by Katee Robert
Someone who wanted to hurt her.
She deliberately turned back to the elevator doors, tracking the ascending numbers. Journey pulled out her phone and called José. She barely waited for him to answer before she cut in. “I’m getting in the elevator in approximately thirty seconds and coming down to the lobby.”
“Trouble?”
Thank God that Frank’s men were just as astute as he was. “I don’t know, but I’d rather be paranoid given the current circumstances.” She’d forgotten about her security detail too many times already—an unforgivably stupid sin. They were there for her protection. Using a tool at her disposal didn’t make her weak. It made her smart.
The doors opened and she stepped into the elevator. Journey kept her phone handy during the descent, but no one joined her. It was just as well. With her nerves strung tightly enough to snap, she couldn’t be sure of her response to a perceived threat. Or if she’d even be able to register a perceived threat from a real one.
Stop thinking like that. Get to the lobby, get the men, get the fuck out.
She walked into the lobby and breathed a small sigh of relief as José flanked her. He moved close in enough to say, “Ethan has secured the car. He’s out front. I’ve got your back covered.”
“Thank you.” She kept moving, scanning the faces of the people scattered through the lobby. No one seemed particularly interested in what she was doing, but that didn’t change the crawling sensation just beneath her skin. Something’s coming.
Her phone buzzed in her hand. She stopped short at the sight of her grandmother’s name. Journey glanced at José and followed his silent direction to the black SUV waiting at the curb. Once she was inside, she answered. “Twice in a single day, Grandmother. I’m honored.”
“I’ve considered the information you brought to me, and I’ll investigate the attack on Eliza.” No hint of frailness or age in Esther’s tone. Just pure command. “In the meantime, I will remove Elliott from his current position—on one condition.”
“I’m listening.”
“You and Anderson will vote with the board every time, without fail.”
Journey glared at the back of the seat in front of her. “You mean we’ll play the part of puppet for you and jump when you say jump.”
“Call it what you wish. That is my condition.” Esther’s voice softened. “I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing you children more often.”
Trap.
Nothing good came from her grandmother playing the gentle relationship card. There was nothing gentle or grandmotherly about Esther, and the fact that she thought Journey was stupid enough—or emotionally wrecked enough—to fall for it irked her. “I’ll discuss your terms with Anderson and Bellamy.” She took a careful breath. “In the meantime, as a show of good faith, you will call off Elliott.”
Esther laughed. “There’s some Bancroft in you, after all, isn’t there?”
“No, Esther. I’m all King.” She hung up and slouched back against the seat, every muscle in her body going slack and weak.
That’s when the shakes started.
She nearly dropped her phone as she dialed her older brother. Keep it together. You’re safe. She can’t hurt you. Elliott can’t hurt you. You’re winning.
This doesn’t feel like winning.
It felt a whole lot like defeat.
“Jo?”
She ran her free hand over her arm, debating asking Ethan or José to turn on the heat. “I just talked to our grandmother.”
“Grandmother…You talked to Esther?”
“Yeah. In a strange turn of events, she’s in Houston right now.” Her sarcastic comment fell flat. “She agreed to call off Elliott.”
“For a price.”
“Yeah, for a price. She wants control of Kingdom Corp, one way or another. In exchange for removing Elliott, she wants us to vote with the board majority every time.” The fact that their grandmother had control of the board was something Journey would have to think about in greater depth. She’d known many of those men and women for years—decades in some cases. Flipping their loyalty hadn’t happened in the last couple of weeks—the last couple of months, even.
Esther had been planning this coup for a long time, a spider constructing a web around an unsuspecting fly, waiting for the moment when it moved into just the right place to trap it and strike.
I am no fly.
We are not flies.
“If we agree to that, we might as well let Elliott take over, and walk away. It accomplishes the same damn thing.”
She bit back a curse. She didn’t disagree with her brother, but he was missing one very important point. “We can’t fight if we lose our positions within Kingdom Corp. We sure as hell can’t win. If Esther can take over the board, then we can damn well take it back. Agreeing is just a quick patch until we come up with a better plan.” When Anderson didn’t immediately speak, she leaned her head back against the car seat and sighed. “Yielding a single time doesn’t mean we’re weak. It doesn’t mean she wins.”
Silence for a beat. Two. “I don’t see a way out of this, Jo. I thought I had things under control, but after Eliza…”
“I know.” Anderson wouldn’t be coming in with a last-minute solution to save all their asses. Not this time. “Give me twenty-four hours to figure out a game plan and then we’ll give our answer to Esther.”
He exhaled harshly. “I can do that.”
“Thank you.” She hesitated. “It will be okay, Anderson. We’ll find a way through this. I promise.” Journey hung up and leaned forward to catch Ethan’s eye. “Take me to Frank.”
Chapter Twenty
Frank glanced up as Mateo walked into his office. No mistaking the look on his second’s face. “You found something.”
“I found something,” he confirmed. He drank from a giant mug of coffee, and his dark face was drawn and exhausted. Frank made a mental note to double Mateo’s hazard pay for pulling this shit together in such a short time. The man set the mug on his desk and passed over a manila folder. “I compiled this last night…” He looked at his watch. “Well, technically this morning.”
