The Empire

by Lisa Renee Jones

  “There’s no proof that he killed anyone! I didn’t believe it. And he didn’t kill Eric. He killed his father!”

  “Their father had a heart attack. Just like Isaac’s mother and father had a car accident. He won’t go down for this, but you think he won’t find out what you know? You think he won’t come for you? I suggest you go to Gigi and go quickly.”

  “Eric killed his father. I’m going to tell the police. You need to stay away from him.”

  I lean on the table facing her. “You think that lie will save you from Isaac? I don’t.” I push off the table and walk toward the door.

  “Harper! Harper, come back here!”

  I don’t stop. I don’t even think about stopping, but with every step, blades cut me. I’m bleeding inside and it’s like her voice is acid being poured in my wounds. I open the door and find Eric standing there. We stare at each other as my mother screams and tears prick my eyes.

  I step into the hallway and shut the door. I can’t hear her screaming.

  “I don’t want the money,” he says, his voice low, rough. “I didn’t know. I don’t care, not about anything but you.”

  “I know that,” I whisper. “I know.”

  I don’t know who moves then. Me. Him. Both of us, but we collide and hold onto each other, just hold each other. Neither of us wanting to let go.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Harper

  “I don’t know what to do, Eric,” I whisper, pulling back to look at him. “She’s my mother, but she—she’s not a good person.”

  The door opens behind me and my mother gasps. “You,” she hisses at Eric.

  “Yes,” Eric says, his tone hard, a blade of steel. “Me. I’m still alive.” I rotate to stand next to him, keeping my hand at his back. He doubted me. He doubted us. No. He feared I’d believe the worst of him and that’s exactly why my hand settles firmly on his back. “And so is Harper,” he adds. “I’m keeping her that way and since that means dealing with Isaac, that means you, too, but for now, I suggest you leave. Stay hidden until this is over.”

  “I have a husband who needs to be buried.”

  “He wanted to be cremated. Have a service later, not now. Get on a plane and go to Europe with Gigi. Don’t come back until this is over.”

  He’s protecting her and despite all my anger at her, all the pain of today’s revelations, this calms me. This allows me to breathe. He’s the reason I can breathe. Savage steps to Eric’s side. “We can escort her to make arrangements and then set up her travel.”

  “Who are you?” my mother demands.

  “One of the men keeping you alive, even if you don’t deserve us,” Savage snaps, clearly aware of what’s occurred. He was listening in. God, Eric was listening in. He heard every brutal moment I just shared with my mother.

  “Do what they say, mother.” I keep calling her mother. I normally call her mom, but she’s different to me now. I can’t change that reality. I wish I could. “You’ll live. You’ll survive. You and Gigi might just want to stay in Europe indefinitely. Have the funeral there. You two loved Italy. It’ll give all your rich friends an excuse to go to Italy. I can’t believe I just said that.” I press my hand to my stomach. “I need to leave.” I twist out of Eric’s arms and start walking.

  Blake steps to the end of the hallway, waiting on me.

  “Harper!” my mother calls out. “Harper.”

  But I don’t stop. I keep walking the eternal hallway that eventually leads me to Blake. “You okay?” he asks.

  “Not really. I just—I need out of here. I want this over.”

  “I don’t blame you. We’ll help get you all the way to the other side of this.”

  Eric steps behind me, his hands on my shoulders, and I twist around to face him. “I want to go home.”

  “Then let’s go home.” He takes my hand, kisses my knuckles, and then folds me under his arm, and in silence, we head to the elevator. I ride down with him on one side of me and Blake on the other. Savage must have stayed with my mother and I think that’s a good thing. He’s strong. He can handle her. He’ll keep her alive and keep her from getting anyone else killed.

  Once we’re back in the SUV with Smith behind the wheel, I rest my head on Eric’s chest. We don’t speak. We just hold each other, bleeding together, the salve to each other’s wounds. A sanctuary in our bond, a place above hell where we can’t fall when we’re together. He’s lost a father. I’ve lost a mother, but we have each other. I feel that now. He feels that now. We need each other.

