We’d all grown up together, raised to be part of the organization. I knew from an early age that I never had a choice. Right or wrong, good or bad, my opinions didn’t matter.
This was my birthright.
Once I swore the oath and completed the grueling initiation, I was one of them. The Knights were not my brothers by blood, but we were a big, fucked-up family.
Luca sat on his throne, nostrils flared, his scary blue eyes aimed at me. “Where are we at with The Lucaya Group?”
“I’m making progress,” I said, though it sounded like a lie. “I just need more time. They’ve hired the best black-hat hacker in the world. His firewall is difficult to get past.”
“There is no room for error, Battle.” Luca curled his hand into a fist on his lap. “Our enemies are banging down our doors and know our movements before we make them. Alex is pregnant. If anyone touches a hair on her head, I will hold you responsible.”
“They almost got Grace,” Cole said, shifting his weight beside me. “The women in our lives are not safe in Devil’s Creek. You can do something about them, Drake. Lovelace?—”
“No,” I fired back. “I’m not a terrorist.”
I’d had the same conversation with Tate earlier. Everyone wanted to use Lovelace as a weapon of mass destruction. Until they forced my hand, I was determined to dismantle their corrupt organization another way.
To some extent, the almost kidnapping of Grace Marshall was my fault. I’d accidentally allowed Maverick into my system, but I would never repeat that mistake. If I could have out-hacked Maverick, Alex Salvatore, the Queen of The Devil’s Knights, wouldn’t have been listed for sale on the Il Circo auction site.
If I had been better and done more with my technology, I could have saved everyone a world of pain. Tate often joked that I had the brain of a supercomputer, but I still had a heart. And that heart was telling me not to use Lovelace for evil. Once I crossed that line, there was no going back.
I couldn’t unhit the button.
Luca’s top lip curved upward like an animal ready to attack. “Try harder. Your best isn’t good enough.”
The heartless bastard never showed emotion to anyone—not even his brothers. But Alex made him care about something other than himself. For his wife, Luca would do anything.
“Give me more time,” I said, trying to keep my cool. “I’m one man. The Lucaya Group has teams of hackers.”
I should have confessed what I’d done. If I had the nerve to tell the Salvatore brothers and Cole that I’d doomed their women by making a mistake, then we could have planned differently. But I held my tongue. The Knights considered me infallible. They relied on my expertise and trusted me with their lives.
Luca studied each of our faces and blew out a deep breath. His rage simmered beneath the surface. Most of the time, he kept it in check, which made him a good leader. On the rare occasions he completely lost his shit, he left a bloodbath in his wake.
Luca’s satellite phone rang. He reached under his robe to retrieve it and glanced at the screen. “Alex is awake and looking for us.”
His brothers nodded.
He feared losing Alex, and so did his brothers. The four agreed to share the Wellington heir. I didn’t understand what they got out of the arrangement. Marcello had hated his brothers for years, yet when Alex came into their lives, everything changed.
“Meeting adjourned,” Luca said to the rest of us with a wave of his hand. “And Battle, do your fucking job.”
Cole pulled me to the side after the Salvatore brothers left the room. My cousin slid a hand through his short, white-blond hair and sighed.
“Tell me the truth, Drake. Is Grace safe? Are any of us?”
I shook my head. “They will never stop coming for us.”
He looked down at his feet, deflated. “That’s what I thought.”
“War is coming.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Prepare for the worst.”
CHAPTER 17
OLIVIA
Iwoke up to a loud bang, movie credits rolling down the projection screen. The soundtrack music belted through the speakers suspended from the ceiling, adding to the thumping in my head. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and felt like sandpaper.
How long was I asleep?