Frank flipped through the information, dread curling through him with each word he read. “That dumb fuck.”
“That about sums it up.”
He kept reading. They’d thought they found all of Elliott’s debts—and that they all had been paid by his mother. They were wrong. Frank looked at the numbers, at the zeros behind them. “Four million? How the fuck did he dig himself that deeply?”
“He was paying it off at first, probably from money supplied by Lydia King, though it’s damn near impossible to track.” Mateo lifted his mug in the direction of the file. “The fact I managed to pull that much together is a testament to how good I am at my job.”
“Trust me, you’ll be compensated. More than compensated.” Frank finished reading and sat back. The picture painted by the file wasn’t a pretty one. A decade of loans from the Russians, of all people. Elliott had paid them back repeatedly…until six years ago, when the repayments stopped, but the spending didn’t. He shook his head. “Ivan Romanov gave him enough rope to hang himself with.”
Mateo nodded. “If he hasn’t already called the debt due, he will before too long.”
There were other ways to pay. Frank knew better than most the value information held. The Bancroft family had its fingers in more pies than anyone knew, from overseas trade to arms manufacturing. Elliott could be doing anything from insider trading to allowing Romanov to smuggle things in or out of the country.
“What I don’t get is why he didn’t go running to Mommy with this.” Mateo leaned his head against the back of his chair and closed his eyes. “She’s paid off every other debt he’s acquired.”
That, at least, he had an answer to. “Bancrofts aren’t stupid enough to get caught with ties to the Russian mob. Admitting he owes them money is putting the entire family name in danger if it comes out—and it will.” The only reason it hadn’t until now was that the i
nformation was leverage Ivan Romanov no doubt held over Elliott’s head.
I could buy the debt and be the one holding that bastard’s leash.
His people depended on him to keep them safe, but Journey was relying on him as well. A soft snore made Frank sigh. Mateo had fallen asleep in his chair. If he left him there, the man would wake up with a crick in his neck. He set the file on the desk and clasped his shoulder. “Mateo, use my couch.” Frank quietly closed the door of his office behind him and made his way to Mateo’s desk, where he could continue to consider this new information.
The facts didn’t change on his second read-through of the brief—or his third.
Mateo had anticipated his needs, and there was a Post-it note with Romanov’s number on the last page. Frank studied it for a long moment. Getting into bed with organized crime wasn’t part of the plan.
But if he didn’t do something, Elliott would keep going after Journey—after her siblings.
He could kill someone if they didn’t act fast.
He took a slow breath and dialed the number Mateo had provided.
“Ivan Romanov.”
That didn’t take long. “My name is Frank Evans of Evans Inc in Houston. I have a business prospect for you.”
A pause, and the man’s Russian accent thickened. “I’m listening.”
“A mutual friend of ours, one Elliott Bancroft, owes you a significant amount of money. I’m willing to negotiate terms so you stop putting pressure on him. I have information I think you might find valuable in your business dealings.”
Another pause, longer this time. Finally, Ivan chuckled, the sound rumbling down the line. “I like you, Frank Evans. You have balls, and a man like myself can appreciate that. But the debts have already been paid for the man of who you speak.”
What? “By who?” He spoke without thinking.
“I’m not in the habit of giving information for free.”
A bargain, then, but one with different parameters. Frank leaned back in his chair, tension working its way through his shoulders and cascading down his back. “Information for information, then.”
“There is word of a merger with Kingdom Corp,” Romanov hinted.
Easy enough to answer that question that isn’t a question. “I have it on good authority that Kingdom Corp is acquiring Cardinal Energy in a merger, though I can’t speak to the terms of the deal.”
“Good. Good. This is good news.” Ivan laughed, the sound booming down the line. “The man’s debts were purchased by a close relative of his. Nice older woman, though she is strong enough to scare weaker men out of her path.”
Esther. It has to be.
“A pleasure exchanging information with you, Ivan.”
The amusement fled from the Russian’s tone. “Do not call this number again.” He hung up.
As soon as Frank set his phone on the desk, it buzzed with a text from Ethan. Incoming.
Frank pushed to his feet and strode down the hallway. It hadn’t been all that long since he’d seen Journey last, but the sheer relief he felt down to his very bones as she made her way toward him rocked him back on his heels. Safe. She’s safe. Her dress and understated pumps made it look like she’d just come from the office, but the last he’d heard, she was with Samara.
Journey walked herself right into his embrace as he raised his arms and folded her into him. Frank stroked a hand down her back, the touch soothing something inside him. He turned his head and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Things with Samara went well.”
“Yes, though I didn’t come from there just now.” She hugged him tighter. “I may have handled the Elliott issue, but we have bigger problems.”
No misunderstanding that. “Esther.”
“Yeah.” Journey leaned back enough to meet his gaze. “How’d you know?”
It was on the tip of his tongue to say lucky guess the way he would to Beck or anyone else who asked. Frank smoothed the hair back from her face, letting his touch linger on her cheekbones. “Mateo dug deep enough to get the name of the person Elliott owed money to. We had a short but enlightening conversation.”
