The Rook

  Gentlemen Rogues

  Book 4

  Nana Malone

  Contents

  FREE READ

  Prologue

  Nissa

  Chapter 1

  Westin

  Chapter 2

  Nissa

  Chapter 3

  Nissa

  Chapter 4

  Westin

  Chapter 5

  Nissa

  Chapter 6

  Westin

  Chapter 7

  Westin

  Chapter 8

  Nissa

  Chapter 9

  Nissa

  Chapter 10

  Nissa

  Chapter 11

  Westin

  Chapter 12

  Nissa

  Chapter 13

  Nissa

  Chapter 14

  Nissa

  Chapter 15

  Nissa

  Chapter 16

  Westin

  Chapter 17

  Nissa

  Chapter 18

  Nissa

  Chapter 19

  Nissa

  Chapter 20

  Nissa

  Chapter 21

  Westin

  Chapter 22

  Westin

  Chapter 23

  Nissa

  Chapter 24

  Westin

  Chapter 25

  Nissa

  Chapter 26

  Nissa

  Chapter 27

  Westin

  Chapter 28

  Nissa

  Chapter 29

  Westin

  Chapter 30

  Westin

  Chapter 31

  Westin

  Chapter 32

  Westin

  Chapter 33

  Westin

  Chapter 34

  Nissa

  Chapter 35

  Nissa

  Chapter 36

  Westin

  Chapter 37

  Nissa

  Chapter 38

  Westin

  Chapter 39

  Nissa

  Chapter 40

  Nissa

  Chapter 41

  Westin

  Epilogue

  Tabitha

  Also from Nana Malone

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  Prologue

  Nissa

  Ten Years Ago…

  I thrashed as I grabbed for my sister. "Lenora. Lenora, I don't want to go."

  Even though she was stronger than me, my sister’s hands were too slick to hold on to.

  Miss Theresa and Miss Mary tried to pull us apart, but Miss Mary earned an elbow in the gut for her efforts. Miss Theresa kept trying, but I was wiggly and small. I didn't want to go with the man, but Miss Theresa said there was paperwork that proved he was my father.

  I didn't know what it meant. All I knew was that they expected me to leave Lenora behind. My sister.

  The only person on earth I had left. I wasn't going to do it.

  Miss Theresa had always been nice. She would sneak me extra cookies for dessert sometimes. But she was not as nice to Lenora. She always said Lenora was difficult, and I was the easy one. I hated being called the easy one.

  I didn't care what they said, I was not leaving her. Not today. Not ever.

  My head thrashed against Miss Theresa's hold, and my braids flew around my face. "Let me go. I want my sister."

  Miss Theresa crooned in my ear. "Hush now, Nissa. Mr. Montgomery is waiting."

  "He has to take us both. We're sisters. He can't split us up. You said we wouldn't be split up."

  Finally, Miss Theresa realized that trying to pull me back and wrapping her arms around me was just a recipe for disaster. So she secured my arms against my side, and knelt in front of me, blocking out Lenora, who was pounding her back with her fists. But then Miss Mary had Lenora again, and this time, she had her in a bear hug so my sister couldn't break free. "Listen to me, Nissa. I'm so sorry. He said that he'll arrange for you to still see Lenora, okay? But he's got the blood and paternity tests. There's nothing I can do."

  I shook my head. "I will run away. Every single day, I will run away."

  A deep voice rang from the hallway. "Well, you can try. But you're my daughter, Nissa. I'll find you and bring you back home because I want to keep you safe. I didn't know about you before, but now that I do, I can't leave you here."

  A chill ran up my spine, and I glowered at him, sending him a mutinous look. In Miss Mary's arms, Lenora howled and screeched, bucked and fought. And instead of lunging at Miss Theresa, she lunged at the man, kicking and wailing. He held her off easily and then knelt, keeping a firm hold on her. "I'm so sorry. I wouldn't split you up, but she's my daughter. I need her with me."

  I was still glowering at him. "You let my sister go. I hate you."

  His expression was soft when he looked at me with icy blue eyes. There was no warmth in them. But his voice was low, and at least it was kind. "I'm sorry this hurts you. I'm sorry your mother didn't explain. And I'm sorry I have to split you up. But get your things, Nissa. You're coming home with me."

  When he released Lenora, I could see the defeat in the slump of her shoulders, and my suddenly larger-than-life sister broke. "Lenora, no. Don't cry, Lenora."

  She lifted her gaze to me, her eyes filled with tears. "You have to go with him, Nissa."

  I shook my head. "I’ll run away every single day."

  And then my sister crawled over to me. Miss Theresa moved aside, giving her room to talk to me. Lenora sniffled, her hands still slick with sweat, tears tracking down her brown face over her cheeks. "I love you. Don't run away, okay? He said that he will let us see each other. He's your dad."

  "No, our dad died with mum."

