Chapter Twenty-Four #2
Without waiting for a response, I spin on my heels and feel my way back out the tunnel. Carlisle emerges a moment later and pushes the portrait back into place. He falls into step beside me as we leave the library and make a beeline for my father’s office.
I knock on his door, and it opens, revealing my father with a drink in one hand and a gun in the other.
His eyes are tight and bloodshot as he waves me in.
Carlisle shifts to step in after me, but my father points the gun at him, and he stiffens.
I offer my right-hand man a nod and push the door shut behind him.
“More news of your failure?” Jack sits down behind his desk. “Mason Payne, the disappointment. I should’ve never chosen you as my successor.”
I reach into my sock and toss the flash drive onto the desk. “I’m not the problem.”
Jack’s gaze flicks to the flash drive. “What is this?”
“Mathew has been working with our enemies. You’ll find all the proof you need on that.” I nod toward the drive. “It’s been going on for almost a year. He’s trying to overthrow me.”
Jack sets his drink down. “That’s a serious accusation to make.”
“It’s not an accusation,” I reply. “Take a look for yourself. It’s all there. Oliver was also working with him.”
Jack’s expression darkens. “What?”
“Thankfully, Oliver saw the error of his ways and came clean,” I continue, “but not before Mathew tried to frame him.”
Jack leans forward and snatches the flash drive off the desk. A tremor races through him as he shoves it into his laptop and waits. The screen lights up a moment later, and I watch him grip the edges of the desk.
I don’t know if it’s enough.
I don’t know if Mathew has already turned him.
Despite our differences, I know that my father and I share the understanding that the good of the family and the empire come above all else.
Something Mathew hasn’t taken into consideration.
“He doesn’t care if they raze the empire. He’d rather rule over a pile of ashes than leave me in charge.”
Jack turns from the laptop and fixes his gaze on me. “I see.”
“I don’t know how much time we have,” I say, “or how many people have turned sides already, but we can still get ahead of this.”
Jack pushes his chair back, stands up, and walks over to the cart. He pours himself a drink and downs it in one gulp. Then he pours himself another and turns his back to me. In the glass window opposite him, I see him watching me.
Why isn’t he saying anything?
A niggling sensation takes root.
Am I too late?
Has Mathew gotten to him?
I clear my throat and ignore the whistling sound in my ears. “He doesn’t know I’m onto him, but it’s only a matter of time.”
Jack turns to face me with an unreadable expression. “Yes.”
“Did you hear a word I said?” I ask. “He’s tearing apart the empire, and that includes everything you’ve worked so hard to build. Mathew doesn’t care about the family name or the legacy.”
Jack sits back down behind the desk and lifts the glass to his lips. “I wasn’t under the impression that he did.”
I slam both hands against the desk, hard enough to make the wood rattle. “He won’t stop at me, and you know it. You’ll be next.”
Jack levels me with a cold look. “Mathew wouldn’t strike his father.”
I reel back. “He would, and you’d be a fool to assume otherwise.”
Goddamn it.
Where is that cold fury he’s known for? Why hasn’t he unleashed his wrath?
This isn’t going the way I thought it would, and I can already feel everything—the future, our safety—slipping through my fingers.
I whip out my gun, desperation pumping through me as I point it at him. “How long have you been working with him?”
“Put the gun down, boy.”
I remove the safety. “How long?”
Slowly, Jack rises to his feet. “I am not working with Mathew.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I recognize a lost cause when I see one,” Jack replies. “I know defeat is not something you’re familiar with. It’s a lesson I should’ve taught you, I suppose.”
I grip the gun tighter, alarm bells going off in my head. “What are you talking about?”
“Mathew won.” Jack steps out from behind the desk and advances on me. “There’s nothing you or I can do except bow down.”
“Are you fucking insane? He won’t accept surrender. He’ll kill every one of us to make sure we don’t rise against him.”
Jack stops in front of me, so the gun is pointed at his chest. “And what would you have me do, Mason? Kill my son?”
The shock of hearing my name on his lips is almost enough to make me drop my gun.
He hasn’t called me by my given name in years.
Not since I was a little boy.
