter in the basement. I don’t know how Gage got it, but the man does good work, so I don’t question it. I’ve got a handful of dice that I borrowed from Ash, and I use them to represent the people at the wedding.

A few of them go on our side, and even more on Julian’s side, just because he’s probably going to invite his whole damn family and anyone who he thinks he can get something out of. Lots of little fish trying to curry favor with wedding presents and shit.

I roll my eyes and clump them all together on the Maduro side.

I put a scalpel on the map at the front to represent me, and then grab a balled up piece of paper and put that at the altar for Natalie. Another die stands in for the minister or whoever Julian is going to have doing the ceremony.

Off to the side, in a little side hallway, three dice and a queen chess piece wait for the signal. I slam my hand down on the counter a few times, simulating the fake gunshots that will go off at the right time.

“Ahhh, oh no!” I screech in a high-pitched voice, rattling the little guest dice. “We’re under attack! Help! Help!”

I chuckle and scatter the dice around, like they’re running, looking for places to hide.

“It’s the consequences of my actions! They’ve caught up to meeeeee!” I flick one of the dice off the counter, letting it clatter to the floor. I’ll have to find it and give it back to Ash eventually, but for now, I’m too busy having fun.

While the dice are scattered around, the pieces standing in for the other Kings and River go to the bottle cap and the gummy bear that represent Hannah and Cody. I grab them all up in my hand and march them around the back of the church. We’ve designated an exit for them that leads to the alley behind the church, one that’s farthest away from where the chaos of the faked attack will be unfolding.

I pick up the scalpel that represents me and stab the balled up piece of paper with it a few times, then do the same with the apple core that I have representing Julian, just for good measure.

There are footsteps on the stairs, and a few seconds later, the basement door opens. Without even looking, I know it’s River.

She catches me in the middle of my little production and raises an eyebrow, amusement clear on her face.

“Well, well, well. Looks like you’re enjoying yourself,” she says. “Like a kid at play time.”

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