Chapter 1

Chapter

One

LAINEY

T he clip of my heels as I crossed the tiled lobby offered a staccato beat to the morning's agenda. Karagiani followed in my wake. Bringing him with me had been a choice. The guys needed the peace of mind that I had backup, while I also preferred to know that each of them were not out there running alone.

The list of tasks we needed to accomplish had grown longer, while the window in order to complete them had narrowed even further. I'd chosen today's outfit with care. Word of my mother's death was practically front page news for the gossips among us.

The black pantsuit and blazer set the right tone for "mourning," even if I could barely register grief for Melissa Benedict Reed's death when almost all of my focus was on Andrea. Where was she? Who was she with? What was happening to her?

Appearances, however, had to be kept. The fact Tally was at a woman's power breakfast meant this was an ideal location to corner her. King wouldn't be with her, nor most of her family.

"Miss Benedict," a familiar voice said, equal parts solicitation and sympathy. It took a moment for me to register the woman approaching with her hand outstretched. It was the salt-and-pepper hair pulled fiercely back from her face and secured into a tight chignon that gave her away.

All hard angles and high cheekbones, Mrs. Johanna Thorpe had been born an Adler, however, I didn't hold that against her. She'd been a very good friend to my grandmother. I was well-aware that she sent her thoughtful gifts of her favorite flowers and the occasional treat basket though more and more, Grandmother didn't recognize any of us.

I accepted her offered hand and summoned a wan smile. The part I needed to play as a grieving daughter had some specific requirements. The gloves covered my hands and added to the atmospheric black I wore as did the equally opaque sunglasses. Grief, as with all things, needed to be fashionable.

"Mrs. Thorpe," I greeted her and tilted my head easily as she leaned in to press air kisses to each of my cheeks.

"Darling girl, what are you doing here? I assure you, everyone would have understood if you skipped the event."

I lifted my shoulders in the most careless of shrugs. "Mother had many interests, as you know."

None of which was the power of women entrepreneurs or the development of future leaders. Then again, a large number of the donors in attendance didn't do more than pay lip service and arrive promptly for the breakfast and the mimosas.

"She would be so very proud of you," Mrs. Thorpe said, her sympathetic smile turning a bit maudlin. "I wish?—"

"So do I," I said, cutting her off before she brought Grandmother into it. "But if you'll allow me, I'm just going to make an appearance, listen to the introductory speaker and then slip out quietly so I don't distract from the rest of the event."

"You won't be a distraction at all." Despite her firm words, some of the worry around her eyes eased. "But if you need anything, anything at all. Let me know? I'm sure you will release the funeral and memorial service plans soon."

Well, this was as good a time as any to begin spreading the word. "Perhaps. Though with the crash and all…" I just let it trail off and Mrs. Thorpe nodded swiftly.

"Of course, of course. That makes so much sense. That poor family and your sister…" Genuine sorrow inhabited her voice and my heart wrenched at the open display. "Is she home…?"

"Not yet," I told her. "I'm going to her soon. We thought it best we keep her out of the immediate fray." I hated this lie more than any other. While we would absolutely have kept her out of the "fray", committing to the lie was a soul deep bruise that throbbed more with every passing moment. "If you'll forgive me, Mrs. Thorpe…"

I needed to escape this conversation before her pity drowned me. She squeezed my hand once more but nodded, murmuring, "of course, of course. Do let me know if I can do anything…"

Not lingering, I withdrew my hand and continued down the hall to where the marble tile gave way to carpeted floors. The lush hotel was an ideal location for the gathering of this size. The conference center meeting rooms easily accommodated more than twice the number I expected to see inside. The tables were spread out, with the more prominent members up front.

As always, wealth and power dictated precedence. Inside, the lights were lower and I had to remove my sunglasses. Wearing them through the hotel allowed my eyes to adjust to the gloomier room far more easily.

Serving staff weaved among the tables, delivering coffees and orange juices. The Benedict table was at the front. I didn't bother going to it. Every seat was filled with executives from different charities, as well as two vice-presidents from the company. Prior to the dimming of the lights, those executives would have given everyone a good look at my "absence" and fed the hungrier gossips.

For the moment.

The executives and the vice-presidents were better off attending than I was anyway. They didn't need to be wealthy to benefit from the networking and speeches. I scanned the room even as I moved more to the side. Karagiani actually settled next to me, his bulk offering me something resembling cover while I searched for my second oldest friend.

My other best friend. The bruise on my heart grew claws and dug in deeper. That sorrow couldn't be allowed purchase. I had a task to accomplish today and finding Tally was just the start of it.

