Chapter Four #2
“So you want a seat at this table. You want your family name carved into Emberwick the way ours already are.” My words dropped low, pulling every ear toward me.
Senior turned to me. “That is our ambition, yes. We believe we can strengthen what has already been built.”
I nodded once, still watching Seylan. The boy shifted under my gaze, fingers tightening around his glass.
“Tell me something. You understand the rules that govern this council?”
Senior straightened. “We understand the importance of loyalty, discretion, and profit. We know how important the Big Six families’ connections are for the growth of—”
“I was not talking to you,” I cut in, eyes never leaving the son. “I am asking him.”
Silence settled over the table. Seylan swallowed, surprise flashing across his face before he forced a smirk he did not have the weight to carry.
“I would say the main rule is business first,” he answered. “Money on the table before anything else.”
My hand closed around the steak knife beside my plate. One smooth motion. No warning. The blade kissed his skin and drove straight through his hand into the thick wood beneath it.
“Fuuuuuuuuuck,” his scream ripped through the gala, high and raw.
Glass toppled. Chairs scraped.
“Oh my God,” Eleana screamed, shooting to her feet beside me. Bright blood spread fast across the white tablecloth.
I didn’t move. I kept my palm pressed against the knife handle, my expression unbroken as Seylan thrashed. My gaze never left his as every muscle in my body held in a quiet, unshakable control.
“You are wrong,” I said with cold settled into every word.
“The most important rule for this council is simple. When two families go to war, the others stay the fuck out of it. Each family is sovereign. Which means if you offend me, I can decide to kill you right here and not a single one of these men will move.”
Marquette didn’t flinch. Hollister didn’t speak. Draven watched and Crowhurst didn’t give a fuck.
“What the fuck, Korven? He’s bleeding!” the father hollered, his son breathing hard like a horse as he tried to bear the pain.
“You made two mistakes tonight,” I kept pressing down just enough to make him shout again.
“Ahhhhh fuuuuuck!!!”
“First, you walked into this gala thinking your name weighed anything in this room. Second, you stepped onto that balcony and reached for my wife as if she were something you could taste when my back was turned.”
His eyes blew wide. Fear finally pushing through the arrogance.
“Now I’m debating whether I should cut off the hand that dared touch what’s mine or put a bullet in your head. Because motherfucker, you did the one thing you never do if you want a seat at this table. You disrespected the wrong house.”
“Konflict,” Marquette’s voice cut through. “You have made your point.”
I heard him but did not look away from Seylan.
My hand stayed on the knife another heartbeat, letting the boy feel exactly how thin the line was between warning and execution.
Then I eased my grip and pulled the blade free.
Blood rushed up from the wound, his hand jerking back to his chest as he howled.
Eleana grabbed a napkin and pressed it against her brother’s wounded hand, shooting me a look full of fury and I couldn’t care less.
I wiped the knife on the edge of the ruined tablecloth and set it down, clean and glinting.
“I’m not killing anyone at this gala. Consider this mercy. But hear me out, Sawyer. Next time your son gets close enough to breathe the same air as my wife, the conversation won’t end with just a hole in his hand.”
I stood and walked out of the gala, completely ignoring the disapproving looks from Marquette and Hollister.
I had barely stepped into the hallway before I heard heels following the echo of my steps.
“Konflict, what the hell was that?” Eleana demanded, grabbing my arm like she had the right. “Why did you do that to my brother?”
I turned my head just enough for her to see my cold expression.
“If you care about him, tell him to stay the hell away from my wife,” I said. “And that goes for you too. Make this the last time you get close to her to spit whatever bullshit you think you have the right to say. I get irritated real fast when people piss my wife off.”
She blinked, stunned, then scoffed like she could not believe she heard me right.
“Your wife? I thought you didn’t give a damn about her. We spent months getting closer and you even came here with me tonight. Was that just to humiliate me? Since when do you talk about her like she suddenly matters?” Her voice cracked with anger. “I thought things were finally moving between us.”
I stopped walking and faced her fully. Her confidence flickered under the look I gave her.
“Moving? Bitch, please.”
Her mouth fell open.
“You really think any of this was about you? I know you want my dick and a guaranteed seat for your family at the Big Six table. That’s all this little game ever was.
Who sent you? Daddy?” I tilted my head, voice dropping into something mean.
“He told you to spread your legs for the head of the Korven family so yours could snake their way into our council? That’s the mission carved on that pussy of yours? ”
She raised her hand and tried to slap me but I caught her wrist mid-air and her breath hitched.
“Keep your fucking hand where it belongs,” I warned, tightening my grip. “I don’t let anyone cross that line and walk away. You put your hands on me and I’ll drop your ass six feet then sleep like a baby after. Don’t test what kind of monster you’re dealing with.”
I pushed her hand away and stepped back.
“Do not piss me off more than I already am. I tend to put bullets in heads when I run out of patience.”
Her face crumpled in disbelief and fear. I didn’t wait to see which one won.
I walked away.
Inside my head, everything kept spinning.
The truth about Eleana had always been simple—she made a decent distraction.
But she was not the kind of woman I ever touched.
When I wanted to fuck, I called women who understood the assignment, did not expect a place beside me and left before sunrise.
