We take off running but they come from every direction. Rook curses beneath his breath as he pulls a gun from his waistband. I turn to him and hold my hand out. He scoffs, so I narrow my eyes at the smug fuck.
“I’m all you have for backup so you best be handing me one of those guns.” He shakes the gun in his hand.
“I only have one.” I bare my teeth at the dumbass.
“I know you have two, you always carry two and a knife in your boot, so hand me the spare!” His mouth opens slightly but no words come. When the sound of more gunfire sounds out, closer this time, he snaps out of it and hands me his backup. I check the mag first before flicking the safety off and following after him. The heavy rainfall doesn’t help us as we aren’t able to hear if anyone is coming up behind us. The visibility is growing worse as the weather picks up, the only way we are making it out of here is if we work together and at least try to trust each other. I am not fucking going back to them, so if I have to tell him some of the truth, I will. I spin around finding Rook’s skeptical gaze already on me.
“I don’t trust you.” Good, we’re on the same page then.
“You have no choice right now. You brought me here, not the other way round. I am not who you think I am, Rook. I’m not even related to Vladimir Volkov.” He reels back clearly taken aback by my admission. “If we get out of here alive, I’ll tell you who I really am.” He searches my eyes for any trace of dishonesty before nodding slowly.
“We need to get back up the hill and to the car. I don’t have my phone and no backup is coming so we need to leave now!” I nod as I turn and move toward the next building. Rook is close behind me. I keep the gun drawn in front of me. I hear shouts coming from our left and keep moving alongside the building, staying as close to it as I can. I stop at the edge and poke my head out to check both ways before darting across to the big building in the middle. We still have to make a run for it from this building to the next leaving us heavily exposed. I take a step forward ready to break for it, but Rook yanks me back. I gasp when he fires a shot near my face. My ear rings painfully as I spin around to watch a body fall to the wet ground.
“Stay behind me. They have our location now and we need to run for it!” I nod. He takes off and I follow after him. I spy a shadow to my right and slow my pace as I take aim and fire off a single shot. The fucker drops to the ground, his scream can be heard which causes me to cringe. I chase after Rook and slam against the side of the building. My nerves wrack my body as we stand here and watch cars zoom past us, they are blocking every exit point… trapping us. “Fuck!” I peer around him trying to find another way out of here, shit! The roads behind us will be blocked off in a moment, the buildings will be searched… that only leaves us with one possible exit point. I look to Rook and I see the uncertainty in his gaze, which tells me this is his first gun fight without his brothers backing him up. I shove the gun in my waistband and grip his face between my hands.
“Listen to me, I won’t let you die, okay. If we get captured you sell me to them and go back to your family…” He shakes his head, earning a growl from me. “Focus on your hatred of me, Rook. Let that build inside you and shut everything else off. You need to make sure you make it out of here. If you don’t, it will kill him.” His eyes fill with pain, he knows what I say is true. Losing Rook will kill Knight. He already lives half in the dark and half in the light, losing his twin would shroud his world in darkness completely. “We are going to make a break for the water, it is the only option we have.”
“We’ll drown, the waves are too strong!”
“Listen to me!” He clamps his mouth closed. “It is the only way. We make a break for it and jump. Don’t think, just do it. Do not come up for air until we are under the other dock or they will kill us.” He remains silent for a moment, but nods quickly when shouts can be heard from the building over from us. “Ready?”
“Yeah, let’s do this.” I take the lead, pushing in front of him and scan each way. The lights from the cars help me to get a better look of where everyone is. The container with the girls is now further away, so I can’t see what happened to the guys there and if the other two Don’s made it out alive. I fucking hope they didn’t. I reach back and grip Rook’s hand in mine, then hold my breath as I watch three men dart into the building beside the large one we hide behind. As soon as they disappear inside, I run, dragging Rook with me. I hear shouts behind us, then gunfire ensues as we continue to run as fast as we can for the edge of the dock. This is the most reckless thing I have ever fucking done, I never come into a situation like this unprepared. I grunt when I feel something tear through my shoulder, I’ve just been shot but thanks to the adrenaline coursing through my body I don’t feel it. I hear Rook groan beside me but don’t look, we need to keep going. An Escalade comes barreling toward us, so I push my legs faster, expecting it to run us down but it doesn’t. It shields us from the gunfire. I watch as Mav jumps out and shouts for us to keep going.
“Koby!” I freeze at the sound of his voice. Rook jerks to a stop beside me. Gunfire stops, shouts can no longer be heard, I drop my hold on Rook as I slowly turn to the left. I don’t need to see his face clearly, I can tell from the silhouette of his body that he is here. I spot the men beside him lift their guns, four of them have red laser lights aimed at me. I’m ready to meet my maker as I close my eyes and picture his face. Shots are fired but I don’t feel a thing, the sound of Mav’s anguish cry has me snapping my eyes open, only to be met with the deepest brown eyes that I am so familiar with.
“Oh my God,” I cry as I watch him drop to his knees in front of me. I reach out and cup his face as tears spring to my eyes. More cars fly toward us, but this time they are on our side. Shots are fired but it all becomes white noise to me as I stare into Rook’s eyes. “Why the fuck did you save me, you fool!” A crooked smile stretches across his handsome face.
