Queen Her

by Laine, Terri E.

  “I remember,” she said.

  A quick glance at Grant showed he watched them as I did, enraptured on how they spoke as if no one else existed in the world.

  “I showed up with a bottle of tequila in my hand because there was no one that could understand what I was going through except you,” he said.

  She smiled. “I remember thinking what a fool she’d been.”

  For long seconds, they just gazed at each other.

  It was him that broke it. “I remember thinking how much I wished I’d been married to you instead of her.”

  Movement out of the corner of my eyes stole my attention. Grant opened his mouth and had taken a step forward. I held up a hand to stop him.

  “We drank a lot that night. Last thing I remember was telling you to stay. You were far too drunk to drive home, and I went to bed. That’s where I woke up. What does this have to do with anything else?”

  “I remember more,” he began. The room got so silent; I could hear my heart beating in my chest. “For the longest time, I assumed it was a dream, because I too woke up alone and on the sofa. But my dream had been so vivid. And when you hadn’t had the same dream or memory the next morning, I was too embarrassed to bring it up. I didn’t want you to think I was a creep for dreaming…”

  “What?” she asked. “What did you dream?”

  “You got up and like you said, you told me to stay. You were unsteady on your feet. I got up to help you. I was mesmerized by your mouth and you told me to just do it. You’d been waiting forever for me to kiss you. Then, we ended up in your bed.”

  “That’s enough. TMI,” Grant said.

  “You don’t remember, Mom?”

  She looked startled, like I’d broken her out of a trance. “No. I swear.”

  “From what I know, women can tell if…” Grant waved his hand. His father and I both shot him a warning glare.

  Mom’s eyes went unfocused as she thought back. “I just assumed. I had a drawer with—”

  “Okay, we get it,” I said, not really wanting to hear about Mom’s draw of sex toys if that was what she was about to say.

  “I was a single woman, Liam,” she chided. But then softened when she added, “I never once thought. I swear.”

  “So, it’s possible?” I asked.

  “I was so ashamed that I’d had such a vivid dream of my ex’s best friend, I stayed away,” Ted admitted.

  She laughed. “That’s why? I thought you were trying to get her back.”

  Before they could drift back into the past, I said, “We all need to get tested. You, Mom, and I need to get tested.”

  “Your mom?” Ted asked.

  “Yeah. According to the lab, with potential fathers being brothers, they need the mother’s DNA to rule out common markers or something like that,” I said, disgustedly. At least that was how Griffin had explained it.

  “I’m sorry, Liam. I swear I had no idea,” Mom said.

  “Yeah, I know.” That didn’t make it any easier. I walked to the door, not sure what to do next.

  Grant stopped me. “They wouldn’t lie about this.”

  “I know. I just need some air.”

  I paced the walk at the front of the house and hoped the nosy neighbors would mind their business. Ted came out and stopped in front of me.

  “Your mom is really upset. She’s worried you hate her.”

  I looked down because I wasn’t ready to meet his eye. “I don’t hate her. I hate this situation. I look like a damn idiot for going to New York and daring them to call me a liar when I told them Royce was my dad.”

  “You think they think you lied.”

  “Not Connor or Kalen. Though they probably think you guys lied to me. But Royce. If I ever see that man, he’ll gloat. And worse, I needed him.”

  He pulled me to a stop when I tried to walk away, and I lashed out. “You knew this whole time, didn’t you? You’ve been there all my life. You showed up to all my little league games, football, baseball, or whatever sport I was playing. You were always there.”

  “I swear, boy, I didn’t know. And that’s the truth.”

  “Then why? Why did you act like a father?” I said, all the anguish pouring out of me.

  “I could see you needed one with Royce being absent. The truth was, I was there the day you were born. After your mother let me hold you, I loved you like a son from that very first moment. Something inside me wanted to protect you like I tried to protect Grant.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose to fight back the extreme emotion. “Turns out, you are my dad.”

  Even though I’d raged at Griffin, I didn’t believe Kalen or Connor would try and dupe me. They’d done so much to help me when they didn’t have to.

  “I’m sorry if that hurts you,” he said.

  “Why would it? Grant’s always been a big brother to me. Now he’s my real brother. You’ve always been my dad.”

  “So what’s wrong, son?”

  “In order to save the woman I love, I needed Royce to talk to her father.”

  It was easy to admit the truth. I loved Natalie. And it meant more to me than Royce kinging me as his. Yet I needed the man to make her mine.

  “Why?”

  He ushered me back inside the house, and I told them most of the sordid story.

  My dad, my real dad, said, “I can call Royce and beg a favor.”

  When he spoke, it all came together.

  Eighteen

  Natalie

  Pinning down Shawn to ask more questions would prove to be harder than expected. All the while I silently cheered for Valentina for getting out. Though I hadn’t liked how she’d treated me in the beginning, it wasn’t like I couldn’t understand where she was coming from. Now I could only pray that she would escape the net my father cast to bring her back in the fold.

  With the first step done, it was time for me to do what I could to help my situation. I had no idea what kind of evidence to look for that could be used against my father, short of large quantities of drugs.

