Arranged love

“Fuck you, Dillan!” I throw over my shoulder as I go to walk out of his office door, but he yanks me back by my shirt and slams my back into the wall. Both of his hands grip the collar of my shirt, and his blue eyes are glaring into mine. He’s pissed. I’ve always known what buttons to push when it comes to my brother. I like the fight, and as much as he hates to admit it, he does too. This is one of his vices. We’re the same-he and I-I just don’t choose to hide it.

“Say that to my face,” he growls as his nostrils flare.

I lick my lips, lift my chin, and smirk. “Fuck you …”

He yanks me from the wall and shoves me away. My feet get caught up in his rug, and I find myself once again on the floor. I roll onto my back and close my eyes. Fuck, I should have stayed in bed with Lucy.

“Get the fuck up!” he shouts. “Go home and get some sleep. We’re leaving first thing tomorrow.”

I sit up and rub the back of my neck. I need something for the pain because my head is pounding. “Where are we going?” I couldn’t care less.

“To Rio,” he growls.

I start shaking my head. “I’m not going.”

He walks over to me, standing at my feet, staring down at me still on the floor. “Yes, you are. We’re going to go identify our father’s body and then we’re going to lay him to rest.” With that, he storms out of his office, slamming his door shut.

I fall back down onto his floor and let out a long sigh. Fuck my life.

Getting up off his floor, I walk down the hall and see Titan standing in his office with his back to the glass on his cell phone. Probably talking to Emilee. Cross stands at the receptionist desk, leaning over it and looking down her white silk blouse.

When he sees me, he straightens and walks away from her while she’s midsentence. “Where are you going?” he asks me.

“Out,” I answer and punch on the elevator. If I’m going to be stuck with my brother for a few days while we take an eighteen-hour trip to Rio, I’m going to get fucked up.

It opens immediately. I enter, and he follows me.

“Wanna go to Glass? They’re serving breakfast,” he offers.

The best thing about strip clubs in a town that never sleeps means they never close. I open my mouth to say yes but pause. “What happened to you the other night?”

“I left with Mandi. Then I was gonna come back, but when I called, you were already in the car with Bones. He came and got you.”

I lean my head back against the mirrored wall. “Did you take my pill bottle?” I ask.

He shakes his head, pulling out his Zippo and flipping it open and closed.

“Then it had to have been Bones.” Fucker!

“Not surprised. They’re worried about you.”

I snort. “Not you too?”

He gives me a smile. “I said they.”

That makes me laugh. Cross and I are a lot alike. We just don’t give a shit about a lot of things. Titan and Bones are the serious ones, always crunching numbers and wanting to chase down men and demand payment in blood.

Kingdom doesn’t deal with minor shit. From the outside, we look like a legit hotel and casino with hundreds of attractions, but on the inside, we’re as dark as the fucking world can go.

We deal with drug lords, celebrities, heirs to billionaires. My brother even deals with the mafia. To him, money is money. Doesn’t matter whose hand it comes from. That’s our dad in him.

Titan is the same fucking way. That’s how he got Emilee, and the bastard just so happened to fall in love with her.

The elevator dings, and the doors slide open. I push off the mirrored wall and walk into the underground garage. This elevator is for the four Kings only.

I unlock my car, and the lights blink. “Glass?” Cross asks.

I almost forgot he was with me. I look down at my Patek Phillippe watch and nod. “Sure. I could use some food.” Maybe it will get rid of this fucking headache. “Then we can make another stop afterward.”

He nods.

“Get in. I’ll drive us.” I pull my cell out and send Luca a quick message.

Me: Change of plans, I’m coming to you.

Luca owns the other half of Glass. His silent partner is my brother. Might as well get my shit from him there instead of him having to make a trip to Kingdom where Bones can see the exchange.

Luca: Sounds good. I’m here.

APRIL

“What are you doing, Princess?”

I plop down on the barstool and look up at my best friend working the bar. She has her bleach blond hair up in her usual high ponytail and a smile on her face, but her green eyes look tired. Running two businesses will do that to you.

“Needing a drink,” I answer. It’s been a long day.

She frowns. “You mean you didn’t come just to see me?”

