Chapter 9 - The Last Enemy Came From Inside the Knox FamilyDeclan’s final enemy was not Sebastian Rourke.
It was Arthur.
Or so Clary believed for exactly forty-three minutes.
The evidence seemed undeniable.
Money had disappeared from three Knox accounts.
Someone had transferred confidential federal cooperation documents.
A former Knox captain named Raymond Pike had returned to the city.
Security footage showed Arthur meeting him.
Declan confronted Arthur privately.
Clary overheard shouting.
Then a gunshot.
She ran into Declan’s office.
Arthur stood beside the desk holding a pistol.
Declan stood opposite him.
Blood marked Declan’s hand.
Clary froze.
“Put it down.”
Arthur looked at her.
“Clary—”
“Put it down!”
Declan stepped between them.
“It’s not what you think.”
“That is literally what people say when it is exactly what someone thinks.”
Arthur slowly placed the weapon on the desk.
The blood on Declan’s hand came from broken glass.
Nobody had been shot.
Clary breathed.
“What is happening?”
Arthur looked exhausted.
“Pike has Declan’s uncle.”
Declan’s uncle Patrick Jr. had disappeared two weeks earlier.
Nobody considered it suspicious because Patrick routinely vanished on drinking binges.
But Pike had taken him.
More importantly, Patrick possessed copies of old Knox records not included in Mercer’s ledger.
Records implicating Arthur’s father.
Arthur had been meeting Pike secretly to buy them.
“You lied to me,” Declan said.
Arthur looked at him.
“To protect my family.”
Declan laughed without humor.
“That sentence has destroyed half this city.”
Arthur flinched.
Clary saw the truth.
History repeating itself.
Men protecting families through secrecy.
Secrecy becoming corruption.
Corruption becoming violence.
“No more,” she said.
Both men looked at her.
“No more private wars.”
“Clary—”
“No.”
She pointed at the desk.
“You released one ledger and somehow learned nothing.”
Declan became quiet.
Arthur looked ashamed.
“What do you suggest?” he asked.
“The truth.”
Arthur laughed bitterly.
“My father killed people.”
“Then the truth.”
“He’s dead.”
“The people he hurt aren’t.”
Silence.
Arthur looked at Declan.
Declan nodded.
“Release it.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
That decision destroyed his father’s reputation.
It also saved Arthur.
Pike lost his leverage.
Federal agents arrested him two days later.
Patrick Jr. was recovered alive.
The last hidden Knox records became public.
For weeks, newspapers ran stories about the old empire.
Declan did not fight them.
Neither did Arthur.
They simply allowed the truth to exist.
And slowly, something remarkable happened.
The Knox name became less frightening.
The legitimate businesses survived.
Workers remained employed.
The docks continued operating.
The city did not collapse.
Declan discovered that the world could function without everyone fearing him.
He was not sure whether to feel relieved or insulted.
One rainy Tuesday evening, Clary returned home.
Declan was cooking.
Badly.
Smoke filled the kitchen.
The alarm screamed.
“What happened?”
“Chicken.”
“Did the chicken attack you?”
“Possibly.”
Clary opened the windows.
Declan turned off the stove.
He looked exhausted.
Ordinary.
His shirt was untucked.
There was flour on his cheek for reasons Clary could not understand because chicken did not require flour in the recipe he was attempting.
She began laughing.
Declan stared.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That is clearly not nothing.”
She walked toward him and wiped his cheek.
“This.”
“What?”
“This is what I meant.”
Declan frowned.
“About what?”
“The proposal.”
He became still.
Clary smiled.
“This is real.”
Declan looked around.
Smoke.
Burned chicken.
A kitchen disaster.
Rain against the windows.
No quartet.
No roses.
No security team.
No empire.
Just them.
He reached into his pocket.
Clary stared.
“You have the ring?”
“I’ve carried it for four months.”
“Every day?”
“Yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“I’m patient.”
“You threatened a contractor because a bathroom renovation took nine days.”
“That was different.”
Declan lowered himself onto one knee.
Clary covered her mouth.
“Clary Davies.”
“No speech.”
He paused.
“I prepared one.”
“No.”
“It’s good.”
“I don’t care.”
Declan sighed.
“Fine.”
He looked up at her.
“Marry me.”
Clary’s eyes filled with tears.
“That’s it?”
“You banned the speech.”
She laughed.
“Yes.”
Declan blinked.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
He stood so quickly he nearly slipped.
Clary caught him.
He kissed her.
The smoke alarm continued screaming above them.
Neither cared.
Later, Arthur would claim it was the least romantic proposal he had ever heard.
Clary disagreed.
May you like
It was perfect.
Because nothing about it had been purchased.
