Queen Her (King Me Duet 2)

His father spoke then. “That belonged to my grandmother. An heirloom my wayward brother wasn’t interested in and it came to me.”

“Your other sons didn’t want it?” Father asked as Liam stood.

“No one in the family wanted it but me and now Liam.”

It was stunning as it reflected in the light. I lost sight of it when Liam stood and took me in his arms as tears filled my eyes. His lips crushed mine and I opened for a deeper kiss.

When we parted, I flushed because all eyes were on us. That didn’t affect Liam as he stood like an unmovable boulder with me tucked into his side.

Father rolled his eyes and switched back to business. He pressed a few buttons on his phone and then said, “In a gesture of good will, I’ve sent the bride price.” I gaped. “That ring binds our children, and the money binds us,” he said to Ted.

How had he known where to send the money? Then I remembered Liam had written a number down. It wasn’t a rounded number, like a dollar amount. Was it a bank account number? It had to have been.

Ted responded and not kindly. “I didn’t ask you to.”

“I know, but I want this arrangement to work,” father stated.

“This isn’t an arrangement. Our kids want to marry. That is all.”

Father turned monster eyes on the elder King. “I always get what I want. It’s done and I expect nothing less than what we’ve discussed. Come, Daughter.” He curled his fingers at me like I was some trained dog.

Liam held on. “Stay,” Liam said.

Father turned. “She’s not yours yet.”

“Ah, but she is.” Liam held out the hand bearing his ring. “Besides, we’ve recorded this conversation.” He circled a finger, then pointed to the ceiling and voices played through hidden speakers.

“I’m willing to pay you a generous sum of money for your son to marry my daughter.”

“Sounds like human trafficking.”

“Remember who is paying who?”

“I haven’t asked for anything. What do you get out of this?”

“Favors, introductions, maybe a partnership.”

“Sounds illegal. I’m not willing to use my businesses for you to launder money through.”

“I have my own business for that. I want my daughter to have your name and all that comes with it.”

“Pay very close attention to that last statement. You’ve admitted to laundering money. If you don’t want this tape to be sent to the New York division of the FBI, you’ll walk away,” Liam said, and it was the equivalence to a checkmate.

Father looked homicidal in that moment. “If you dare…” The threat was apparent.

“Dare to marry your daughter. Yes, I will marry her. This is leverage to keep you out of her and her mother’s lives.”

Father sneered, “I paid for introductions.”

“Would you like me to play this in its entirety? Not one time did my father or myself ask you for money. You sent that on your own.”

“You wrote down that numbered account,” Father accused. He referred to offshore accounts that weren’t tied to an individual name but just an account that is identified by number only.

“Did I?” Liam challenged.

They both eyed the note pad, but no one made a move to retrieve it.

“I want it back,” Father said, his tone low and dangerous.

“I can do that once you’ve demonstrated you will leave Natalie and her mother alone,” Liam agreed. “It was never about the money for me.”

Father stormed out of the office. We filed after him as he sent out a string of words in rapid Spanish.

He stabbed at the elevator button as we watched from a safe distance. When the bell dinged to signal its arrival, a lot of things happened all at once.

Twenty-One

Liam

Men in blue jackets were just as surprised to see us as we were to see them. They reacted first by raising guns and pointing them at us as they streamed out of the elevator.

“What the fuck?” someone said, and it might have been me.

We raised our hands and one agent announced, “I’m Special Agent Hernandez and we have an arrest warrant for Nicolas Cortez.”

If Natalie’s father could shoot laser beams out of his eyes, we would all be dead. “This is war,” Nicolas declared in our direction.

“Not my doing,” I said, with my hands still in the air.

The same agent that had spoken stepped forward. “This is true, Mr. Cortez. We planned to arrest you at the hotel, but you left before we arrived. Though I must admit, you leave a bread crumb trail better than Hansel. We would have been here sooner, though we had a hell of a time getting past your security, Mr. King.”

“See?” I said to Nicolas.

“They’re worth what they’re paid,” my father said, putting his hands down. I followed suit and urged Natalie to do the same.

“You’ve got nothing on me,” Nicolas sneered at the agent before throwing me a warning glance.