Chapter 18
CASSIA
I remain seated on Knight’s lap until I see land in the distance before I move and sit down beside him. Turning my head, I look at him.
“Ready?” he asks, giving me a signal that he’s done talking about himself.
I glance at the coastline coming closer. “I don’t have a choice. I just have to be.” I tilt my head then remember something. “I forgot to organize a car.”
“My SUV is parked at the docks,” he mentions. “I always leave it there when I come to the island.”
“Oh good.”
“Give me your gun,” he orders.
Not thinking, I pull my dress up until the thigh holster is visible and remove the gun.
When I hand it to Knight, I ask, “How did you know I was carrying?”
“I felt it when I wrapped my arm around your legs.”
He takes the weapon and checks the magazine before standing up and firing a shot into the ocean.
The sound makes me jerk, and when he hands the gun back to me, I ask, “Happy?”
“No, but it will do for now. I’ll get you something more trustworthy.”
“Which gun do you have?” I ask.
He pulls the weapon from behind his back. “It’s a Beretta, but I also have a Glock, a Heckler & Koch, and a Sig Sauer.”
“Are those the best?”
He nods. “Didn’t you have weapons training?”
I shake my head. “I only learned how to shoot. Arthur is in charge of the guards and also ordering weapons.”
“Who else is of importance in your organization?”
“Michail. He was my father’s right-hand man before the attack. There’s also Savvas. He deals with the shipments and transporting the cargo to other countries.”
“Which of them do you think could be the traitor?”
“Maybe Arthur, but only because I don’t know him that well. I’ve known Michail and Savvas all my life.”
Knight’s eyes lock with mine. “Sometimes those closest to us are in the best position to hurt us.”
Before I can stop the question, I ask, “Are you talking from experience?”
He nods. “I had a drunk bastard for a father who spent more time at the local bar than home and a mother who abandoned us the night before Christmas.”
God. I might not have always gotten along with Dad, but at least he was there to take care of us.
Well, except for the past year.
Memories of my family start to flood my mind, but luckily, the yacht begins to slow down, drawing my attention to the fact that we’ll be docking soon.
I sit down and quickly tuck my gun back into the thigh holster before straightening my dress.
“If you lift your dress like that in public to get to your gun, it will be an effective weapon in disarming any warm-blooded man,” Knight mutters.
“Yeah?” I chuckle. “Should I just go around flashing my enemies?”
“At least they’ll die happy when I shoot them,” he grumbles as the yacht comes to a stop.
He glances around the area that’s pretty quiet, then orders, “You do as I say. Got it?”
“Yes.”
There’s only one man I listen to. The one who keeps me alive.
I have to make everyone else fear and respect me.
“Ready?” Knight asks as he grabs his duffle bag.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I mutter while gripping the handle of my luggage.
I pull the bag to the side of the yacht and wait for Knight to step onto the dock before I hand it to him. After I climb off the yacht, I take the handle again and drag my luggage behind me as I follow Knight to a beaten-up SUV.
“If I’m going to drive around with you, we need to get a new car,” I mention.
“What’s wrong with my SUV?” he asks as he unlocks the doors.
Taking my bag from me, he loads it onto the backseat.
I point at the rear panel above the back tire. “Besides that it’s old, it has a bullet hole.”
“All that matters is that it runs just fine,” he mutters while he opens the passenger door for me.
Climbing into the cab, I tease him, “Yeah, until it doesn’t.”
Knight slams the door shut, and my eyes follow him as he walks around the front, taking in his powerful body.
He’s held me quite a few times, and it felt intimate sitting on his lap.
That’s not brotherly behavior.
When he slides in behind the steering wheel, he opens the duffle bag and hands me a machine gun before pulling another one out, which he tucks between the door and his seat. As he leans into me to place the duffle bag on the backseat, a kaleidoscope of butterflies erupts in my stomach.
Remembering when I leaned in to kiss him, and he pulled away, I’m sure he wasn’t aware that I wanted to kiss him.
His eyes flick to me as he pulls back, and noticing that I’m staring at him, he asks, “What?”
“Nothing,” I whisper while I turn my head away.
“Where are we going?” he asks.
“Shit.”
I turn and climb onto my knees. Leaning through the opening between the front seats, I reach for my bag and dig the piece of paper out of the front pocket. I accidentally bump my butt against Knight as I pull back so I can sit down again.
Handing him the note, I say, “Here you go.”
