Chapter 3

Knox

"We need eyes on Percy and his men before we make a move," I say to the men who are gathered in the foyer of my Calgary mansion. Fourteen of our captains are present with all their teams on standby awaiting orders. Taylan, Xander and I always plan out shit rather than running in half-cocked. I refuse to be one of those Don's who have no regard for their men's safety. I trust my inner circle and captains enough to know they will always have my back and never betray me.

"Can I make a suggestion, sir?" I motion for Floyd to continue. "I would like to suggest that we send men to the border of Ontario and have men positioned in case Gio tries to cross into our turf." I look to Xander and Tay who both nod their heads in agreement.

"Take two teams with you and alert me when you are in position." Floyd nods. "Keep me updated," I call out as he exits the room with Stu and Cohen following after him.

"I want to know if Percy or Gio or any of them board a plane." Tristan nods and heads toward the back of the house where we have all the computers set up for him and his team.

"The rest of you, I want you to scout out Percy and his men and watch them. I want to know his routine and what he is up to. I want a man inside and the cunt's house bugged. If we have to take his trifling-ass cunt of a daughter for leverage against him and Gio, then do it." I grit my teeth in annoyance when my men shoot me surprised looks. "Did I fucking stutter?" They all mumble their apologies before rushing out of the room, leaving me, Xander and Taylan alone.

"You didn't need to bite their heads off." Ignoring Xander I head for the wet bar in the next room. Being back here and this close to Winnipeg is fucking with my head. I pour myself two fingers of Jameson and down it before refilling the glass, Tay snatches it off me.

"What the fuck man?" I snap.

His icy glare holds a weight to it but I'm not in the right headspace to unpack that look right now.

"You need to sort your shit out, we are here to get the fucking guns, then we're out. We don't even have to step foot in that place. This is the closest we have to get, Knox." His words hit me like a ton of bricks and some of the tension flees my body as I nod.

"We know this is hard but you have our word that Percy won't get away this time," Xander enforces.

"He's got friends in high places, his death won't go unnoticed by them or the media," I add.

"We'll make it look like an accident. We'll overdose the fucker and shoot him with a bad batch." I want to rebuke what Taylan says but I also know I can't kill him outright or torture the cunt within an inch of his life. She is the person I want to watch bleed out, her selfishness robbed me of the person I loved most.

"He dies for the part that he played in this. Once he's gone, we move on to taking out Gio and wiping him and his scum from this country. I want this dealt with swiftly so we can get the fuck out of here before I break the deal I made with River and kill that cunt."

We've been stuck here for five days.

Tay and Xander are just as annoyed as I am that this is taking so long but Percy isn't keeping a normal schedule like we thought. He's locked down his security detail tighter than a virgin's pussy so getting a man inside to bug his house has become a fucking problem.

"Something is up," I announce. Tay and Xan look at me over the lids of their laptops. I lean back in my chair and run my gaze over the office. Out of all the houses I now own, this is the one I hate the most. He spent so much fucking time here and was mere hours away and never once came looking for us.

"What do you mean?" I lull my head to the side and meet Xander's questioning gaze.

"Something is up with Percy. There is no way he keeps this much of a fucked up schedule and not go into his office daily. The cunt has a finance company and apparently he also owns a few real estate companies." We just learned from Tristan that Percy has been busy expanding his empire, which is fucking hard to do when you're broke. That's how we know Gio is the one funding these expansions. "He hasn't left his house during normal business hours all week. We need to find out why."

"Maybe he's sick?" Both Xander and I pin Tay with a deadpan look that has the fucker smiling. "Hey, you both are the biggest bitches I know when you're sick and always claim to have the ‘man flu' so don't fucking look at me like that." Xan and I both snicker but don't comment. Taylan always gives us shit whenever we're sick, claiming we aren't real men because we milk it.

"Should I get Floyd and his team to move in closer?" I shake my head.

"Nah, we keep eyes on him and figure out what the fuck is going on. We need to find a way to bug his phone and find out how deep he is in with Gio." Both my boys nod just as my phone rings. I grit my teeth when I see Bishop Murdoch's name flash across my screen. I shoot the guys a loaded look before picking it up and placing it on speaker.

"Bishop," I say in lieu of greeting.

A growl comes through the phone before he even utters a word letting me know he's pissed.

"I gave you a chance to form a working relationship with us and you are three fucking days late on the shipment." I keep my cool and try to fix this before we end up at war.

"I know?—"

"If you fucking know then you best have a solution, boy. I am not the fucking man you want to get on the wrong side of." His threat is clear but it rubs me the wrong fucking way and has me shutting down all rational thought as I start to think like a Don and not a man trying to broker peace and form an alliance.

"I'm well aware of who the fuck you are, Bishop. I also know that much like me, you understand that certain situations can go wrong," I grit out.

