THE SUN HAS been up for a few hours. We all sit around the conference table silently. I twirl a pen in my hands as Cross flips his Zippo. Grave’s hungover ass drinks Pedialyte out of the bottle. And Bones types away on his phone when the door opens.
Nigel shows Nick York to his seat across from me. I thank him, and he exits, leaving us alone with him.
“What is this about?” he demands, straightening his tie. “I was informed I had to attend a meeting with the Kings?”
I sent Nigel out to retrieve him an hour ago. I half expected him to already be on the run.
“I remember a time when you begged to meet with us,” Bones states, referring to when we loaned him money.
He swallows but squares his shoulders. “What does this pertain to?”
I almost laugh. This fuckface thinks he has leverage here, but he doesn’t. “We know you lied to Em,” I state, and his face drains of what color it had. “You see, we placed surveillance on the outside after the break-in. It was mainly to see if George came back, but it worked in our favor nonetheless.”
“I don’t know …”
“You told Emilee that you went back to the house to get the money you had hidden in your secret stash. You lied.” The guys and I watched it this morning after I filled them in on everything that happened last night and what Em told me. And just as I expected, he had lied to her. We kept it running in case George ever decided to show his face again. Now I’m glad we did.
“I’m guessing you were hoping that she wouldn’t share that information,” Bones adds.
He dips his head and starts breathing heavily. “What do you want?”
I ignore that question and ask my own. “Worried she may realize what a piece of shit you are and disown you?”
He picks his head up and glares at me.
“She will once we tell her how you set her up,” Bones growls.
“I didn’t—”
“You did.” I Interrupt him. “And I have proof.” I state, placing two cell phones on the table.
He pulls on his collar. “What is this?” he demands.
“Evidence,” I state. “You see, you owe several people money. One of them being Jacob. And when he saw that your daughter was a Queen, he wanted to go after her to get to you.” I press play on a video on Jacob’s phone. It’s of Emilee walking into the back of Kingdom the night of their first date. Jacob was already there, parked around the corner, watching her. Recording it. Then he sent it to Nick’s old number. But he didn’t send a message. The video comes to a stop, and I sit back in my chair.
“You can’t prove that,” he growls.
“But I can.” I open the phone once more and go back to the text messages. “She can work off my debt.” My eyes meet his. “Is what you replied to his video.”
“Is that true?”
He jumps to his feet as Nigel holds the door for Emilee to enter.
“Emilee …” he starts.
“Is that true?” she demands, tears in her eyes.
“What are you …?” He spins around to glare at me. “You set this up.”
I sit back and cross my arms over my chest. “She deserves to know.” Emilee has a big heart. She wants to see the good in people. I mean, look at the type of people she has surrounded herself with. Bones, me, the rest of the Kings. She believes in second chances, and I love her for that. Without her forgiveness, I would have never had my chance with her. But her father? Enough is enough. She needs to see that he betrayed her. And it could have cost her, her life.
“You were willing to let him sleep with me because you owed him money?” she goes on, and her voice cracks.
He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.
“You set her up,” I say, filling the silence.
He turns around to face me.
“Just like you did with George. You knew what he wanted. What’d he do to her if you walked away.” I’m fishing. I don’t have confirmation yet, but I’ll get it.
He pulls his lips back. “You think you’re better than me?” He shakes his head. “She is a fucking Queen. Call girl. Escort. Whore! She fucks men for money.” He points at her.
I grind my teeth and fists my hands. “The only guy she fucked for money was your business partner because you left her with nothing,” I snap. How could he only think of himself? I went through all the documents that Yan had shown Emilee after her mother had passed. And they were legit. Except for the will he left her. That money did not exist. It was something that Nick and George had come up with to buy him time while he was pretending to be dead. He had it written where Emilee had to be thirty-five in order to inherit three million. By the time that rolled around, he’d risen from his grave and taken every cent he had and would be in another country.
“It’s not like George raped her,” he spits out, and I stand. “She willingly …”
I storm over to him, grab his shirt, and drag him over to me. I slam him face-first into the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooks Las Vegas. “You knew, didn’t you?” I growl and yank his head back. “What he would do to her. Was that part of the agreement?”
