Beyond the Edge (the Knight Series Book 3)

by Mari Brown

  “Seriously, dad? I just want to elope”

  “I know what you want to do and I’m telling you it’s not happening. I’m going to make sure my future daughter in law has the wedding she never knew she wanted until now”

  Smiling at the memory, it is easy to see my dad was right about Kat. I couldn’t believe it when she started showing signs of looking forward to the wedding planning. Granted, my woman was not planning the typical fairy tale wedding. Nope, my Kitten plans to walk down the aisle in a black wedding dress. I love that woman. She’s my perfect half to complete me.

  She is sweet and soft, tough as nails;whatever the situation calls for. I’ve seen her kill a man in cold blood. I have seen her comfort my little brother, Seth, when his mother died. She is a paradox. I was proud of Kat. Even when she frustrated me to the ends of the earth, she was as badass as they come. I watched the night she shot Gary as a small piece of her humanity slipped away but she was not destroyed by it. She owned it like the boss she is.

  “Cole? Is that you?” I hear my father’s voice call out from the direction of the family room. I make my way to the doorway and find my dad sitting on the sofa while Seth sits at his feet doing what looks like homework on the coffee table. That little boy is a strong one too. He’s survived a kidnapping and his mother’s drug overdose.

  “What’s up, Dad?” I ask as I sit down on the love seat across from him.

  “Katarina off with Julie?” he asks while glancing back down at what Seth is doing.

  “Yeah, she’s supposed to come home and fill me in on everything.”

  My dad chuckles “I told you that girl needed this dream wedding.”

  “Yea, you did. I’m glad I listened to you for once.”

  “You got that right. You’re by far my most stubborn child,” he says with a laugh “the family legacy will be in good hands with you.”

  “Thanks. Is there something going on I need to be aware of?”

  My dad leans over and points at something in Seth’s book before speaking to me again, “Yes, I have a meeting for you and I set up next week with Frank Martin.”

  “Oh?” I trial off letting my dad have the opportunity to finish talking.

  “This transition is going to go smoother if everyone sees us working side by side the next month or so. My retirement rumors are circulating. He glances back at Seth “Seth look at those figures again.”

  Seth’s head pops up and he gives my dad the evil eye but doesn’t say a word as he bends back over his work. I resist laughing at my youngest brother because he’s going to be trouble one day.

  “Sounds good to me. I’m down for sitting with Frank. I have to start getting use to this shit.”

  “Yeah, son, you do. Things are going to change for you. You will have to grow up now.”

  “Yeah, I know. I’m trying;believe me, not just for the family but for Kat, too. She deserves the best me I can give her.” I lean back in my seat relaxing as my thoughts turn to the woman I love.

  “She does deserve the best. That girl has proved her loyalty to our family in a short time and without being asked and put to a test like a lot of our men were. She did it on her own.”

  “She’s tough dad. I know that. She is perfect.” I sigh. I know I sound whipped right now but I don’t care.

  “She is far from perfect son but she and you together are perfect for each other if there is such a thing.”

  “Kat is to perfect!” Seth interjects his opinion into our conversation. I chuckle as does my dad. If Seth was closer to Kat’s age, I think I would seriously have to worry about him being competition for my girl’s affection. She loves him just as fiercely, too. It’s an almost maternal feeling she has for Seth and that makes me happy. One day I know we will have children and she will be an excellent mother for them. She underestimates her capacity for family and love. She doesn’t see herself the way I do.

  “I agree with you little brother,” I tell Seth with a smile. “Kat is fucking perfect!”

  “It’s about time you realized how lucky you are to have her!” Seth says.

  My dad’s roaring laughter is the only sound in the room as I sit there stunned that I was just told off by my nine-year-old brother. The seriousness on his face was priceless. My dad ruffles the top of Seth’s head leaving the hair mussed. Seth bends back down to his homework

  “Guess your brother has spoken.” my dad’s humor still in his voice.

