“Dimitri will leave for school next week.” That gets my attention. I search his eyes for an ulterior motive but find… none. “He’ll have a guard with him always. He will board there and have the best tutors to help him.”
“Why are you doing this?” A ghost of a smile touches his lips as he looks to his little brother.
“He has never asked me for a thing his whole life. Within the space of a few months he has asked me for two things.”
“And they are?” I hedge. He turns his brown eyes back to me, I stifle my gasp when I see respect in his eyes.
“To not kill you and help your brother.” My eyebrows jump up into my hairline in shock. He smiles and for the first time I see it’s genuine. “I would have killed you the night you came here with Allison. I would have, if it wasn’t for Knight.” That shocks the shit out of me, I had no idea. “I think even then he knew you weren’t our enemy.” I bite the inside of my cheek to keep the tears from rising, fucking hormones. “He’ll love you with everything he has inside him, Koby. He’ll fuck up, but I promise you, he will never make the same mistake twice.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I whisper.
“Because, I once told you I would never trust you and at the time I meant it. It seems I may have been… wrong.” My eyes widen and his narrow in warning, earning a light chuckle from me. “I have a proposition for you?” The hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“If you are gonna ask me to leave you can get––”
“No, I would never ask that.”
“Okay, what is it then?” The carefree expression he wore moments ago vanishes and is replaced by a sterndon’t fuck with melook.
“Hack for me, help me take down the last two families and take down the Bratva. I give you my word once that is done, you will never have to look over your shoulder or ever have to worry about the safety of your children again.” I eye him warily for a moment. He is putting a lot of trust in someone he just admitted he wanted to kill. “You won’t accompany us on missions or even leave the confines of this house.”
I balk at him. “What the fuck?” I grit out.
“He won’t allow it, Koby. You’re pregnant with the next generation of Murdoch’s and I will not risk their safety for my own gain. If you don’t agree, I’ll lock your ass in the bunker myself and deal with the bitch fit he’ll throw,” he says, flicking his head toward Knight. I mull over his words for a moment and really think on what he has asked before I answer him.
“Dimitri is never to be harmed no matter what happens to me.” He nods. “I’ll stay here and do as you asked but if at any point in time Knight’s life is risked and I can prevent it, I will go to him.” He nods stiffly. “I’ll hack for youifyou allow Knight to do it with me. He is really good and I can teach him things so he can do better at hiding his tracks and not be sloppy––”
“I’m not fucking sloppy.” I gasp. Both Bishop and I turn to Knight and watch as he slowly tries to sit up. Bish rushes over to help him. I smile at him, he is battered and bruised but he still looks fucking sexy as sin. He shoots me a one sided grin that has heat swirling in my belly. He really is my dark Knight.
Knight
Three weeks later….
I look away from my laptop to smile at Koby. She’s in the pool, with the girls and Mela, looking like an absolute fucking snack in that white two-piece bathing suit. She has a small bump now and it fucking does things to me whenever ever I see her sitting on the couch rubbing it or even talking about the future with our kids. She doesn’t want to know the sex when the time comes, but I fucking want to know! Bishop agrees that if we have another two girls to add to the family we need to move out to the sticks where they can’t sneak out when they are older. Like fuck will my daughters be out partying where disgusting boys can touch them!
“Find anything?” I look over to see King drop into the sun lounger beside me. I close the lid of my laptop and shake my head. It’s been weeks since Rook went missing and I can’t find a single fucking thing on him, not a glimpse in a video or anything. I have been tracking every fuckers’ phone and still I can’t find a picture or anything with him in it. I refuse to believe that he is gone. He can’t be. He has to be here for the birth of my kids and the day I decide to marry Koby he has to be by my side.
“I won’t give up on him,” I say sternly. King reaches over and places his hand on top of my shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze.
“None of us will, brother, but there is something you need to do, Knight.” I blow out a breath and nod. I know what it is before he even voices it. “She needs to come home before the war starts. Bring her home, brother.” I nod and stand. Koby shoots me a worried look. I shake my head and stalk off to call my sister. Carlina is a firecracker. She has the famous Italian temper, truthfully she is probably more ruthless than all of us.
I head around to the front of the house and drop down on the steps, then scroll through my contacts until I find her number. My finger hovers over her name for a minute… As soon as I call her, she’ll rush back here. She finally got out and now, I’m about to drag my sister back into this fucked up world we live in.
“She’s a big girl, playboy.” I turn to the side and smirk. Koby walks toward me with a towel wrapped around her waist and a sexy fucking look in her eyes. “Don’t look at me like that, or you won’t be making that call.” I laugh as she drops down beside me. She’s been a lot less on edge now since Dimitri has gone away to school where we used to go. She’s happier knowing that her brother has a chance at a normal life, a life she never had the chance to have. “Call her.” I nod and finally hit dial before bringing the phone to my ear. Koby rests her head on my shoulder, offering her silent support. The phone rings five times and I’m about to hang when she finally answers.
“Knight,” she breathes my name like it’s a balm to her soul and it crushes me inside.
“Hey Car.” We are both silent for a moment. Koby reaches up and places her hand on my leg, giving it a gentle squeeze. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and pull her in closer.
“How did you find me?” I smirk proudly. She changed her number, but Koby tracked her down a few days ago and got the number to her new cell. She’s been traveling through South America since she took off.
“There’s a lot to fill you in on but first, I need you to come home.” She sighs on the other end of the line making me feel like shit.
“I was wondering how long it would take before one of you guys came calling. Truthfully, I expected you lot to get Rook to guilt me into coming back willingly.” A whoosh of air escapes me. I slam my eyes closed trying to garner the strength to tell her the truth. Koby wraps her arms around my waist nuzzling into me further, she knows this is fucking hard for me to say aloud but I have to be the one to do it, he is my twin.
“Car…Rook is…”
“What the fuck is going on, Knight. Where is he?” The concern in her voice is felt all the way to my bones.