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CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

VALE

“I have a bad feeling about this.” I rub Nash’s concrete chest hidden under his black tactical shirt. “I’m afraid something bad is going to happen to you.”

“Just so we’re clear, I never want you to feel good about my job.”

“Yeah, I hate math.”

“That job, too.” He grins. “But my money is about to be yours, so I’m getting you activity books on basic arithmetic.”

“Not interested. My erotic coloring books teach me all I need to know.”

“They’re a waste of time.” He cups my cheeks. “You already know your sweet pussy, plus my hard cock equals what I live for every day.”

I fist his shirt. “Just promise me that you’ll live .”

I’ve had the best week of my life as Nash’s new queen. We work side by side at Delta’s. I love how he rubs my thigh under the desk while seriously auditing my abysmal use of percentages.

“Tamayto, tomahto.”

That’s all I hear when he lectures me on county versus state taxes.

Jace is there, too. He joked about me giving him my diamond earring and leaving him with a smile. It’s a nod to The Breakfast Club , so we’re good—more than good. Jace and Nash act relaxed about it, too.

Every evening after work, Nash and I drive to the islands and house shop. I think we’ve found one we like. It’s on the wide creek overlooking the tranquil marsh. It has a dock house Nash wants for his boat, for our rapid escape if needed.

Every night, I introduce Nash to new adult toys, and our play turns into passion until I’m lying in his arms, and we’re dreaming aloud about our future—about that house.

After Alena’s wedding next weekend, we’ll schedule a showing because Nash says it’s too risky until they get Turner.

So, I hate this. Maybe it’s natural to fear the worst. Maybe it’s a premonition.

Nash, his brothers, and their small army will ambush Turner and his crew tonight. For a week, they’ve surveilled the church where Turner hides. They’ve reviewed their ops. Their tactical approach. Their weapons. Their extraction. Their…

I forget the rest. That’s just what I’ve overheard, filling me with dread.

“I’ll be back,” he promises me about tonight.

“Okay, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not helping.”

“Be good for Zar.” He peppers my lips with kisses.

“I’m not a puppy who’ll piss on the carpet.”

“No,” he smirks, “you’re my poison who can kill a man with your snark, especially when you’re nervous, so behave while I’m gone.”

Nash holds me in the kitchen of Zar’s suite at The Mercier while Zar and Nick recline with Wren, Sire, Delphine, and Grant in his living room.

Not only is Zar the CFO of this luxury hotel chain, but he also serves as the loyal sub to Luca Mercier.

Though Nick and Zar will marry one day, Zar will always serve Luca and Luca’s wife, Scarlett. Nick knows. Nick joins them. He loves them, too. And for his beloved sub, Luca Mercier will deploy all of his security at Zar’s request, no questions asked.

“So…” I press my cheek against Nash’s chest. His heart rate is too calm. “We’re just supposed to stay locked in this tower like your Rapunzels until you return?”

“No,” he kisses my hair, “you stay secure in this vetted location with a security team we trust until we complete the mission.”

Part of me wants to grab a gun and help Nash. Part of me knows that’s ridiculous. Once I start shooting evil men, I won’t stop, and that can be really dangerous for my morally grey kings. I may, whoops , pop a cap in Axel’s ass, too.

Just kidding. Sort of. Like vinegar, Axel’s a taste I’m slowly acquiring. Excuse me while I gag a little, too.

“How long will you be gone?”

“Don’t know.”

“Are all the kings going with you?”

“All but one.” He rubs my arms. “One always stays behind in case…”

“Who?”

He shakes his head.

“What will you do with Turner?”

“Can’t say.”

“Can I at least whack him with my nine-iron?”

He kisses me before, “Shut up, Vale,” steams over our lips.

Two hours after our kings leave, I’m losing my mind.

Wren falls asleep on the sofa while I join Zar and Delphine for cigars on his balcony. They smoke, I cough, and don’t get the appeal.

