Queen Her (King Me Duet 2)

Natalie’s father arched a brow. “Royce King has two sons. Jeremy and Connor.”

“True. He also has a bastard son. You know a little something about that, don’t you?” Nicolas was his father’s mistress’s child.

I’d caught him off guard with that knowledge, but he covered it well. “Can you prove it?” Nicolas asked. I nodded. “I’m not agreeing to this yet. I’ll give you two days and then I want a face to face with Royce King. I’m not taking your word for it.”

“Wait,” David pleaded. “Saving my company wasn’t my only reason for marrying Natalie.” We all faced him. "He’s going to help me find my sister. She disappeared. The last thing our private detective could find was that she may have been unknowingly communicating with known human traffickers. He’s the only one who can help me.”

“You have a sister?” Natalie asked.

“Half-sister. But that doesn’t make her less important to me.”

She nodded.

“He’ll still help you with that. I promise.” I was making a lot of promises I had no way of keeping on my own. But whatever it took.

Nicolas didn’t agree. He pointed at me. “Two days.” Then, he pointed at his daughter. “Come. Now. Don’t make this ugly.” She looked at me, pleading for me to let her walk away. I didn’t have much of a choice as guns were pointed at the lot of us.

“Go,” I said.

She closed her eyes a second before taking her father’s offered hand. Then, Nicolas instructed the third guy who’d cold-cocked me. “Take care of this, Shawn,” he said before exiting the house. All his security following.

“What does that mean?” David yelled but Nicolas didn’t stop to explain.

When we were all alone, Shawn came forward. “He wants me to ensure your cooperation.”

“Cooperation,” David said and barked out a hateful laugh. “What the hell is happening?”

“I’m trusting you,” Shawn said to me before consoling David. “Trust me. I can help you find your sister. Just let me handle this.” Then to me he said, “You can trust me. I left your wallet and phone in place in Riverdale. If you need to know more, ask Connor’s wife about Matt.”

Then, he was walking out the front door. Matt. Some where I’d heard that name before. Was it Lizzy’s brother’s name? Who was he to Shawn?

When it was just David and me, he yelled, “What the fuck? Who the fuck are you really?”

“I am who I said I am. King isn’t my legal last name, but he is my father. I’m sorry I deceived you, but I had to see her. It was the only way. But know that I always had your back.”

He shook his head while hysterically chuckling. “Really? The sculpture falling, you cutting your hand, the helicopter stunt. That was all so I couldn’t get close to her?”

I shrugged. “You may like her, and I can’t blame you. She’s beautiful and kind. But she’s mine. I can’t let you have her.”

“I should fire you,” he said, and he was right.

“I’ll do you one better. I’ll call the boss and get you a replacement team.”

My phone had been buzzing in my pocket and I finally took a look at the screen. Apparently, Grant had relayed my message or what he’d heard, and Griffin was already in route with a team. All I had to do was wait. David had left me standing alone in the foyer and my mind went back to Shawn.

Connor had told me during the planning phase of this operation that Lizzy’s brother was in Chicago working under cover. Could Shawn be Matt? He wasn’t blond like his twin sister. That didn’t mean anything. They hadn’t shown me a picture. But even if he was, he could have dyed it for the op.

If it was Matt, did that mean the cops were onto Nicolas? Did that put Natalie in more danger? But this Shawn seemed smart. He would know that she wasn’t a willing participant in anything her father did. I had to trust he’d keep her safe or I wouldn’t be able to leave Chicago to convince Royce to talk to Nicolas. I had no idea how I was going to pull that off.

Sixteen

Natalie

Chaos invaded my life, and it was more out of control than ever. Surreal didn’t even cover it as I was hustled into the limo. My father on my heels.

The door had barely shut before I laid into him. “You bastard, and I mean that quite literally. How could you?” He only rolled his eyes. “You know what it’s like to be the product of an extramarital affair, yet you treated me like dirt?”

“I treated you better than I’d ever been.” Disgusted, I turned my face away. “I loved your mother,” he added, sounding wistful.

“Save me the bullshit,” I spat.

He didn’t seem to hear me, or he chose not to. “Remarkably, she had no idea who I was. I was free to be me in a way I never had. She showed me love unconditionally.”