Queen Her

by Laine, Terri E.

  “I see.”

  “Can I marry your daughter?” Liam asked.

  Father nodded in agreement. Liam stepped forward and didn’t stop until he stood in front of me. We drank each other. I opened my mouth, needing to confess my feelings when he dropped to one knee.

  As I gasped, covering my mouth with one hand because I hadn’t expected this, he asked, “Will you marry me?”

  Though we were here to negotiate this very thing, I thought I would be looking at a contract maybe, but not an actual proposal.

  When I didn’t answer right away, he added, “I’m in love with you.”

  I didn’t care what my father expected. I was on the verge of tears. Though I’d known how I felt about him. This was the first time I knew exactly where his feelings stood. The bigger lump in my throat was lodged there because Liam was giving me the choice my father wasn’t.

  “Say something, girl,” my father snapped.

  Instead of a simple answer, I let my feelings pour out of me in a rush. “I’m in love with you, too.”

  His dimpled smile melted all the frozen places in my heart. “Is that a yes?”

  I bobbed my head frantically. “Yes.”

  He took my hand in his and brushed a kiss on my ring finger before slipping a ring with a large square center stone surrounded by smaller diamonds on it.

  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.

  He didn’t want me to give them the recording. I lifted a brow.

  “We have a witness,” the agent said, answering him. When Nicolas once again aimed angry eyes at each of us, the agent added, “in custody.”

  “Valentina,” he spat.

  Natalie quickly hid a smile before her father saw. What did she know?

  “Shawn, call my lawyer,” Nicolas ordered. Shawn nodded as Nicolas was handcuffed and perp walked back in the elevator.

  “Sorry about that folks,” the special agent said before the doors closed.

  We all breathed a sigh of relief when they were gone. Connor came over and joined us from where he’d been sitting in the lobby with a computer managing the recording we’d been doing. Kalen came down the hall from his office.

  “Natalie, this is my father, Ted King.”

  She blinked. “Yes. We were sort of introduced earlier. Nice to meet you.”

  “No. I mean this is Ted, not Royce, my father,” I said.

  Dad cut in. “Royce is my brother. But I’m Liam’s father.”

  “You lied to my father?” she said, sounding impressed.

  “No. I told him everyone had a middle name. I never said it was mine.”

  “Long story,” Liam said. “I’ll tell you later.”

  She laughed and I just wanted to get her alone. She’d admitted she loved me. I wanted to hear it again. However, there were a few things I had to do first. Before I could introduce Connor, Kalen, and Griffin, she said, “Should we be speaking in front of Shawn or were you all in on this?”

  I said, “We weren’t. We’re you?” I directed that at the man who called himself Sha
wn.

  “No. Our operations are separate. However, I hate to break this up, but now that this has gone down, we are running against the clock.”

  I frowned. “How so? He’s been arrested. It’s over?”

  Shawn shook his head. “I’m sorry. But it’s not. He’ll make bail and when he does, he’s going to come after you and Natalie. My immediate concern is her as you have security.” He eyed Griffin and it looked like he wasn’t going to admit who he was in front of Natalie or me.

  “I can protect her,” I declared. I’d been trained for highly sensitive missions where the threat for bodily harm was guaranteed.

  “Maybe you can or maybe you can’t. But can you protect her mother in her condition? We need to get them into WITSEC immediately,” Shawn said.

  “Witness Protection Program?” Natalie asked.

  He nodded. “It’s the easiest way to get you a new name and credentials in a short time.”

  “What about my mom?” Natalie asked.

  “It’s already in motion. An agent will be at her location shortly,” Shawn said.

  “I left my things at the hotel,” Natalie said.

  “It’s probably a part of evidence now depending on the warrant. Is there anything you absolutely need?”

  She checked her purse and pulled out her phone. “I guess not. Can I go home first?”

  Shawn checked his phone. “Probably. But we have less than twenty-four hours. The Feds can’t hold him that long without him talking to someone. Once he does, he could send a message that will put you in danger.”

  “I’ll go with you,” I said, brooking no argument.

  “Not into WITSEC, you can’t,” Shawn declared. “Right now, the Feds don’t think you’re involved. I can’t have you bringing the family into this.”

  “Who are you?” Natalie asked what I’d been thinking.

  “Someone who will save your life. This is up to you. But if you don’t go now, I can’t guarantee your safety or your mother’s. They are likely making arrests for all who work with him. I’ll be expected to be arrested too. I need an answer now.”

  She nodded without hesitation and my heart sank. I just got her back. “I won’t leave her.”

  Shawn fixed a sympathetic smile on me. “You can’t go. Not now at least. Maybe—”

  “Maybe when?” I asked feeling like my world was being stolen.

  “After he’s convicted, if he is. Until then, she’s in real danger. He’ll want to remove anyone who could implicate him.”

  “That includes me,” I said, though he’d been in the conference room and knew what we had.

  “This is true. However, as we’ve seen he’ll use Natalie or her mother to control you and her. They are the easy targets. I can’t rule out after a conviction, he won’t want revenge. But while the possibility of a trial exists is when her safety will be most in jeopardy.”

  I scrubbed a hand down my face because everything he said was true.

  “Why? I know nothing,” Natalie complained.

  “You were in his office. For how long? What did you see?” Shawn asked.

  “Nothing,” she said.

  “He doesn’t know that,” Shawn said.

  She closed her eyes after blowing out a breath.

  “I’ll arrange transportation,” Shawn said.

  My dad jumped in. “We can fly her, assuming we can borrow your helicopter,” he asked the brothers. We’d flown it from Royce’s house to here after Royce and Dad had it out.

