“You heard me,” Nick said quietly. “We aren’t that far with figuring shit out so she hasn’t shared the story direct, but from what she said, she had somethin’ with Tom Leary and her dad didn’t like it. Made his point. She says her dad owns her and she’s terrified as fuck he’s gonna find out about us and hurt me.”

“He burned her.”

“Knight, brother, need you to focus.”

“He burned his fucking daughter.”

Nick fell silent.

He gave Knight a few beats to pull his shit together.

Then he said softly, “I feel this, brother.”

“I know you do,” Knight gritted out.

“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—”