J A K E

Tonight, an empire would crumble from its foundation.

I could barely wait.

I stood before the opaque double doors, unsure of what lay inside. I'd gotten myself in and out of scrapes with Hundsen before, but this time was different. More was at play then the two of us. Normally, I had every detail painstakingly planned out, but I'd known that this encounter would be more or less left up to chance.

Of course, I would do the best I could. But even I didn't know exactly what would take place tonight.

I strode through the front doors—unprotected, since I'd bribed the guards. It had taken more hassle than it was worth, as they were Hundsen's security. But I'd won in the end.

This was the same place I had the assassin spy in; I had to lie about where I was going in case she attempted anything. No one would know where I was. And that was how I needed it.

It was as luxurious on the inside as it had been on the outside. The walls were a dark mahogany and covered in maroon curtains. I passed by several closed doors—offices, probably. It appeared Hundsen had widened his operation here.

The lower-ceilinged hallway opened up to a much larger room ahead. In the center of it, a massive table was situated, chairs filled with members. Even more men stood on the far end of the room, listening to whatever Hundsen had to say. I'd known he would have them assembled; after I didn't show for the fight three nights ago, he had them on high alert. And that meant he wasn't sure of my next move.

Half of the men in the room had their guns pulled on me before I even entered into it. I continued walking forward until they could all see me. At the commotion, Hundsen stood and turned around. I could have shot him right then and there.

"Evans," he said, smile widening. "You decided to grace us with your presence." A few men snorted at his dry statement. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to fight your men."

"You're here to fight my men?" He repeated, turning to his men and smiling, like they shared a joke I wasn't let in on. "And you have the audacity to call me insane."

"You heard me. Is this going to happen, or are you all talk like everyone says you are?"

"I don't know what kind of a Club member would wish violence on his brothers," he said, cocking his head to the side. "Though I suppose you're not one of us anymore."

I saw what he was doing: he hadn't told his men about the fight, so he was twisting my words to make me look like a deranged idiot who stumbled in here ready to fight a losing battle. He wanted the men loyal to me to doubt my leadership skills. Unluckily for him, I'd foreseen this and forced Scotty to let me keep the letter without Hundsen's knowledge.

Pulling it out of my pocket, I threw it on the table for them all to read. "I don't know what kind of a leader lies to his men and makes deals with his enemies. But then again, here we are."

"So you accept the deal," Hundsen said, black eyes boring into me. My slight victory hadn't gone unnoticed—and wouldn't go unpunished.

"I accept the deal. If I win, I get the Club."

"Yes." He was still staring at me and I wondered what was going through his depraved mind. To his men, he ordered, "Check him for weapons."

They surged forward at his command and searched me, taking my gun, two knives and a switchblade and throwing them on a side table. I held perfectly still and didn't take my eyes off Hundsen.

Finally, a mountain of a man that went by the name Foster Sterling approached me and patted me down, making sure one last time that I had no means to cheat. I stared him down the entire time, well aware that he was loyal to Hundsen. So loyal that he handled Hundsen's weapon-smuggling through the Club. Sterling would undoubtedly fight me tonight.

"Move the table." Again, Hundsen's men moved to please him. The table and chairs were moved as a barricade before the long hallway; the exit was sealed. As if I'd run with my tail between my legs.

"Give yourself up, Evans," Hundsen ordered me, nodding to the half-circle that had formed around the room, the barricade creating the only break in the ranks. "Subject yourself to my power."

I stood in the middle, head held high. And I stared right at my mortal enemy with burning hatred as he near-whispered, "Begin."

Several men ran into the circle at once and I began showing them why I'd been at the top of the Club: with my wit and fists. Primarily the latter, for now.

I socked one man in the eye and then went for another's throat. One well-placed kick to the groin had another man cowering on the ground. It was easy to teach them why no one crossed me.

And though they were well aware of the stories of my power, I wouldn't use it. Even if it killed me, I wouldn't fight with ice. There would be no question of whether I got the Club through my enhanced ability. No, I would earn it as well as every leader before me.

I wasn't unscathed in the fight, however, as the men who outnumbered me certainly got their punches in. My fists were already bleeding, my knuckles having already cracked with impact. But I could take it. I hadn't fought my entire life just to be taken out tonight.

The ring became a pit of flying fists, sweat and glory. Time seemed to slow. Reality seemed to bend as I fought for my life. And still, I kept going. Hundsen thought I wouldn't make it—in fact, he'd make sure I wouldn't. All the more reason to fight with all I had.

One of his men—I couldn't be sure which—hit me in the mouth. I tasted the tang of blood in my mouth and ran my tongue over the backs of my teeth—none knocked loose. Even so, it jarred me.

Hundsen noticed. "Where's your assassin when you need her, Evans?"

That was when I was sure of it: he'd called me here to kill Delphinium while I watched, humiliate me in front of the entire Club when I lost and then take his time killing me. It was too bad I had different plans for all three.

