The Fearless King (The Kings #2)(17)

A man climbed out of the waiting car, and she stopped short for a breathless moment before she recognized her older brother. “Bellamy!” Eliza dropped her bag and threw herself into his arms. The rest of this godforsaken state could melt into the Gulf for all she cared, but not her favorite brother. “I missed you so much!”

He lifted her off her feet easily and chuckled. “How the hell are you shorter than when I saw you last?”

“Shut up. I’m perfectly proportioned.” She smacked his shoulder. “You never came to visit like you promised.” Her birthday had come and gone six months ago and she’d invited him to travel to Rio with her. When he’d passed, citing work, Bellamy told her he’d come to New York that holiday season for a week. She should have known better than to expect him to follow through.

Should have known better than to take it personally when he didn’t.

Kingdom Corp came first. It had always come first for everyone in the family—except Eliza.

“You can put me down now, B.”

“Sorry.” He even sounded it, his regret poisoning her burst of good mood. Bellamy set her on her feet and held onto her long enough to ensure she didn’t fall. Then he grabbed her bags and hauled them to the trunk. “I thought you said you were only coming back for the week.”

“I am only back for the week.” She’d answered Anderson’s summons because she had no choice. Family was family, no matter how little she wanted to do with the associated business. Her modeling paid for pretty much anything she wanted, but Eliza was hyperaware of each passing year. She had an expiration date stamped on her forehead, and the money would dry up the day it hit. If she didn’t find a replacement income before then, she’d be forced to rely on King money to live.

Which meant coming back into the Kingdom Corp fold like her mother had always wanted.

She slid into the backseat and scooted over so her brother could join her. As soon as he closed the door, she turned to face him. “All right, spill. Anderson wouldn’t have summoned me back here for anything less than an all-out emergency, but he was sparse on the details.” She tried not to resent him for that, but she didn’t try very hard. As the oldest in the family, Anderson had always been destined for the CEO position within the company when their mother finally stepped down. No one had expected it to happen so soon, though.

Bellamy sat back with a sigh and loosened his tie. If Eliza wasn’t aware of how dire the situation was, her brother showing up in a suit was enough to have alarms blaring. B preferred to dress casual, and as the head of security for Kingdom Corp, the only people he normally had to deal with on a regular basis were either family or his team. He wouldn’t throw on a suit unless he’d just come from a meeting with an outside component.

His obvious reluctance to speak had her straightening. “You might as well tell me now. I’m going to find out soon anyway.”

“Elliott is back.”

Elliott. Never Father. Certainly not Dad or Daddy.

Bile rose in her throat, but many years of learning to control her expression kept the reaction off her face. “He’s been back before.”

“Not like this. He’s not crawling around, asking for money. He’s trying to step into the void Lydia created when she left town.” Bellamy met her gaze, his hazel eyes showing a concern that left her cold. “I thought Anderson would run him out of town, but for some reason he hasn’t—and he’s forbidden me to do it.”

Anderson had always stood between his siblings and the rest of the world, even with the eight years between him as oldest and Eliza as youngest. Maybe especially because of that age gap. When Elliott moved out, Anderson was twelve and Eliza was only four. He’d taken on a more adult role, rather than the protective older brother the way Bellamy was.

Of course, he hadn’t interacted that way with Journey.

She shook her head. No use thinking about that bullshit now. She was here because he’d called. If things went well, she’d be on a plane jetting off to a new photo shoot inside of a week. Worst case, it might stretch into two. Anderson couldn’t expect her to stay longer than that, and she would refuse even if he tried to keep her in Houston.

She wasn’t back.

She refused to be.

*



Journey rolled over and picked up her phone. Seven missed calls—Anderson four times, Samara once, Frank twice. She dropped her phone and buried her face in her pillow. Getting out of bed felt like too much energy right now. She’d stayed late in the office last night, working to mediate between two sales teams who had clashed over a mismanaged project. Technically, that wasn’t Journey’s job, but yesterday her father reassigned their boss to a different department, so yet more requirements had been loaded onto her until a replacement was found.

If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was doing it on purpose.

I do know better, and he is doing it on purpose.

She growled into her pillow. It was Saturday. She might work more Saturdays than she didn’t, but she wasn’t technically required to. There should not be so many damn phone calls waiting for her. They also weren’t going away, and she wasn’t going to get any rest until she dealt with them. Phone calls meant important, but not an emergency. If it was an emergency, Anderson would have sent someone to her apartment—or come himself. Ditto with Samara.