The Fearless King (The Kings #2)(45)
Thank God. She grabbed his hand. “My family has a place in the Hamptons. It’s safe, and it’ll get us—me—out of town for a few days.” Long enough to figure out the next step without having a target painted on Frank’s chest.
An insufficient Band-Aid to a very large problem, but she wouldn’t be able to breathe until she knew he was safe—really safe.
He gave her another of those long looks. “That will work.” Frank typed out a quick text on his phone and then pulled Journey closer to tuck her beneath his arm. The warmth of his big body reassured her better than anything else could. “I have new security being installed in your building, and it will be ready in a few days. He won’t get to you again—not like he did before. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll keep you safe, Duchess.”
“Okay,” she murmured. Journey laid her head on his shoulder, making plans of her own. I won’t let him hurt you, Frank. No matter what it takes, I’ll keep you safe, too.
Chapter Thirteen
Frank didn’t realize that Journey had made alternative plans with Ethan until the man drove them to a private hangar at the airport. The plane sitting outside it wasn’t overly flashy as such things went, but there was no mistaking the King family jet. He pinned Journey with a look. “This isn’t necessary.” One thing Frank had never bothered to put money into was private transportation like this. It was easy enough to book an independent company for any traveling he needed to do, and he made a habit of resisting the urge to prove that he had the biggest dick in the room by making new-money purchases on things like jets and stupidly expensive cars and the like.
“On the contrary, it’s entirely necessary. As he’s more than proven by this point, Elliott isn’t above bribing people to do his dirty work. This plane is owned by my mother, and the staff is hers.”
He hated to burst her bubble, but Frank still didn’t know what had caused her reaction today. He’d left her in the hotel, looking a little lost and a little confused, and now she was sitting next to him, practically vibrating with nervous energy and shooting him looks like she wasn’t quite sure he was real. “Duchess, everyone has a price.”
Journey rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m aware of that. Just trust me on this—the staff of the plane isn’t bribable. Not by Elliott, anyway.” She opened the door and climbed out. “I’m sure you have calls to make, so you might as well do it now while you have some privacy. I have to talk to the pilot.” She strode to the stairway leading to the plane’s door and disappeared inside, leaving him staring after her.
He’d seen Journey King weak and flailing. He’d seen her drunk and laughing her ass off. He’d seen her coolly professional as she gave a presentation.
He’d never seen her take charge so efficiently before.
There was no doubt from the moment she picked him up outside his office. It wasn’t like the last time her father cornered her, where she’d needed Frank to step in and bolster her strength. Everything from her tone to the way she held herself was different this time.
He didn’t know why.
The entire drive to her apartment, he’d braced himself for her to come apart at the seams, to need him to hold her together. It never happened. When they arrived, she’d turned into a whirlwind, throwing together a small bag, and then muscling Frank into the elevator and down to a waiting car. All the while, acting like there were snipers on the roofs and boogeymen lurking just out of sight.
There was definitely something going on that she hadn’t told him about.
With a muffled curse, he called Mateo. The man answered instantly. “You okay, Frank? You went outside and never came back.”
“There was an incident.”
Silence for a beat. Two. “Do you need backup?”
“No, I have it handled.” There was no reason to think Elliott would follow them to the Hamptons—not when his plan was based so heavily in Houston. It gave them the window of time they needed to get security in place without Frank worrying about Journey. “I have the security being reconstructed in Journey King’s building, so I need you to put someone on it until it’s completed.”
“I’ll oversee it personally.”
“Thanks, Mateo.” He glanced out the window, but Journey hadn’t reappeared yet. “Ethan.”
The man nodded and got out of the car to head into the plane. Frank trusted his men with his life—with Journey’s life—but he’d found out the hard way that it was better not to let the left hand know what the right hand was up to. “You didn’t get a chance to update me before I was called away. Anything useful?”
“Not quite. A string of mistresses longer than my left leg. Two look like they were paid to abort his love child, and one disappeared off the face of the earth after he was done with her. I’m looking into the circumstances around that—if she disappeared or if she disappeared.”
Knowing what he did of Elliott, none of that surprised him. “Who paid them off?”
“Wasn’t his wife. She doesn’t seem to give a damn who he fucks as long as he stays the hell out of Houston. Nearly impossible to track the funds because they came from an offshore account, but my money is on Elliott’s mother, Esther Bancroft. She’s one mean lady, and fiercely protective of her little monster.”