“So this whole not-mafia-mafia thing?” I stub out my stogie. “How can you stand it? I won’t sleep until Nash is back.”

Delphine shrugs a shoulder. “I’ve been traded amongst evil men my whole life. I’ve always known danger; I’m used to it. But I’ve never known love until Grant. At least his evil is the good kind, and I support it. He and his mother saved me, so here I am.” She flits her cigar. “ C’est la vie .”

I like Delphine. She’s so flippant; she’s dead serious.

“I don’t get all het up about it,” Zar drawls. “It’s not like the NFL is without its risks, now or later for Nick. But what I worry most about is him being gay in a sport where everyone is closeted. That’s the real risk, and the only ones who can protect him are his brothers.” A puff escapes his lips. “Especially Axel.”

“Axel?”

Zar chuckles. “When it comes to his brothers? Axel’s horns hold up his halo.”

“Why is Axel on the first throne if Sire is the oldest?” I hope my queens will give me some answers.

Nash gets quiet every time I ask questions, so Zar reveals, “From a young age, Sire said he wanted to be a priest. For his father, it was an honor and?—”

“And it was strategic,” Delphine interjects, “because then his evil father could infiltrate the Russian Orthodox church, too.”

“So, Axel, as the second son,” Zar continues, “became the heir apparent to his father’s wicked empire.”

“Okay, so why is Nash before Sire as second on the throne?”

Zar raises his thick brow. “He never told you?”

“I suspect there’s so much to tell me; he’s pacing himself.”

Delphine nods, puffing her cigar.

“One night, years ago,” Zar taps his ashes, “Nadine was babysitting Nash’s girl.”

“Alena.”

“Yes,” Zar continues, “and some man invaded Nadine’s home. He tried to take Alena, but Nadine stood guard at her bedroom door. She fought him off and took a helluva beating for it until Nash got there and lived up to his name.” Pause. “He gnashed the man’s neck open before he choked him to death. So, in Nash’s honor for defending their mother, who was protecting his daughter, the brothers put him second in charge. When he needs to be, Nash is the most ruthless.”

I shiver. “Who was the man?”

Zar puffs. “Dead men tell no tales.”

The cigars and night-blooming jasmine on Zar’s trellis perfume the humid air. Tourists bustle on the summer streets below. A ship on the river blasts its horn in the distance. And I’m beginning to realize there’s far more to being a queen in this world than I ever imagined.

“Who is Seven?”

It’s been haunting me since my initiation. Nash will tell me in time, but I want to know now . Something compels me. It’s like a clock is ticking down, and I fear it’s to a bomb.

“I don’t know,” Zar answers truthfully. “He’s a lion in bear’s clothing—that’s all Nick has told me.”

I turn to Delphine, whose stare is trapped on the view of the church spires and glowing city below.

“You know. Don’t you?”

Silently, she nods.

“Will you tell me?”

Silently, she shakes her head.

“But… But…” I stammer. “Why do I feel like I need to know? Like, I’m okay with so many secrets, but not this one?”

Delphine rolls her lips, slowly stubbing her cigar out in a white marble ashtray on the coffee table of Zar’s balcony.

“Please understand,” her French accent soothes, “as my fellow queen, you will always have my love. But as Grant’s queen, he has my loyalty, too. He swore me to secrecy. Seven is my second king, and I cannot betray him.”

For the rest of the night, I fake reading while I sit beside Wren, sleeping on the sofa. We share a white, knitted blanket Zar gently drapes over me, then her, but while she sleeps peacefully, something troubles me until I doze off and awake to Zar making us breakfast. The smell of biscuits, bacon, and coffee makes my stomach growl, but I can’t eat.

Not until I see Nash. Not until he holds me. Not until I cling to him in this desperate need to feel like everything will be okay.

But I can’t fight this maddening feeling like it won’t.

It’s like something is about to explode.