  My father could be heard bellowing Spanish in steady streams. Since I’d never spent time with him, I hadn’t ever heard him speak Spanish. I had to assume he was extremely pissed over something.

  The door had slammed before the house went silent. I took a chance and walked the halls, tentatively calling out for him just in case. I hadn’t exactly planned for that moment. If he answered, I’d have to think quick on my feet with a plausible reason for why I needed him.

  As I walked, I didn’t get a response, not even from the house staff. There were parts of the house I’d never been in due to his security. I explored the wing I assumed led to my father’s personal quarters. I peeked in each door along the way until I came to an office.

  The room was made up of dark wood and leather. Whatever had set my father off, he had left in a hurry based on the scattered paper on the desk in the far back of the room.

  I darted in, hoping I wouldn’t be caught. I passed four leather chairs arranged facing each other, which I assumed were for potential meetings before I reached the heavy wooden desk that looked like it cost a fortune.

  The papers left behind looked as though they’d been tossed in a fit of anger. I didn’t start my search there. I wanted to find my phone. If I could call Liam, I could get answers, and ask what I could look for—not that he knew what I was doing. I went for the drawers. One by one, they proved useless to me until the last.

  I stared at what I’d found for seconds while I decided what to do. There was a gun. I didn’t pick it up because I didn’t think I had it in me to use it. I helped save lives, not take them. If I had it, I’d likely have to use it, or it would be taken from me and used against me. So, I left it there.

  I turned my focus to the papers on his desk. Would Father leave something damning lying around? Unlikely, but I checked anyway.

  “Looking for something?”

  He startled me and sent my heart into my throat. I hadn’t heard anyone come into the house.
Slowly I set the paper I’d been examining down before I looked up to face my father. “I’m looking for my phone since I was left alone.”

  It was the truth, though it didn’t explain why I was going through his papers.

  “Trust me, you weren’t alone.” He moved into the room and I stood frozen where I was. I hadn’t forgotten the gun. “Whatever you thought you would find, you wouldn’t have found it here.” His eyes settled on the mess on his desk before meeting my eyes again.

  “I want my phone,” I demanded.

  He pulled it from his pocket. “You certainly haven’t earned it. When I was growing up, my father made sure I earned everything I got from him, including a pot to piss in. If you hadn’t been taken from me, you would have learned the same. Unfortunately, you didn’t. You will learn now.”

  “Sounds like your father was a bully.” I couldn’t bring myself to call a man I’d never met my grandfather.

  “He was a hard man who knew the value of earning everything by your own power, not just gifted to you because you were born into privilege. My brothers were soft. Which is why, in the end, I took over the business and not them.”

  “Where are they now?” I asked to keep him talking.

  There was little about my father in the news outside of current events. I had no idea how many siblings he had or even his mother’s name.

  “Buried.” There was just a hint of a smile and I took that to mean he’d been the one who put them there.

  “Your father?” I asked.

  “Next to the pompous assholes.”

  “Your mother?”

  “Why are you really in here, Daughter?”

  There was something there. His mother was a trigger. I couldn’t tell by his avoidance of answering the question if she was alive or dead.

  “I told you I wanted my phone,” I said.

  “And you thought you would find it in my papers.”

  I didn’t answer because I didn’t have a plausible response.

  He stalked forward, leaving me to feel like a caged animal. “There’s another lesson you need to learn quickly.” I waited as he stopped two feet away from me. “I don’t take kindly to betrayal. There are no second chances for that. You are my blood, but so were my brothers.” He held my gaze a long hard moment until he continued. “Self-preservation is of course a natural human reaction. So is revenge.”

  My blood chilled as his cold stare left me no reason to doubt him.

  He was right about self-preservation. I felt it too. In a soft, subservient tone, I said again, “I was just looking for my phone.”

  That, of course, was partially a lie. But I would say what I needed to in order to survive.

  “Good.” He pushed the papers away from my hand. “I’ll be without a wife soon. It’s time I reconnected with your mother. Don’t most kids want their parents together?” He spoke as if it was a far-gone conclusion that he would marry Mom.

  I swallowed trying to think what to say. “I think maybe you should start fresh.”

  His laugh chilled me more. “When you’re married, your mother will need looking after.” He walked to the other side of the desk as my heart raced. The last thing I wanted was Mom in his clutches forever. It seemed more of a tactic to continue to control me than his alleged love for her. “Anyway, your Liam called. It seems my meeting with the infamous Royce King will happen on schedule.”

  Somehow, I managed to conceal my shock. “And you didn’t believe him?”

  “I’ll believe him when it happens. Go pack a bag. We are leaving for New York.”

  Finally, my limbs worked. I scrambled for the door, taking a wide berth around where he stood.

  “And Daughter?” I stopped dead. “If I ever catch you in my office again, we won’t just have words.”

  He threatened my life twice and I would be stupid not to believe him. I fled the bully, and I was grateful to be leaving Chicago. I packed everything I had. One way or another, I didn’t see myself coming back.

