EMILEE
AS I TOSS and turn in bed, my mind is in a hundred different places right now. Plus, my blood is still boiling from Titan and what he said to me earlier today.
It hurt.
I don’t know why I thought I was special. I guess because of our conversation we had last week in The Palace. He had said that he had feelings for me once, but that doesn’t mean he has them now. Too much time has passed.
The Kings have always had girls falling at their feet. But even though me and Bones weren’t exclusive, I knew for a fact that he only slept with me. He didn’t have time for anyone else. Believe me, he kept me busy. But we never had to say it. And as much as we used each other, he never made me feel that way.
Titan was always fucking random women in high school and college, and apparently, he hasn’t changed a fucking bit. The fact that I did him and Bones at the same time should have been my first hint.
I didn’t expect him to be faithful, but I did expect honesty. He made me feel worse than any client could, but maybe that’s my fault due to the expectations I had. I thought things were going to be different. I allowed myself to fall for him. And why? Because I needed someone to save me? Fuck him. I never asked him for a dime. He hasn’t bought me expensive things or handed me money. He gave me a job. That I auditioned for. On my knees. That wasn’t even a job requirement.
Getting out of bed, I pick up the robe that hangs over the back of my leather chair in the sitting area. I tie off the sash and exit my room. Tiptoeing down the stairs, I stop on the second floor and take a peek in my mom’s room. She’s sound asleep like usual. The chemo takes so much out of her.
My fight with Titan allowed me to spend extra time with her today. I’ve been so wrapped up in him and spend too much time up at Kingdom. I’m needed here. I’m wanted here. Even if my relationship with my mother isn’t perfect, at least I know she loves me. Titan was just that itch I wanted to scratch. I wish it would have been a letdown.
I go downstairs and enter the kitchen to grab a drink but hear a noise coming from down the hall. It sounded like glass breaking. “Hello?” I call out.
My mother has two nurses that change shift. One is always here and stays upstairs with her. Maybe Liv couldn’t sleep tonight either. “Liv?”
No answer.
I make my way down the hall and see my father’s office door ajar. “Hello?” I ask again, pushing it all the way open. “What the hell?” I say when I get a look inside.
His desk drawers are open. One lies on the floor. Papers scatter the room. A picture has been removed from the wall and shattered on the Persian rug, to reveal a safe that I didn’t know was there. It’s still closed.
I place my hand in the pocket of my robe. “Shit.” I left my cell upstairs on the bed.
“Open it.” I feel something shoved into the back of my head.
My heart begins to pound, and I throw my hands up in the air. I don’t need to see it to know that it’s a gun. “I … uh …”
“Open it!” a man shouts, shoving me forward with his hand on my back.
I trip over the rug and feel glass puncture my bare feet. “I don’t know it.” My voice shakes.
“Bullshit!” he says through gritted teeth. “Fucking open the safe or I will put a bullet in your head.”
I’m trying to think of what my father would use for a combination. My mother’s birthday. Maybe their wedding anniversary. But I quickly squash that idea. It turns out, they didn’t like each other as much as they made me believe. “I don’t know …”
He grabs a hold of my hair, and I cry out. He shoves my face into the wall beside the safe but holds me up with his tight grip.
“Please?” I beg as tears run down my face. I try to catch my breath and can taste the blood in my mouth.
“Last time,” he growls in my ear. I feel his spit hit my neck, and I want to vomit. “Fucking open this safe or I will splatter your brains all over it for Daddy to find.”
I blink. My heart stops, and my body goes rigid at his words. This guy thinks he’s alive. “He’s … dead,” I manage to get out.
“Fucking open it!” He shakes my head, my scalp burning from how tightly he holds my hair.
I grit my teeth, place my hands on the wall, and try to get out of his hold. “He’s fucking dead!” I shout, thrusting my elbow back and making contact with his ribs.
He lets out a grunt and slams my head into the safe. Once. Twice. Then he shoves me to the side. My body hits my father’s desk before falling to the floor. I try to look up at the man in the room, but my busted face can’t see anything. I feel his shoe to my ribs, though. I curl up into a ball for protection when he does it again. This time, it was my back.
