“I love her.” My heart pumped faster when her beautiful face entered my mind. “Always have. Always will. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Liv.”
“I know,” Tate muttered. “I shouldn’t have acted the way I did four years ago. I saw you and Liv naked in your bed and saw red. She’s my fucking sister. I had to protect her. At least I thought I did that. But seeing how miserable both of youare without each other only makes me realize how much of an asshole I’ve been to both of you.”
“No, don’t say that, Tate. You’ve been a good brother to Liv and to me. I understand why we couldn’t tell her the truth. Even though it changes nothing. You and Olivia are still family. Blood or not, you’re both my family.”
“One more thing,” Tate whispered. “Make sure Liv gets my portion of Battle Industries.”
“You’re not fucking dying on my watch,” I fired back, even though it took all of my energy to do so. “Keep your eyes open. Try to fight it.”
“I’m so dizzy,” Tate said, slurring his words. “I don’t feel so hot, brother.”
“No, don’t fall asleep.”
He didn’t respond.
“Tate, wake the fuck up.”
Dead silence.
I looked around me, searching for a piece of rock sharp enough to cut the zip ties. My fingers had gone numb, making it harder to get a solid grip on anything substantial as I felt around in the dirt. My limbs stung from pins and needles, which only made my hands less effective.
My head spun from all the gas filling my lungs. Even my heart started pounding in my chest. Combined with the tingling sensation coursing through my arms and down my legs, I had little time left.
I didn’t make mathematical mistakes. And if my estimates were even remotely accurate, we would die in this cave. Sleep couldn’t come fast enough, and with each shallow breath I took, I succumbed to the darkness.
CHAPTER 23
DRAKE
Iwoke up as someone punched me in the face. My jaw crashed into the rock wall, the pain so intense it ripped a scream from my throat. Blood poured from my right nostril, dripping down my face.
“Get your ass up,” a man shouted in a French accent.
Across from me, another man wearing all black slapped Tate across the cheek, rousing him from his slumber. The small slit in the cave, right above my head, provided enough light to see my brother’s bloodied, battered face.
Tate was almost unrecognizable from the man I’d known for the past five years. His hair flopped onto his forehead, his eyes ringed with dark circles. He wore a suit stained with dirt and blood, the fabric ripped in various places.
The Frenchman whacked Tate once more. With his arms bound, my brother was defenseless.
“Stop it,” I screamed.
Pierre Moreau was the head of The Lucaya Group. The terrorist organization had cells around the world, including the United States, infecting every aspect of my life. He had given The Devil’s Knights nothing but trouble over the past year, but he’d never given me any sign that they wanted me.
Two more men entered the cave, dressed in black military gear and wearing respirators. They hauled another man wearing different colored fatigues, his messy hair falling onto his forehead, into the cave. When the man lifted his head, I gasped.
Marcello Salvatore sat across from me in the same bound position, his face full of cuts and fresh blood.
“What the fuck do you want from us?” I choked out, my voice raw and scratchy.
“Lovelace,” one man said, lifting his respirator to speak.
I waited too long to respond, thinking over my options, and that prompted two men to assault Marcello and Tate. Just seeing their heads turning to the side, blood spilling from their mouths, made my stomach ache.
“I’ll give you what you want,” I told them. “Leave them alone. They know nothing.”
As my head of security, Tate had access to Lovelace and knew where I kept all of her data. Thankfully, we had already planned for this exact scenario. I stored pieces of Lovelace’s code on multiple servers around the country. Without the proper knowledge and authorization, they would never get shit from any of us.
Three men wailed on Tate, throwing their weight into each punch, knocking his head to the side. He spat blood at them when they took a few seconds to recoup, but it only lasted seconds before they returned to smashing his face.
