The Knight (Stolen Duet 2)

He walked through them but turned back when I didn’t follow. The air seemed chillier now as I faced my fate. “Come on.” He held out his hand while his eyes pleaded with me to trust him. I took his hand and let him pull me through. The cemetery was mostly dark, but around the perimeter were lamps with a dull golden glow. The light fog added to the eerie ambiance as my gaze swept over the graves that belonged to the dead members of Angel’s twisted family.

Angel pulled me through the cemetery, and I ignored the chill crawling up my spine. As we neared a small group of trees, Lucas, Z, and Augustine slid from the shadows. Lucas was holding Caylen, who I thought remained safe in his crib, in his arms. I rushed to take him and wanted to scream at Angel for involving my son in this without speaking with me first.

Augustine eyed us curiously and then lifted his chin toward me. “She ready?”

I shook my head. “I’m not doing this with my son here.”

“This will end a lot worse without him. If you want to make sure we don’t all end up dead, and the senator doesn’t burn down the estate with Caylen inside, you’ll do this.”

Angel always did know how to make me succumb to fear with little effort.

“I’m ready,” I reluctantly agreed. Augustine nodded. His game face slipped into place as he slid on a pair of thick leather gloves. He was dressed in a black hoodie and jeans complete with heavy black boots. It was then I realized that Angel, Lucas, and Z were dressed similarly in gloves covering their hands and grim expressions. They looked ready for war.

“Mian,” Angel called. My attention shifted, drinking him in. I realized this was the heartless killer that, until now, I’d never met. The monster he unleashed on me was merely an envoy. A show of mercy. This was the Bandit. His family’s Knight in dark and dirty armor. “The senator will be here any moment. I need him to believe your safety isn’t my concern. Can you do that?”

“You’ve given me every reason to doubt you, Angel. I’m sure I can manage.”

His leather-clad hands pulled me close. “You’re earning much needed time over my knee, Sprite.”

“I’d like to see you try.” My tone was equally playful as if the senator didn’t exist. As if the threat on my life and my son didn’t exist. As if what took place three years ago never happened.

“I hate to break up the lovebird special, but I hear something,” Lucas announced. “Sounds like they’re here.”

Angel’s game face slipped back into place. A black town car appeared down a trail I hadn’t noticed before. It must have been a service entrance for the cemetery’s groundskeeper. The car in the lead was trailed by three SUVs. It was most definitely the senator. His arrival was almost cliché enough to laugh. Angel’s hand slid around my arm, and then he tugged me toward his cousin.

He bent low to whisper in my ear as the cars rolled to a stop some distance away. “Whatever happens, stay close to Augustine. He’ll get you and Caylen out of here when it’s time.”

“What’s going to happen?”

His eyes flashed with impatience. “The senator isn’t leaving here alive, Mian. It’s going to get loud, and it’s going to go fast. Stay low and stay out of sight, and you’ll live.”

I watched as the senator and the men he brought to kill me poured out of the vehicles. “There are at least ten men, and there are only three of you.”

His smile was rueful. “The senator has exposed his entire hand, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. You can’t see them, but I assure there are more guns pointing at him than there are at me.”

Without another word, he placed distance between us as the senator and his entourage approached, and I remembered I was supposed to be an unwilling party.

Caylen was asleep against my chest unaware of the danger surrounding us. When the bullets started flying, how would I keep him protected? Just then, Augustine moved to stand in front of me, blocking my view, but also providing a wall between them and me.

“Mr. Knight, I appreciate you accommodating me this evening.” The senator spoke in his refined voice as if we were hosting a dinner party instead of a deadly trade.

“Do you have it?” Angel’s voice was clipped. I couldn’t see him, but I felt his anger.

“Where are they?” the senator slyly countered.

A second later, Augustine was no longer blocking me. He was pushing me forward with a heavy hand on my back until I was in view of the senator.

I couldn’t see the men Angel hinted were there, and I wondered how many of them were watching from the shadows. Angel’s plan was dangerous, but he’d left me no choice other than to trust him. Augustine continued to push me forward until Angel was standing beside me silent and calm with Lucas and Z flanking us. The promise of death in their eyes should have frightened me, but it only made me feel protected.