Knox Brotherhood

by Knox, Elizabeth

  “And you are full of shit, Christian Steele,” I retort, rolling my eyes.

  “That may be true in most cases, but tonight it does not apply. Why do you always insist on thinking badly of me? I want to know, and I want to know now. We both know that the second you found out I was a Steele you went running like a scared little girl out of those doors. Why’d you run, Selena? How am I so terrifying to you?” Christian sips on the champagne in his hand, swallowing it whole, and he sets the glass down next to him and steps closer towards me. His chest brushes against my own, and my breath hitches in my throat. “Is it my name, Steele? Is it that terrifying?”

  “It’s because you’re a Steele, that I walked out that night. Not because you terrify me, and sure as hell not because I’m scared of your arrogant ass. You’re such a bastard. You think that because you’re a Steele it means that I’m scared of you? As if!”

  “I call bullshit,” he retorts, glaring down at me. It’s right now, right at this very moment, how I can see both of us for what we are. It’s like two angry pitbulls staring down each other. I know hurt, I recognize what hurt looks like very well because I’ve been hurt my entire life, specifically by those closest to me. When I look at Christian, I see that same hurt, that same very rage that boils my blood is inside him too, and this only means one thing; we’re dangerous together.

  “I’m not fucking afraid of you! You are a risk, a risk that I am not okay with associating myself with. I could get hurt, badly. My family could get hurt, don’t you understand that? Everyone knows what you do, Christian. I’m not some blind girl who’s going to believe that your family runs a legitimate business!” I snap, taking a step back from him.

  “Of course, I’m a risk, I’m a Steele – which means many things, but when we break it down it means I’m rich, I’m sexy, and you’re right about one thing, baby, you could get hurt, but you won’t because anyone that even attempts to hurt what belongs to me, dies. Do you understand that? I will kill for you, without a doubt. I have wanted you since that very first night, and I will be damned if I ever give up on the potential of what we can be. That I can promise you, Cinderella.”

  “You can’t promise me anything, Christian.”

  “I can promise you anything I damn well please.”

  “Fuck. You are infuriating!”

  “I know the feeling!”

  “Do you, really? Do you know how infuriating you are?” I snap, razors slicing through my voice. “I wonder if you know how much it pissed me off to find out that Steele Enterprises deposited a hundred thousand dollars into my checking account.”

  “That pissed you off? You should be thanking me. You had ten dollars to your fucking name. You needed the money to pay for the house, the groceries. You needed me to do that.”

  “I didn’t need you to do anything for me! I’ve been doing fine on my own for years.”

  “Barely,” he says, glaring at me.

  “Excuse me?” I hiss, taking a few steps closer to him.

  “You have barely been doing fine, your house has almost been foreclosed twice in the last year. You’ve barely made it, and you aren’t going to keep making it if I don’t take care of you.”

  “Excuse me?” I roar at him. “I am not some thing to be taken care of! I am…oh, my fucking god,” I snap, tossing what’s left of my champagne in his face. Christian grabs my arm, forcefully tugging me against him. The weird part is, I’m not afraid. My heart may be thumping a mile a minute, but I am not afraid in this moment. I’m furious.

  “You are going to be taken care of whether you like it or not. I will be damned if you or those kids lose what little you have. You’re so great at taking care of everyone else, Selena, have you ever thought that someone needs to take care of you?” I’m left speechless, completely and utterly speechless at the way he just spoke to me. “Normally, I’d stick around, but seeing as you’re pissed and I’m pissed, the only thing I want to do right now is rip off that dress and fuck you until you can’t utter a single syllable from that perfect bratty mouth of yours. The driver will take you home.” Christian brushes his lips against my forehead, and before I know it, I’m standing alone in an art gallery, where a man openly admitted that I was the most beautiful thing in this joint, furious out of my damn mind.

  What the hell am I doing?

  And why the fuck do I still like him?

  CHAPTER 15

  Christian

  It took everything within me not to turn her around and fuck her until the only sound that was coming out of those perfect little lips was unrecognizable.