  She squared her shoulders. "You heard him. My dad isn't your dad. You have to go."

  I shook my head. "I'm not leaving you."

  "You have to. I love you. I'll see you soon, okay?"

  Julian Montgomery took my hand firmly and tugged me behind him. And all I could do was turn back and watch my sister, her image getting smaller and smaller until the door was finally closed.

  1

  Westin

  Present Day…

  "I need you to go undercover."

  That was the last thing I expected my Ops Commander, Gabe Webb to say when he summoned me into his office. I was a junior agent. Still too green for a solo undercover mission. "Something tells me there's a reason I'm here all by my lonesome."

  He nodded. "We have intel that number one on our most-wanted list, Antonio Igno, is having a meeting with someone you know."

  Before he said the words, I could feel it in my bones. I knew who it was.

  The man who had stripped me of everything. My life, my inheritance, my name… my love.

  I started shaking my head before he could even finish. "No, I'm not doing it. I'm not going back there. You and I had a deal. You said I never had to go back."

  "I know. And if it wasn't Igno, I wouldn't ask you to. But rumor is they had a meeting at the Winston Gala the other night. Our sources tell us that Montgomery took something from Igno. A ledger and the cipher that goes with it."

  I blinked rapidly. "Wait, Igno's ledger? That thing is legendary. Supposedly, there's a physical copy and a digital copy. That digital copy is all over the dark web with hackers trying to access it. No one knows where the cipher is. No one’s ever seen it. That ledger is more secure than the NSA."

  Not that the NSA was that secure because I had hacked it once. Only for a few seconds, and I had to get out before they caught me. But I had done it.

  "That's the one. He has a physical version of it and a cipher that only comes out for his meetings. The cipher, it seems, has gone missing. We think Julian Montgomery stole it from him."

  I shook my head again. "There's no way. Montgomery is greedy and ambitious, but he's not a fool. He knows Igno would kill him."

  "In which case, we're down one cockroach. But the point is, we want the cipher, and we think you can get it."

  I swallowed hard and squared my shoulders. "You think I can get it, or Oversight thinks I can get it?"

  The Rogues Division was a secret if I tell you, I'll have to kill you type of organization that was an arm of the British government. King, Queen, and country and all that. We went after the worst of the worst. The ones that the government couldn't touch and keep their hands clean. We still had a code; we just had less red tape.

  Gabe Webb was the Rogues ops command. He reported to Oversight. Oversight was basically the pencil pushers who made the big game decisions, the master chess players. The problem was each of them had their own agenda. Agendas we weren't privy to. Hell, even Gabe wasn't privy to them. And now he was about to send me back to dance with the devil, so I had to know if it was his call or theirs.

  "I know I gave you my word. If there was any other way to do this, I would."

  I listened to what he wasn't saying. This hadn't been his choice. Oversight had commanded him, and regardless of what Gabe said or did, or what I said or did, I was getting sent back. Julian Montgomery was technically my godfather. He'd been best mates with my dad, and when my parents died, he'd taken me in. I’d thought I at least had someone who loved me left in the world.

  That was my mistake. Julian was harsh and exacting. He made me live with his housekeeper on
the edge of the property. At best, I was a beloved servant of sorts. It was all very Great Expectations. But Mrs. Pembry was delightful. She and her husband looked after me until he died when I was sixteen, and then I was all she had left. She treated me like her son. And in so many ways, I finally had that love that I'd been missing. Love that Julian would not have been able to give me simply because he was a narcissist and uncapable of it.

  When I turned eighteen, instead of going off to uni, Julien forced me into his business. And for a kid with no prospects, nowhere to go, and no access to his trust fund, I had no other choice. The choices I made when I was with him were ones I couldn't take back. The things I had been asked to do still haunted me to this day.

  Once I broke free, I’d been hell bent and determined to live the life I should have. Cambridge, a real life, all of it. So I’d created Westin Rourke. And that was where the Rogues found me.

  "How do you expect me to pull this off?"

  "Obviously, he's been looking for you since you disappeared. You know that."

  "I do know that. And I told you I wasn't ever going back."

  "I know. But if Igno's involved, that means Montgomery's daughter is also in danger."

  That was when my stomach went into freefall. Nissa Montgomery had been the only bright spot in my childhood. “There’s no way Montgomery would allow her to be hurt.”

  “From what you’ve told me about Montgomery, he would risk her for his own ambition without a second thought.”

  I clenched my jaw. “Fuck.”

  “I need your yes.”

  “And if I say no?”

  He shrugged. “I’ll send you back involuntarily.”

  “So one way or another, I’m going in?”

  Gabe sighed. “It’s better if it’s your choice. And we both know that if Nissa Montgomery is in trouble, you’re going to go get her.”

  I hated that he knew me so well, but he had almost psychic powers. Nissa Montgomery was essentially the only reason I would return to hell.

