Tom Lacy’s weathered face flushed a deep, painful red.
By seniority, as an elder of the Lacy family, he should never—absolutely never—kneel to a junior.
But as the patriarch of the entire family, if he refused to kneel now, and if Joseph Bailey truly decided to settle accounts with them afterward, the Lacy family would be finished beyond saving.
That realization pressed down on him like a crushing weight, leaving him trapped between humiliation and survival, torn apart by a conflict that gnawed at his pride.
What pained him even more was something he could barely admit to himself—
Just who was Matthew Powell?
First, Mr. Rhys helped him.
Then, Brendon Brooks stepped in on Matthew’s behalf.
And now even Joseph Bailey—a man whose name alone could shake half the underworld—was kneeling
