Arranged love

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.”

EMILEE

FOR THREE DAYS, I lived in a world of pain and fog. It came and went. I would wake up in agony, Titan would give me a pill, and then it’d fade away and so would my consciousness.

Today, I don’t feel so bad. I can actually open my eyes, and my ribs don’t hurt as much as before. Sitting up in the bed, I look down and see I still wear the bandage. I vaguely remember the doctor who takes care of the queens in this room, wrapping it up for me.

The door opens, and a woman enters. “GiGi.” I give her a weak smile, excited to see a familiar face.

“Hello, dear.” She comes to my side of the king-size bed and places a tray on the nightstand. “I’m here to give you your daily meds and some food.”

“Oh, I don’t think I need them anymore.”

“Titan’s orders.”

I let out a long breath. “Where is he?” I know he brought me and my mother to his house. I didn’t even try to argue. I may not believe that my father owes money, but I no longer felt safe at that house. If I’m being honest with myself, I haven’t felt safe there ever since I found out that George was with my mother. It’s one of the reasons I avoided going home at night and stayed at Kingdom so often.

“He’s in his study with the Kings.” She picks up two pills and holds them in front of my face.

I take them from her along with the glass of water. I swallow, and she places the water back on the nightstand. “Eat your toast and get some rest. I’ll be back in a couple of hours to check on you.”

The moment she closes the door, I spit the pills out into my hand. Getting up, I make my way to the master bathroom and use the restroom. Then I flush the evidence.

I look at myself in the large mirror. I do look much better. The bruises have turned a greenish color, but I can open my eyes. I have a few stitches here and there but nothing too major.

I enter his walk-in closet and find a white T-shirt along with a pair of sweatpants. They swallow me up, but it’ll have to do.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Leaving the bedroom, I look over the balcony down into an open living room. I’ve never been in his house before. Crème walls, with dark brown trim that match the doors. Dark wood floors cover the hallway and staircase. It hugs the wall and takes a sharp left turn at the bottom, ending in the grand foyer. I turn left and step down into an open living room. The dining room is to the left. I see two sliding glass doors to the right that are open, showcasing the study. I can see Bones sitting in a chair from here. I make my way over to it.

“We could dig him up,” Luca says as I enter.

“Why?” Bones asks. “It’s too late for an autopsy.”

“One should have been performed,” Titan growls.

“There was no foul play,” Bones argues.

“That’s what she was told. And she just took George’s word for it.”

“I didn’t know I had any reason to be suspicious,” I add, making my presence known. “Plus, he was cremated. Even if we needed to, there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“Em, you should be resting,” Titan growls, standing from his chair.

“I think I have a right to know why I was attacked.”

“Em …”

“I’m not a child.” Someone has been fed wrong information. They were after my father when he was not the intended target.

“You’re right.” Luca nods. “You’re not. The Kings and I had a meeting two days ago. We found out that your father owes Nicholas Royce one million dollars.”

There he goes again. “No …”

“He had proof.”

“I don’t believe it.” I swallow the knot that forms in my throat.

“It was a video. We saw your dad sitting in an underground poker tournament. He was there over twenty-four hours and …” He pauses. “Well, you can connect the dots.”

My knees give out, and I fall into a chair. “They killed him for it?” I whisper. That has to be the only explanation. Why they are concerned about an autopsy and foul play. He made a mistake, owed money, and his life was payment.

“That’s the thing,” Bones starts. “Nicholas didn’t send anyone to collect payment. He gave your dad six weeks to come up with the money, and it had only been four.”

“So … who was the guy at the house?” I sniff, hanging my head. Ashamed that I continued to stand up for him when he had obviously done what he was being accused of.

“We don’t know.” Titan sighs and places his hand on my back. He begins to rub it, but I pull away. “Em ….?”

“He was looking for more than money,” I say.

“He told you that?” Bones asks.

I shake my head. “He didn’t have to. The picture on the wall covering the safe was already on the floor, but when I entered the room, the drawers to the desk were open as well. One on the floor.”

“Maybe he thought the combination was there somewhere,” Luca adds.

“Maybe,” Titan agrees. “Let’s go back and look around.”

“I want to go.” My head snaps up to look at him.

“I don’t think-”

“Let her go,” Bones interrupts Titan.

They exchange a look that is far from friendly. Something is up between them. And I’m that something.

TITAN

“She doesn’t need to go back to that house.” I close the glass doors to my study once she leaves to go change.

“I don’t see why you want to hide what a piece of shit her father obviously was from her,” Bones states.

I run a hand through my hair. “It has nothing to do with her father and more to do with the fact that the house is not safe.”

He snorts. “She’s the safest when she’s with us. And we will all be there.”

“He has a point.”

“I didn’t ask for your fucking opinion, Luca,” I snap.

He throws his hands up in surrender. “I’m just speaking from experience. If you try to hide something from them, then they will go behind your back to get what they want.” His hard eyes go soft. “And that is when things can get very bad, very fast.”