  “Yea, I think I’ve been put in my place.” I smile at Seth one more time working at the table. “Dad, I’m not going to fuck this up with Kat again. I was miserable those five years without her and I’m not proud of everything I did during that time.”

  My dad’s thoughtful gaze lingers on me for a while before he speaks. “I’m glad to hear you say that, son. I’m proud of you. I’ve always been proud of you but the way you handled things with Kat was horrid. She needed you most in those early days.”

  Thinking about the miscarriage, “I know I let her down. I let me down… and we lost our child and a part of me can’t help but think I’m responsible in some way for that.”

  “Son, I was there with her. The doctor said it was not a viable fetus. It would have happened no matter what happened between you two.” My dad’s words penetrate but I’m not sure I believe them completely.

  We lapse into silence as Seth works on his Math. It’s nice just sitting there in quiet. No hospitals, no gunfire, no fucking explosions. No drama. Just the peace of being at home with family. One thing despite growing up in a life of shady business, crime and other nefarious activities, Family was drilled into us. When my mother was alive, she was the backbone of this family. Dad may have run the empire but Mom ruled the family. Things were rough the first year after she was killed. I went wild while the twins were sad and left in the care of a nanny. Neither set of grandparents were living at the time. Dad was all we had.

  When I was in my last year of high school my dad started bringing Trish home and when she got knocked up he married her. The best thing of that fiasco was Seth. He was an unexpected blessing to our family. There was never any love lost between Trish and I. In the beginning, she was blunt with her flirting with me; Letting it be known she had no problem fucking father and son, both. I made my feelings pretty clear but it never completely deterred her. She was jealous of Kat when my dad moved her into the mansion. Trish couldn’t stand Kat and it all boiled down to the fact that I wanted Kat.

  “Cole…” Seth’s young voice breaks through my thoughts. “Want to play a video game with me?”

  “Sure buddy!Homework all done?” I ask him.

  “Yep and dad said I can play until dinner.” He sounds happy with the idea.

  We settle into the video chairs in front of the big screen TV. The game fires up and we begin selecting our characters. I’m pleased to have this down time to spend with Seth. His mother was a cunt but he loved her and she has only been gone a couple months now. Seth has a father who cares and siblings who understand what it’s like to lose a mom but the most important thing he has is Kat. Kat has been more of a mother figure than Trish ever was to that boy. I admired my woman for that. She had no clue what a loving mother was like. It was foreign to her yet she knew what Seth needed more than any of us.

  Seth became a fixture in our bed the first month after Trish overdosed. As much as I would have preferred to have Kat alone in bed I never voiced a complaint. I could see that Seth needed Kat; he drew comfort from her. Kat instinctively know what he needed. Those two bonded in a way I will never understand when she first entered our lives. Seth was only four and even though I didn’t see or talk to her for five years,he did. I always heard him talking about video chatting with Kat or calling and talking to her or his trips to various locations to spend vacations with her. I’ll admit, back then I was jealous of the little shit.

  The sound of the front door opening and Kat and Julie’s voices float in from the foyer. Even though I can’t make out what is being said, the excitement is
clear in both their voices.

  “Let’s take everything in the family room.” Julie’s voice is clearly heard as she enters the room.

  Rocco and Nico follow Julie, arms full of bags. My eyes bug as I take in all the stuff they are carrying.

  “What the fuck is all that shit?” I aim my question at my Kitten.

  “Some of it’s wedding stuff… some, the girls just went nuts shopping.” Rocco answers me.

  “Kitten, what could you have possibly needed?” Her giggle is music to my ears as she walks through the doorway to the family room. My Kitten is glowing. I have never seen her look so radiant. Any complaint died on my lips. How can I be upset with her when she looks so damn happy? Puffing my chest out like a peacock I’m thrilled to be part of the reason she feels that way. This is how I want to make her feel for the rest of our lives.