“I’ll get that money,” he growls, out of breath. “I’ll be back, and you better have the code.”
He runs out of the room.
I grab the side of the desk and manage to get to my feet as I hear the front door open and slam close. On shaky legs, I make my way up the stairs.
“Emilee.” Liv gasps as she exits my mother’s room at the end of the hall on the second floor. “What the hell happened to you? Are you okay?”
I nod and wrap my arms around my stomach. “Fine,” I hiss. “Check on my mother.”
“She’s okay. I was in there with her.”
I make my way to the third floor and enter my room and grab my phone. I dial the only person who I can think of to help me right now.
TITAN
I bring my car to a stop. Bones and I exit and run up the stairs and into the York residence. “Where is she?” I ask the nurse who had opened the door for us.
“Office.”
I take off running with Bones on my ass. We enter the room to find Luca pacing back and forth on his phone. Nite stands in the corner, and Haven sits on the couch next to a beat-up Emilee.
I make my way over to her and kneel. “Emilee?”
She looks up at me the best she can, which isn’t much, considering her right eye is swollen, and her left eye has a cut across it.
She sighs. “Why are you here? Did Luca call you?”
“I did,” Haven answers.
“I told you not to,” she snaps, then winces.
“Will you give us a second?” I ask.
Haven nods and stands. “I’ll be right outside the door.” Bones and Luca follow her. Nite leaves as well and closes the door behind him.
“I’m fine,” she says the moment we’re alone.
“You’re not.” I run a hand through my hair. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I didn’t want you here,” she states and gets to her feet. She starts to fall over, and I reach out to steady her. “I’m—”
“Do not say fine,” I interrupt through gritted teeth.
She lets out a shaky breath, and I feel her body soften in my arms. I pull her to me, wrapping my arms around her shoulders, careful not to hurt her.
When Haven called me, she had said that Em had called Luca and woke them up in tears. All she knew was that there had been a break-in, and Emilee had been hurt. I didn’t know what state I’d find her in.
She buries her head into my chest, and I feel her body shake before I hear her crying.
“You’re okay now.” I rub her back. “I’m here.”
“He wanted money,” she cries. “The safe. I didn’t know it was there …” She sniffs. “I tried to tell him …”
“Shh.” I rub her back. We can discuss this later. Right now, she needs a warm bed and pain pills. Crying isn’t going to help the situation.
The door opens, and I look over to see Bones, Luca, and Nite enter. “I made a few phone calls and was informed that Nick York owes money,” Luca announces.
“No.” She pulls away from me. “That can’t be true.”
He places his phone in the pocket of his slacks. “I’m sorry, Emilee. He owes a million dollars.”
I exchange a look with Bones. That’s how much we loaned him, but he paid us back.
“No.” She wraps her arms around herself. “The source has to be wrong.”
“One million?” I question, and he nods. I walk over to him and lower my voice. “Are we sure this isn’t George?”
“No. It’s Nick,” he confirms.
Bones crosses his arms over his chest and widens his stance. His eyes look over at Emilee for a brief second before coming back to us. “What if George was pretending to be Nick?” he offers.
Luca thinks about that for a second. “It’s possible, but it’s also easy to prove. All we need to do is get a description. But I’m just not sure how they can mix up the two. York and Wilton are very well-known in Vegas.”
I nod. “Make a call and set us up a meeting for later on today.” It’s nearly five a.m. The sun will be rising soon. I need to move her and her mother. Then I’ll worry about whose ass I’m going to kill for touching her.
“In the meantime, Nite can stay here—”
“No,” I interrupt Luca. “The women aren’t staying here. They’re coming home with me.”
“Do you need extra security?”
I go to say no, but Bones speaks. “We have it handled.”
Luca nods. “I’ll send you a text with an address and time once I have it.”
“Thanks, man.” I shake his hand.
“Don’t mention it.”
