Page 51 of The King of Hearts (The Raven Group #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY

HER

I ’m jittery as I sit at one of the square tables at The Bean Shop and wait while Tomas and Emersyn grab their coffees at the counter.

The surface of the table in front of me is littered with tiny round balls of napkin because I’ve shredded the two that were given to me.

I got here before they did, so I grabbed my frozen coffee and took a seat to wait.

When they walked through the door a moment ago, they noticed me, Em with a smile and a jovial wave, and Tomas with a look of indifference.

It was the look from Tomas that made a place in my chest to start hurting.

He’s irritated with me, and I don’t blame him.

I was a coward and left it up to Em to tell him of the current events.

I just didn’t want to see or hear his disappointment.

Between the three of us, Tomas and I have always had a slightly tighter bond.

I already have two brothers, but I’ve always considered Tomas an honorary third.

For him, he has no siblings. Besides his dad, Em and I are the only family he has.

I shift nervously in my seat, and my feet bounce under the table as Emersyn and Tomas approach.

I wish I would have sat farther away from the counter instead of the closest one to it to give myself more time.

I keep my eyes on Tomas. Still no emotion on his face as he takes the seat across from me.

Em sits directly to my right. I take a sip of my coffee and wait.

And wait some more. Neither says a word.

I feel like I’m under a guillotine waiting for the blade to drop.

I look at Em, but she has her face pointed down, seemingly mesmerized by the cold foam on the top of her coffee.

This is different for her. She’s usually the first to talk in any situation.

She and Tomas must have had one serious conversation before they got here.

When I can’t stand the silence anymore, I slap my hands on the table, making the little balls of napkin bounce.

“All right, this is ridiculous. Just get it out in the open, Tomas. I know I’ve hurt and disappointed you. I expect it and accept it, but you need to say it.”

He takes his time lifting his plain black coffee to his lips and slurps back a sip. He doesn’t look away from me, and neither do I from him. He waits until he’s placed the cup down on the table before he speaks.

“I’m not disappointed, Vina,” he says calmly. “Hurt a little, but only because you didn’t come to me yourself.”

I cross my arms on the table in front of me and lean into them. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want to talk about it any more than I had to. It was easier to have Em tell you. I’m embarrassed, and I hate that I allowed myself to be in this situation. Talking about it makes it more real.”

“From what I’ve been told, you didn’t put yourself in this situation. It was one made by Ryker, and he forced you into it.”

As he says that, darkness appears in Tomas’ eyes, and the hand on the table balls into a fist. I can only imagine what’s going through his head right now. All the ways he’s hurting Ryker on my behalf.

I reach across the table and lay my hand on his. I feel the tension radiating through him, but the moment my hand touches his, he relaxes his fingers enough for me to curl mine through the space between his thumb and index finger.

“That’s true, but it’s still partially my fault. I didn’t know it was him, but Ryker started coming to me a few weeks before he made himself known. I should have gone to my father after the first time it happened.”

I haven’t told anyone about the hearts he’s sent me.

Ryker made a comment about them during the meeting with my family a few days ago, but either they didn’t notice because of the other stuff he said, or they chose to ignore it.

One thing is for sure, I won’t be telling Tomas or Em about them.

It’ll only make them worry more. Emersyn only knows The Raven Group as a security firm, so murder and mayhem would freak her out.

Tomas has seen and done stuff for the group and wouldn’t be fazed, but his protective instinct would come into play, and like Dad and my brothers, there’s nothing he can do.

I am well and truly fucked. Ryker made sure of that.

“He was the one at the Sheppard Ball, wasn’t he?” Em guesses.

“Yes.”

“Has he hurt you?” Tomas demands.

He has, but not in the way he’s inquiring about, so I give him the partial truth. “No.”

He wraps his hand around his cup like he’s going to pick it up, but it stays on the table. “Explain this to me, Vina. Why in the hell did you agree to marry him?”

I look down at my own coffee cup, unable to meet either of their eyes. “I’m pregnant.”

“Yes, so I’ve been told,” he says with a hint of bitterness. “But that still doesn’t answer why you’re marrying him. People every day have babies without getting married.”

