CHAPTER 20: INVESTIGATION

KNOX

The house was too quiet for a place holding someone fighting for his life.I hated that.I hated the stillness.It felt wrong.I stood at the foot of Steel’s bed in his private suite, arms crossed, jaw tight. The doctors had just left after checking his vitals, and the machines hummed like they were mocking me with their slow, steady beeps.Liza was sitting beside him, still in the change of clothes Jaden brought. Her head was bowed, hands folded over Steel’s, whispering things I couldn’t hear. Jaden leaned against the far wall, scrolling through his phone, probably trying to distract himself from the reality in front of him.But me? I wasn’t built to sit and wait.I stepped out into the hallway, pulling my phone from my pocket and hitting the secure line. “Prospect One,” I said as soon as the call connected.“Yes, boss.”“I want every traffic cam, every dash cam, every scrap of footage from the moment Steel stepped out of the building until that truck hit him,” I said, my voice low but sharp. “I want the plate numbers of every vehicle in a five-hundred-meter radius. Pull phone records, too. Anyone making a call in that area before the hit—trace it.” “Yes, sir.” “This wasn’t random,” I continued. “The driver didn’t even brake. Either he was drunk, suicidal, or paid. I’m betting paid. Find him before the cops do, and if the cops have him first, make sure he doesn’t disappear into some legal loophole.” “Yes, boss.”I hung up before he could say anything else.My second call was to Prospect Two. “I want Steel’s security detail for that shoot pulled into the main room at the clubhouse within thirty minutes. I’ll be there in person. I want to know why the hell they let him walk to his car without a clear perimeter.”

“They said—” “I don’t care what they said,” I snapped. “This isn’t a goddamn fashion show where people get to make excuses. He’s in a coma because someone got sloppy. We’ll deal with them.” “Yes, boss.”When I slid the phone back into my pocket, I caught Jaden watching me from the doorway. His eyes were dark, like he’d been piecing things together he didn’t want to believe.“You think it was deliberate,” he said flatly.“I know it,” I replied.“And if it was?”“Then whoever signed off on it just wrote their own death warrant.”He didn’t argue. He just nodded once, then went back inside.I stayed out in the hall, pacing once, twice, before pulling out my phone again. This call was harder. Not because I was scared of the man I was calling—but because Steel would have hated me doing it.The line rang twice before a deep, gruff voice answered. “Knox.” “Yeah. It’s me.” “Where’s my son?”There it was. No greeting. No warmth. Just straight to the point, like a man who didn’t waste words.I took a breath. “He was hit by a truck.”Silence.“A truck,” he repeated slowly, like the word didn’t fit in his vocabulary.“Outside the shoot location. He’s in a coma. Lost a lot of blood—your grandson Jaden donated. We’ve moved him to his private residence for security.”“What the hell were his men doing?”“That’s the question I’m already asking,” I said evenly. “I’ve got my people on it. We’ll find out if it was a hit or a freak accident.” “Knox—” His voice lowered, hardening. “If someone did this on purpose…” “They won’t see another sunrise,” I promised.There was another stretch of silence, just his steady breathing on the line. Then—“I’m flying in tonight.”“I’ll have a car meet you.”I ended the call and exhaled slowly. The man was a storm when it came to Steel, and I had just lit the first thunderclap.When I went back into the room, Liza looked up at me. Her eyes were red but dry now—like she’d run out of tears and was running on pure stubbornness.“What did his father say?” she asked quietly.“He’s coming.”Her shoulders stiffened. She didn’t look too happy about it.“Then keep his emotions balanced before he enters the room,” she muttered. “The last thing Steel needs is him storming in here like he can control the outcome of this.”I didn’t argue. I just put a hand on her shoulder, grounding her. “We’ll handle it.”I stayed in that room until the movers came—our own men, silent and efficient. The doctors followed orders, transferring him onto the private stretcher, keeping the machines connected. The vehicles we used weren’t marked as ambulances—they looked like regular black SUVs—but inside, they were better equipped than most ER units.The convoy rolled out quietly, no sirens, no spectacle. Just shadows slipping through the city while I rode in the lead car, scanning every corner, every set of headlights too close.This wasn’t just an accident, and by the time I was done, the whole damn city was going to know it. I picked up my phone and called Catalina. "Babe go stay with her at the house, keep things calm, his dad is on his way there so be safe...." After talking to her for some additional seconds I hang up and focus on the mission at hand.

I needed to get things under control fastly before the whole business and club spiral into some big unreedeemable mess but with so many suspects going around pin pointing a starting pooint is rather a challenge.

I put new prospects to shadow the twins and Sin because at this point they are likely the main targets hence I must do all I can to keep them all safe and inbtact before Steel is able to put things in order.

"Hi, I'd like you to also get eyes on her husband , keep a tight leash, no one goes in or out without. Proper report, anyone acting shady gets a bullet immediately do you understand me?".. There's a brief pause before an abswer "Yes sir".

Now all we can do is tighten security then watch everywhere closely to get a full grasp of what is happening around us since we're virtually in the dark without the slightest idea of our reality.