  Smith and Blake, who rides shotgun next to Smith, seem to understand our need for each other and privacy, if you can call this privacy. Or maybe we’re all in shock at the magnitude of evil that this family proved capable of. Maybe we all need this timeout.

  In a short ride, we arrive at the apartment and Blake joins us at the elevator. “I need to debrief with you both. I’ll make it quick.”

  I’m torn by this request. I both crave information and crave the sanctuary that is Eric’s apartment that is our new home together. Eric looks down at me. “Are you up to this?”

  “I want this all over, so yes. If it helps us get to ‘the end,’ please.”

  And so, we all load into the elevator and head to our floor. Eric opens our door and we enter the foyer and I swear, it’s home. I’m home. My house in Denver was the only place I felt I belonged because I never fit inside the family circle or the company circle. How was that ever a life I wanted? Here, it’s Eric’s hand on my back, his earthy scent in the air, his presence even when he isn’t touching me that soothes, arouses, and excites. With him is where I belong.

  The three of us head to the kitchen, but Eric detours to the bar, and returns with three glasses and a bottle of honey-flavored whiskey. He fills my glass first. “You need this.”

  “Yes,” I say. “I do.” I down the amber liquid, letting it warm my throat, while Eric fills his and Blake’s glass, then refills mine.

  Blake downs his drink. “I think we all needed that. We found Gigi, Harper. The man she thought was attacking her was our man just trying to make contact. She’s safe. She’s being protected.”

  “And what does she have to say about all of this mess?” I ask.

  “She confirmed everything your mother said without much more detail, and the same kind of speculation and talking in circles.”

  “What about the messages?” I ask. “Did she have them sent to us?”

  “Yes,” he confirms. “She confirmed that she sent the messages. She was afraid to go to you directly. She wasn’t sure Isaac wouldn’t find out. She’s old and wasn’t sure how to prevent being recorded and hacked. She was afraid of Isaac finding out and lashing out. She also didn’t think Eric would believe any information that came from her. She didn’t know the man who delivered one of the messages was dead, but she believes Isaac killed your father. She also thinks he killed Richard, one of the men that helped intimidate your mother. She offered that information so randomly that my gut is she had something to do with his death. Interesting tidbit. He died in a car crash like Isaac’s mother and father.”

  My brows furrow. “So did Isaac or Gigi kill them all?”

  “We may never know,” Blake says. “I believe they were all professional hits and I’m not sure it changes anything. Isaac’s fate is in your hands, Eric. We’ll move forward as you see fit and Gigi is exiled, in hiding for the rest of her short life. She has no intention of returning anytime soon. She’s too afraid. She’s going to wait and see what happens between Eric and Isaac.”

  “Of course she is,” Eric says dryly, sipping his drink, savoring while Blake and I have gulped. “I have a plan to deal with Isaac forming in my mind. I need the night to sleep on it.”

  “You could easily take his inheritance,” Blake states. “You could simply ask for a DNA test.”

  “I don’t need the money.” Now Eric downs his whiskey. “I don’t want that mob-infested empire.”

  “He’ll always be threatened by
you,” I say, this new fear hitting me hard and fast. “He’ll always be gunning for you. And Gigi. You know he’s hunting Gigi.”

  “I couldn’t give a shit about Gigi,” Eric replies. “Fuck Gigi, but your mother is going to be with her, so I’ll protect her.”

  “My mother basically sent Isaac to kill you.”

  “She’s your mother, baby. I’m not going to have her blood on my hands. She’ll inherit. She’ll be fine. And I told you, I have a plan forming to deal with Isaac.” He strokes my hair and eyes Blake. “What else do I need to know?”

  “The police aren’t likely to question you any further. Not unless that report comes back with poison, which we both know it won’t. That’s a non-issue that lets Isaac, and Gigi if she’s a part of the murder, walk. The mob, on the other hand, isn’t going away like the police.”