  Nineteen

  Liam

  My phone vibrated in my hand and the display came up as unknown. Last time I was with Natalie, she’d mentioned she didn’t have her phone. I answered without delay.

  “Hello,” I said.

  “Is this Liam?” a woman asked.

  If not for Natalie potentially in danger, I wouldn’t have responded without hesitation. “Yes.”

  “Oh, thank God. Is Natalie with you?”

  “Who’s asking?” I was willing to share some things, but at this point in the conversation I needed answers of my own before I gave up any more information.

  “This is her mother. She used your phone a few days ago to call me. I’ve haven’t heard from her since and I’m frantic.”

  “I think she’s fine,” I said, honestly.

  “Think? Have you seen her?” There was an edge of panic in her voice.

  “I left Chicago a few days ago,” I admitted.

  “Left? Will you go back? She needs you.”

  What had Natalie told her? “I’m doing everything I can. I swear.”

  “I’m so worried. I can offer you money to help me.” The poor woman sounded frantic. It reminded me of Dad telling me about how my mom worried about me.

  “No, ma’am. You don’t need to do that. I do have a plan to get her away from her father. If all goes well, I’ll see Natalie in a day or two.”

  She blew out a loud breath. I thought about how Natalie said her mother was dealing with a lung disease. “Thank God. This is all my fault. If I’d figured out who he was before—”

  I knew where she was going with that and squashed the thought before she finished it. “Then, we wouldn’t have Natalie. That’s the one good thing that man has done. Little does he know it.”

  “You’re right,” she said, sniffling. “She’s my reason for being. I’m glad she’s found you.”

  That surprised me. There was a difference from Natalie mentioning to her mom that she’d used my phone to her suggestion there was more between us. “She’s told you about me?”

  All I had to go on how Natalie felt about me were my own assumptions.

  “Some. But a mother knows how to read between the lines. It isn’t often my daughter speaks of a man with so much affection. She was happy in New York and a lot of that was because of you.”

  It was hard to imagine, given our ups and downs. “Thank you for making my day.” I’d needed to hear that. “I promise I will get your daughter back.”

  “Can I call you if I don’t hear from her in a few days?” she asked.

  “Absolutely. I will keep you updated with what I know.”

  “Thank you.”

  After I hung up, I was more determined than ever to get that meeting between Royce and Nicolas, no matter the cost.

  The next step was to call the King brothers. I dialed Connor’s phone, because he’d been the one I’d spoken to more often. Outside of our initial meeting, where he proved himself to be a formidable opponent and not just a soft rich boy, he’d earned my respect.

  “Connor,” he said in greeting.

  I’d spent all my life thinking he was my brother, yet I forced myself to try out another title. One I’d given my real brother over that same time period. “Cousin.”

  He was silent a second. “I’m sorry for that.”

  “You thought it all along. Did you tell the testing company that?” I asked.

  “I told them there was a chance the potential fathers were brothers. If I hadn’t, you would have likely gotten a false positive. Brothers share enough DNA to match as a biological parent if you test the minimum number of markers.”

  I didn’t know anything about the science of DNA testing. “I’ve talked to my parents and we are getting tested.”

  “They admitted holding something back?” he asked.

  “No. One drunken night neither remembered in a way that would suggest something happened. It’s a long story. But there is that possibility.”

  “You called
me cousin.”

  “I trust you. Therefore, I believe the report is likely accurate. Does Royce know?”

  “No. I wanted you to get tested on your end to confirm before I tell him.”

  That was another reason why to trust him and Kalen.

  “He hasn’t asked?”

  “He’s too busy trying to work and drive everyone else crazy,” Connor said.

  It was time to get into what mattered to me most. “Did Griffin tell you guys about my problem?”

  “He did.” Of course he had. He was Kalen’s best mate, as he called him. “I don’t know that even if he would, you would want Royce talking to Nicolas. He’s unpredictable and likely won’t do what we want.”

  What we want, he’d said. Further proof they were decent guys and on my side.

  That was my thought as well. “If he’d been my father…” I thought out loud.

  “I could tell him he is,” he offered.

  “You’d do that for me after everything?” For so long, I’d thought the worst.

  “We’re family, little cousin. I’d like the idea of not being the little brother. So I’ll still treat you like one.”

  “Thanks,” I said, chuckling. “My parents, they’re good people. They would have never lied to me on purpose.”

  It was important they knew that.

  “I believe you. Everything that has happened to me over the past year or so has opened my eyes to the unexpected. One day I’ll tell you about how I met my wife and almost lost her. And you’ll have to ask Kalen about how he met Bailey and all that happened after. This is par for the course for our family. We’ll get your girl back. Let me talk to Kalen and see if he has any ideas on how to get Royce on board.”

  “Dad,” I said and stopped. He’d always been Uncle Ted, yet that word easily flowed off my tongue. “Your uncle has an idea. We should all get on a call. Time is running out.” Then, I remembered something else. “There is something I forgot to tell Griffin.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Nicolas, Natalie’s father had a security guy. Right before he left, he said we could trust that he’d help.”

  “What was his name?” Connor said, sounding very interested.