  Unfortunately, I was certain that after the way I’d left she hated me.

  Westin

  A few weeks later, the biting chill of the wind sliced through my tactical gear. Everything would change in less than twenty minutes.

  The only visual the sliver of moonlight offered was my puff of breath in the night air.

  Sweat beating on my forehead, heart hammering against my ribs, I knew I had the training to survive this. But knowing you knew how to survive and believing in your actual survival were two different things. I forced a deep breath and tried to find my focus.

  In less than twenty minutes, life as I knew it would be over.

  I was going back into the fray, to the place I promised myself I would never return.

  Well, promises were made to be broken.

  Not this kind of promise.

  I wasn't sure which was worse, that I was going in for an indeterminate amount of time, that I was going at all, or the way I was going to have to do it.

  My team was going to worry.

  Stop talking as if you're not coming back. You're coming back.

  The plan was simple. Or at least it had seemed simple when Gabe sat me down and told me what was going to happen.

  It was like a scene from that movie, Taken. ‘You're going to be taken.’ As if that was some shit I would take lying down.

  But you have to take it lying down. The mission is to get in and not kill Julian Montgomery on sight.

  Julian Montgomery, my godfather and all-around psychopath, was supposedly in league with the number-one arsehole on our Rogues most-wanted list.

  Honestly, the news didn't surprise me at all. The only thing that surprised me was that he hadn't been in league with Antonio Igno before. Igno was a drug runner, arms dealer, human trafficker, and terrorist, and the Rogues had been trying to take him off the board for nearly a decade.

  During the past year, we’d come close several times. But each time he just squeaked out of our grasp.

  But not this time. This time you're going to get him.

  Four years ago, I'd escaped out of my godfather's grasp. It hadn't been easy, and I’d had to leave everything I cared about behind. But I'd done it. Made a clean break. And now I was going back.

  Gabe had leaked information about my location. We knew Julian was looking for me, even though I'd made it look like I'd fallen off the face of the earth. And if you asked the right people, they would have told you I was dead. But the old man knew what kind of skills I had. He was stubborn and didn't like to lose, so he’d kept looking.

  But his obsession was going to come back and bite him in the arse. Over the course of the last month, we'd been building a profile that made it look as though I’d fallen in with criminals. Since the Rogues division was so clandestine, only the highest levels of government knew how we operated. Since some of our activities couldn't be broadcasted, we often had to mask them as something else.

  During the last few missions I'd been sent out on, we made it appear as if our fake criminal syndicate, the Tique Collective, had stolen weapons. We'd even gone so far as to leak a partial of my face. We figured sooner or later one of his little spies was going to find me.

  Once I was in, I was to get as close to Montgomery as I could. Find out what his business with Igno was. Once we had them both in the same location, we’d snatch them both up.

  It all seemed so simple, except the one snag I hadn't told Gabe about. But with any luck, I wouldn't have to involve her. With any luck, I wouldn't even see her again.

  Tonight's actual mission was simple. Retrieve Niall Marks and then follow the intel to the Keely Cartel. Then my teammates would apply pressure on Marks and infiltrate the cartel. Nothing we hadn't done dozens of times.

  Except this time there was going to be a snag in the plan. I was going to go missing midway through.

  I just hoped none of my teammates got in the way. Our team consisted of myself, Lachlan King, code name: The King; Jasper Saint, code name: The Saint; Kaya Reynolds, code name: The Dove; and Saffron Abbott, code name: The Heir.

  Kaya, our latest recruit, and Antonio Igno’s illegitimate daughter, was on comms. She was in less danger there. King and Saint would be on the other side of the building, too late to actually get involved and do anything. But Saff would absolutely try to engage with whoever came for me. She had trained all of us and was one of the best hand-to-hand combat specialists I'd seen since being in Rogues. She also had a hell of a way with weapons, but when Saff came for you, she preferred to use her bare hands. And in this case, I worried it would get her killed.

  Gabe had thought it best that none of the team know what was going to go down so it felt really authentic. After all, when the mission was reviewed by Oversight, it needed to look on the up-and-up.

  I didn’t know all the details of Oversight. I just knew that Rogues, and Gabe specifically, were not autonomous. When things went wrong, we answered to somebody.

  And this time, Gabe wanted a win before Oversight interfered. The last time they had tried to assert themselves, one of our operatives had almost died. I still shuddered when I thought how close Kaya had been to danger.

  Over the comms, I heard Lock's voice. "All right, Rook, go to position two. Dove, confirm comms."

  I made my move toward position two, keeping myself low, disarming my weapons as I went. Unfortunately for my team, I would not be an asset on this mission. And I'd be damned if I gave Montgomery any of our tech.

  Kaya’s voice came over the line, and I smiled. "I hear you loud and clear, King. Heir, comms check?"

  Saffron's voice was low since she was at the bar watching her target. "Roger, loud and clear."