“One hundred fucking percent,” Kai says. “Whatever you’re cooking up, I’m all in.”
A chorus of agreement rings out around the room as everyone, unanimously, confirms their support.
Adrenaline courses through my veins, and I just know this is it.
The pivotal moment where everything changes.
Where the power shifts and the people in this room are primed to take back control.
I cast a glance over everyone again, and powerful emotion swims up my throat. Before, the guys were fond of tossing out sentiments that they would kill for me or take a bullet for me, and I was skeptical. Especially when everyone in this room has betrayed me in some way.
But that’s in the past.
Because I look at them now, and I know it’s the truth.
I know they are in this with me.
That they want this as badly as me, and they will do whatever it takes to help me reclaim control over my life.
It’s a surreal feeling.
To know I have such a formidable group of guys standing behind me, watching my back, and supporting my decisions. The feeling of empowerment is incredible. Indescribable. And exactly what I need to get me through the weeks and months ahead. It’s not going to be easy, especially the part I have designated to play. But I know I’m up for the challenge with my crew at my side.
We will make it happen.
This time, the bastardisgoing down.
And there will be no getting back up.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“We’re listening, beautiful,” Jackson says, as Kai, predictably, gives him the evil eye. “Tell us your dastardly plan.”
I stick my tongue out at him, and he chuckles. He hasn’t once attempted to reach for a joint or a blunt, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. It’s not long after the anniversary of his sister’s death, and the pressure we’re under is intense, so I’d expect him to be smoking his brains out most of the time. The fact he isn’t warms my heart, and I hope it might mean he’s turned a corner, because I want that for him.
But it’s more than that.
If we’re to pull this off and make it out alive, we need Jackson sober with his head fully in the game.
I make a mental note to discuss it with him at some stage.
“We need to approach this from several angles,” I say, “because Father is a conniving bastard, and he always covers his tracks. But everyone fucks up. Everyone has a weakness, and I’ve discovered his.” I pause for a second. “His penchant for recording people and using the evidence to blackmail them will be his downfall.”
“In what way?” Rick asks, propping his butt against the back of the couch.
“You said he has lured senior and high-ranking elite members to the sex dungeon,” I say, looking at my brother, “recorded them doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing, and he’s bribing them into supporting his campaign for president, right?” Drew nods. “So, the way I see it, we hit the bastard from two angles. We take Manning Motors away from him, and we take the vote and his status within the elite away from him.”
“Okay. I think I know where you’re going with this,” Drew says, “but how do you plan to achieve it?”
“We need to find those tapes, and then we go to some of the men he’s blackmailing and offer to let them”—I make little air quotes with my fingers—“buy’ them from us but the payment isn’t cash, it’s the removal of their support for his campaign.”
“What if your father has backups?” Sawyer asks. “Because I’m pretty sure he will have.”
“Then we find those and destroy them too.” Confidence drips from my tone, even though I know finding one set of tapes will be challenging enough. “And if we can’t locate them, we bluff. We’ll tell them we have all copies. We can duplicate and triplicate the files if we need to, to make it look convincing. I don’t really care if Father uses them against those men once we get them to remove their support for him first.” I draw a deep breath. “Which is why we can only reveal all this the day of the vote. If the bastard tries to use the backups against the others after that, I’d consider that a win-win.”
Drew nods proudly at me. “Because it would discredit them too and bring the whole institution into disrepute.”
“Exactly.”