  I knew I couldn’t. I knew she deserved better than that, and she’d get it.

  It’s been one week since I’ve seen Selena. Okay, that’s a lie. I’ve had my men watching her every day, reporting back every single move that she makes. It gives me comfort, knowing that she and her family are okay. I can’t say as to why I’ve kept my distance. The only thing that I want to do is see her, yet I stay away. Maybe space is a good thing, for both of us, but only time will tell.

  I’ve been too caught up in the family business to focus on Cinderella. It’s both good and bad. It’s good that I’m focusing on business matters, although it’s bad that I’m not getting much time with my girl. Shit, I’m not getting any time with her. For the past two days, I’ve been taking out my frustration on the scumbags who owe us money. I don’t take kindly to people who expect us to do a job and not pay us, and for those who think I won’t come and bust down their door – they are sorely mistaken. I’m just leaving one of our client's homes when I get a call from my brother, Logan. I swipe my phone to the right to answer his call, waiting to hear words that almost seem too good to be true.

  “You were looking for Matteo Varca, weren’t you? A few of our friends spotted him in the city.” I listen as Logan gives me the details, notating everything inside my mind. I see nothing, nothing but blind filled rage.

  I’ve been waiting on this for too long, and I can’t wait to give this scum what’s coming to him.

  ***

  For the past few weeks, I’ve wondered what today would feel like. Would it be great? Would I be excited to finally give Matteo what was coming to him? Then, I wondered if I would feel something different like fear, but even I knew that would never happen. Instead, I’m feeling something entirely different, something that I didn’t quite anticipate or prepare for.

  I feel like an emotionless void.

  Hearing Logan tell me that Varca was spotted, made me happy. It meant that finally I could hurt Matteo, hurt him for hurting my Selena. Yet, now, I find myself emotionless. What I’m about to do means nothing to me, and at the same time, it means everything. How does that make sense? It doesn’t, it doesn’t make any sense at all.

  “Where the hell am I?!” Matteo growls, thrashing his head around. He’s tied on the ground below me, hands and feet bound, not able to move an inch thanks to my men. I confide in one of our top hired hands, and who now is a good friend of the family, Reggie. He was on my brother’s detail for the last couple years and now primarily is under Brooklyn’s, even taking a bullet for her a few short months ago. Since the moment that he found out what happened to Selena, he has spent every waking minute off the clock looking for Varca. That is true friendship. Fuck it, that is brotherhood right there.

  I look down at him, blindfolded and scared on the cement floor. I wonder if he’s as scared as my girl was when he did what he did, then I realize that he is in no way shape or form as scared as Selena was in that moment. She and I still haven’t talked about it. I’ve let her get away with not fully discussing it with me, but that will end tonight. She and I will talk about it so that she can get her closure and move on.

  “Where am I?” he roars. This time I take a step closer to him. I watch as he hears my shoes scrape against the pavement. His face contorts as he listens for more.

  “You know exactly where you are, Matteo, you’re in hell.” I don’t allow the anger in my voice to show, keeping my voice
monotone and emotionless through every word that passes my lips. “Do you know what it is that you’ve done to land yourself here?”

  “I have done nothing that I wasn’t asked to do,” His voice strong and full of lies. I won’t believe anything that came out of his mouth, not tonight and not ever.

  “Is that true?” Logan speaks up from behind me. Normally he isn’t one to come to these kinds of “meetings” as we call them. He’d much rather stay at home and be with Brook and Emmett. I can’t say that I blame him but this one was different, only different because of how high a price Varca has on his head.

  “You have obviously done something that you were asked not to do, Matteo,” Jordan adds, smirking as he leans against the brick wall of the abandoned warehouse where we brought Matteo. It’s concealed, quiet, and private. Three things that we need if we are going to be able to get anything out of him tonight.