  “The mob and Isaac will wait until tomorrow. What else?”

  “Grayson is losing his mind wanting talk to you.”

  “I’ll call him.”

  “Then I’ll leave,” Blake concludes, eyeing me. “You were brave, Harper. That was a lot of shit to get unloaded on you. And you stood by your man. Respect. You have my respect.” He turns and leaves, and Eric and I watch him as he exits the apartment.

  Once the door shuts, we turn to face each other and then it’s just us, me and this man who has changed my life. This man that I love. “You’re not the bastard anymore,” I whisper.

  He pulls me to him. “I’ll always be that family’s bastard. And you’ll always be the princess.” His mouth closes down on mine, and in that moment, in this place and time, I know that the bastard and the princess coming together, has changed lives. Changed me. Forever.

  He has changed me forever.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Eric

  Kissing Harper, I turn her and press her against the island, and I can feel those moments when her mother was talking to her and I was listening in. When I feared that Harper would be like everyone else in that damn family who turned me into the enemy. In those moments, I wasn’t thinking about my father. I was thinking of her. I was afraid of losing her. And I kiss her right now, I touch her right now with that fear on my lips. I don’t hide it from her. I don’t hold back. It’s all or nothing with Harper.

  “I knew you didn’t know,” she says, tearing her mouth from mine. “I never once believed you knew the truth and were trying to inherit. Tell me you know that.”

  “I had a moment. I did. A moment where I feared losing you.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. And every time you doubt me, you doubt us. Stop doubting us. Let me see all of you. Let me love the savant and the man.”

  “You’ll have to because I’m not letting you go.” My mouth closes down on hers and everything that has happened in the past week explodes inside me but I’m not consumed by the numbers that I would be at any other time. I’m consumed with Harper. I’m consumed with need and I can’t undress her fast enough. We can’t undress each other fast enough. We’re both shirtless, and she’s braless, her breasts high and full, her nipples puckering beneath my fingers when I pick her up and carry her to an oversized chair, laying her down, dragging away her shoes and pants. Wasting no time undressing.

  I’m thick and hard and she’s naked and waiting on me. I have a moment when I think about a condom, when I think about how much I don’t want my child to be a Kingston, but then I look at Harper. I sit down next to her and I pull her into my lap, straddling me, and I know, I know something is different. I know that I’m not a Kingston. I’m a Mitchell. I will always be a Mitchell, and one day, when I know she’s ready, Harper will be, too. And God willing, if she gets pregnant again, we’ll have a baby that will be as she once declared: Mitchell.

  I lift her, pressing into her, the wet tight heat of her body taking me, pulling me close.

  “Use me,” she whispers, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Use me to deal with all that this day made you feel. I can handle anything.”

  My hand settles between her shoulder blades. “I know you can. You’ve proven that over and over, but I all I need right now is to make love to the woman who has become my everything.” I roll her over, lay us side by side, the ottoman under our feet. Her leg is over my hip, and I stroke her face, even as my cock presses deep inside her. And then I do just what I said. I make love to her. I revel in the sweetness that is this woman and what I share with her, and there are no numbers attacking my mind. There’s just us. There’s just the sanctuary of this woman. I don’t rush. I don’t want to rush because right here, like this, intimately buried inside her, no one can touch us. No one can take her away.

  When we both collapse, melting into each other and the cushion, we lay there staring at each other for long minutes until I whisper, “We’ll make our own family and we’ll make that family special.”

  “I thought you didn’t want a family.”

  “I want everything with you, Harper. I’m going to show you that.”

  “Good, because we’ve been having a lot of sex without a condom. Not that I think I can get pregnant, but if I did—”

  “We’ll be parents this time. If you don’t, we’ll get a dog.”

  She laughs. “A dog?”

  “Yes. I’ve actually never had a dog.”

  “Me neither. Maybe we should get a dog.”

  “A dog it is,” I say, kissing her temple. “Hang tight. I’ll get you a robe.” I pull out of her and walk to the bedroom, pull on pajama bottoms and grab a towel and her silk robe.

