I nodded. “Yeah, but… I still feel responsible. If we hadn’t stopped at the vault, she would still be with us.”
“Then blame me.” Luca blew out a deep breath and turned his head away, staring at the far end of the helipad. “I asked you to accompany me to the vault.”
There was no point in going back and forth with my brother. We both felt guilty. It was too late to talk about what we should or shouldn’t have done. The damage was already done, and now we had to find a way through.
The only way out is through.
The local Knights gathered on the helipad at my estate, waiting for Luca to issue an order. Carl Wellington stood beside my father and shot me a stern look. The Wellingtons had every reason to blame us. We had made a promise to protect our queen at all costs.
Sonny and Drake stopped in front of me. My best friend gave me a weary look as his green eyes met mine. Drake was busy typing on the iPad in his hand.
“I located the Basiles’ shipping container.” Sonny chewed on his lip. “We didn’t understand why their container was the only one that disappeared. Now it all makes sense.”
Before I got shot, someone had stolen the Basiles container while it was in transit to the port. The Knights had met with Carl the day we discovered the theft. We handled illegal shipments for the Basile crime family on a monthly basis. The Russian’s ambush was convenient timing because the container went off our radar the same day.
I looked at Sonny for answers. “What did you find in the container?”
Drake held out the iPad. “You’ll want to see this.”
My brother leaned over my shoulder to get a better look at the screen. The man in the video walked into the empty shipping container and ripped a white piece of paper off the wall.
Luca stiffened beside me.
He unfolded the piece of paper and held it up to the camera for us to see. Luca gasped as he read the handwritten note. My heart raced so quickly my pulse pounded in my ears, beating so loudly I could hardly hear my brother speaking to me.
“They stole their own container,” I said in disbelief.
Luca nodded. “The fifteenth anniversary of mom’s death is coming up. Lorenzo Basile has waited a long time to get revenge.”
“He was waiting for Alex to take her place with the Knights.”
“Aiden, too.” Luca’s jaw clenched as he looked at me. Then he turned to Sonny and Drake. “Does Wellington know yet?”
They shook their heads in unison.
“With both of his pawns out of play, maybe he’ll get off his ass and offer us the help of The Founders Society.”
Luca pushed past them and headed straight to Carl Wellington. I stayed behind and took the iPad from Drake’s hand so I could read the note again.
We captured your Queen.
Took your Knight.
Make your move.
Irolled back and forth on a hard surface, struggling to break free from the ties binding my arms behind my back. The restraints were nothing compared to the creative methods Bastian and Damian had used during sex. I knew how to handle pain, something my men had taught me well.
I felt the diamond ring on my finger, surprised my mother hadn’t taken it. She was a greedy bitch who would have done anything to make a quick buck. My parents couldn’t hold down decent jobs, rarely worked because they were waiting around for their big break. They were both artists and not very good ones.
I knew why she took me.
The bitch wanted the bounty on my head. People from the depths of the criminal underworld wanted to collect.
How did she know about it?
I hadn’t heard a word from her in over six years. Not since the day my grandfather came to the house with a team of armed men and removed Aiden and me from her home. From that day forward, we were no longer Aiden and Alexandrea Fox.
We became Wellingtons.