  I chuckle at the way Varca’s face twists, knowing that he’s recognizing Jordan’s voice. Jordan is the man that everyone goes through. He may not be the face of our business, but he is the leader in a sense. Our father didn’t want Jordan or me to have any part of the business, but that was out of pure spite and to put Logan through hell. Their relationship was never normal, and it would never have been. Logan, in his style, decided to say fuck it to my father’s wishes and gave Jordan and me duties, on both the illegal side of the business and on the very public side as well. Logan makes the big decisions, like who we do business with; but Jordan is the man that our clients speak to, and me – well, I’m the guy who fucks people up when they don’t pay. I love being that bastard.

  “Where am I, Jordan?” Varca calmly asks, licking his lips.

  “You aren’t the one asking questions here, Matteo,” Logan tells him firmly.

  “Right, that would be our job,” Jordan adds.

  “I want to know, why do you think you’re here?” I ask him, curious to see what he thinks.

  “I have done nothing wrong. I have absolutely no reason to be here, wherever the hell it is that you three have me.”

  He’s lying through and through, my brothers and I know this, that he’s covering something up. I only want to know the information that is so valuable to Gabrielle DiGiovanni, and then I can end him. I’d prefer it if this went by quickly.

  “We both know that’s a lie. Let’s try this again, shall we?” I growl, quickly walking over to Varca and ripping off his blindfold. I pull my blade from my suit pocket and press it to his throat, the sharp end lightly pressing into his flesh, giving me a lovely shade of crimson red sliding down his neck. “You know I will do far worse, my reputation does not do me justice.”

  “Oh, I know much about your reputation, Christian. I’m shocked that you haven’t found yourself leaving your brother’s business and working for the Arcane by now. It seems that this kind of work better suits you.” He glowers at me, eyes not breaking from mine. I want to slice his neck open and watch him bleed out in front of me right this moment, but I know that cannot happen. First, we need the information that Gabriele wants, and then I can have my fun. No, fun is the wrong word. I can bring justice to what happened to my Cinderella.

  “Maybe one day. I haven’t ruled it out, seeing as it fits,” I say, acting like I agree with the pitiful man who lay before me.

  “I’m willing to give you an offer, an option as it were,” Jordan pipes up. I see him walk towards us, looking at Varca the entire time. “Would you like to know what it is I am willing to give you, or would you prefer to endure whatever it is that Christian has planned for tonight?” I smirk at Varca, knowing very well that no matter what my brother talks him into doing, I will still be doing everything that I planned for tonight. Nothing will change the outcome or the process.

  Varca doesn’t move. Of course, he’s not able to do much of anything right now. He simply looks at Jordan.

  “I’m going to take that as a yes. I think that you know by now that Gabriele has spoken to the three of us. You aren’t a dumb man Matteo, and I respect you because of that. He wants us to kill you because you have information, and we’ve agreed to do just that. Except, I’m not sure I want to anymore. I’m more interested in a partnership with you as it were, the only thing I ask is that you tell me what it is that Gabriele is so determined to kill you over.” I am hoping and praying for any sort of God that my brother is bluffing, because if he isn’t, Varca may not be the only man who dies tonight.

  “I need assurances that what you say is true,” Varca adds, I listen closely as my brother and Varca speak.

  “You are in no position to be making demands tonight. I, however, am. You are only given this option because of my graciousness; do you understand that? My brothers here, they want you dead. They don’t see a reason to have a partnership with you, Matteo, however, I see the potential. The only thing I ask of you is that you give us information on Gabriele, and what it is that he wants you dead so badly for. I can put you in hiding, somewhere safe until Gabriele is dealt with.”

  “Where is it that you could possibly find me that Gabriele doesn’t have his men?” Varca asks. Jordan chuckles. Meanwhile, I already know that there is not a dingy little place on this planet that the Italians don’t have their hand dipped in. They’ve got their hands in every pot. The Italians are no doubt the largest mafia. The Russians, Romanians, and Irish may run a good game, but the Italians are the ones who could easily destroy the others. Honestly, I’m not sure why they haven’t yet, they surely have the means to do so.

