Page 76 of Brutal Knight

Violet greets Willow when we approach the bar. Lachlan nods at us, and so does Finn, who’s already polishing off a glass of something.

“Hey,” Finn says, grinning. “About time. We were wondering if it was going to end up being five of us.”

“Five? What about Aiden and Rose?” I glance around, frowning.

“Probably home fucking,” Finn mutters under his breath, waggling his eyebrows.

I snort. I know he’s not angry about it. We’re all happy Aiden and Rose managed to find a happy ending, especially after all the bullshit we went through to get there.

“You’ve been holding out on me,” Violet gripes good-naturedly. “Connor, when are you going to let me take Willow shopping? Or to the gym? God, I’d take a trip to the dentist.”

Willow laughs, quickly covering her mouth with her hand. I try not to grin at the sound. It’s good to see her relaxing. It’s even better to hear her laugh.

“I’m not stopping you,” I say, shrugging. “My wife is a busy woman. You’ll have to ask her to check her schedule.”

“Oh,” Violet says, dragging the word out, impressed. “Good answer! I think I prefer you married, Connor.”

“You say that now,” Tristan says dryly. “But when he skips out on the next party, remember that.”

Another round comes down the bar, and I take a glass. I’m surprised Tristan came. He’s usually as far away from the mafia side of the family business as possible. We go to great lengths to try to make sure there will never be any doubt cast on him. If anything were to fall, Tristan would still be around. He’d be our failsafe to build the family back from the ground up.

It’s good to see him, though. We don’t get to socialize with Tristan often, and it means a lot that he’s recognizing this as a victory worth celebrating.

“So, what happened?” I ask Jamie. “I haven’t heard much aside from your call about the building.”

“The operation went well. It was his primary front, the place he did most of his business out of. It’s gone now.”

“Untraceable?”

“Of course. It’ll seem like an accident, but he knows.”

Lachlan nods sagely, swirling his whiskey. “That’s all we need. An eye for an eye at this point, just to remind him who he’s fucking with.”

“And now Willow’s in control of the syndicate,” Finn reminds us. “That has to piss him off. He’s not getting his dirty paws into anything. She reworked it all.”

“Cheers to that,” I say, grinning sharply.

It’s good to see Willow unwind like this. For a while, I just watch her open up, slowly coming out of her shell. Violet helps as much as I hoped she would, her encouragement nudging Willow into talking more than she normally would.

This is the kind of moment I’ve waited for. Bringing Willow back from the edge of addiction was difficult, and there was a time when I thought maybe it wasn’t possible, that maybe she’d just slip right back into her habit the second anything went wrong.

Instead, she’s turned her back on the past and done everything to move into the future with me. I’m grateful she made the choice, and I’m even more grateful that she’s stronger than I ever could have imagined.

Maybe now our lives are finally starting to get on track.

There’s a steady stream of drinks from the bar and we’re all in good spirits, but business never waits. I’m listening to Violet tell Finn a story when someone taps on my shoulder. It’s one of our bouncers, about to leave his shift.

“Courier dropped paperwork in your office,” he says. “They came in about an hour ago.”

“Thanks.”

Lachlan catches my eye, a question in his gaze. I shrug it off and say, “Paperwork.”

“I can take a look if you want.”

“No, it won’t take long. I’ll be back.”

Willow is busy listening to Violet anyway. I slip away from the group and to the back, heading into the office and closing the door.

---