  “Cole!” her cheerful voice calls out to me. “You have to look at the wedding invitations I selected” She begins digging through one of the bags sitting on the sofa. “I have a sample. Here it is…” She hands me what likes a miniature black folder. The smooth texture is silky under my fingers. I open it up and see it’s like a mini portfolio. On one side is the invitation with a dark purple ribbon with a jewel of some kind in the center across the top and then sample text with the invitation. On the other side is the RSVP card and a couple other cards. I have no clue what these things are but it doesn’t matter. All I need is to see Kat’s smiling face.

  “I love it Kitten. What else can you show me?” I ask as I get excited about our wedding for no other reason than it makes me happy she’s this excited to be planning it. That she wants to make us forever as much as I do.

  “Oh you have to see the sample flowers for the church. I have pictures. Also, next Friday we are all going to sample wedding cakes and food for the reception. Marla says you can’t get out of this appointment.” Kat is flitting across the room peeking in various bags as she talks. She pulls out various things before dropping them all in my lap to show me the things she bought today.

  Seth is grinning from ear to ear as he watches Kat. He even seems eager to see what she bought today. I realize in that moment how happy I am that Kat is this happy. I think my dad and youngest brother feel the same way I do. There is nothing we wouldn’t do for Kat’s happiness.

  Chapter 9

  Time is fleeting. It moves quickly. Between wedding preparations and the preliminary work for taking over the Martin holdings life is whizzing by me. I am sitting in the back seat of a car with my father right now as we head to meet up with Frank Martin for the first of many meetings. Hopefully, this goes as smooth and easy as my dad thinks it will. There was a time, long ago, that the Martins were part of the Knight Family.

  The history between our two families is deep rooted. From childhood until high school, Hank Martin, Sal’s father, and my father were best buddies. It was only when my mother Serena moved to Belmont with her family that things changed. Both my dad and Hank pursed my mother. It was my father who won her affection and it ended a lifelong friendship. Hank began plotting his revenge against my father. In just a few years Hank had recruited men and built up his own empire. Soon the Martins were attacking the Knights in minor skirmishes. Every major business in Belmont fell under either Knight control or Martin control. The people of the town eventually chose one side or the other. A rare few stayed out of it the best they could in those days. It was when I was fourteen that it escalated when Hank murdered my mother. watched as he held a gun to my father and my mother stepped in front of the bullet meant for my father.

  I am not sure how I didn’t end up in more trouble than I did in those early years. It wasn’t until I saw Kat that night in a club, drunk off her ass, that I found purpose in life. No, I didn’t recognize it then and it took me five years without her in my life to grow up and reach the level of maturity I am now. I made so many mistakes but I’m grateful Kat and I worked past everything and are planning our wedding. I still have a lot of anger in me but not as much as I use to before Kat entered my life.

  I’m sure that Sal is aware of the history between our fathers but I wonder what his version is. I know his mother abandoned Hank and Sal early in life. Despite knowing that his father got away with murdering my mother, Sal swore revenge after my father placed a hit on Hank. It was justified; after all, the man killed my mother. Sal didn’t see it that way and from that point on made life miserable for everyone. Frank took over after Hank’s death and there were little problems until Sal finished school and went into the business full time.

  “You okay over there, son?” My dad asks me from where he is sitting next to me in the back of the escalade we are riding in. Pete is our guard and driver for the trip.

  “Just thinking about mom.” I glimpse at my dad , a sad smile covers his face.

  “She was a wonderful woman. She was an excellent mother and a great wife.” He smiles. “You wouldn’t know this but Kat reminds me a lot of your mother back in school”

  “Really?” It would explain a lot about my Dad’s relationship with Kat over the years; why he had let her get away with things even his own children couldn’t get away with. “That’s why you have always had the soft spot for her?”

  “Yes, son, it is. Kat looks nothing like your mother but her spirit is the same. Granted your mother had a better family life then Kat… but the spunk… oh how I loved your mother’s spunk.” his voice trails off.

  “I get it dad ... Kat’s spunk is one of the things I love most about her. It drives me crazy but I wouldn’t change it for anything.” I say smiling as I think about the hellcat I have on my hands.

