Page 108 of King of Envy

What?I was on edge. We all were.

“Confirming the Kidanes are settled in on the second floor. It took some convincing, but they’ve agreed to return to D.C. on Monday,” Sean said. “We’ve placed additional security at Ayana’s building as well as around the Fords’ house and the hospital. We told them it was to hold off the press, and they bought it.” He hesitated. “We’ve also taken care of the perpetrators from the wedding. All but one were eliminated.”

All but one,I repeated.

So there was still a culprit on the loose. Running, breathing,livingwhen he should’ve been six feet under with a bullet between his eyes.

“He escaped in the chaos after Jordan got shot.” Sean’s face was impassive, but I detected a bitter seed of guilt. He’d had his hands full fighting the fake minister, who’d turned out to be a Brotherhood member in disguise, but he still blamed himself for not saving Jordan in time. “We have every informant and half the surveillance cameras in the city looking for him. We’ll find him.”

The memory of Jordan lying unconscious in his own blood resurfaced again, sharp and biting. It was overlaid by an image of Ayana’s terror-stricken face and the sound of her scream.

Something cold and insidious stirred in my gut.

I took back my earlier sentiment. A bullet was too good for the last Brother.

When you do, leave him to me.

Sean nodded.

There’d been four assassins in total—the minister, the pianist, and two drivers who’d been waiting outside as backup. My team surmised that their primary objective had been to take me out while I was performing my best man duties and my guard was down. In case that failed, they would take Jordan as bait or, as a last resort, eliminate him in order to throw me off my game. Make me act on impulse instead of strategy and commit mistakes that they could then exploit.

It was a decent enough plan. Too bad for them they’d failed.

The other Brothers had died before I could get my hands on them, but once we found the last one, I was going to make it hurt.

Until then, I had other things to take care of.

I finally asked the question I’d been avoiding all morning.How’s Jordan?

I’d gone with him to the hospital, but I couldn’t stay since I’d had to formulate a battle plan with Sean. A full day had passed since then. Anything could’ve happened.

My chest tightened until Sean spoke again.

“He’s still in critical condition,” he said. “He’s unconscious, but his vitals are stable.”

I released a long breath. That was good. Unconscious was better than dead.

Still, it was a minuscule island of relief amidst a sea of guilt. This all happened because of me. I was the reason the Brotherhood showed up. I was the reason Jordan was shot, and Ayana almost died in the crossfire.

In that crucial moment, I could’ve saved one or the other. I chose Ayana. Now Jordan was in a coma with no prognosis as to when he’d wake up. The press was having a field day, and the Fords were, understandably, inconsolable.

My team quickly spun a cover story about how the attack had been part of a larger gang turf war. The minister and pianist were members of rival gangs. It was ridiculous, but it was more believable than the truth. Everyone bought it.

Thank you.I dismissed Sean. He was about to leave when I added,It wasn’t your fault. You performed admirably yesterday.

No one on our side had died, and Sean had done the best he could with the time and information he had.

He swallowed. “Thank you, sir.”

Get some rest.

He wouldn’t rest until the last Brother was caught. Complacency wasn’t in his DNA, but gratitude flickered over his mouth anyway.

He left, and I took the stairs to the second floor. I stopped outside Ayana’s room, listening for the murmur of voices. I heard none.

Her family must be giving her space. Ayana had gone into shock after the shooting. Otherwise, she was physically unhurt, but they’d stayed by her side all day yesterday.

A pit opened in my stomach. The past day had been so chaotic I hadn’t had a chance to really talk to her. I also wanted to give her time with her family. This would be our first face-to-face conversation since I brought her to Westchester.

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