A line appeared between her strong brows. “That sounds very vague and sinister.”
“I told him about the merger.” More honesty, pouring from his mouth as easily as his next exhale. He wouldn’t apologize for monetizing that information, but he also wouldn’t lie to her about it. “If he’s as smart as his reputation says he is, he’ll use it to his advantage, and the only thing either of us is guilty of is insider trading.”
Her lips quirked the slightest bit. “Plenty of people have gone to jail for insider trading, Frank. It wasn’t worth the risk. I got the information we needed without having to do anything illegal.” She sighed. “Did you even think to ask what I knew before you made that call?”
He hadn’t. He’d only thought of protecting her, not of asking her insight. Frank opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what he was supposed to say. “I take care of people, Duchess. It’s what I do.”
She didn’t move back, but he could almost see the distance between them growing vaster, a sinking hole deep enough to swallow the unwary. Journey gave him a sad smile. “There’s no shame in leaning on other people occasionally.” She shook her head and stepped out of his arms. “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”
There was no one in the hallway but them, but he nodded to Mateo’s office. Once they were closed inside it, Frank leaned against the door and watched Journey pace. “I’m sorry I upset you.”
“Is that what you think the problem is?” She gave a mirthless laugh. “Even if it was, that’s a half-assed apology if I’ve ever heard one. ‘I’m sorry I upset you’ means that you’re sorry I’m upset but you’d do it again in a heartbeat.” She held up a hand before he could speak. “It’s a moot point. I just came from meeting with my grandmother.”
It took him precious seconds to make the jump with her. Frank was still focused on her dismissal of his apology and then…“Your grandmother. Esther Bancroft is in Houston?”
“Yes.” She perched on the edge of the desk and met his gaze. “She has control of Kingdom Corp’s board. We knew that—Elliott wouldn’t have been able to come in like he did without board support—but she explicitly stated it. She’ll call off my father if Anderson and I do her bidding when it comes to the company.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t see a way out of this. I know there has to be one, but I don’t see it. This is exactly what that crafty bitch wanted. She sends in Elliott to terrorize us, and then we trip all over ourselves to give her control just to get him out of our lives.” Journey’s hazel eyes shone a little and she shook her head. “I hate that it’s working. I hate that she played us like this.”
“Esther Bancroft has been doing this sort of thing a long time.” Really, it was a brilliant play. With the shares Elliott owned in the company, Esther could have made her move at any time, but she must have put these pieces into place and just waited for the timing to be right. Frank couldn’t have handled it better if he’d tried. “Elliott crossed a line with what happened to your sister. For a man who’s usually so subtle about his torment, he seems to be losing control.”
“Yeah. Maybe.” Journey seemed to realize she was clutching herself and dropped her arms. “As long as my brothers and I can keep our current positions within the company, we have a chance to oust the Bancrofts.”
She was so focused on the company, she wasn’t looking at the other potential outcome if Elliott was once again banished from Houston. “He’ll come after you. After all of you, but after you specifically.”
“It’s entirely possible.” She lifted her chin. “But I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it.”
He released her hand and shoved to his feet, agitation driving his movements. “He’s got you over a barrel, Duchess. This isn’t a fight you can win on your own.” Regret hit him the instant he gave the words voice. The one constant Journey held was that she wanted—needed—to fight her own
battles.
And he’d just told her that she couldn’t.
Frank turned to face her. “I’m sorry.”
“There are those words again.” She leveraged herself off the desk and straightened her shoulders. “I know I’m a mess, Frank. I’ve been pretty honest about that from the start. It’s nothing new, and throwing it in my face because you’re scared is a really shitty move. I might be broken, but I’m not a glass figurine you can bundle up and stick on a high shelf to protect. I’m a person, and I’m muddling through things as best I can. I won’t be stupid, and I definitely won’t put myself within striking distance of him, but I will not cower and hide with so much at stake.”
He could lose her.
It wouldn’t happen because things fell apart in a mundane way, because she realized that Frank’s damage and hers were a recipe for disaster when thrown together. Losing her like that would tear out his fucking heart, but at least give him the comfort of knowing Journey was going on with her life. Living. Breathing. Pulling her tattered strength around her and moving through her days with purpose.
He could lose her in the same way he’d lost his mother and his old man.
At the very core of his being, Elliott was a bully. Since he couldn’t lash out at his mother, he would lash out at his children.
At Journey.
This position within Kingdom Corp was the first real power Elliott had in his life. Running Kingdom Corp, especially in the wake of his hated wife’s departure, was personal. He’d see Journey and his mother’s collusion as an attack against him, and he’d come gunning in the only way he knew how.
This time, he wouldn’t hold back.
Frank was sure of it.
Even with two of his best men watching over her, that bastard could still find a way to get to her. It could be as simple as lying in wait in her parking garage and shoving her into the trunk of a car. Or accosting her in a stairwell. I know how that ends. With her bent and broken at the bottom of the stairs. Too many scenarios kept playing in his head of Journey dead and gone, the life bleeding out of her hazel eyes.