“No!” Connor yelped. He backed out and pressed the folder button again.
“Oh, hey. If you’re seein’ this—”
He tried over and over, each time getting Sicily’s dumb grin.
“My dad doesn’t have any power over you anymore,” Nathan said.
Deon glared at Connor. “Just like he doesn't have any power over us.”
“You see, Dad,” Nathan said, stepping away from my hold. “You taught me my most important lesson. You’re only as powerful as what you have to offer.” The three men stepped away from Connor and turned to face him instead. “And you have nothing.”
Nikita came running back into the room via the back door with Jaxon behind her, but stopped short when she saw that the tables had turned.
“Tell me, Connor, did you know that you can legally be reported missing, if you’re absent for six or more months?” Deon asked, and any smugness Connor had left evaporated from his face. “In order to protect any abandoned family members, assets are adjourned to the next of kin. Crazy, right?”
I smiled at Deon’s arrogance. So that was where he got the money.
“Your company, assets, estate, and even your offshore accounts are now held in our names,” Nathan said. “You don't even have the money to pay these men.” He pulled some cash from his pocket and held it up. “But I do.”
The men pulled their guns instantly, but this time trained them on Connor. Nathan and Deon stepped forward, so Nikita and I followed as well. Nikita snatched Connor’s gun from his hands, and I clocked him in the face, sending him down to the ground. After years of his torment, it felt good.
“Now here's what we're gonna do, dad,” Nathan hissed. “You’re going to prepare a few directives. One will keep all of your assets in our names. One will inform Garrett Williams’ legal counsel that you were fraudulent in violating his parole. The last will inform a judge that you framed Deon for murder… Twice. You will call for his record to be totally expunged and then you will willingly hand yourself over to law enforcement, by which I mean, you’ll surrender when we bring you there.”
“You can just kill me if that’s your plan,” Connor said. “I would never.”
“Very well, then we’ll draft some directives of our own,” Nathan said. “First, we will liquidate L.C.E., second, we will sell your estate, and third, we will donate any money to a charity.”
“And I'll burn your fucking business degree out of spite,” Deon snipped.
“Everything you worked for will go up in smoke, and we’ll keep you alive just long enough to watch it all happen.”
“Then we’ll auction off putting a bullet in your brain to the highest bidder and live off of that,” Deon said.
“Whoa!” Nathan said. “You are most certainly the brawn to my brain. That’s sick. I love it.”
“Seems like your boys do take after you, Connor,” Nikita said. “If you don’t want a very nasty taste of your own medicine, I suggest you comply.”
The look on Connor’s face was so satisfying, it required a picture, so I took one. When Deon and Nathan realized what I was doing, they jumped behind him and posed like they were taking a silly photo with a buddy from Spring Break.
It was glorious.
After that, Connor was shoved down into his desk and furiously scribbled out the directives Nathan had demanded. Eventually, the rest of The Royal Court entered the office. We watched as the man who had tormented us for years was finally punished for what he had done. Once he was done with the orders, Anisa and Cobalt dragged him off, and it was a delight to see Cobalt accidentally smack his head against several walls as he pulled him out.
Any men that had attacked us were given pardons because, if there was anything The Royal Court had learned, it was how Connor’s influence could make you do things you wouldn’t otherwise do. An ambulance arrived to patch up Nathan and anyone else who had gotten injured, then we finally limped ourselves back to the clubhouse.
“I mean, our story sounds WAY cooler,” Colette said. “We fought like fifty guys between us.”
Alistair pinched the bridge of his nose. “It was like eight.”
“No, it was definitely at least fifty,” Avery said, then winked at Colette.
We all collapsed onto different couches, leaning against our significant others, apart from Sicily who leaned against a table leg and said, “Aw, babe. You worried too much. See? I'm fine.”
“So what now?” Brayden said. “We don’t have to save any kidnapped friends or stop any psychotic dads. What do we do with our time?”
Sicily raised a hand. “I say everyone works together to find Sicily his dream girl.”
“Work together? I'd rather compete,” I said.
Nathan pointed across at me. “Now that sounds like fun.”
Epilogue
Deon
Just when I thought I’d finally tired Cherri out, she rolled over and got on top of me. She looked so beautiful in the morning sunlight that I was relatively powerless to do anything to stop her. If a girl that looked like Cherri wanted more, how could I not give her more?
“Good god,” I said. “Someone ate their wheaties this morning.”
She reached down and curled a hand around my length and began stroking it to bring it back to full size. “What can I say? You asked me what I wanted for my birthday. This is what I want.”
“This feels more like a birthday present for me,” I said.
Cherri giggled. “Happy birthday to you then.”
She was just bending over to kiss me when there was a knock on the door. “Enough already! There are more people that want to celebrate you, you know!” Colette screeched.
“Yeah, Cherri, come on out! We've got presents!”
Cherri looked down at me with a frown and I tapped her ass a couple of times. “Don’t make such a frustrated face. They put in a lot of work. Besides, we can pick up from where we left off later,” I said. “Maybe with the handcuffs?”
"Ooh, on you or me?" she asked.
I sat up to kiss her. “However you want it, baby.”
Cherri squeaked with happiness. “Deal.” She finally climbed down off of me, grabbing the blanket to wrap around herself, then she went over to the bedroom door and cracked it. “This better be good. You just interrupted some amazing fucking sex.”
“It will be. Just get dressed and come downstairs,” Avery replied.
I heard a party horn, then a rain of glitter burst through the door and sprinkled down over Cherri. She laughed and closed the door and I couldn’t help but stare at her a little bit.
“Nope, no. Don't look at me that way. You were the one who convinced me to stop, so just avert your eyes.”
“Why did we stop again?” I crossed the room towards her. “I can't remember.”
“It’s because we have a whole fucking party planned!” Nikita screeched, then there was a hard bang on the door. “Knock it off and get down here!”
Cherri and I shared a silent chuckle, then I yelled, “Alright, we're coming!”