  He gives me a small laugh, “I know son. I saw how it was with you two from the beginning. It’s why I tried to give advice without interfering when you were younger. I knew you two were made for each other the way your mother and I were.” His hand goes to his head as he scratches ,absentmindedly . “ I knew y’all just needed some time to figure it out. But when she came back I wasn’t letting her leave for California again.”

  I laugh at my dad then, “What did you plan, kidnapping her? Holding her hostage in the mansion?”

  “No, but that’s an idea if she ever thinks she’s leaving again.” We share a laugh as the car pulls to a stop in front of a brick building in the heart of downtown Belmont.

  Pete steps out of the car and I see him do a walk around before opening my door. I get out and follow him to my dad’s side of the car. Pete and I have done this together so many times its old hand. We just work together naturally. I stand on the sidewalk alert for any sign of danger as my dad steps out of the vehicle. He’s a bigger target than I am on any given day. Not only because of the Martins but my dad has enemies everywhere. The Knight family name is known in most major cities in the US and a few international ones as well.

  “Let’s go.” my dad says I lead the way and Pete falls behind. I step into the entryway of the restaurant and look around. It’s a light crowd. The meeting was planned between the lunch and dinner crowds. It was a way to ensure the wrong conversations weren’t overheard or that no one was planning an ambush.

  “Mr. Knight, welcome back” the hostess greets my father.

  “Thank you Sergio. Is our table ready?”

  “Yes, sir and your guest is waiting.”

  We follow Sergio to the back of the building where I see Frank sitting with a glass of wine in front of him. He stands as we reach the table.

  “Bruce, it’s been a long time.” Frank says while stretching his hand out to my father. I watch as my father looks at the offered hand and then reaches his out.

  “Frank,it has.” My father speaks low. “This is my oldest son, Cole.”

  “Pleasure to meet you.” His hand reaches toward me and like my father, I shake his hand. I’m impressed by the firmness of his handshake yet I don’t feel any animosity in it.

  “Let’s sit.” My father speaks. He nods to Pete who walks off to sit at the bar nearby where another big man sits; prob
ably Frank’s own bodyguard.

  “Can I get you a drink?”

  “Mclennan.” My father tells the waiter.

  “I’ll have the same.” I give my order as I look at the menu in front of me. I’m not really worried about food but I know it will be expected for us to eat, drink and talk.

  “I’m glad you were willing to talk to me.” Frank takes a sniff of his wine before sipping “Sal has become a pain in the ass almost as bad as his father was at that age.”

  “I remember Hank all too well.” My father replies dryly.

  “Yes. Well, the things my brother did were never things I exactly agreed with. I tried to stay out of this business but when he was… um.. killed… I only took over thinking it would be until Sal or someone else suitable came along.” He sets his glass back down on the table. “I realized after Sal kidnapped your two children that Sal was never going to be mentally stable. I thought it would be something he outgrew but, like my brother, something is off with him.”

  My dad is quiet and I remain silent as well although I’m itching to shout something at this man.

  “Anyway, the best thing I can do is to sell off all business interests in Belmont. I have talked to the guys loyal to me. Most are just ready for retirement but a few would like the opportunity to join the Knights.” He shuffles the menu out of his way. His elbows come to rest on the table as he leans a little closer to my father and I. “Honestly the best thing that can happen is for the Knights to be the only family in this town. The Martins had no business ever starting here, not over a woman.”

  “The past can’t be changed. But I agree, any measures we can take to secure the future is in all our best interest.” My father is quick and to the point. He doesn’t want to rehash painful memories. “So you want to sell all business in Belmont to us and then what?”

  “I plan to retire to Florida. I figure y’all will take care of Sal however you need too. It would be nothing he hasn’t brought on himself.” Frank's face takes on a sadness. “He’s set up over in ***Southshore with his new crew. Figure I’ll tell him to start building there because Belmont is gone.”