It wasn’t uncommon for people in our world to marry for money and power. She understood the ways of our people. Despite that, I didn’t want her to think I had only asked her to marry me because of the money. Not like I needed the bonus her grandfather would have to fork over on our wedding day. It wasn’t about the shares in Wellington Pharmaceuticals or the boatloads of cash and properties I would gain.
Alex’s brother would inherit all of Carl Wellington’s holdings upon his death. The dowry was Alex’s share of the pot. I never planned to keep it to myself. Whatever money I received from Carl Wellington would go into a trust for our children.
Her eyes swept over the ballroom to her family, who sat across the table from us. Carl chatted with my father while my adoptive brothers sat in complete silence. Aiden talked to Marcello, the two of them speaking in hushed tones. Marcello had taken a liking to Aiden over the past year. He wasn’t as bad as any of us had initially thought and turned out to be a decent soldier in our corrupt army.
None of us liked Scarlett or Blair. They were both fucking dead to me. In due time, Scarlett would pay for my mother’s death.
My cell phone dinged with a new message. Marcello, Bastian, and Damian’s phones blared throughout the dining room. I swiped the phone from my inside pocket and read the text message from Drake Battle.
We got Kurti. Safehouse on 5th.
I glanced over at Bastian and Damian, who pushed their chairs out from the table and excused themselves. Marcello followed suit, dipped his head down to whisper in Aiden’s ear, and then the four of them left the ballroom without a word.
I shot up from the table, and Alex tugged on my suit jacket sleeve.
“What’s going on?”
“Drake found Kurti.”
Alex pushed her palm to the table and rose to her full height. “I’m going.”
“Stay here,” I whispered against the shell of her ear. “You’re safer in the house.”
“No.” Alex gritted her teeth. “You promised me revenge.”
She was right. Though, I shouldn’t have agreed to let her anywhere near Cal Kurti. She needed to get the anger out of her system, and if letting her take a few jabs at Cal would make her feel better, then I had to let her come with us even if the trip could put her life in danger.
“You need to change. Grab Marcello and head upstairs.” I tapped her on the back. “I need to talk to my dad before we leave.”
Alex did as I instructed. She exited the hall without a word. Carl didn’t even bat an eyelash as half of the room cleared out. He knew we were still looking for the Albanians and wanted revenge for Alex as much as the rest of us.
I moved to the head of the table and whispered into my father’s ear.
He nodded as I told him about Kurti. “Bring me his head.”
* * *
We piled into the Escalade, and Marcello drove us to the safe house in Beacon Bay. No one spoke the entire ride. I stared out the window, watching the dark sky pass us by as I thought of all the ways I wanted to torture Cal Kurti before I cut off his fucking head.
He deserved the worst pain imaginable.
When Marcello parked in front of the loft apartment building, Alex turned her head to look at me.
“You promised to let me kill him,” she said with venom in her tone. “Don’t get in the way.”
“What’s mine is yours,” I shot back. “But you need to learn how to share, Drea.”
Her pretty blue eyes widened. “Share our kills? What’s next? His and her guns.”
“I was thinking matching hunting knives.”
She laughed. “You know, most women want diamonds.”
“You’re not most women.”
A smile stretched across her lips as she stared up at the dark apartment building. “Does anyone live here?”
“No. We use it as a safe house.”
“How many of those do you have?”
“Enough.”
She narrowed her eyes at me.
“I don’t keep track,” I admitted. “We have safe houses all over the country and in every country we do business.”
“To kill people?”
I shrugged. “Depends on the situation. There have been times over the years when we had to move between safe houses so that we could keep the drama out of Devil’s Creek.”
Drake emerged from the lobby of the building, moving toward us with speed. Dressed in dark jeans and a black fitted tee, he approached us with a determined look on his tired face. The Knights had been running on empty for days. We wouldn’t get much sleep until we handled the threats against my family.
Drake looked like he was about to collapse on the ground in front of me. “I prepared the room for you. How do you want to handle him?”