“Losing me would hurt him, but losing you would kill him. Love him like he needs to be loved.” I brush my thumbs over his cheeks and wipe away the tears that fall from his eyes. I can see he is in pain. I can tell from how pale he is that he doesn’t have long before he’s gone. Knight won’t recover from this loss, losing Rook is going to shred whatever tiny bit of humanity he has left. I open my mouth to tell him he’s wrong but a loud boom sounds out then I’m sent flying. The last thing I remember is hitting the water before everything goes black.
Knight
I stumble back a step and smack into something… no someone. Arms wrap around my shoulders but I see nothing, I feel nothing. What Luka says can’t be true, my brother isn’t a fighter. He doesn’t get involved in any of this shit! He hates this life and just wants to play pro ball, party and fuck his way through college.
“Let’s go!” Bishops booming voice cuts through the haze of my grief. I follow after my brothers, Gage and Luka on autopilot. I know Kiara is screaming something at us, but I can’t hear anything aside from my own heartbeat ringing in my ears. I slip into the back seat, next to Luka and Gage, and barely have the door closed before Bishop is peeling out the driveway with cars following behind us. I sit here silently replaying the last moments with my brother over and over in my head. The last thing I said and did to him was unforgiveable. I hit my baby brother over a fucking a bitch. I’ll never be able to erase the look in his eyes from my memory for as long as I live.
“Why the fuck was he at the docks, Luka?” King shouts, I can hear the rage in his voice. His anger feeds the bloodthirsty beast inside me, the need for the blood of my enemies coating my hands has me focusing and paying attention to the conversation around me. “It’s your fucking job to watch them!” King screams. I don’t feel an ounce of remorse for Luka. If that dumb fucking cunt did what he was paid to fucking do, my brother wouldn’t have been shot!
“I don’t know. Mav was watching while I was…” He cuts his gaze to me before looking back at King. “Trying to gather intel.”
“You mean you were trying to back door hack me because you can’t get through my firewall?” Luka’s eyes narrow, I can tell I’ve hit a nerve. He prides himself on being able to hack anything but what he doesn’t know is I learnt most of what I know from watching him hack over the years. Computers have always fascinated me.
“You know?” he asks. I don’t bother to answer. Bishop takes a corner too fast in the downpour causing the ass end of the car to drift sideways making us grip onto something or risk smacking into each other. He’s been silent since we left the house and I know not being able to be there to protect our baby brother is killing him inside. Gage’s phone lights up the inside of the car, he places it against his ear.
“Where the fuck is my brother, Mav?” He’s silent as he listens for Mav’s reply. I don’t realize I’m holding my breath until he speaks again. “We’re on our way, clear the area and make sure it’s secured by the time we get there or I’m taking your fucking head.” He doesn’t wait for a reply as he ends the call, I never once thought about him and how he felt toward us. I can see it now and hear it in the way that he spoke. I may not view him the way he views us but Gage classifies us all as his family, and that earns some respect from me.
* * *
As the docks come into view my stomach bottoms out, there is a thick cloud of smoke, buildings are nothing but a pile of waste, some remain standing. How the fuck did this happen on our turf? Who would be so ballsy as to come into our territory and do this? Bishop continues to speed past the cargo that is set ablaze and the buildings that burn on our other side. It’s like someone set off a bomb here. The car screeches to a halt and we all jump out. I pull my gun out ready to kill any motherfucker that isn’t with us.
“Boss.” I turn to where Luka is pointing. There by the edge of the dock, Mav and a few others are crowded around a… body. I don’t think as I take off toward them, shoving the fuckers out of the way expecting to see my brother laying in Mav’s arms but it’s… Koby. Mav and her are both soaking wet. The rain continues to fall around us as I stare down at the girl I have been spending many a nights lost inside, unmoving and bleeding through her shirt.
“Where’s Rook?” Bishop snaps, his voice has me snapping out of my shocked state. I bend down and grab her from Mav. He cuts a glance to me before releasing his hold on her, standing to his feet to meet his Don’s murderous stare. Bishop grips the front of his jumper, yanking him toward him until they are nose to nose. “Where the fuck is he?” Bishop screams in his face. Mav shakes his head, Bishop releases him with a hard shove.
“They were going to kill her,” Mav shouts, whilst blindly pointing toward the blonde beauty that is out cold in my arms. “He took the hit before I could get to him. Then the bombs went off and everything… it just happened, Bishop. I’m so fucking sorry.”
Bishop growls pinning Mav with a look that promises fucking all kinds of pain. “Luka scan the fucking area and find my brother!” He turns to Dom next. “I want to know who the fuck was here and why, find me everything! No one leaves this fucking dock until my brother is found. Am I fucking clear?” A chorus of yes sirs ring out around us.
“How many times?” Gage’s question is spoken so softly that it is barely heard over the rain, but there is no mistaking the rage underneath it. Mav doesn’t pretend to act like he doesn’t know Gage’s question is directed at him.