Page 71 of Wicked Knight 2

“You came up with that idea rather quickly.” I glanced down at the map.

“I’ve been thinking about it for two months. Day and night, I had thought of nothing else. They deserve to be punished for what they did.”

For Luca’s sake, I let her righteousness be. But I hadn’t forgotten that we were in this mess because she took her thirst for revenge way too far.

“I don’t know where they are exactly. They get their deliveries from Brighton Beach.” I blew out a breath. “This morning, all I wanted to do was to get away from the compound and get help. I didn’t pay attention to the route. I’m sorry.”

“You’ve given us plenty.” Rex stepped closer. “Their compound can only be in one of these two areas.”

“Did they let you outside?” Santino asked. “What did it smell like? Beachy?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Then they’re most likely inland.” He pointed at a spot on the map north of Brighton Beach. “I’ll send a few scouts and see what they see. I know we scoured Brighton Beach before, but we didn’t look that far.”

“We have to strike as soon as possible.” Enzo met Vittoria’s gaze across the desk. “They’ll be expecting retaliation. But they won’t be expecting it, say tonight?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” I interjected. “It has to be tonight. I can’t stand the thought of Luca being under Papa’s thumb for another day.”

“Papa?” Santino raised an eyebrow.

“It’s what they all call him. They think of him as a hero, a father figure of sorts. He brainwashed Luca somehow.” I gritted my teeth, then remembered another key point. “By the way, he knows about the Society. While his son Ivan was cashing in the bounty hunter fees, Papa was interrogating prisoners before killing them.” I pursed lips and refused to look at Vittoria. I blamed her for all of this. “Who knows how much intel he was able to gather the two years he spent torturing members of the family.”

“We’ll find out for sure tonight.” Rex braced his hand on the map.

“He’s all yours.” An odd sense of calm washed over me. Luca would be home soon. “We leave at midnight.”

CHAPTER25

Call It a Request

Maxim

This morning when I woke up in an empty bed, I had envisioned the day would end differently. The rage that flooded my senses when I discovered Donata had escaped made me numb to any other feeling. I was on a mission to find her. Instead, I found Luca Gallo. Trepidation replaced my anger. For the first time, since I arrived at the compound, I was scared.

I didn’t think Papa wanted me dead. He’d had a million opportunities to do that in the past year. The thing I feared was his cunning ability to talk people into doing things they didn’t want to do. I feared I wasn’t strong enough to leave him.

The fire crackled across from me, while Papa poked at it to rearrange the wood. He still hadn’t answered my question. Why me? I had other questions, but this was the most important. By Belinda’s account, the Brotherhood interrogated and killed nine members of my family. I was supposed to be number ten. Why did he save me? How was I supposed to move on knowing they killed my family? Their acts were unforgivable.

“I don’t know,” he finally said. “At first, I only wanted information. For a while now, I’ve had a special interest in the Society. How it works. Why it exists. And most of all, how it had endured for over a century.” He scoffed. “They’re thriving. And what are we doing? Killing each other over a woman. We’re better than this.”

I chose not to point out that I killed Dominic because he asked me to. Dominic challenged me because Papa refused to acknowledge that maybe his claims had merit. I wasn’t family. I was never one of them. I was the enemy.Dominic and his crew died because of Papa’s ego.

“And here they are.” He raised his hands to the heavens. “The Society, controlling everything from behind the curtain. Criminals living in plain sight with their hands in every aspect of our world: the government, the stock market, legislature, cars, booze, and everything in between.”

“You seem to know everything about them. You don’t need me.”

“By that time, I realized that you had become someone important to me.” He took in a deep breath. “You’re like a son to me, Maxim. I never lied about that.”

Maxim.

A part of me wanted to tell him not to call me that because it wasn’t my real name. But the truth was, Maxim felt more real to me than Luca. He’d made sure of that. He offered me a place where I could belong. He wanted me to be Pakhan, to lead the crews.

“You didn’t lie about that. But you lied about everything else. Do you even have a sister?” I regarded his weathered features. No matter the truth and his horrific killings, something inside me still craved his approval. I still wanted redemption for him. “Was she ever assaulted?”

“No.” He braced his elbow on the arm rest and rubbed the creases on his forehead. “You needed a past. I gave you one.”

“And Maxim?”

---