Chapter 37
“I hope you being here means you’re ready to rejoin the land of the living.” Everett held the door open.
“Not exactly.” Ike limped inside, grimacing from the pain from his hike down the mountain to the Stingray Security compound.
He’d wanted to push himself, increase his endurance and conditioning, but he might have gone too far.
Recovering from the muscle atrophy and weakness would take longer than he anticipated.
The setback was frustrating. A delay that made him increasingly impatient to get back to pursuing the truth about what happened to his parents in Africa.
The bronze key burned a hole in his pocket, a constant reminder of the answers waiting for him across the ocean.
Every day he spent recovering was another day the truth remained buried.
And with each passing day, the mysterious Ava remained absent.
Her promise to save him felt incomplete—she'd rescued him from the Russians and returned him home but left him with more questions than answers.
Lachlan jumped up from the table in the war room and grabbed a chair, pulling it toward Ike. He should’ve been pissed by the move. But it was clear to everyone in the room, including himself, that he needed the help.
Ike gave him a grateful nod. Their friendship had weathered impossible storms—from Lachlan losing Britt to Ike's self-destructive spiral after his parents disappeared. Now, with Britt miraculously back, Ike was determined not to fail his friend again.
“Where’s your best friend?” Everett asked, peeking into the hallway.
Ike grunted at the reference to Tucker, the stupid white labrador who always followed him around. Today had been no different. Tucker was right beside him, barking with enthusiastic delight and pestering him as he made his way along the trail to the compound.
“You mean the bane of my existence?” Ike shook his head. “He’s outside, and before you ask, I filled up his water bowl and gave him some doggy biscuits.”
“I’m glad to see you moving around, but I’m curious to know what was worth the risk of possibly being seen on the grounds by your family,” Lachlan said. “What brings you down to the compound?”
“You,” Ike said. He’d gotten a text from Sebastian an hour ago about figuring out how to eliminate the threat on Britt’s life. Ike was restless. Tired of being on the sidelines.
His father's note—the one that had given him a reason to live again—remained folded in his wallet, a constant reminder of the man he wanted to become. A man who would protect those he cared about, not sit in hiding while they faced threats.
And he’d made Lachlan a promise. He wouldn’t sit idly by. He wanted in on the op.
“Guess you heard about Wesley’s visit to my house last night,” Lachlan said, leaning back in his chair.
Ike grimaced, muscles tensing as he nodded.
“What’s with you and that guy?” Everett asked. “It’s obvious you don’t like him. Want to fill us in on why?”
“Wesley Thomas made a career for himself as Galloway’s bitch. Willing to do whatever, whenever the Commander wanted, on or off the books, and was rewarded for it,” Ike could barely get the words out through clenched teeth.
“But Sebastian said you were still the Commander’s favorite. That must not have sat well with Wesley,” Lachlan said.
Ike pondered this. He couldn’t deny that Franklin Galloway revered him above all the PISCOs on his elite team.
Likely because Ike was the only one with the balls to stand up to the man.
Challenge him. Question his decisions. Tell the old bastard no.
Instead of garnering the Commander’s ire, he’d gained the man’s respect.
Respect that Wesley coveted. But in the end, they’d both become the same deplorable kind of special operative—elite-trained assassins for the Palmchat government.
A fact Ike hated.
The reason he walked away from the PISCOs.
He'd sworn to himself he'd never again be a weapon for someone else's agenda. His new path with Stingray Security was about protection, not elimination—using his skills to shield rather than destroy.
But Galloway never hesitated to let him know he wanted him back in the fold.
“Let’s just say Wesley was the only one celebrating when I decided to leave the PISCOs. The difference between us was that I knew what I was doing was wrong and hated it. Wesley knew it was wrong but loved the power of being judge and executioner.”
“So what do you make of his visit to me last night? Should I be worried?” Lachlan asked.
Ike leaned toward Lachlan. “I’m not surprised Wesley found out Alejandro is looking for you.
You’ve been the pilot for the wealthiest families in the Palmchat Islands.
You’re the perfect person to smuggle guns for Quattro’s operations,” Ike reminded him.
“What worries me is that your location is off the grid. Bobby wiped all cyber details and has a program running to keep critical information about you off the web and the dark web.”