  “I have places where I have hidden men and women like you in the past, Matteo. You don’t need to be worried about any of that,” Jordan tells him.

  “Untie me,” Varca grumbles. Quickly I see Jordan raise his hand to me. I remove my blade from Varca’s throat and cut the ropes that bind him, gritting my teeth as I do so. Logan comes around Varca, staring him down before he begins to speak.

  “We are your only option. Your wife is trying to kill you. The head of the Italian Mafia is trying to kill you. It seems as if the Steeles are your only way out of this mess,” Logan tells him. I rise and step away from Varca, afraid that I will kill the man before my brothers get the information that we so desperately seek.

  “You want to know why Gabriele is trying to kill me, do you?”

  The three of us don’t utter a word. Varca knows very well that’s what we want.

  “Do you remember the hit that was placed on Mariana Vasile, the Queen of the Romanian Mob?” Varca asks. I nod, remembering how a little under a year ago her fiancé Ion Petran had finally tracked down the man who had kidnapped her all those years ago. Rumor has it that he killed Jonas Masterson and made Mariana and her bastard daughter move in with him. There was a big tiff because Mariana was almost killed. It was evident that a hit was placed on her and attempted to be executed although no one was claiming the hit – which was odd. In most cases, when another mob was successful with killing a head member of a rival mob or gang, they would claim the hit. Although, maybe because they weren’t successful, they didn’t see a reason to accept the claim. “Gabriele DiGiovanni was the one who placed the hit. He wanted that blonde girl dead.”

  “What was he hoping to achieve with Mariana’s death?” Logan asks Varca.

  “She is the one person keeping the entire Romanian Mob together, without her there would be nothing left. Sure, they would try to maintain order, but they would fail. The power hungry would rise up in the midst of her death when Ion was mourning, and it would have been easy to hit them while they were down. Obviously, Mariana’s death didn’t go as planned, and Gabriele is trying to kill everyone off that knew about it – including me.”

  “He wanted the Romanian territories, didn’t he?” Logan mutters lowly, looking at Varca as he brushes his hand over his jaw. The Romanians are just as strong as the Italians when it comes to where they have force, except the only difference is that the Italians are stronger in numbers. It doesn’t make any sense for Gabriele DiGiovanni to want Mariana Vasile dea
d because the Romanians are in the same cities. It even makes less sense since Gabriele’s own sister is married to a head Romanian Clan member.

  “Gabriele DiGiovanni wants a lot of things, Logan, and he always gets what he wants, but this time it was different…Gabriele didn’t want the territories for him. He has been getting close with a certain cartel leader, one whom I believe you all don’t take too kindly to.”

  Rafael Ramirez, the man who tried to have me killed.

  Gabriele is working with Rafael, but why?

  “Before you ask, I don’t know anything else. Gabriele is working with Rafael to help him gain more power. I’m not sure why, but they’ve become increasingly close over the last two years. You have heard about what Gabriele let him do to his daughter, Caprice, haven’t you?”

  “No,” I answer quickly before my brothers have a chance to speak.

  “Rumor has it that Gabriele would let Rafael have visits with Caprice after their business meetings. I have a source who works in the house, she told me that Caprice was pregnant, and when she went into labor, the child was ripped from her arms and given to Rafael. Now, Caprice has disappeared with not a hint to where she’s gone. When that baby was given to Rafael things started to escalate. That child cannot be more than a year old if she’s even that old at all.”

  My blood boils, the heat rises through my veins inch by inch until I’m overflowing with anger. I’m a Steele, and that means many things, but above all, it means that I was born into this life of treachery and betrayal. The worst part is that the ones who betray us are the ones who are closest to us. I am one of the lucky ones, my brothers and I are united as we should be. But there are others, like Caprice DiGiovanni, who have to live with their enemy, and for her, she has to call that man, father.

  Before I know it, I’m lunging towards Varca, I jab my blade quickly into his stomach and pull up, reveling in how my blade slices through his insides. He groans, and in that moment, I look into his widened eyes. No, he didn’t see this coming and neither did my brothers.