Sebring

“You can drown in that, Knight.”

“I know you can.”

“I can’t let you take me there. I can’t drown in that. I gotta stay focused. So you need to lock it down or I’ll let it loose. Now I got two missions and the new priority is Livvie. I let that loose, I fuck it up and neither of us are safe.”

Knight looked to the wall behind Nick.

He drew in another breath through his nose.

Then he looked back at Nick.

“Just take these motherfuckers out,” Knight clipped.

“Olivia’s owned. Georgia is a wildcard.”

“You’re worried if you end Shade and his soldier, the sister’ll come after you or your girl,” Knight stated accurately.

“I’ve watched both those women closely for years, Knight. Georgia does not give the impression she’s doin’ anything she does without anything but gettin’ way the fuck off on it. And if that’s the family dynamic, that it’s cool to force loyalty through pain, there’s no tellin’ what she’ll do. Georgia is the heir to the throne. I gotta know as in know what kind of woman she is before I take that on ’cause I gotta decide how it’s gonna go with Georgia. I get this done, Olivia is free. Not her and me buying a new enemy who’s a threat.”

“Right, then I got somethin’ to share with you that’s gonna piss you off but you’re gonna have to roll with it because it also works in your favor,” Knight told him.

Nick stayed silent but he did it tensed.

“I set Sylvie and Creed on this,” Knight said. “They’ve been in Denver for two weeks, workin’ Olivia for you.”

Nick looked to his desk in an effort to control his reaction.

“I know you wanted to do this just you, but she had you tied up,” his brother explained.

Nick looked to Knight.

“The House of Shade is finding its footing,” Knight informed him. “They got labs producing shit, men putting it out on the streets. Olivia has been moved out of the warehouse, into the legit side of the business. And Raid’s been—”

“I got every office in the warehouse bugged, Knight. I know all this shit. And Raid told me himself when Georgia called him in to find David Littleton. He found him. He turned him over. And David Littleton hasn’t been seen since. The labs are on Turner’s radar. Comings and goings and deliveries being monitored. But none of that is linked to any of the Shades physically or on paper. Georgia has it compartmentalized. Even her closest men, Harkin and Leary, don’t deal with those labs directly. And Vincent Shade doesn’t even know they exist. So until one of those fuckers slips up, I cannot use any of it to hurt the House of Shade.”

He took in a deep breath and finished.

“You dragged Creed and Sylvie up here the only time of year it’s worth livin’ in Phoenix and you did it for nothing. I have it covered.”

Knight looked impressed.

Nick tried not to be annoyed.

“For some reason, Georgia isn’t saying shit,” he went on. “Vincent doesn’t know she’s reestablishing a foothold in the Denver drug market. I don’t know why. But my guess is, she’s been frustrated for years with his incompetent management, not to mention he’s made it clear she’s his heir, but he’s dismissive and condescending both to her face and in talking about her to others. If that was me, I wouldn’t put up with it for long. I reckon she’s feeling the same since she’s put up with it for seriously long, is fed up and setting up for a takeover.”

“That makes sense,” Knight said.

“The problem with that is that if Georgia is the brains and the power behind their now-successful but illegal operations, and her father doesn’t know shit, I got nothin’ to feed to Turner to take Vincent Shade down.”

“Sylvie and Creed report Harkin, who has for a long time been considered Shade’s most trusted lieutenant, is no longer Shade’s man. Not only him but also Tom Leary are both tied to her skirt. So you get dirt on Georgia and you gotta jump that gun to keep your girl safe, least you can take Harkin down because they’re tight so we know he’s in deep with Georgia Shade and her production labs.”

“The plan never was to take Harkin down, Knight. He was following orders but he pulled the trigger. The plan has always been to take Harkin out.”

Knight’s gaze on him was intent but he said nothing against Nick’s decree.

“Thank fuck Marcus and my protection hasn’t worn thin,” Knight muttered.

That was a definite “thank fuck” considering the fact that once Knight and his crew extracted Nick four and a half years ago, Knight as well as Marcus Sloan made it clear, and they did that widely, that Nick had their protection. They also made it clear that if anything happened to him, it would be blood for blood until there was nothing left of anyone who harmed him, including and especially anyone with even remote ties to the House of Shade. And both Knight and Sloan could guarantee that, with far more men in their armies who were loyal for real reasons.

They’d also shared Nick was no longer connected to the FBI and his cooperation with them in the first place had been about the girls being trafficked, something known wide through Denver was a family thing.

They didn’t lie.

Officially.

What Vincent Shade didn’t know that eventually blindsided him didn’t matter.

Shade had let Nick be and Nick had been careful not to fuck up as he carried out his plan. As far as Shade was concerned, Nick had learned his lesson through Hettie and was returning the favor of letting Shade be.