Everett tapped his pen against his notepad. “So, how the hell did Wesley know you were living in a house on the King Family’s land?”
“My point exactly,” Ike said. “If anything, he should’ve checked your old house on Nova Lane since it’s your last address in the public records. Better yet, how did he get past my family’s security?”
“Seb is with the security team trying to get an answer on that right now,” Everett said.
Lachlan stared at the ceiling. “If the PISCOs keep digging into my life, they could find out about Paloma and Britt. Paloma’s connection to a dead cartel leader is irrelevant.
But Britt is another story, especially with everything she knew about her father’s operations.
If they know Britt is alive and are looking for her, what the hell would they do if they found her? ”
Ike could see that Lachlan understood how dangerous and diabolical the PISCOs could be under the guise of operating for the greater good.
“What they failed to do last time,” Ike said. “Force her to go through with the deal she made with them—”
“None of that matters because Britt doesn’t remember her life,” Lachlan said. “If the PISCOs found her, their team would come to the same conclusion that Fallon did. She can’t give them what she doesn’t remember.”
“So, we’re back to square one,” Ike said. “All of our attention needs to be on Alejandro and giving him a reason to stop hunting Britt—”
Everett jumped to his feet, staring at a monitor cycling through the outside security feeds. “Sebs here and … he’s not alone.”
Ike glanced at the screen. “Fuck!”
Lachlan rose from his chair. “Come on, you need to hide.”
Pain shot up through Ike’s legs as he stood. He couldn’t be found out. Not yet. He wasn’t ready to face his family. “Help me to the server room.”
Lachlan damn near had to carry him, depositing him inside, then closing the door behind him.
Ike pressed against the door, eager, despite himself to be close to his little sister after all these months.
His heart clenched at the thought of seeing Gabrielle again.
Hugging her. Telling her how much he missed her.
How he regretted not being there for her as she fought off the fucking maniac who’d stalked and tried to kill her.
The conversation floated into the tight room.
“Good to see you, Gabrielle,” Everett said. “What brings you to the compound?”
“I’m not staying long,” Gabrielle said, then paused. “I know your priority is helping Lachlan, but I have news about my parents and Ike. Something that might help you find my brother after y’all have stopped whoever is after Britt.”
Ike tensed, wondering what Gabrielle could be talking about.
“Don’t think for one second that we’ve stopped trying to find Ike,” Lachlan said, sounding extremely convincing. Ike was impressed. “We want him back just as much as you do.”
“I know you do,” Gabrielle said. “We all miss him so much. I’d give anything to see him again. Serena would, too. It’s easier for her to be angry with him than sad that he’s missing.”
Her words pierced like a knife, twisting with guilt.
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” Everett said. “What info do you have?”
“Serena was reviewing the open business deals that our mother was working on before the plane disappeared. Just to make sure that nothing had slipped through the cracks, and she found this,” Gabrielle said. The rustling of papers filled the air.
“A flight manifest for the day they left for Africa,” Lachlan said, a hint of alarm in his tone. “This isn’t the one I submitted to the charter flight company for them.”
“We know,” Gabrielle said. “Mom forced you and Sebastian to go to Miami to check on Ike and insisted that a charter company could fly them to Africa. It was supposed to be just a routine missionary trip that didn’t need Seby’s private security or your expertise.”
Lachlan sighed. “But going to Lesotho wasn’t on the original itinerary. It was never a country they went to in the past.”
Ike's breath caught in his throat. Lesotho.
The same country the Brazhensky thug had mentioned.
The same country where the bronze key from his father's memorial led.
This wasn't coincidence—it was confirmation.
His parents' secrets were buried in that small African nation, and somehow, Ava knew it too.
“That’s what I told Gabrielle,” Sebastian said. “If we’d known that was their destination, it would’ve raised a lot of red flags.”
“Questions we’d want answered,” Lachlan said.
“Answers they likely didn’t want to give,” Gabrielle said. “That’s why I need you to find out why my parents went to Lesotho and if Ike is undercover there trying to get those same answers.”
His parents’ humanitarian work had always been important to them, but Ike sensed something deeper—something that could’ve run afoul of the “dirty work in Africa” that Alexei Brazhensky was involved in.
And if that was true, the Brazhenskys could be behind his parents’ deaths.