Claiming His Queen

“I highly doubt that, but a single safe house is acceptable, not four or five. You can have an apartment in the Henry Building. It has good sight lines from the fifth floor up to the tenth. There are only four entrances, and each room is equipped with exterior access. As for my girls, we want use of the Anders Center, weaponry training for the few that have asked, full information share, and six months.”

“The first one is fine. Have fun at the Center.” The Center is a boys’ club built for the men. They train there. They fuck there. They bond there. Kailler hated it and said that it smelled like a men’s locker room that hadn’t been cleaned for a year. I wouldn’t know. I haven’t stepped foot inside that space since Chu handed me his kingdom. No one wants their boss in a private space. “No on the full information share, but if you want to know something, ask and I’ll probably tell you. I have no problem passing on shit that might affect your business. Now what the fuck is this six months all about?”

“How do you know if your information affects my business? It’s best you give me all the data so that I can make the decision, and six months is how long Cora will stay with me here in Midtown.” Acting as if she didn’t just drop a bomb on my nuts, Karin Vieth pours me a cup of coffee and then adds a lump of sugar to “sweeten me up.”

“The hell you say.” I get to my feet, but before I can tell Vieth exactly where she can stick her meringue pie, the door to the sitting room flies open. The girl that greeted Cora races inside. Breathless and nearly hysterical, she screams, “Cora’s gone. She’s gone.”

“What?” Karin and I both shout.

“Sara was going to take her to Cora’s room but when I went to deliver this—” The girl raises a tray of pie and coffee that I notice that she’s carrying for the first time. It’s the same damn pie that’s on my plate, too. Maybe Vieth wasn’t trying to poison me. Sara, though, why does her name sound—my jaw hardens.

“Sara’s the one who killed Poppy.” I grab the fork and have it against Vieth’s throat in less time than it takes for her to draw a breath. I squeeze the thin woman’s windpipe tight. “Where the fuck is my wife?”

“I don’t know, you asshole,” Vieth gasps. “Let me go so I can find my daughter.”

I press the tines under her chin so sharp that the skin is starting to whiten around the pressure. One hard jab and this is going into her jaw and she’ll be drinking her meals for the rest of her fucking life. “I’ll find her. Where the hell is she?”

“I don’t know.” Vieth claws at my grip. A game of strength is not one that Vieth can win. She’ll be dead before she hits the floor. “I sent Cora to seduce you in hopes that you would fall in love with her and we could unite our organizations. Why would I take her away from you? All I want in exchange is six months—half the year. She’s my daughter, for fuck’s sake. She needs us, and we need her.”

There’s a lot of sincerity in Vieth’s eyes, but she’s a con woman who has held power for nearly twenty years.

“What will Cora say if you kill her mother? She’ll never let you touch her again,” Vieth argues.

She’s not wrong. “Fuck,” I curse and release Vieth. She drops to the floor, hacking her lungs out. I draw my gun out and point it at the tray-holding girl. “Where is my wife? I’m only asking once more. Any delays and I start killing everyone here.”

“Sara has a hideaway at Piper’s Park,” the girl blubbers. “It’s on the edge of our territory that borders Ashford. She’s been going there a lot for the last couple of months.”

“Ashford,” I repeat. I tuck the gun away. “Kailler!” I bellow. My second materializes at the door, gun in hand. “We need the car. Send someone to Piper’s Park. A Vieth orphan has Cora. They’re plotting with Ashford.”

Kailler nods and starts off at a run. I follow. Bran pulls up just as Kailler and I break through the front of Vieth’s townhome. The side door of the van zips open, and we dive inside. Bran’s accelerating before we have the door shut. “Pole will be at Piper’s Park in five minutes. Do you want him to go in?”

“Have him identify whether Cora is there. If she is, don’t go in. If she isn’t, take the whole building down.”

“Someone’s following us.”

“It’s Karin Vieth. Pay no attention to her.” Cora is mine, which means I protect her. I haven’t done a good job. I let my guard down. I thought Vieth wouldn’t allow this snake into her garden, but I was wrong. I won’t make that mistake again.