  “Yes, take the helicopter,” Connor said to Dad. Then he faced Natalie. “Before you go, you should know the family you’re marrying into.” He winked as if our wedding could still happen. “I’m Connor,” he pointed at himself. “This is my brother Kalen,” who tipped his head, “and his best mate and mine, Griffin.” Connor winked at Griffin.

  Natalie shook all their hands.

  “Okay. We will take her to the airport and meet Grant with the plane,” Dad said. “And it will give my son time with my future daughter-in-law.” He beamed at her.

  She smiled back, but not so big.

  Shawn stepped forward. “I would fly her directly to Maryland on the helicopter. If you fly on a plane, she’ll be listed on a manifest there and a good investigator could find her. Nicolas has a lot of resources.”

  I got his meaning. Though it was obvious she would go to her mother, if his people were given a head start to search and didn’t find that she’d booked any tickets, they may assume she drove, possibly buying her more time. That was a big if, but it was something.

  Dad looked at Connor who nodded. I said, “The helo was full of fuel when we flew over this morning.”

  “That will give us enough to make it to Maryland. I’ll tell Grant he can take the plane without us and go to Florida to see Jo,” Dad said.

  “Sounds like a plan. I have to go. I can’t give Nicolas’s people any reason to think I’m not on their side. A female agent, named Gandy, will be at your Mom’s house when you arrive. She will get you transferred to a US Marshalls agent. I should be out of custody before you arrive and will get word to you on what’s next.”

  Shawn got into the elevator. I eyed Connor, who gave me a slight nod. I took that to mean that Shawn was in fact, Matt, Lizzy’s brother. I would keep that secret. Knowing it gave me comfort about Natalie going into witness protection.

  She looked at all of us. “He’s an undercover cop or FBI?” We didn’t answer and only nodded. “And he has to go to jail.” We nodded again. “That sucks.”

  It did and the hell of it was, he didn’t have to. Lizzy said he had a trust fund that would allow him never to work a day of his life. Yet, he chose that career. I had a feeling we had a lot in common.

  “It’s for his protection,” Kalen said to her. “Trust me when I say you can trust him.”

  Natalie tugged at the ring on her finger as she said, “I should give this back. It’s your great-grandmother’s.”

  I covered her hand so she couldn’t remove it, just so I could touch her again. “I still want to marry you. Do you want to marry me?”

  Twenty-Two

  Natalie

  His eyes swallowed me whole and held me in their depths for confirmation of my true feelings. With everyone watching, it felt wrong to verbalize any doubts because of the situation. So I just nodded.

  “Will you guys have a ride home?” Liam asked the other three men in the room.

  “We have company cars in the garage,” the big guy with the Scottish accent said. I think he was Kalen. The other Scotsman with the goofy but incredibly sexy smile was Griffin if I remembered correctly. Oh, I bet he had all the women. Though to be honest, I was in a room full of attractive men. Tall, dark, and handsome described each one of them.

  Liam took my hand, and we didn’t take the elevator we’d come up in. We walked down a hallway to a private elevator and up we went.

  I never thought I was scared of heights until I was standing on top of the world. Okay, a skyscraper, but whoa, it was crazy high and too windy for my taste. Liam held on tight, as I was reluctant to take another step farther on the roof.

  “I won’t let you go,” he said in my ear.

  His father had already gotten into the helicopter, and I closed my eyes as he walked us toward it. He had to strap me in and put on my headset as I held on to the seat for dear life. Funny thing was the fear didn’t let go of me until we lifted off. That was when I finally let my white-knuckle grip go.

  Liam flipped a switch before leaning over and kissing me. “Sorry. I had to do that first so Dad won’t hear us.”

  My smile was genuine that time. “Thanks. Now will you tell me what’s going on?”

  He did, starting from the beginning. He told me about his parents’ drunken night together they hadn’t remembered. They’d been plastered and his dad assumed it to be a dream.

  “You were right the whole time,” he said.

  “About what?”

  “When you asked why I was searching for a fa
ther when I already had one.”

  I nodded.

  “I’m actually happy it worked out this way. Though I don’t look forward to the day Royce finds out. Though he and Dad had it out earlier. I haven’t had a chance to ask him what was said.”

  “Does it matter?” I asked him.

  “No. We are still going through with another test; I’ve accepted the DNA results that shows Royce is my uncle.”

  “Why did Ted pretend to be Royce?”

  “We didn’t think we could get Royce to talk with your father without insulting him or discarding me as his son. Dad offered to pretend to be Royce without actually saying it.”

  “Because you were recording it,” I offered, after putting two and two together.

  “Yes. We had to make sure that your father incriminated himself without us leading him to the answers we wanted him to give.”

  “Clever,” I said.

  “It actually was. Dad was damn good at saying all the right things to keep our family safe and finding a way to protect yours at the same time.”

  I clasped his hands. “I’m grateful for that.”

  As we stared into each other eyes, I reflected back. When I’d come to New York many weeks ago, it had been for a better future for my mom. I was leaving New York having found love in the most unexpected way.

  “I’ll find a way,” he said, and I understood his meaning.

  I hated to throw a dose of reality into the mix, but I couldn’t bear hanging onto an unlikely future.

  “From what I know, witness protection is kind of a forever thing. You’ve just found your family. I can’t ask you to leave them.”

  “Forever won’t keep me from you,” he said, chipping away at my resolve. He pushed back my hair. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before and I won’t give up on it. Can you say differently?” he asked.

  I should. I should love him enough to want him to be happy with someone else than to be unhappily waiting for me.

  “I’ve never loved anyone before until you. But it’s not fair to ask you to wait until the trial is over. Who knows when that will be?”

  He took my hand and pressed it to his heart. “Love isn’t fair. But I also know you’re worth it.”