Shit.
“Do something,” I hiss. “You’re Jack Payne. You always have something up your sleeve.”
“Not this time,” Jack says.
I shake my head. “I refuse to believe it.”
“Then run,” Jack tells me. “Take London and run. Maybe you’ll have enough of a head start.”
What the fuck is happening?
I came to him in search of an ally, not a tired, old man.
What the hell are you going to do now? You have no more tricks up your sleeve, no more aces to play.
With only a handful of loyal men and women, I know it’s not early enough.
The walls are already closing in, and no amount of raging will change anything.
“Paynes do not run,” I snap. “I will not let Mathew do this.”
Jack shrugs. “Do what you must, then.”
I stare at him, anger and panic clawing at me. “So, that’s it, then? You’re just going to let him take it all? What the hell did he do to you to make you a pathetic old man?”
Jack’s eyes flash. “Careful, boy.”
“Or what?” I step closer to him and bare my teeth. “You’ll give me more shitty advice? Save your breath, old man.”
Jack closes the distance between us and raises his hand.
My heart skips a beat as we stare at each other.
Then the door to the office is thrown open, and Carlisle hurries in. Slowly, I face my right-hand man.
“What happened?”
Carlisle clears his throat. “I don’t know what the fuck happened, but they came out of nowhere, and they’re everywhere.”
I move away from my father and frown. “What are you talking about?”
The radio at Carlisle’s side crackles with a mess of voices. He unlatches it from his belt and turns up the volume. I hear gunfire and wails of pain.
“They’re attacking everywhere,” Carlisle says. “The docks, the airstrip. Everything. They’re destroying it all.”
“Bring me the Harrison twins—”
Jennifer and Jeremiah burst into the study a heartbeat later, white-faced and panting.
“What the hell is happening?”
“I’m sorry, Mason.” Jennifer shakes her head. “Our men are withdrawing.”
“The fuck they are. We have an agreement—”
“Not anymore, we don’t, Mason,” Jeremiah says. “You’re on your own with this. Fucking waste if you ask me, but oh well.”
He strides out of the office with his hands in his pockets. Jennifer offers me another apologetic look before hurrying after him.
“Get me the mayor, now. I want to know how the hell this happened. Where the fuck is Katia?”
I storm out of my father’s office, with Carlisle on my heels. I find Katia in the foyer with her phone to her ear.
“They just made a move on London’s parents. Nadia barely managed to get them out alive.” Katia keeps pace beside me. “I’ve tried reaching out to some of the others, but there’s nothing but radio silence.”
I burst into my office and rummage through the drawers. “Where the hell is the mayor?”
Carlisle says something else into the phone then hangs up. He stands up straighter and clears his throat. “He’s out of town.”
I rip a drawer off its hinges and toss it aside as Carlisle and Katia drift closer to each other. A moment later, my father comes into the study and sits in one of the armchairs. He stares at the flames of the fire.
I hurl another drawer at the nearest wall, and it splinters.
This can’t be happening.
Mathew cannot win.
I won’t let him.
“Carlisle, find Olivia.” My mind is racing a million miles a minute. “Take her and get Oliver. Gather whatever men are still loyal and wait for me in the library.”
Carlisle nods and leaves.
I turn to Katia. “Have Nadia keep London’s parents underground until we reach out with more instructions.”
Katia lifts the phone to her ear and mumbles something too quick for me to hear. A few moments later, she hangs up and pockets the phone.
“Go and help Carlisle. I’ll join you when I can.”
Katia leaves the room, and I turn to face my father, who is still staring into the fire. I storm over to him, kneel, and wait for him to look at me. “For fuck’s sake, don’t just sit there.”
Jack slowly lifts his gaze to mine. “I’ve said all I need to say. Stay and die or run and live.”
“Live in disgrace, you mean.” I shake my head and stand back up.
He isn’t wrong. It’s over. There’s nothing else for you to do.
Still, I can’t bring myself to turn my back on everything I’ve built and the only life I’ve ever known.
“I’m not going down without a fight.”
Jack starts laughing, the sound echoing in my head as I storm off to look for London.