"My assassin isn't here," I said, not bothering to wipe the blood from my lips. "I work alone. It's just you and me now."

He chuckled, but whatever he said fell to the background when more of his men came forward, determined to win where the others had not. I met them ready; I'd practiced for this, even earlier with the assassin. I'd thought of nothing but this for days.

So the gangsters met nothing but fists and brutal violence. I didn't let myself slip up, covered all my weaknesses, sealed all the openings in my fighting pattern. All of his men would die before I would. And then we would see who the true leader was here.

Bodies surrounded me. Red flecked the marble floor—some of it mine but most of it not. And as I stood in the midst of it, I knew I'd do it all again if it meant I got the Club and my men back.

Then I was the last one standing in the ring. Though my hands and face dripped my own blood and my chest hurt with every breath, I raised my arms in mock-question. "Is that the best you can do? Is this the true might of your power?"

Hundsen wasn't worried. He merely watched as Sterling entered the ring alone. Had this been his plan all along—wear me down to weakness and then take me out with his best fighter?

If so, I was ready for it. My mockery had worked. Sterling would die like all the rest.

He lunged for me and went for the throat. I dodged it and tried to kick his legs out from under him. Though I was tall, Sterling was even taller than me, and built like a battering ram. His strength was superior, but despite my injuries, I was faster. As long as I went for the legs and got him on his back, I'd win.

He understood what I was doing and made sure to keep me an arm's length away from himself at all times. We threw a few punches back and forth until I saw an opening. I lunged to take the opportunity when Sterling pulled a hidden dagger out and sliced across my stomach with it, trying to wound me badly enough to win.

I stepped back, eyeing the knife in his hand. "Cheater." I was technically out-powered.

He ran at me again, brandishing his knife and thinking that this was where he won. Spinning around, I grabbed ahold of one of the chairs behind me and swung it at him. It hit his body with a solid thud and I was able to knock him backward. If he was any smaller of a man, the blow would have crushed his ribs.

The chair cracked in two under the might of my swing and I tossed the pieces aside. If I could plan my next move just right, I could end it now while I still had energy left.

As he watched, Hundsen was talking, slandering me for my supporters to hear. "Have you met your match? I'm disappointed. Your father taught you better than this, Jake Evans." He paused for dramatic effect. "Or should I say, Emerson Evans?"

I hadn't been called by that name in years. Hearing it now—knowing that he knew it—put me into a place of shock.

Just in time for Sterling's jagged dagger to connect with my ribs.

I couldn't help it when I doubled over out of instinct, Hundsen chuckling in the background. "Ah, yes. I'd forgotten you hated your real name. Bad memories surrounding your dear mother, perhaps?"

I'd skin him alive for that. Right after I dealt with Sterling.

Gritting my teeth, I went for the burly man's legs once again. My foot connected with the back of his knee, but he placed his weight evenly on the ground and stood strong. That gave him the opportunity to swipe across my skin with his knife again.

I stepped away, trying to figure out my next move, when he barreled forward again. His stamina certainly outweighed mine, as I'd fought a dozen others before him. And when he swiped downward with the knife, he stabbed deeper.

The next thing I knew, he was on top of me, his knife thrown aside as he launched blow after blow onto my aching body. I held my arms up, protecting my head. But that left my abdomen vulnerable to Sterling as he continued to beat me.

Ribs crunched, threatening to break under the man's great weight. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been in this much pain—not since the days I fought my way up the Club's ranks. There were times I returned to the hideout half-dead. I had no doubt this would be another one of those times.

Hundsen's voice seemed far away when he said, "I'll admit, I expected more from you, Emerson." Every time he said that name, it was a mockery. And still, it riled me. "From afar, you're so full of tricks and schemes. But when faced with a real fight, you show your true self. Weak. Pathetic."

Weak. The word was already repeating inside my mind as my body was beaten. I wasn't weak for anything.

And my traitorous mind went to the moment the assassin had smiled at me when I'd come to break her out of the ONNT cell—the first real smile she'd worn since she returned from Orion's control. And in that moment, I would have done anything for her to do it again.

Delphinium. She'd broken into this place and told me exactly where she'd looked down into the room—high up in the shadows, on a third-story banister in the next room over. From where I was laying on my back in the corner of the ring, I could just barely look through the threshold into the next room and see the place she'd been.

In that exact place, there was a slight movement. I gritted my teeth. That was unexpected.

I had to move. A few more punches and my ribs would break completely.

Sterling was easily keeping me on the ground, preventing my every move to save myself. For the first time, I realized this may very well be my death.

But I knew who I was. I wasn't the kind of man who died. Not like this, anyway.

Using all my power to wrench my leg from where Sterling pinned it to the floor, I brought it up to slam into his groin. That certainly made him stop throwing punches. When he loosened his grip on me, I shifted my weight and flipped him on his back. Driving my fists into his grisly face satisfied my bloodlust, but I wasn't done.