I can’t tell him the truth with Emersyn sitting here. That’ll have to be a private conversation between only us at a later date. One I’m not looking forward to because his reaction will be nearly as bad as my family’s.

I lift my eyes and meet his. “I don’t want my child born out of wedlock.”

He grunts, the sound coming out almost a snort. “We live in the twenty-first century. That excuse isn’t good enough. There’s another reason why you’re allowing this to happen.”

The lines around my eyes tighten, and I flick my glance to Em, hoping he understands what I can’t say aloud and praying Emersyn doesn’t catch on to what I’m doing. After a moment, he gives me a subtle nod and drops the subject. Thankfully, Em doesn’t notice the silent exchange.

“What I don’t understand is how you got pregnant in the first place,” Em says. “You said you still had your v-card.”

“I’m sure you can use your imagination and come up with how it happened. I personally don’t want to say it out loud, so…”

She purses her lips together, and the wheels in her head spin for a couple of seconds before her eyes widen. “Oh… shit. That bastard is sneaky.”

I nod, but don’t say anything.

The bell over the door rings, distracting us for a moment.

A couple of guys I’ve never seen before come strolling in.

They stop just inside the doorway, look around the place, before proceeding to the counter.

Before I bring my attention back to the table, I look over at the man standing near a corner, out of the way of the tables.

His position gives him the advantage of seeing everyone in the room.

As if sensing my eyes on him, Marcelo pulls his attention away from the newcomers and settles it on me. I’m still angry at him for his duplicity, and I let him know it by glaring. Of course, he isn’t fazed in the slightest.

“I know your brothers and father told you the same thing, but you let me know if he does anything to hurt you.”

I look back at Tomas. “I will,” I lie.

There’s no way I’ll tell him if Ryker hurts me.

And neither will I tell my family. They’ll go after him, and in the process, they may get hurt.

Time and time again, Ryker has proven there are no limits of what he’ll do if his plans for me are threatened.

Either by physically harming, or worse, killing, that threat.

Or by releasing information that would put them in prison.

“When’s the wedding?” Emersyn asks.

“In two days.”

Em’s eyes widen. “He doesn’t waste any time, does he?”

I spin my cup on the table. “Apparently not.”

“Do you even have a dress?”

“No, and I don’t plan to look for one. Ryker wanted this, so he can do all of the planning. Or I’ll simply show up in shorts and a t-shirt.”

Em grins. “That’s my girl. Make his life miserable.”

“That’s the plan.”

There’s a commotion beside us, and in unison, we look over.

Everything happens so fast that there’s no time to react before my arm is grabbed in a bruising grip, and I’m yanked up from my seat.

A solid band in the form of an arm wraps around my waist, and I’m tugged back against a hard chest. Something hard and cool presses against the side of my head, and instinctively, I know it’s a gun, even before I smell the residue of gunpowder.

The whole place goes haywire. The few people sitting at tables jack up from their seats, many of them making sounds of alarm. One of the two men who walked in a few moments ago is at the counter, holding a gun on the barista, and I’d bet my last dollar that the second guy is the one at my back.

“Everyone stay calm or these two bitches will have a bullet in their skulls,” the guy at the counter says.

Fear seizes my lungs, and I wouldn’t be able to suck in air even if the arm around me wasn’t so tight. I lock eyes with Tomas. He’s up from his chair, but still across the table from me. He’s shoved Emersyn behind him, but her head peeks around his side, her eyes filled with terror.

The gun presses harder against my temple, and the arm constricts even more. So much so that it’s hard to breathe.

“Ease up, asshole,” Tomas growls. “You’re hurting her.”

“You think I’m hurting her now?” the guy behind me asks. “I wonder if she’ll feel it when I pull this trigger. That’s what’ll happen if you don’t shut the fuck up.”

Tomas’s mouth flattens into a firm line, and he doesn’t say anything else.

“Now, this is what’s going to happen,” the other guy says.

“The lady here is going to empty out the cash register. While she’s doing that, all of you fuckers empty your pockets.

” He points to our table. “One by one, everyone drops their valuable shit on that table. Ladies, don’t forget to leave your purses. ”