The Fearless King (The Kings #2)(12)
Anger flared in her hazel eyes, pushing them closer to a true gold than a brown. Her tremors stilled, and she leaned back and draped an arm over her chair, giving him a lethal stare. There she is. Journey thinned her bright coral lips. “Could have fooled me.” Another of those one-shouldered shrugs, as if last night hadn’t meant shit to her. “It’s irrelevant. The offer was a onetime thing. It’s not my fault you didn’t take me up on it.”
Realization snaked through him. I damaged her pride. It was the only logical reason for her chilly attitude despite the fact that she sought him out today. He shook his head. “You were out of your mind with fear last night. I don’t play the pity-fuck game, and I sure as hell don’t get off on the knowledge that I’ll be someone’s regrettable decision when they wake up and realize what they’ve done.”
“Frank Evans, so logical and cold.” She laughed softly. “Who would have thought that the only time you warmed up was when you had your hands all over a woman?”
They could go round and round like this for hours and get nowhere. “You said you need my help.”
Mira strode up with a tray of iced tea and water. She took one look at Frank’s face, chose to silently place them on the table, and strode away. He’d have to apologize later, but he was too fucking frustrated in that moment to worry about it.
Journey picked up her tea and took a cautious sip. “You deal in information as well as real estate.”
“That’s hardly a secret.” He hadn’t gotten to where he was simply by being good with money and knowing which properties were worth investing in and which should be cut loose. In any business deal, the person with the most information had the power. It didn’t matter who the players were outside of that deal, or how long their family had been in power in the city, or how large the number in their bank account. Information was the ultimate equalizer, and Frank used it ruthlessly. He’d paid too high a price not to learn that particular lesson.
The tension bled back into her body, starting at her shoulders and morphing her into a woman-shaped statue. Brittle. So fucking brittle. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Journey King had a twin and that was who sat in front of him, rather than the gregarious woman he’d met months ago over a potential business deal. To see her fire doused so effectively…It made him want to bundle her off to anywhere but Houston until she brightened back into the woman he’d been so damn drawn to.
She wasn’t his business—not if she wasn’t prepared to offer something in exchange for his help. He had to remember that.
Journey reached for her drink and then seemed to think better of it. She folded her hands in her lap and met his gaze directly. “My father fully intends to remove me as COO of Kingdom Corp—and then I expect he’ll go after my brothers’ positions as well. If he succeeds, he’ll run the company that my mother sacrificed everything for into the ground within five years. Sooner, more likely. I can’t let that happen.”
On the surface, it made sense, but it didn’t line up with how hard she clearly fought to keep her expression placid. The company was something all Lydia’s children loved to one degree or another. He understood wanting to fight for it—to do what it took to prevent an intruder from removing her and her brothers.
I could be misreading the situation.
He could be…but Frank didn’t think so. “How does your father plan on removing you?”
“By declaring me incompetent.” She gave a mirthless smile. “He’s handpicking a board that will have the power to make that call, along with a pet psychologist to dance to his tune.”
He studied her, considering the facts as he knew them. It sounded like the truth, but it still didn’t shine a light on the greater picture. Journey King had plenty of resources if she chose to use them. More so, Anderson King was not an idiot, and he had to know that getting into bed with Frank was a calculated risk that might not go in the King family’s favor. Anderson didn’t have the same racial and status hang-ups of most of the people who held power in this city, but he also wasn’t stupid. Frank held no love for the Kings, even if his attraction to Journey defied logic. Pinning this deal on hope that his desire to get her into bed would outweigh his business plans was a fool’s decision.
Which led him to exactly one conclusion. “Your brother doesn’t know you’re here, does he?”
“Bellamy isn’t concerned with my movements.” She said it so primly, he almost smiled.
Frank leaned forward, reclaiming the space he’d vacated earlier. “You know damn well I’m talking about Anderson.”
She shifted, as if she couldn’t decide whether to close the distance or put more between them. “Anderson can’t know. That’s part of the deal.”
Interesting. “What, exactly, are you asking me for?”
“I need my father gone.” She glanced around as if there were recording devices hidden in the room. “I mean, gone as in out of Houston like my mother is gone out of Houston.” When he didn’t respond, she sighed. “The usual scandal stuff won’t work. He’s been a scandal since he could walk—he’s immune to it at this point. Old news. None of the cheating or alcohol or drugs will be enough. The Bancrofts are too established—and their pockets are too deep. They’ll just pay someone off to sweep it under the rug. It has to be the right leverage, and I don’t have the ability to find it on my own.”