“Titan, we had an agreement,” I hear Bones say.
“You fucking knew the entire time.” I shove his face into it one last time, ignoring him. Then I push him away from me where he falls to the floor.
Blood covers the window where I slammed his face into it. “He promised … to take care of her.”
“How could you?” Emilee whispers, watching him.
“I did what I had to do,” he says, rolling onto his side and sitting up.
“At the expense of me?” She sniffs.
“They were going to kill me,” he growls, hugging his side.
“And he fucking used me!” she shouts, walking around the table. “For Mom. She needed me …”
“She was a whore too,” he spits up at her.
Bones jumps to his feet and grabs her arms, stopping her. The door to the conference room opens, and Luca enters, followed by Nite. Nick hangs his head and sighs.
“It’s a party.” Grave snorts, downing more Pedialyte.
“Thought you would want to see this.” Luca throws a stack of papers on the table.
I walk over and pick them up, skimming over them. I begin to laugh. “Boy, did you fuck yourself. Five point two million dollars.” I whistle. “That’s a lot of money to have stashed away when you owe a couple of million.” I throw the documents in front of him on the floor. “You couldn’t touch it, though, because you put it in your wife’s name. But she didn’t know about it, did she?” I quirk a brow.
He just stares at the papers while blood drips from his busted lip.
The dates show the account was opened six months ago. “You knew that she and George were sleeping together, and you needed a way to hide money. From your ex-wife and your business partner. But then you had to go into hiding when you faked your death. Meaning no contact with the world. Not even Nancy. So you had no clue that she had died. You were too busy in New York living the single life. And why would George inform you of her death? He was getting everything you ever had.”
“Stop!” He slams his fists down on the papers.
“Am I warm?” I ask
“Where did you find these?” Bones asks Luca.
“We caught a break. Titan had found an account number when going through his study after the break-in. I found that they belonged to an offshore bank account. It took me a while because I was looking for his name, not Nancy’s.”
“Is there anyone that you haven’t used?” Emilee asks softly. Pure defeat in her blue eyes. I hate that he’s hurt her so much.
He looks up at her but doesn’t answer.
She yanks her arms in Bones’s hold, and he lets her go. Her watery eyes look from his to mine. And without another word, she exits the conference room, choosing to walk away from him.
I kneel next to him. “You’ll never hurt her again, Nick.” I can’t take the chance of him harming her. Em is mine. We will start a family of our own someday, and I won’t allow this sorry son of a bitch to put my children in harm’s way. He has to go. Bones was right, he and I have an agreement on that situation. I slap Nick on the shoulder. “Be careful what you wish for.” And then walk out and after my future wife.
EMILEE
I get off the elevator and march into the Royal Suite.
“Em?” I hear the door shut behind me.
I ignore Titan and make my way to his room. My eyes catch site of his balcony, and I shove open the sliding glass door and walk out onto it. I suck in a deep breath of fresh air.
“Emilee?” Titan sighs.
I spin around to face him. When we woke up this morning, he asked me if I trusted him. After what he did for me last night, there was no way for me to say no. He then informed me that he had a meeting today, and he wanted me to attend it. I had no idea that it was going to be with my father. “What, Titan?” I ask, angrily wiping the tear from my cheek.
“I’m sorry.”
I chuckle at that. “You did nothing wrong.”
“I’m sorry you had to hear that.” He walks over to me and pushes a strand of dark hair behind my ear.
“No, you’re not,” I say.
“You’re right. I wanted you to see what he did to you. How he put himself first. You needed to know what kind of person he truly is.”
I always thought he was a saint. A man who had everything in the world. A reputable business. A loving wife. How many people had he used? How far would he have gone if Titan wouldn’t have intervened last night? “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, Em.” He cups my face. “I hate to see that look on your face. And I hate that he wasn’t the man you thought he was.”
I reach out, grip his shirt, and pull him toward me. “Titan …”
“Yeah, Em?” His eyes search mine.
“I love you.” I say the words that I’ve never told another man. I have no regrets or second thoughts. This man is the one for me. And I hold my breath, hoping that he feels the same about me.
He brings his lips to mine. “I love you too.” Then he’s kissing me.