As expected, she wasn't at the Marlowe table. Her family's wealth and position afforded her many of the same privileges as mine did. More so, at times, she wasn't the designated heir. Once upon a time, I'd envied her freedom but I was second-guessing everything now.

Everything .

As the director of the foundation crossed the stage to the podium, Tally murmured something to the woman she'd been speaking to and rose. I tracked her as she made her way through the room, skirting the center with the kind of skill we'd both developed over the years. Some presentations were deadly dull. If the only purpose for being there was to show our support and be seen, then our work was generally done when the presenters began.

The attention would be on the stage, and the much-lauded guests they'd spent a large amount of money to see while eating a generally tasteless meal of chicken and vegetables. The luxury wasn't even found in the seating arrangements. No, it was all about making sure the foundation got the bulk of the money and we got to pat ourselves on the back for our devotion to charity.

Mission accomplished as it were.

Tally paused. A hand to a shoulder here, another to the back of a chair, or a quick handshake as she made her graceful exit.

"You may follow," I reminded Karagiani. "Remember, I want to talk to her alone."

Another consideration, as we'd discussed this earlier. What Tally and I had to say was for us and no one else.

"I'll make sure no one interrupts. Don't leave my line of sight." Compromise offered.

"I can do that." Compromise accepted.

"Lead the way," he murmured. As Tally finally left the orbit of the tables, I moved. She was already diverting to an exit on the far side. If I recalled correctly, it was a hallway between other meeting rooms. She was either escaping to "powder" her nose and head to the bar or she was just leaving entirely.

Karagiani matched his pace to mine. I kept to the edges of the room, going wide. The only people in my path were wait staff who were placed at intervals in order to refill water or clear away finished plates. Not thirty seconds after Tally pushed out of the door, I was right behind her.

The light was brighter out here. A wide array of doors at the end of the hall opened out of the hotel, but I didn't let those distract me as I followed. There were no signs posted about other events taking place. I hadn't noticed any when we came in.

This was good.

Tally had her phone out and her focus was on it as she walked. Her fingers flew as she answered some text messages. My stomach sank as I tried to focus on everything I needed to know and everything I needed to say.

None were words I ever imagined saying. I picked up speed, gripped her arm and cut left through an open door into an empty meeting room. The low lights were more than enough to make out the stacks of chairs and folded up tables.

"What the he—Lainey!" Tally said abruptly as she spun to face me. "Oh my god. I've been so worried about you." She wrapped her arms around me in the kind of hug we often exchanged. So familiar and normally so welcomed. She even smelled like Tally with the faint touch of something floral underscoring her perfume.

In heels, we were practically the same height. Some of my unease must have communicated because she pulled back, her phone still fisted in her hand.

"I didn't know you were going to be here," she said, the faintest of tremors in her voice. It wasn't quite baby doll, but it betrayed a hurt she didn't want to advertise. My eyes narrowed at the first notes and I pursed my lips as I took a step away from her.

"Clearly," I said, hating every moment of this. Tally was my friend . One of my very best. If you'd asked me who were my most trusted, I would have said Em and Tally. This betrayal…it cut so deep and what was worse, I didn't think Tally even realized it. "But we needed to talk and I needed you to be unprepared."

Her eyes were troubled and her expression deeply concerned. She glanced from me to the doorway where Karagiani stood guard then back again. I didn't take my gaze off of her. "Alright. What's wrong?"

"Are you seeing Julius King?" So many questions I'd wanted to ask. Too many more I wanted to say. But it all came down to this one question. Tally adored older men. She always had. She loved them older, wealthy, and just this side of scandalous.

Julius King more than fit that criteria.

Even with the proof that Bodhi had brought me, a sliver of me held on with both hands to the numb hope that we were wrong. That it was just a coincidence or a rumor. Maybe it was something else entirely.

The moment I asked her, her expression shuttered and that fragile hope died a swift death. "Why are you asking?" Her eyes narrowed. "You know I don't always talk about my paramours."

"Usually because they are married," I reminded her of a string of regrettable decisions during our twelfth year at school. "Or engaged. Or friends of your father." The words fired out of me like bullets. "I don't care about any of them. I care about whether you are seeing Julius King. Is he your man of mystery from the past year?"

"Lainey…" Pleading joined the surprise in her voice. "I?—"

"It's a simple yes or no, Tally. Is Julius King your lover?" It made me want to vomit even saying it.

Her gaze darted everywhere but me. The crash of my illusions and our history seemed to be fracturing like so many panes of glass. "I hate that you're asking me this."

