Broken by His Hand - Piper Stone Page 0,59
our lives.
As I dialed Christopher’s number, I took a deep breath. Things were about to get dicey.
“Did you find her?” Christopher asked.
“Yes, as well as additional threats. Has your informant come through?”
“Nothing viable yet, but I assure you he will. What’s going on?”
“Prepare the jet. Tell the pilot he won’t know where we’re going until I give the coordinates.”
Christopher let out a deep exhale. “You know he won’t like that. Aviation rules.”
“Well, he’s going to have to be prepared to bend them. No one can know where I’m going. Do you understand? No one.”
“You’re going to need to explain, brother. I don’t like what the fuck is going on.”
I resisted raking my hand across the kitchen table. “And neither do I. What I need you to do will take various contacts that I know you have.”
“Okay. What are we talking about?”
A smile crossed my face. “I want the entire DC metro area to believe I’m critically injured, taken to an unknown hospital.”
He laughed. “In order to flush out the enemy.”
“Yes. But this has to be flawless or it could backfire.”
“Don’t worry,” Christopher stated with defiance. “I can handle this and I know exactly who can help. I’ll call you when the plane is ready, but you’re going to need to tell us what the hell you have in mind.”
“I will.” Just as soon as I’ve figured it all out. “Make certain you offer the invite to the prince. He’s an important part of what I have in mind.”
“Not a problem. Already in motion.”
“And Chris, I will need to talk to Autumn.”
He hesitated before answering. “If I know what you have in mind, that’s going to irritate Gregory.”
“While I understand, this is necessary. I have a feeling we aren’t talking about a single entity. There are multiple players.”
“Why now?”
“The stakes are obviously getting high. We just need to figure out exactly what that means.” I knew I was right. While the members had no idea whether or not we had the ledger, it was obvious someone or some entity believed we were preparing to use the information. Maybe that was the way to play the situation.
“Understood. I do hope you know what you’re doing, brother. And for what it’s worth, I’ve never seen you happier.”
Happiness. I wasn’t certain I was allowed the gift.
“That is considered a weakness, Christopher, something we can’t afford. I’m learning it the hard way. It’s something you should keep in mind.”
“While I understand that you’ve always felt pressure given the promises you made to our father, you need to have a life. It’s time to let go of the reins and allow Gregory and me to take over the lion’s share of the business. Don’t fight me on this. If there is any chance that I could find the kind of happiness, including love that Gregory has enjoyed, I would grab at it in a heartbeat. You deserve to share in that joy as well.”
My thoughts remaining on the current danger we were facing; I was forced to shove that thought aside. “Just keep this in our inner circle, Christopher. In order to find this fucker, we need to think like a criminal.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
After ending the call, I held the phone to my head. The last thing I wanted to do was to allow Sophia to be caught in the middle, although I was beginning to believe my weakness had been exploited already.
One thing was certain in my mind.
The way we’d ran the club would change. It was time to conform to the rules and regulations that my father had set in place.
No matter who lost their lives.
* * *
Sophia remained tense as she stared out the window of the plane, her entire face pinched. She’d brought a small suitcase with her, refusing to say anything as I’d led her to my car. I’d constantly checked the rearview mirror, making certain we hadn’t been followed. If the person responsible thought I was incapacitated, perhaps he hadn’t thought about interfering with Sophia’s life again.
But it was only a matter of time.
My brothers and I had a secure inner circle of our own, men and women that we trusted to perform certain tasks. However, this was beyond the scope of anything that had been planned before. What I found interesting is that I was enthused, jazzed at the various possibilities of what might happen.
Maybe I was my father’s son after all.
“Where are we going?” she finally asked, refusing to take a sip of the champagne she’d