CHAPTER 123
LUCAS'S POV
The weight of what I'd discovered sat in my stomach like a stone. As I stared at the financial records spread across my laptop screen, each transaction felt like another nail in the coffin of any relationship I'd ever hoped to have with my father.
William hadn't just betrayed us - he'd orchestrated everything from the beginning. Every job he'd sent us on, every target he'd assigned, it had all been part of a larger plan to eliminate Jack's competition while keeping Jack himself as his secret weapon.
"Lucas?" Skylar's voice cut through my thoughts. "Are you alright?"
I looked up to find all three of them watching me with concern. We'd moved to the living room after our kitchen discussion, but I'd been lost in the data for the past hour, trying to piece together the full scope of my father's deception.
"I'm trying to map out the timeline," I said, turning the laptop so they could see. "Look at this - every major hit we did for William in the past two years corresponds to a business rival or territory competitor of Jack's."
Harry leaned forward, scanning the information. "Son of a bitch. He had us cleaning house for Jack while Jack stayed safely 'dead.'"
"It gets worse," I continued, pulling up another file. "Remember that warehouse job six months ago? The one where William said we were targeting arms dealers?"
"The one where we found all those shipping containers," Jax said slowly. "You think..."
"I know. I hacked into the port authority records. Those containers were transferred to Meridian Holdings the next day. We weren't stopping arms dealers - we were clearing out competition so Jack could take over the routes."
Skylar was very still beside me, her hands clenched in her lap. "How long?" she asked quietly.
"What?"
"How long has your father been planning this? How long has he known my father was alive?"
I pulled up the oldest financial records I could access. The pattern went back further than I'd initially thought. "At least eighteen months. Maybe longer."
"Before the accident," she whispered. "They were working together before he even tried to kill me."
The realization hit all of us at the same time. William hadn't just saved Jack from drowning - he'd been Jack's partner all along. The entire kidnapping, the car crash, even Jack's apparent death had been planned.
"They played us," Harry said, his voice deadly quiet. "The whole fucking time, they played us."
I felt something break inside my chest. Whatever small part of me that had still hoped for my father's approval, that had still believed he might care about me as more than just a useful tool, died in that moment.
"There's more," I said, my voice sounding strange and distant to my own ears. "The money trail leads to at least twelve different operations across three states. Massage parlors, modeling agencies, even a few legitimate-looking employment services."
"All trafficking fronts," Skylar said. It wasn't a question.
"All trafficking fronts," I confirmed. "And they're expanding. Fast. The investment William's been making... they're not just rebuilding what Jack lost. They're creating something bigger."
Jax moved to sit on Skylar's other side, and I saw him take her hand. "How much bigger?"
I pulled up the projection spreadsheets I'd found buried in William's encrypted files. "If these numbers are accurate? They're looking at moving nearly a thousand girls a year through their network within the next twenty-four months."
The silence that followed was deafening.
"A thousand girls," Skylar repeated, her voice hollow. "A thousand girls like me."
"Not like you," Harry said fiercely. "You got out. You survived. You're going to make sure they survive too."
She looked at him, and I saw something shift in her expression. The grief and shock were still there, but underneath it was something harder. Something that reminded me uncomfortably of the look I'd seen in my father's eyes when he talked about his "business ventures."
"You're right," she said. "I did survive. And now I'm going to make sure they pay for every single life they've destroyed."
"Skylar..." Jax started, but she cut him off.
"No. Don't try to talk me out of this. Don't try to protect me from what needs to be done." She stood up, pacing to the window. "They've been using your father's resources and connections to rebuild my father's empire. Which means they have weaknesses. Points of failure."
"What are you thinking?" I asked, though I was pretty sure I didn't want to know the answer.
She turned back to us, and her smile was sharp enough to cut glass. "I'm thinking we turn their own system against them. William needs you to do his dirty work because you're good at it and because he can control you through threats. But what if he couldn't control you anymore?"
"You want us to go rogue," Harry said.
"I want us to make him think we're still playing his game while we systematically destroy everything he and my father have built together." She moved back to the couch, sitting on the coffee table so she could face all of us. "Think about it - you have access to his accounts, his operations, his contacts. I know my father's psychology, his patterns, his weaknesses. Together, we can tear their partnership apart from the inside."
It was a dangerous plan. More than dangerous - it was potentially suicidal. Going up against William meant going up against one of the most powerful criminal organizations on the East Coast. Going up against Jack meant facing someone who had no limits, no conscience, and nothing left to lose.
But looking at Skylar's face, seeing the determination and fury burning in her eyes, I knew we were going to do it anyway.
"There's something else you need to know," I said quietly. "About William's endgame."
"What do you mean?"
I pulled up the final file I'd been dreading to show them. "I found communications between William and Jack. Encrypted, but I managed to crack them. They're not just business partners, Skylar. William wants you."
"Wants me how?"
"As his prize. His reward for helping Jack rebuild the empire." I felt sick saying it. "The plan is to eliminate us once we've served our purpose and deliver you to William as his personal... trophy."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
"Over my dead body," Jax said, his voice barely controlled.
"That's exactly what they're counting on," I replied. "They know we'll die before we let them have you. Which solves their problem of loose ends."
Skylar was quiet for a long moment, staring at the laptop screen. When she finally looked up, there was something in her eyes that made my blood run cold.
"Then we make sure they're the ones who die instead."
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