Page 59 of Knockout Queen

“No?”

He shakes his head. “The only time I’ve been out of the Heights was when I went to Spring Hill, so...”

“Me either,” Brawler says. “I’ve never been out of the Heights before. Mom always talked about taking us on vacation when we were younger, but then the shootout happened. When she fell apart, she never talked about that again.”

“When we get out of here, we’ll stay at an even better hotel. In someplace nice. Like Hawaii or—”

“Florida.”

I glance over my shoulder at Oscar. “Florida?”

He shrugs. “I hear the East Coast is nice.”

“We’ll all vote,” I say, leaning back into him.

“More real talk,” Brawler says. “If Magnum and Johnny don’t come back, what’s the plan?”

My heart squeezes. I don’t want to even think about that happening, but he’s right. We’re not just going to sit around this hotel waiting for them to show up. No, I still have the reason why I came here. Though, the thought of hurting Johnny makes me queasy. My mind wants to tell me it would’ve been easier if I hadn’t developed feelings for Johnny Marx, but my heart knows better. After feeling what I feel for him, the real tragedy would be never allowing us to explore these feelings. With him. With any of them.

“My plan hasn’t changed,” I say. I swallow back the guilt that creeps up. “Big Daddy K needs to go down. We can’t just let the Crew do what they’ve been doing. More people like my parents will end up dead. Maybe even worse, people like you, Brawler, might end up doing those things. They take someone as good as you and twist them into people like them. Then the cycle starts all over again into a spiral of death and power.”

“Will you be able to do it though?” Oscar asks. “Actually kill K?”

Everything in me screams yes, but if Johnny were right there, watching, I’d have second thoughts. How could I not? “I’m going to leave that decision for the moment I need to make it in, but that doesn’t stop the fact that we need to take him down.”

“I’ve been thinking...” Oscar says. “The Dragons, Gregory’s people, they want to take K out. There’s no reason why we couldn’t work with them to do it. Let’s get real, the three of us trying to get back into the Crew to take down Big Daddy K and the entire organization is far-fetched to say the least, but if we had those guys on our side.” He shrugs. “Instant allies.”

“Except they’re probably not any better,” Brawler interjects. “They already tried to hurt Kyla. They’ll just take over the remnants of the Crew and run it just like K.”

I worry over my lip. That doesn’t sit well with me either. At first, this was just about taking Big Daddy K out. About wanting revenge for my parents. That’s still a major part of it, but what kind of hypocrite would I be if I said the problem was just him? It’s not. He’s the one who directly wronged me, but there are members upon members who would gladly step into K’s place and be just as ruthless and tyrannical as him. Yes, the problem is K, but the problem is also the Crew. The entire organization is fucked.

“If we use them to take out K, we’d have to take them out too. In the end.”

“By take out, you mean...? Because if you’re talking about killing them, the more the bodies pile up, the less chance we have of actually getting out of here to live that life you want to live, Princess,” Oscar says.

“I don’t know,” I say truthfully. “I’ve never plotted the demise of an entire criminal organization before.”

“Alright, I’m just going to say it,” Brawler says. “What if Detective Reynolds isn’t our enemy?”

The door to the hotel room clicks, and each of us turn just in time to see Magnum strolling through the entry. His jaw is tight. His copper beard almost standing straight out. I eye him warily, but I know he’s not my enemy.

“How the hell did you find us?” Oscar asks, clearly impressed.

Good point. The guys gave up their phones. We left them in the parking lot.

“I have a confession to make.” Magnum’s sure voice spills into the room as he strides straight for me. “I’ve known who you were since the day after Johnny claimed you at the fight.”

“Your name is Joanne Ridley. Your parents called you Joey. Your mom and dad were gunned down in a shitty alleyway by Kingston Marx. You were sent to live with your aunt and uncle after that. You went to a private school where you didn’t always have the easiest time. You—”

My mouth opens and closes a few times. “You knew? The whole time?” Fear ripples through me. It’s what I’d always been afraid of. Someone realizing who I was. Ending me before I even got the chance to do what I wanted to. And here Mag is, telling me he’s known all this time. Even before I told him who I was.

He nods. He darts his tongue out to lick his lips. “As soon as Johnny wanted you, K had me run your background. You did a good job hiding it. You covered all your bases. Whoever you hired did exactly what he needed to do, but I just couldn’t stop. There was just something about you that niggled at me. That wormed its way in and wouldn’t let go. I stayed up all night, working my different software until I stumbled across it. Even then, I wasn’t sure. I had to use your real name to look you up, connect the dots.”

“You didn’t tell K?”

“If I had, you would’ve been dead that night.”

I breathe out. “So, you knew Johnny’s dad killed my parents to take over Mayhem’s position?”

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