Page 61 of Destroyer

"No. Dear boy works for me and already has everything he wants." Edward demonstrates the relationship he has with me.

"I do not work for English," I mutter, forcing them all to listen intently to me. "All I wanted was to be protected. Protect from rain, protect from hunger, protect from porn, gambling, abuse, neglect, protect me from torturing and killing. Not you men can give me that. Both you men had the chance."

For twelve years, my grandfather watched my struggles and did nothing. He could have taken me from my mum and raised me behind his big garden fence. Knowing he killed my mother put Edward in the same moral position for the past six years. "The only people who tried to give me all that was the Russians." I tip all the chequers pieces onto the chess board.

"Those are metaphorical pieces, right?" Porter mutters. "We don't have to play them as well?"

I giggle. Not a manly chuckle, but one of those sinister baby chuckles that sound plain weird coming from a grown man. Even one who only grew as big as me.

"On board of the chess, no wife and children play. Not young children anyway. Except for me. So, rules there are broken."

"Nico, are you threatening my wife?" Balen mutters the words that are going to get me killed.

“The role is to protect the king in chess, the role is to become the king in chequers. I am just playing a different game to everyone else."

"Nico, if you try going after my wife…" Edward pauses as his phone rings.

"Wives and hands, sons and daughters." I give a shrug and wait for the interlude.

Chapter thirty-nine

Caeo

Edwardisn'ttheonlyman whose phone comes alive. Mine, Knox's and Balen's also start ringing and beeping with texts.

'Zane Whitehall is dead.'

He was to Edward what I am to Knox. His right-hand man, his queen in Nico's crazy chess.

'The Russians moved in, killed him and a handful of others. Took Mrs Thayer.'

The texts keep coming. No one can find me, Knox or Edward. Without us, the family will go to ground. The Russians will walk in and take everything.

The only call I answer is from Gregory. He is technically the highest-ranking man left standing, even if he is new and unproven.

"Caeo, something big is going down. My brother just called. Henry. My older bio brother. My dad and my eldest brother are in trouble. Dad's right-hand man is dead, and my mum is missing. He said it was Russian or foreign sounding guys."

Nico put his plan into action, bit it was only the four heads who were supposed to die. He never said anything about wives, sons and the role he has dubbed hands.

I ponder on my answer, part of me tempted to take the gun and put a bullet in the back of Nico's head. It brings the number of people who have to die down to just one. There won't be a coo, life will go on, and very few people would even notice he was gone. I need to wrap him up and take him home, let the world think he is gone. Keep him as my protected toy.

What is the point of getting us out of here with this grand plan if there is nothing to go back to?

"That isn't the worst bit. The Romanians were with my dad. Balen's son was negotiating an updated business plan." Gregory continues taking.

"My right-hand man is dead. My wife and son have been taken." Balen fills in the blanks.

"Nico. What is your plan? How does this all end?" I beg.

Nico looks up, his eyes bright and cheerful like this is all pre-scripted in his crazy head.

"I have the wives and first born of three families. Sons will do anything to save their mothers."

"This boy is as cuckoo as his mother was." Balen huffs. "I don't have enough men over here to fix this mess."

I don't know if any number of men could fix this. As daft as it sounds, I don't want to fix this. I want to fix the boy kneeling before his crazy chess set. I want to scoop him up and show him that lives matter, that he matters. He matters to me.

"Nico." I can't offer him words, or a way out of this mess, but I can offer him my tears. For all the good it will do.

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