Titan (Dark Kings 1)

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.