Chapter 148: Undercover

Gideon

"Sir? I do not mean to alarm you, but... there’s a car that has been following us."

"Where?"

"It’s a blue Jeep, and it has been following us since we crossed the highway bridge."

A blue Jeep?

Then they wanted me to notice that they were following us.

"When you get to a side street, pull over."

"Sir?" My driver glanced up at the rear view mirror, meeting my gaze. I tugged at the collar of my suit and loosened my tie slightly. I had an inkling of who it was anyway.

"Just do it."

The chauffeur obeyed, driving into a side street before pulling over. Then the blue Jeep pulled in behind us.

For a moment nothing happened, just two cars on a dark road. I tapped my cheek, waiting for the next move. Then the back door of the Jeep opened. I sat and watched the figure cross the gravel in my side mirror, stop beside my window and tap on the glass with his knuckles.

I rolled it down just far enough to see him.

It was Felix Kingsley. He hadn’t aged badly in the last ten years. All the money he had greedily stuffed himself with over that time must be doing its work.

"You’ve grown, boy."

Boy?

I cocked a brow and scrutinized the older man standing before me. At twenty years old I had stood in a black suit with my little brothers on either side of me, like two dumbstruck kids, staring up at this bastard as he walked toward us at our parents’ funeral.

Oh, what a shame. How tragic. They were such good people.

I must be getting closer to wrecking him, because he had avoided me like the plague these past ten years, evading us like the snake he was.

For him to seek me out, he must be getting very desperate. Oh, I was going to ruin him. He had taken the one shot of happiness I had and snuffed it right out. Death would be too much of a mercy for Felix Kingsley when I was done with him.

"We should cut to the chase, shouldn’t we?" He stepped closer, one forearm resting on the roof of my car. "It has been ten years, Gideon. Ten years of you and your brothers cutting pieces off me and me cutting pieces off you. Aren’t you tired?"

I tapped the button to roll the window up, and his hand shot out and caught the glass before it could close.

"Wait, you arrogant bastard," he snapped. "You think you can actually take me on?"

I paused the window. "Are you done with the pathetic display? It is unbecoming of you, Kingsley."

His palm flattened on the upper edge of the glass. He had a strong grip for a man his age.

"Before you go, just a word of advice. There’s a storm coming, Gideon. When it hits, watch who holds the umbrella."

"You came all this way to tell me about the weather?"

"I came all this way to look at you." He straightened. "And to remind you of something. You can take everything I own. My deals, my partners, my little circle. You’ll pick them off one by one, the way you always do. But there’s one you will never get." He tapped the roof twice.

"Braddock and I go back thirty years. Anthony isn’t a business associate, he’s my family. And when the storm comes, he will stand under my umbrella."

So he knew we would be targeting Braddock next. Not bad. He had lost everyone in his inner circle anyway.

"We will see," was all I said, tapping the button down.

"Ah. I almost forgot." He chuckled just as the window almost closed completely. "Harper’s doing well..."

The rest was muffled by the glass. My fingers curled, because I had to stop myself from lowering the window a fraction just to hear what he was saying about her. I could see the gleam in the old frog’s eyes.

He wanted to know just how deep his spawn had sunk her talons into me. I held his gaze through the glass while instructing my chauffeur. "Drive. And if any pest like Kingsley get on the fucking road, run them over."

Felix stepped away when the chauffeur put the car in gear and pulled off. The old coot didn’t follow, but that didn’t calm the restlessness building inside me. I needed this to wrap up quickly, and then I could take my brothers and leave this godforsaken country.

Harry was outside trimming the gardens when I pulled up at the estate.

"Welcome, Master Knight."

"Thank you, Harry. It is late. Get some rest."

"Yes, sir."

I walked into the dark and quiet house, checking on my brothers. Kai’s light was on in the east wing, in the studio. Roman’s door was shut, loud booming music spilling from his room. I hung up my coat in my room and walked into my study without turning on the lights, opening the laptop on the desk.

The glow came up and threw the room into pale blue. I tapped rapidly, opening all the information I had on Anthony Braddock. He was in his sixties and had a son who was...

Miss Harpley’s husband. Well, ex husband.

At least she hadn’t lied about that one. He was the one who had made her believe she was barren.

The sound of her body wracking sobs filled my head, and, gritting my teeth, I tapped the keyboard harder and went through the rest of the information.

My gaze fell on a paragraph about his health: chronic pain, a standing prescription, and a supplier who was now behind bars. Oh? I re-read the lines again. Now that would do.

The door swung open without a knock, and Kai wandered in with his hands in his pockets, paint all over his clothes. He looked tired and wired at the same time, the way he did when he’d been in the studio too long.

"Ro’s asleep. Finally. Fucking exhausted himself." He dropped onto the arm of the sofa. "What are you doing sitting in the dark?"

"Working."

"You’re going to burn your eyes out, G."

"Kai." I turned the laptop around on the desk so the screen faced him. "See this."

He sauntered over and leaned across the desk to read the paragraph I had highlighted, then let out a whistle. "Want me to handle it?"

I pushed the laptop shut and rose. "No, Roman will handle it. He’s been rotting because he has nothing to do. He will have to go undercover."