I chuckle. “Afraid not.”

“Sis, we both know that she only comes here to see me.” Derek walks out of the fridge behind the bar, closing the door behind him. “How are you doing, sexy?” he asks, and I don’t miss the way his dark eyes fall to my chest.This content © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.

Derek and I went on one date. It didn’t work out. But we’re both adults and were able to stay friends. Thank God because his younger sister has been my best friend since we were in grade school.

“You wish.” She smiles brightly, showing me those teeth that took three years of braces to straighten. She hated every second of it. I remember her having to cut up everything she ate. It took forever for her to eat.

“Always,” I tease.

She laughs and turns to grab a frosted mug and pours me a Corona. Knowing what I like. She places it on the bar in front of me and then leans over on her forearms. “I’m slow. Fill me in on your day.”

“It started off with me getting in a fight with Ethan this morning. It didn’t get any better after that,” I state and take a drink.

“Girl, I don’t know why you don’t just beat him into submission. We both know that you could take him.”

I snort into my beer. “True, but I’m trying to teach him that violence is not the answer.”

Now she’s the one who snorts. “Since when? You beat the crap out of him when he got into your computer and stole your research paper and used it as his own.”

“That’s different,” I argue.

“How?”

I set my beer down. “Because Mr. Walden thought I had just freely given it to him, thinking he wouldn’t remember.” I sigh.

“Anything you need me to do?” Derek asks. “Want me to talk to him about something? Is it girls?”

I shake my head. “I found a key card of some sort from Kingdom at the shop today. I think it fell out of his jacket pocket.”

“What?” she asks. “How the hell would he get in there?”

I shrug. “I’m not sure what the hell he would be doing with that.”

Derek’s dark eyes look around before he leans forward and whispers, “Kingdom is bad fucking news, April.”

I wave him off. “It’s just a casino.”

“No. I hear shit in here. Kingdom is into some bad shit.”

I’ve lived in Vegas most of my life, but I know nothing about the casinos or nightlife. I have always lived in my own world. From the moment my mother opened Roses, I worked there with her. Before school. After school. Even after I turned twenty-one, I never ventured out onto the Strip. It’s just not my scene. “Like what?” I frown.

“Yeah? Like what?” she asks him.

“I hear that the guy, Bones, is in big with the mafia. Whatever they want, he gets them. Vice versa. And they bury bodies in the desert.”

“Mafia? Really?” I laugh. “Since when do you believe in that shit?” I know they exist. But in Vegas? They’re in places like New York, Chicago, and Italy. “And what could this Bones guy get them?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know exactly. I just know that anything goes there. I guess there’s some sort of black market that the guys run.”

“Illegally?”

He rolls his dark eyes. “That’s what black market stands for.”

I’m still not sure I believe it. But even if I did, I ask, “What would Ethan have to do with that?”

He shakes his head. “You need to find out. And better hope that it’s not too late to get him out of it.”

Alexa frowns. “He’s a teenage boy. Maybe some friends of his had a party there or something.” She shrugs. “Kids do it all the time.”

“Or it’s something much worse,” Derek argues.

I sigh and tip back my beer as he goes to help a man who just walked up to the bar.

My brother better not be into some shady shit, or I will beat him so badly he won’t be able to sit down for a week. He forgets that I can knock his ass out. I’ve done it before. Many, many years ago. But a woman doesn’t forget how to fight. It’s like sex. Another thing I haven’t done in a while. When your body is put in that situation, it just knows what to do. Instincts take over. And cravings need to be satiated.

“What are you going to do?” Alexa asks me.

I shrug. “Not sure just yet.”

“Well …” She slaps the bar top. “How about we go out tomorrow night?”

“How is that going to help me?” I arch a brow.

“It won’t, but you need to have some fun and let loose. When was the last time you went out and had some fun?”

I sigh. “I don’t know.”

“Exactly. I have this girlfriend who’s having a party. I actually have a night off. It’ll be fun.”

“Girlfriend, huh? Have something to tell me?”

She laughs. “Trust me, April, if I was trading teams, you’d be the first one to know.” She winks at me, and I throw my head back laughing.