Page 175 of Knox

“Absolute lie,” Tae scoffs, as he sutures a bleeding vessel. “That nose had plastic surgery, not functional.”

Did Julian have his face surgically altered to look like Cillian?

Why would he…?

“Knox,” Alexios’s voice finally comes through my earpiece. “I have eyes on them. Four men are dragging Cillian and Julian toward the north cliffs.”

And just like me, Björn immediately draws his weapon and chambers a round. We turn, sprint toward the balcony doors leading out to the cliffs, and jump.

“Alexios,” I scream into the radio while running, dodging shattered glass as we breach the last terrace. “Pull up the DNA test that was run for Cillian.”

“What’s on your mind?” Logan asks.

“I don’t think the stalker ran Cillian’s DNA to prove he’s not the Harrington-Hale heir.” I level my rifle, firing two shots at a Son of Cerberus who was holding a grenade. “I think he ran Cillian’s DNA to prove Cil and him are related.”

“That’s impossible,” Damián’s voice says over the comms. “There were only two Harrington-Hale brothers. Arthur had no children, and Cillian’s grandfather only had Cillian’s father.”

Björn and I run through the gardens, past the fountain, and reach a second garden when three armed men step out from behind the hedge maze.

Fuck.

Björn draws his enormous machete from his back holster and takes down two of the mercenaries.

I level my rifle at the third man and fire at his chest.

THUD!

Björn gasps in pain as a bullet hits him in the chest, throwing him onto the grass.

“Björn!” I drop beside him and check his wound.

But before I open his vest, Björn groans, clutching his chest. “Ouch! That’s… definitely going to bruise.”

I am hauling him up by his vest when another man steps out from behind a tree and points his gun at us.

THWACK!

A sniper round hits the mercenary in the chest, and he falls to the ground.

“Pay attention, you bloody fools.”

“Thank you, aggressive lord,” Björn grunts, already moving again.

We push past the tree line and run up the steep incline toward the cliff path.

“Knox was right…” Alexios says over the radio. “The reason there’s a twenty-year gap between Arthur and Cillian’s grandfather is that there was a middle brother. The man was erased from the family tree, family records, and everything. I found dozens of hospital records for the mother, her death certificate, and a Deed of Severance for Christopher Harrington-Hale.”

“So the bastard killed his own mother?” Damián asks.

“And got legally erased from the Harrington-Hale dynasty for it,” Alexios adds. “After being disowned, he changed his name to Christopher Harris. Prison time, drug charges, domestic abuse, and another stint inside after killing the mother of his daughter and her new husband. And that daughter had a son… a son named—”

“Julian…” I whisper, feeling sick.

“Julius Harris,” Alexios says, confirming my fear.

Fuck.

Fuck!