I’m proud of what I did with La Lune Noire, how I took my father’s reputation of wickedness and backstabbing and turned this empire into a place within our dark world that adheres to a code and our version of integrity. And with the hospitality properties we have throughout the world—several being transformed into satellite versions of La Lune Noire—our legacy is unmatched.
But this—these people, this warmth—is by far my greatest accomplishment. I’m not sure they’ll ever grasp how rich they make my life.
I greet them all with hugs and good-natured barbs volleyed over our catered dinner. They forgo their texting, though I’m informed they challenged each other to not utter a word until I strolled through the door. Remy took it upon himself to try to break them all on my behalf. Love that kid. They lob countless questions about the restroom girl at me, but I toss each one back with puzzling tidbits until they forfeit.
When the meal winds down and they disperse to hang out in the great room, the record player blaring and laughter rising, I haul Ryker to my office and catch him up on what Wells told me.
His icy-blue eyes narrow. “Did us using the media to destroy the families that came after Maddox have something to do with their most recent threats?”
“He didn’t say.” I rub my chin because I leaped to a similar conclusion. “He wouldn’t put that on us. But it’s a logical deduction to draw.”
A little over a year ago, Maddox and Tessa found themselves in some trouble with two Mafias. The opposing families began a media battle of fabricated reports about them. It was their first act of war against us. There are services that can be purchased from an underhanded media conglomerate to have scripted stories shared across multiple platforms.
When the opposing families took the fight to the media, we hit back in the same way. Unlike them, we didn’t have to purchase the service because two of the KORT chairs have backdoor access to the same conglomerate, but so do the people threatening my sister’s family. And that no-name enemy after them doesn’t appreciate that they can so easily override a paid client’s wishes, so they’ll stop at nothing to take that media access away.
“So, the beautiful girl in the restroom?” He cocks his head, already connecting some of the dots and discerning that she is obviously related.
The adjective regarding her attractiveness is there simply to see if I’ll bite. I don’t.
On my side-by-side monitors, I pull up the security footage from the restaurant earlier and an old photo of Stone and Melody Gallagher, sharing Bernard’s theory that those are Zara’s parents.
Ryker leans over the desk and studies both screens for several beats. “It’s been a long time. But revenge is best served cold, and I see the resemblance.”
“She is presumably Stone’s daughter,” I concur. “And also likely here on assignment.”
He straightens, plucking his treasured dice from his pocket. “Reason enough to report her to KORT.”
“It isn’t that simple.” I close out the screens and turn toward the floor-to-ceiling glass window, staring out at the New Orleans cityscape and noting the history and the subtle changes that have transpired over the past two decades. “If I remember correctly, she was about nine when she lost her mother. Not much older than Jax and Rena were when Mom died.”
He stands next to me, peering at the same scenery, but absorbing it with far less tolerance. “You aren’t responsible for what Dad did to Melody, so sympathy, leniency, and compassion for her offspring have no place here. Is this woman a threat or not?”
Something swirling in those green eyes was far more telling than her career as an assassin. The confidence in which she greeted me, her levelheaded retorts, and her deliberate unveiling of what she knew revealed her profession in spades. But there was more to her. If circumstances were different, I’d be desperate to know what that was. I’m forty years old, and I can’t recall the last time I had an itch toknowanyone. Regardless, romance is tedious and draining. I don’t have the luxury of indulging in frivolous endeavors. Certainly not with someone more than a decade younger than me.
“My gut says she’s nothing I can’t handle.” I lift my wrist and spin my luck on my watch—a compulsion that soothes me. “She’s fearless and strategic, but lonely.”
I went with green earlier, but now I pickfourteen.
“Most assassins are,” he argues, striding away to pace and roll his dice around his palm. “That’s one of the draws for them at La Lune Noire. Camaraderie. But if she’s here—”
“Her mother is, in large part, the reason Dad is dead.” And indirectly, our mother, too, but I don’t need to share the painfully obvious. For good measure, I do tack on, “And the reason Jax and Rena are not.”
Twenty-seven. Both are red. I should’ve gone with color.
He grunts, his frustration growing. His approach to complications is usually more hotheaded than mine. “It sounds like she might be here to rectify that.”
“Maybe.” I trail my gaze across the horizon, the day’s end melting into the city and begging for nightfall to nurture old ghosts.
He halts in his tracks, parking next to me and whipping his head in my direction. His dark brown hair falls onto his forehead, and his features line with indignation. “And that’s not enough for you?”
That’s fair. I’d do anything to protect them. Rena’s life being in danger is not something I’m willing to trifle with. But she’s also living in a location that’s yet to be discovered and protected by four former Navy SEALs and a cabal that has power throughout the world. The peril isn’t imminent. I own an enterprise that caters to the nefarious and depraved. Jumping the gun would be foolish.
It’s imperative to not lose sight of who I am. And who I’m not.
“I promised you all I wouldn’t become him. That I wouldn’t be rash or malicious or take the lives of innocents.”
“She’s not an innocent,” he protests.
His outrage surges through me. I owe him so much. He never wanted anything to do with La Lune Noire, but he willingly gave up any other future when I asked him to. He even pushed Mercy away, setting aside his hopes of his own family to tend to the one we already had. I couldn’t have raised the four younger ones and run this business without him. But he also despised my father, like I did. And I won’t allow either of us to forget that what we owe this family more than anything is to never turn into Hayden Noire.