"You hate it?" I raised my eyebrows. "I loathe that I have to think of that man putting his hands on you or you rushing into his bed."

"You've never cared before." Her nostrils flared. I'd insulted her. "Julius is quite the handsome man and extremely discreet. So I would very much prefer to not answer the question."

Which, of course, was an answer.

"Tally…" She really was seeing him. "Do you talk to him about me?"

"Of course I—" She hesitated when I raised my hand. "Lainey what is this about?"

"Tell me, do you bring up me? Or Pretty Boy? Or anything that you've seen or heard around me?"

"I assure you, that the men I'm seeing and I have far more to talk about than my best friend." But her discomfiture grew more intense. "You know, maybe we should go somewhere more private…"

"Do you know who Julius King is?" I said, ignoring that overture. "Who he really is?"

"Very well, I suppose we're doing this here. Have I mentioned you? In passing, yes. I love you and I worry about you. Sometimes, when he asks me what is troubling me, I tell him. You'd be amazed at what a wonderful listener he is. I promise, I've never been too indiscreet nor betrayed you. Though—I have brought up all the men who seem to be interested in you. It's rather sweet you know…"

Tears burned behind my eyes.

"Honestly, he wasn't all that interested. He just gave me an ear when I wanted to confess how worried I've been and how worried I still am. You have so much on your plate right now. Almost too much. I know with your grandmother and your mother… Then of course there's Hardigan. I'm glad he makes you so happy, but you've always had a thing for Adam and Ezra definitely has eyes for you. Even my brother can see it. When he sees something you know how real it is." Her smile turned almost coy. "I heard rumors about you and Phillip Cavendish though, and if that is true you've been holding out on me."

"Tally, Julius King had another name before he came to the city, before he took over the Royals and before he began twisting our families around his finger and sending them out to do his bidding." When she would have opened her mouth, I raised my hand. "That name was Jeff Hardigan. He lived in Braxton Harbor."

"Hardigan…" She almost stuttered. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, it would seem that your lover is so discreet he is keeping secrets from you. How unfortunate… But I need to make something exceptionally clear. Jeff Hardigan is the man who abandoned Milo and Emersyn when Emersyn was a baby. He is the reason Em was adopted by the Sharpes because he left them in the care of their drug-addicted mother."

Tally paled.

"He abandoned them. Then he came here and manipulated his way into controlling the Royals and using those connections to control others through blackmail, coercion, and lies to do his bidding, whether it was killing people or stealing from them. He is in every way a loathsome man who makes the emptiest of promises, because all he wants is to win and he doesn't care who he uses to get there."

Head dipping, Tally stared down at her phone and then up at me.

"A few months ago, he came to tell me that Andrea was being tapped because Adam had walked away…"

Horror drifted into Tally's face.

That horror offered me the smallest measure of comfort.

"She's twelve—thirteen. She's still a kid."

"He doesn't care. How old do you think Adam and Ezra were? How old do you think your brother was?"

I knew who they all were now. Adam and Ezra had given me every name. Not all of them were influential, but he had his hands into every family.

"So maybe you should ask yourself who you think you are sleeping with and what he wants from you…"

"Lainey, I promise you. I didn't know."

"I believe you," I said. "But I can't trust you right now, Tally. I don't know that I can again. King made moves against Milo, against Andrea… against so many." He was involved in that damn arranged marriage too. "Whether you realized what you were telling him or not, you are in bed with the enemy."

That was what I'd come to say as much to get the last bit of proof and to give her that warning. I owed her that much.

"What can I do?" She grasped at my arm, the horror in her eyes a real misery. "Please tell me what I can do. I didn't know. I'm so sorry…"

"Get away from him. Get out of that relationship. Walk away and protect yourself." I didn't have the resources to protect her right now. "I mean that, protect yourself. You can't stay with him. If you decide you are going to… then understand when I come for him, I will burn down everything standing between me and that goal."

If she betrayed this, then my warning to King would be delivered. If she didn't, if she escaped… then at least she might be safe. Either way, it was a calculated gamble. I really hoped she left him.

Tugging my hand from her grasp, I slid my sunglasses back on and pivoted. I had nothing else to say. No other words to push past the crushing weight in my chest. I was walking away from one of my oldest friends because her choices endangered everyone else I loved.

Karagiani swept aside as I approached and I didn't look back as I strode down the hallway. I hated leaving Tally behind, but I couldn't save her from this. I'd warned her. It was on her to save herself.

I had to save my sister and protect my lovers.