“That’s the first time I’ve been smacked in the face by an ass,” he mumbles as he checks the address.
“Sorry.”
“I wasn’t complaining.”
My head whips in his direction, and it’s to see a slight grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
He starts the engine and reverses out of the parking spot before steering the SUV onto the road.
As we drive to the safe house, I wonder how many of my people chose to side with me.
Not many, if they all fit into a house.
The betrayal cuts deep, and I close my eyes as the pain forms another crack in my heart.
Knight drives for fifteen minutes, then says, “It’s the house on the corner. We’re going to do a drive-by before we stop.”
“Okay.” As we pass by the house, I look for any sign of life, but I can’t see any. “It doesn’t look like anyone is there.”
“We’ll find out soon enough,” he says as he makes a U-turn. “If all hell breaks loose, you point that machine gun at anyone but me and just pull the trigger. It packs a punch, so brace for it.”
“Okay.”
I hold the weapon ready, but Knight drives past again. Before I can ask what he’s doing, he stops the SUV two houses away from the safe house.
“Let’s go,” he mutters as he shoves his door open.
I quickly climb out of the car and join Knight. Noticing how he’s holding his gun with the barrel pointing down, I adjust mine into the same position.
“Stay slightly behind me,” he orders.
I fall a step back and move into position, my fingers tightening around the powerful weapon.
If shit goes sideways, just point and shoot. You’ll be fine.
My heart starts beating faster with every step we move closer to the house.
Jesus. I don’t know if I can handle another shootout so soon after the attack.
“There’s someone peeking through the curtains by the window on the left,” Knight murmurs, his tone steady.
My eyes dart to the window, and it’s in time to see Savvas’s surprised face before the curtain falls back into place.
“It’s Savvas,” I tell Knight.
The next minute, the front door swings open, and the large man comes jogging out of the house while crying, “ Gamóto, Cassia! I thought you were dead.”
Knight instantly trains his machine gun on Savvas while calling out, “Stop right there.”
Savvas freezes, quickly raising his hands while giving me a confused look.
Knight stealthily moves closer and pats Savvas down, disarming him and dropping the handgun onto the ground.
He moves three steps back, stopping an inch from bumping into me, then asks, “How many people are in the house?”
“There are eleven of us,” Savvas quickly answers.
“How many weapons?” Knight asks in a harsh tone.
“Nine.” Savvas gestures at the gun on the ground. “Including that one.”
“Cassia, pick up the gun,” Knight orders.
I quickly crouch down and grab it.
He nods his head toward the house and tells Savvas, “Move to the front door and tell everyone to come out one at a time. Have everyone slide their guns out onto the porch. You will then kick the weapons to the side and out of reach. If more than one person exits the house at the same time, I open fire. Got it?”
“Yes.” Savvas nods quickly before hurrying to the porch and calling into the house, “Cassia is here. We need to come out of the house one at a time. Slide the guns out onto the porch.”
“Aim at the front door, and the instant more than one person comes out while I’m busy patting them down, you open fire,” he orders me.
“Okay.” I train the barrel of my machine gun on the porch, praying to all that’s holy that I won’t have to shoot one of my people today.
Once all the weapons are lying in the dirt beside the porch, Michail comes out of the house with his arms raised.
That only leaves Arthur as the one who could’ve betrayed my family.
Knight signals for Michail to come closer, then he indicates for him to stop. He pats him down, then says, “Move to the side.”
He repeats the process with every single person, and I watch with bated breath as Cole, Nico, Luke, and Jonas are searched. They’re soldiers who guarded the warehouses.
Tobias, one of the men who guarded my family, comes out next, and I tilt my head.
Could the traitor be a guard?
“How did you make it out alive, Tobias?” I shout while training my weapon on him.
“I took two bullets. When I woke up, I was with an Italian man who brought me here.”
I stare at Tobias, not sure whether I can trust what he’s saying.
“Cassia,” Savvas says. “Why are you treating us like this?”
“Someone betrayed me,” I call out.
“We need to take this inside,” Knight mutters. “We’re starting to draw attention.”
Tobias moves slowly and pulls up his shirt so I can see one of the bullet wounds near his hip and gives me a pleading look. “I was shot, Cassia. I’d never betray your family.”
God, what choice do I have but to cautiously trust them until the traitor reveals himself?
The thought terrifies me, but I lower my gun and order, “Everyone back into the house.”