I hear a scuffle on his end of the phone, the three of us share a loaded look before another voice comes through the phone.

"Knox Bronson, this is King, Bishop's underboss." Before I can respond Taylan snatches the phone off the top of my desk. Xander and I both try to reach for it and stop him but the fucker just smiles and responds.

"King, this is Taylan Carter. I am the underboss for the Re Della Strada formally known as the Da Luca family."

"Where the fuck is your Don?" Taylan doesn't miss a beat.

"I thought it best that I come to you underboss to underboss and not bullshit you." Tension rattles me to my core as I implore my best friend with my eyes not to do this. Xander is shaking his head and mouthing that he is going to fuck Tay up.

"Speak."

"We had a slight setback. Giovani Dario did a snatch and grab on our stash house and stole your guns. We are enroute now to reclaim those guns and finish that fucker for good. As a show of our goodwill and to prove to you and your Don that we are serious about this working out and want to continue this arrangement, we offer this first shipment to you at our own cost." My eyes widen in outrage. "We also offer the next three shipments to you at half the usual cost and can guarantee that they will be on time." Xander throws his hands in the air and begins pacing the length of my office.

"And when can we expect this first shipment?" King asks after a beat of silence. Taylan shoots me a wink and smirks.

"You can expect it to arrive at your port in two days" time." That's it. I rush around the desk, ready to tackle this fucker and beat the shit out of him but Xander stops me.

"This is your final chance," I hear Bishop grit out in the background before he ends the call.

"You motherfucker!" I roar as I fight against Xander's hold to get to Taylan.

"Calm the fuck down, you dickhead," Tay snaps. Xan whistles through his teeth knowing I'm about to fuck up our best friend for that.

"We can't fucking deliver shit!" Xander snaps.

Tay rolls his eyes. "You can't but I can." Xan and I exchange a look before he steps aside and we both stand here looking at Taylan.

"Explain," I grit out.

The fucker smirks and makes his way around my desk and drops down into my seat kicking his feet up on the edge. My eye twitches at the sight and it takes everything inside me not to leap over there and pound his fucking smug face in.

"Simple, I knew we had a shit load riding on this deal so when we figured out that Gio took it, I made sure to have another shipment procured and ready to go." Shock ripples through me.

"You did what now?" Surprise is clear in Xander's tone.

"I stepped up and did what we needed to so that Knox could focus and deal with what the fuck being back here does to him." Guilt washes over me. I feel like a cunt for both my boys having to step in and handle shit because I've been a fucking headcase. "At least with the threat of war off our backs we can take our time and end shit with Percy and Gio. I know taking the hit for the next three shipments is going to be fucking hard but I gave Donny the go ahead to start cutting the product back home and distributing it as fast as we can. We'll lose money on the guns but we can make it back from the coke and the pills, I know we can." Xander and I stand here silently staring at Taylan in a whole new light. He is the one to goof off and make a joke about everything. Normally it's Xander and me that have to deal with all the hard shit and the decisions like this, but the fact he just saved our asses and even had a backup plan is fucking genius.

"I think you just got my dick hard," Xander says.

"I aim to please, my brother," Tay says without missing a beat.

"Thank you," I mutter. Tay shoots me a pitying look.

"No thanks needed. We're brothers and this family is everything to me. I dick around a lot but I also know when I need to step up. You and Xan have a lot of shit on your plates so it was the least I could do."

"You saved our asses, you know that, right?" He nods and shoots me a wink.

"I also have something else to confess."

"What did you do now, Taylan?" Xan grits out. I prepare myself for him to tell me he knocked some chick up or that he crashed another one of my cars.

"I didn't do shit but I think I know why Percy is being weird."

That piques my attention. "What do you know?" I press.

"This whole time none of the guys have reported seeing either Lakeland or Riverland at their father's house. I think Percy's baby girls have flown the coop and he is floundering trying to find Gio's bride-to-be. I mean, without Lakeland his deal with Gio would fall through because we all know Gio wanting Lakeland is only to get back at you." My brows raise. I mull over his words for a moment… and it actually makes sense.

"Have Tristan do a search for them. I want to know for sure that they did run before I pull the men and go after the heiresses." Xan nods and rushes from the room to do as I ask. Taylan looks at me with a strange expression on his face. "What?"

He pushes to his feet and holds my gaze as he speaks. "You think being here is hard, what do you think it's going to do to you when you come face to face with Lakeland Deveraux?" The air rushes out of me. I close my eyes and remind myself why I do this and why I became the Don of the Re Della Strada. All of this is for her. I had a deal with River but given the fact her father broke it, I am within my rights to finally go after her cunt of a sister.

"Lakeland is nothing to me. We find her and her sister and use them to draw out Gio and Percy."

"And then what?"

My nostrils flare in irritation. "Then I extract my pound of flesh from the bitch who thought she could break me… but only after I have killed her father and Gio."