A phone call was enough to verify that Chay was on his way to the main mansion. Pete was going to punch Ken the next time he saw him. Clean fucking slate or not. He'd rode by that man, fought by his side, lived with him, shared birthdays with him. And all this time, he was selling Khun-Korn's secrets to the minor family.

"What do you think?" Khun-Korn asked, his face visible on one half of the large monitor in Kinn's office.

"I think he's full of shit, Papa," Kinn said, sitting behind his desk.

"Kill him," Tankhun said, from the other half of the monitor, his head wrapped in a towel, like he'd been dying his hair again. "Does he think we're foolish enough to believe that he went to the future? Ha!" Tankhun twacked a hand fan open and began to fan himself. "I'd sooner eat a booger than believe that nonsense."

"What does he stand to gain though?" Porsche asked, leaning on Kinn's desk. "He didn't have to get Chay. He didn't have to come here."

"It's all a part of his plan," Tankhun said.

"So we kill him and then what?" Porsche asked. "His father would go mental. The other clan heads will use that as an excuse-"

"The other clan heads will stay out of it if I ask them to," Khun-Korn said.

Pete stood off to the side, away from where Tankhun and Khun-Korn could see him. He didn't know what to think. None of it made sense. Seeing the future didn't make sense, but how else would Pete explain the things that Vegas knew? How else would it explain the way Vegas looked at Pete?

Goosebumps erupted on his skin as he remembered the look of wistful hope on Vegas' face when Pete walked towards him. It hadn't been a deliberate move. He'd just heard something shocking and he wanted to verify it, but stepping forward, in Vegas' direction, Vegas had looked at Pete like... like...

Pete shuddered just thinking about it.

"What do you think, Pete?" Kinn asked.

"Me?" he asked back, looking up.

"He seemed fixated on you."

"Because he's a psychopath," Tankhun offered. "He's seen that Porsche won't be bought and he's moved on to Pete."

"What's on your mind?" Kinn asked again.

"I don't know, Sir," Pete said, clasping his hands at his back to hide the shaking. "Khun-Vegas knows I copied his code. He knew we knew about Tawan. Not to mention the private things..."

"Your father hit you because he's a failure, right?"

Not verbatim, but the sentiment was close to what Pete's grandmother used to say.

"Your father hits you not because you fail, but because he's failed so much he'll never win."

How familiar had they been that Pete would even bring that up? In what world did Pete willingly offer information about his life that he never usually talked about? Vegas said he'd hurt Pete. Maybe he'd trained Pete the way he trained Ken, the way he trained Tawan. Maybe Pete was on his way to being a mole for Vegas, when Vegas died and came back to do it all over again.

"So you believe him?" Khun-Korn asked.

"Some of it makes sense, Sir."

"It's Vegas," Tankhun said. "He could be fooling us into another trap. Think about it. He knew he was about to be cornered and so he turned himself in."

Pete took a deep breath but kept quiet.

"Pete, speak your mind."

"How could he know those things about me?"

"If we're to believe he went to the future, maybe he tortured it out of you."

Pete shook his head. Nothing would ever break Pete like that. Not pain. Not a threat of death. Nothing Pete could think of. Every time Kinn sent him after Vegas, Pete did so with the acceptance that he was in for a lot of pain. Everybody knew what Vegas was capable of and what he was capable of was less than Pete could handle.

He'd been through worse. Vegas would not be the first person to beat Pete or capture Pete or attempt to break Pete. He'd been there and done that in the name of the Theerapanyakul family.

"He'd only know about what my grandmother used to say if I chose to tell him, Sir."

There was a loud crash and a bang as the ground shook beneath their feet. The monitor flickered as Tankhun stood up.

"What was that?" Khun-Korn asked as Kinn's phone buzzed.

"Papa, Phi," Kinn said. "You two should get to the safe room. I'll handle it."

As the screen went idle, Kinn answered his phone, while Porsche and Pete rushed to the panel behind Kinn's desk. Porsche kicked the base and a case of guns was revealed behind the wall.

"What's going on?" Kinn asked, while Porsche and Pete armed themselves. "Who is it? ... Really?" As he cut the call, he sighed.

"What is it?" Porsche asked as Kinn joined them to arm himself as well.

"Kun's come for his son."

Pete didn't know why that bit of information made his heart sink. Because this whole thing was fucking ridiculous. However, he couldn't help thinking of Vegas' words. This whole thing had been triggered by his father's invasion. He'd taken a chance to break into the main family and it had ended with Vegas and Khun-Kun dying.

Was this bound to happen? Regardless of Vegas' need to change the entire situation? Was Vegas going to die before Pete understood what was going on? It was about two weeks too early, but an invasion was still an invasion. The only way this was going to end was with one family bowing and/or dying while the other rose, victorious.

"He told us about the invasion that led to his and his father's deaths," Pete said to Kinn as the three of them headed to the door and Porsche opened it, peeping outside the office. "Why would Vegas warn us it was going to happen if he was working with his father and he knew his father was going to attack, Sir?"

"Maybe this was his plan, all along. Surrender, stall with some bullshit story then claim we captured him to start a war."

Kinn cocked his gun as Pete went before him, bracing himself to protect Kinn. His priority was Kinn. He had to get Kinn to safety. But he couldn't get rid of the look Vegas had given him in the prison. He looked like he believed everything he was saying and he was desperate to make sure Pete believed him, as well.

"Get to Vegas. Keep him locked up," Kinn said.

"But, Sir-"

"I've got Porsche," Kinn said, sparing Porsche a tender look. "Pete," he looked back at Pete. "Make sure Kun doesn't rescue Vegas."

Pete hesitated. He didn't want to leave Kinn. His place was to protect Kinn, at all costs.

"Go!"

Hating it, but not needing to be told a third time, Pete broke away from Kinn, running in the direction of the prison. He could focus on this, for now. Keep Vegas in prison. Keep him alive to answer more questions. Keep his father from taking him. Pete could focus on this. Because if he let anything else get in his head, Pete was afraid he was going to lose his fucking mind.