Leaning over, I grabbed the knife he'd dropped and held it over his bloody face, already beaten to a pulp. Just before I could, his body went rigid and then began to shake uncontrollably. Electricity was flowing through his body.

I stabbed the knife downward and stood, being sure to get out of sight of that banister. Giving Hundsen a cold leer, I asked, "You didn't honestly believe I didn't feel Sterling put that thing on me when he checked me for weapons, did you?" I looked at the corpse. "It was too easy to put it on his body, especially when he got close enough to beat me. I suggest you get better fighters—ones that don't conduct your smuggling business for you. And to stop trying to kill me like a desperate coward." He withdrew his hand from his suit pocket and I knew the button to activate the electrical weapon was in there.

"Shoot his legs," Hundsen commanded the Club a bit too calmly. He was feeling the effects of my outwitting him. I hoped it would make him reckless.

I raised a hand. "Not yet. I've rigged this entire place to blow. You shoot me and I'll give the signal." It was a lie, of course. But the Club—never knowing what to expect from me—looked nervously through the high-up windows which anyone could be gazing through, awaiting my signal.

Hundsen wasn't moved. "You must think me to be a fool if you expected me to fall for that. After all, you came here for the Club. You wouldn't kill them."

"I came here to destroy you. The Club is just an added bonus. But I'm willing to kill us all if it means you'll be dragged to hell with the rest of us." I gave no sign of the pain threatening to make me lose consciousness. "I'm not afraid to die. Are you?"

"You won't do it. You want the Club too badly." But he didn't sound as sure as before. And no one fired their guns at me.

"I'd be happy to take the Club from you. I slaughtered my way to the top to rule these people. I murdered my father, Orozco, Claudia Smith, all the men you challenged me with. You are a fool if you think I won't murder you next."

He turned to the men who hadn't deigned to fight and spread his arms in declaration. "You all heard him. He slaughtered his way to rule you—the cocky bastard believes it's his right to be above you. What says he won't slaughter you all the second you step out of line?"

"Look at me," I snarled, gesturing myself. "I fought for you." Holding my split knuckles high for them all to see, I added, "I bled for you. And what does your leader do but run his mouth and give orders from the sidelines?"

I took a step back, closer to the threshold of the dark room with the balcony—but not close enough to be spotted from where Delphinium had been the other night. "You were all under my rule. You remember how prosperous the Club was under my leadership: a steady income of cash, successful jobs, and more territory than we'd ever had before. No one dared touch us." Turning, I fixed my stare on Hundsen. "Until your leader forced you all against me and put his greedy hands all over the success I brought us. A real Club leader would never hurt one of his own. A real Club leader wouldn't sell out for more money from a job given by Imperium.

"You all remember our old place—large enough for all of us and perfectly hidden. Well, I bought another place that's even better—more centrally-located in our territory and hidden from the eyes of authorities and our enemies." Though my mouth felt like it was in danger of being torn apart, my lip pulled up in mock-amusement, especially when I remembered how I'd gotten my crew-mates to clean the place. "I suppose I should be thanking you, Hundsen, for supporting me with the money to buy it. Your dead wife's ransom money, to be more exact."

I was well aware mentioning his wife would hit a wound that hadn't healed and wasn't disappointed. "You dare come in here and—"

"You sully her memory by being a pompous coward." Very aware of the corner of the threshold at my back, I challenged him, "Come in here and fight me like a man—or are you worried you'll stain your suit?"

That did it. He entered the ring of silent Club members, hands in fists and face red with rage. At last, the final part of my plan was in action.

I forced myself to stay still and let him come to me. And thankfully, I'd made him angry enough to do just that. One fist, then another, was driven into my face and I let it happen. He then grabbed ahold of my shoulders and tried to force me through the threshold of the darkened room. I heard the click of a trigger from high up on the balcony. My back was exposed.

So I hooked my leg around Hundsen's and threw him into the path of the incoming bullet.

Stepping back out of range exactly as it hit him, I sneered at him with a mouth full of bloody teeth. "Think again before you rig a fight and get one of your lackeys to take a shot at me." My chest and abdomen felt like they'd been impaled with shards of glass, but still, I stamped downward with my heel, snapping the crime lord's knee.

His scream was music to my ears.

"Letting you live will be a short-lived mercy," I said to his figure curled on the ground in pain. "Use your remaining time wisely."

I walked to the other edge of the circle, before the barricade. No one stopped me.

Yes, I'd let him live for now. If I immediately took power, their loyalty to me could still be questioned. I'd give them time for my message to sink in. I still needed the entire Club to be on my side and once Hundsen got paranoid with their wavering loyalty, he'd try to whip them all back into line. However, that would only drive them farther to my side.

I looked back once at the wounded Club leader. "The next time I see you, I'm ripping out your other eye."

With that final warning, I blasted the table in half with a bolt of ice and strode out.