Book mock-up by @newsies-

Carter grabs my arm and pulls me toward the door. "We can't tell you here. It's not safe. Please, trust us." He doesn't let go of me until we're in the car. "We're going for a drive. Don't make a sound or I'll have to hurt you and I don't want to do that to you."

"Drex, what's going on?"

He places his index finger to his mouth telling me to be quiet.

Carter pulls away from the house. He drives until he reaches the National Park. He parks the car. "Were walking from here. I'll answer your questions once we're away from the car."

I climb out of the car and follow them to the trail. "What's going on?" I stop at the beginning of the trail.

I'm not going to take one more step until they tell me what's going on?

Drex steps forward. "We found Mom and Dad's killer."

***

I cross my arms and look at them. "Who killed my parents?"

"It was Jai's brother. He followed our parents for a while before he killed them." Drex pulls me into his arms. "He used Jai to get closer to you. I think he has something up his sleeves for today. Nate and you aren't safe with him in that house."

I push Drex away from me. "Jai's family wouldn't hurt me like that."

"Jai's brother has."

Tears begin to fall down my face. "Which brother?"

"Gerald,"

Why would he do this to us?

"I'm going to kill him."

Drex grabs ahold of me. "You aren't going to do anything. Carter and I will take care of it. You have a party to get back to."

They drive back to the house.

As soon as I enter Jai runs over to me and hugs me. "Where did you go?"

"We had unwanted visitors and I had to get rid of them. It took forever to get them into the car and for them to go away."

Carter and Drex walk into the house.

Jai pushes me behind him. He looks at my brother and cousin. "What are you two doing here?"

Drex glares at him. "We've found the person responsible for killing my parents and he's in this room with us."

I see Gerald take steps backwards.

Jai turns towards me. "What are they talking about?"

I look at the ground. "The guy from the Tranquility place was hired by someone to come after Nate and me. It was a setup and the real killer was on the run." I take a deep breath. "The person responsible for my parent's death is Gerald."

Jai shakes his head. "My brother wouldn't do that."

After those words left his mouth a glass breaks and I turn in the direction of the kitchen. I see someone on the ground convulsing.

Jai runs into the kitchen and looks at the girl on the ground.

She stops convulsing.

Jai checks her pulse. He shakes his head. "She's dead."

I see Gerald make a run for the front door and he's stopped by my brother and cousin.

Drex looks at me. "We're going to take care of this."

I walk over to Gerald. "Why?"

He laughs. "Because I can." Gerald looks at Jai. "You can't protect her all the time, brother. I will come back and finish the job that I started. I won't rest until the last Knight is in a coffin." His eyes land on Paige.

Veronica walks over to her son and slaps him. "How could you do this to your family?"

"You're not my mother. You adopted me." He spat at her.

Veronica starts crying and Ricky wraps his arms around his wife. "Shh, we'll get through this like we have everything else."

She shakes her head. "I don't think so. It was my son who took my friends lives before their time. It was he who tried to kill my daughter-in-law and her brother. Those kids have been through more heartache then anyone I know and I want them to be safe. I can't take the thought of Chloe and Nate dying by the hands of evil people."

Drex grabs Gerald by the throat. "Tell me why you were sent after my parents and siblings?"

Gerald shakes his head.

Drex tightens his grip and Gerald taps his arm. He loosens the grip. "Are you going to tell me now?"

He nods. "I am a spy. I work for a secret origination called 'Eliminate.' Your mother worked for them and when she was told to kill the other spy that was at the same location as her, she couldn't do it and neither could he. They both got together and had three kids. After the first daughter was born they vanished from the face of the earth. With severe digging around and face recognition we were able to find them. The day we went to their house to kill them was the day we found everything we needed on them." He looks at me. "Someone was sent to your place in New York to kill you as well, but when you showed up in Los Angeles we knew we needed one night to kill the Knight Family."

A tear rolls down my face and Jai pulls me into his arms. "Why didn't you kill the rest of us? You knew we were home."

Gerald laughs. "Your brother showed up at the house and he killed some of my men. While the rest of us took off. We had to wait until you were vulnerable. Which is why we used inside men at the mansion to gain access in and shoot Mom and Dad and kidnap Chloe."

Ricky walks over to Gerald and he punches him in the face and then in the stomach. "You worthless piece of shit."

Gerald laughs. "Everything you have been through Chloe has been because of me. I'm glad that I didn't have to kill Aleysa. She would have been a hard one to kill." His eyes harden. "It would have been fun to kill you, Chloe and Nate."

I move over to him and punch him in the face. I put my entire weight behind the punch and I watch him fall to the ground as I knocked him out. I kick him in the stomach. "That's for taking my family." Another kick. "For trying to kill my brother." Another kick. "For trying to kill me." I kick him again. "If you come near me again. I will kill you."

Jai walks over to me and he wraps his arms around me. "Let's go for a walk."

I look over at Paige who is fast asleep. "Okay,"

"Mom, can you look after, Paige?"

"Yes, I can." She looks at all the guests. "You should all leave now. Thank you very much for coming."

Jai and I walk out the front door. "I didn't know my brother was behind everything."

"I believe you, Jai." I put my arm around his waist. "We need to be careful who we let around our family."

He nods. "I agree. How about we just let the people we're closest to be around. Like our immediate family and Ace and Leila."

***