Nightfall (Devil's Night #4) - Penelope Douglas Page 0,232

street clothes, not a badge in sight.

Footfalls hit the pavement behind us, and I whipped my head around, seeing Aydin coming through the park from where we entered. He looked at us, followed by a crew of people in devil masks, his black sweater zipped up to his chin, and his hair smooth and laying over his forehead.

Fire flashed in his gaze as he blocked us in from the back, and Martin blocked us in from the front.

“And I have so much more with me,” Martin cooed and then called out. “Evans?”

I jerked back around, my eyes shooting from Martin to the figure coming through his crowd, seeing Evans Crist step forward in a three-piece navy suit, with his gray hair styled to the side.

Evans. Martin used to call him Mr. Crist, but since he was coming into power himself, it seemed he fancied himself his equal.

“Son of a bitch,” Michael bit out.

Damon chimed in from behind. “We’re ready whenever you are,” he assured Michael.

Michael nodded, still facing his father, both men the same height.

Evans gazed at his oldest son, and I couldn’t imagine what was going through Michael’s head right now.

He’d killed Trevor. Was he going to kill his father, too?

“I didn’t tell Trevor to post those videos when he found that phone,” Evans told Michael. “But he told me after he did it. He knew it would serve me if Katsu, Gabriel, and the Graysons lost credibility with some orchestrated familial troubles.” He smiled to himself. “Some of it worked in my favor, other things didn’t.”

Katsu lost his positions on two bank boards for a time, and Gabriel lost deals. But Will’s grandfather remained senator, despite the bad press.

“But then we got powerful,” Michael added.

Evans nodded. “Rika became mayor, Kai’s been revitalizing Whitehall, Damon is Rika’s heir, not to mention he’s grooming Banks for national politics…” he listed off all of his concerns. “And Will discovered Coldfield, and now controls the underground transit system between Thunder Bay and Meridian City. I mean, if you had a playbook of how to make me sweat, that would be it.” He chuckled. “I bow to you. You’ve impressed me, Michael. I wish I had you at my side.”

“But that’s not what you and I were made for,” his son replied.

Evans shook his head. “No, you’re right. But you are in over your head.”

I took in the weapons and the sheer size of Aydin’s and Martin’s crew, knowing we were outmatched. We couldn’t fight them with a sword and our fists.

This couldn’t get that far.

I met Martin’s eyes. “He influenced your career and helped you fly up a few ladders, but he’s going down,” I told him. “Save yourself.”

“He had my father murdered,” Rika pleaded, stepping in.

He wasn’t getting away with it. Unless they killed us all, Martin was on the losing side.

But then Evans started laughing, looking to Martin, a knowing look passing between them both.

My stomach knotted.

“Who do you think cut the brake lines?” Evans asked Rika. “Altered the police report? Destroyed the vehicle before it could be inspected?”

She lunged for him, but Michael pulled her back, getting into his father’s face. One of the guards shifted behind them, ready to grab for his weapon.

“I promise you,” Michael said. “I won’t tell my mother any of this after you’re gone. She’ll never have to know.”

“It’s not for you to protect me, Michael,” someone spoke up.

Slowly, we turned around, the two masked figures I didn’t recognize standing on both sides of Kai as they pulled off their masks and pushed down their hoods.

Christiane Fane stood on the left, tears filling her eyes, as Delia Crist, Michael’s mother, stood on the right, her light brown bangs hanging in her eyes.

Kai shrugged, looking apologetic. “The kids are safe,” he assured. “I couldn’t stop them. Sorry, man.”

They must’ve cornered him at his mom and dad’s house, and he snuck them past Michael.

Christiane stepped forward, not taking her eyes off of Evans as she walked straight for him, her blonde hair—like Rika’s—pulled back in a low ponytail and her frail, quiet form looking too skinny to pick up a peanut.

She stopped in front of him, both of them locking eyes, and then…she whipped her hand across his face, sending him stumbling to the side.

The crew behind them tensed, and I balled my fists, ready.

He breathed hard, blinking and looking shocked, and then stood upright again, facing her.

She slapped him again, the same cheek, but the only part of him that moved this time was his