  A few minutes later, we sit on the couch, wine glasses in our hands in place of the whiskey. “We’ll start looking for a dog right after we get you moved. What do you think?”

  “I don’t want to go back there, back to Denver. I don’t want anything I left there. Of course, that means I have to spend money. I guess I’ll get my trust fund now. I can feel like I contribute then. Or will that just make Isaac want to kill me?”

  I lean in and slide silky strands of her hair behind her ear. “Isaac will never hurt you. You have my word. We’ll have a service pack your house up and put it in storage. You can lease the house or sell it. And so we’re clear, my money is your money now. We’re going to the bank and—”

  “No, Eric. I can’t—”

  I kiss her. “You can. We’re together now. Sharing my life means sharing my life, baby.”

  “I need to earn my own way.”

  “You have a job with double the salary you were earning at Kingston.”

  “What? No. I was making six figures and—”

  “And we pay well. This isn’t about you being my woman. We pay anyone we think is an asset better than anyone else would for a reason. Loyalty. You’ll make the investment worthwhile.”

  “This is what you do for everyone you hire?”

  “I promise you, Harper, I wouldn’t lie to you. I’ve had too many lies in my life and so have you.”

  She takes my hand. “I won’t let you regret hiring me. I won’t let Grayson regret hiring me either. And we both know I got this job because of you.”

  “You got this job because of your experience at Kingston.”

  “With your help, but I really am going to make you happy you believed in me. I want to prove myself. I think maybe Mia can help me carve out my little place outside of your success.”

  “She will eagerly do that and more.”

  “I like her. Oh God. You need to call Grayson.”

  I curse. “Right. You’re right.” I stand up and hunt down my phone to find about ten text messages from Grayson and three calls. I dial him.

  “Holy hell, I’ve been worried,” he answers. “How are you? What can I do?”

  I walk to the window and stare out at the dark city without really seeing it, replaying the past week in my mind as I update Grayson. “My God. You’re the heir.”

  “Yes, but I don’t want the money or the mob connections that come with it.”

  “You have to take down Isaac or he’ll keep comin
g.”

  “I will. I am. That’s next. After tonight.”

  “That sounds like a plan.”

  “Always,” I say. “You know I always have a plan. I’ll update you soon. Right now—”

  “You need your woman. Understood. Tell Harper Mia and I are here if she needs us.”

  “She knows that already,” I assure him before we say our goodbyes.

  I turn to find Harper curled in a corner of the couch, her glass in her hand. “All is well?” she asks.

  “Yes. He’s eager to lend his support to you and me.”

  She straightens and I sit down next to her again. “How are you feeling about your father?” she asks, as if her mind has been solely on me.

  I consider that for a moment and I have no real answer. “I don’t know. I’m not sure him being gone has really hit me.” I nudge her shoulder. “How are you feeling about your mother?”

  “Hurt. I feel hurt like I never even knew her. I feel like I’ve been alone for a very long time, and pretending I wasn’t. I knew. Some part of me knew.”

  “You’re not alone now.”

  “Neither are you.”

  “You belong here, Harper,” I say, repeating what I once told her. “You belong with me.”

  “Yes,” she says, repeating what she once told me. “I belong with you, and you, Eric, belong with me.”

  I kiss her, a deep, passionate claiming, and it’s there in our kiss, our need for one another, our fear of losing each other. Our promises not to let that happen. Our promises to hold on forever.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Eric

  I wake the next morning before Harper and pull on pajama bottoms before heading downstairs, and making coffee. While it brews, I stand by the window and look out at the city without really seeing it, a cube in my hand, wondering what my mother would think if she knew what I know now. Wondering what she would think about the fact that I can walk away and I am walking away. There are only three ways to do that and protect Harper. Kill Isaac or send him to jail are high on the list, but they leave me with the company and the mob, both of which I don’t want. The other option is to imprison him in his own hell and his own creation.