Eleana Sawyer was not that. Giving her this dick would have been handing her wings, letting her fly into places she had no right to be.
Tonight was proof. She thought she could walk up to Serenity and open her mouth like she belonged anywhere near her orbit.
I watched from across the hall with my jaw locked, pretending I didn’t give a damn about Serenity, because I couldn’t let her see anything else.
But every second Eleana stood in front of her, made my anger climb harder and hotter.
And then her idiot brother decided to add himself to the pile of Sawyer stupidity.
They were lucky I hadn’t already put a body on the floor tonight because every part of me was craving violence just to calm the storm in my chest.
I stepped outside and Krash opened the car door.
“Take me to the Veylor casino,” I said and Krash didn’t ask why.
The ride was silent except for the burn inside my ribs.
The casinos should have crumbled after her family’s fall, but Serenity poured herself into those damn businesses.
She handled everything like someone born for it.
I hated how much that impressed me. Hated that she had proved me wrong and that tonight I had seen a woman with fire instead of the fragile princess I thought she was.
When we pulled up at the back of the casino, I stepped out.
Pushing the door open, I walked through the service corridor.
Every staff member I passed straightened immediately, backs rigid, eyes lowered.
I kept moving until the doors to the staff lounge came into view.
They were open, the entire team gathered inside, standing shoulder to shoulder.
They understood the gravity of what was about to happen.
I stepped into the center of the room and let the stillness settle around me.
“Bring Viking,” I commanded.
Viking stumbled as they pushed him forward, his eyes searching the room until they finally found me. The color drained from his face quickly. His mouth opened as if he wanted to speak, but fear strangled the sound before it could leave him.
Tension simmered in the air as I walked toward him, stopping just inches away. Viking’s breaths became uneven as his shoulders trembled, and I let my gaze linger over him before I finally spoke.
“When a man raises his voice at my wife, this is what waits for him.”
I did not give him time to plead. My fist collided with his jaw so sharply the crack echoed off the walls.
His body dropped instantly, but I caught the front of his shirt, pulled him back up, and drove my fist into his face again.
His knees buckled, but I kept him upright long enough for everyone in the room to watch the consequences of disrespect unfold.
He tried to shield himself, tried to turn his face away, but I grabbed him by the back of his neck and pushed him against the wall.
His skull hit the concrete with a dull thud.
I could feel every ounce of fear trembling through him, the same fear he had tried to instill in Serenity when he thought she was alone and unprotected.
I didn’t stop. A punch to the ribs. Another to the gut. A kick that sent him sprawling across the tiles, gasping for air that wouldn’t come. Blood dripped from his mouth in a slow trail, marking the floor he had once walked with arrogance.
He collapsed on his side, a broken sound leaving his throat. I stepped toward him, watching his eyes widen with the realization that he had run out of chances.
By the time I drew my gun, the entire staff stood frozen, their fear held in their throats. Viking raised a trembling hand, the final instinct of a man who understood that mercy was not part of this room tonight.
His voice cracked. “Konflict… please—”
The gunshot cut through him before he finished the sentence. His body fell still, blood spreading beneath his cheek in a slow, dark bloom. The silence that followed held the weight of a vow none of them would ever dare to break.
I turned my focus to the room. My gaze swept over every face. I let the warning settle in, making sure they felt it in their bones.
“When Serenity Korven walks into this casino, you better kiss the ground she stands on. You will remember exactly what she is—the woman who carries my name. She is the one you show respect to before anyone else. And if any of you forget after today…”
I let my eyes fall back on Viking’s lifeless body.
“This is what waits for you.”
I holstered my gun and turned my back to the silent room.
The night was cold but not enough to cool the heat in my blood.
I released Krash and drove alone to the cemetery.
My mother’s grave sat under a tall tree, smooth marble reflecting the moonlight. I stood there looking at the name I had sworn to honor with every breath I took in this world.
Kate Korven.
“Ma,” I said quietly, sitting on the cold stone edge. “I do not know what the hell is happening to me.”
The wind moved through the branches but nothing in me settled.
“I was supposed to end her that night, Ma. I had the gun and the chance to finish what her father started. But she looked at me… and all I saw was that little girl I pulled out of the water 19 years ago, those same terrified eyes locked on mine. And my hand just… refused. I should’ve done it, I know that. But I couldn’t.”
I dragged a hand down my face.
“I know I cannot betray your memory. Vince took you from me. You were my angel. So I have to take his too. I have a month left and I will do what needs to be done.”
I stayed there a long time. Long enough for anger, grief, and desire to knot into something toxic in my chest.
When I finally stood, I pressed my palm against the cold stone.
“I will give you justice,” I whispered. “Even if it kills me too.”
I left the cemetery and drove home. By morning, my skull felt heavy after sleep had been nowhere to be found. Krash knocked once and walked in.
“A letter arrived,” he said. “From the Korven estate.”
I frowned. Serenity never wrote. Never called. Never reached out even once in eleven months.
“Why would she—”
I tore the envelope open and let the paper unfold between my fingers, reading the first line slowly, and by the time my eyes reached the next sentence, the weight of her message crashed through me all at once.
“What the fuck is this?”