The Fearless King (The Kings #2)(61)

Shit.

Frank walked over and leaned down. “Play it again. Slower.” The second the SUV came onscreen, he said, “Pause.” Frank pointed at the grille. “You see that?”

“Reinforced bumper.” Mateo leaned forward and frowned. “Hard to tell, but it looks like a rack you’d find on a cop car or armored vehicle.”

“Not something you see around here a lot.” Frank dropped into the seat across from the desk. Those kind of aftermarket bumpers weren’t exactly rare, but they were usually on trucks or SUVs that spent a lot of time on roads where wildlife was an issue—hit something with it, and the bumper would save the front end of the car in most cases. There were pavement princesses who had their shit all geared up like they thought they were some kind of badass, but…Coincidences upon coincidences. Too many to write off.

“They planned this to do the most damage they could.” He stared at the screen. “If they wanted her dead, better to hit from the driver’s side, but there is the chance someone might jump the green light and get in the way, lessening the impact. He didn’t try to stop, didn’t try to slow down. How did he know she was going to be at that intersection at that time?”

Mateo tapped a few keys, bringing up a different window on the screen. “She was staying a few blocks away while she was in town. Had a meeting with her father and oldest brother midafternoon, and came back all flustered looking.” When Frank shot him a look, he shrugged. “Come on, boss. You didn’t order the other siblings watched, but you would have eventually. I just anticipated your order.”

Since he would have ordered it if he wasn’t so damn preoccupied with Journey, he just nodded. “Something upset her enough at that meeting to bolt. Ten to one she was headed for the airport.” She wouldn’t have gotten far without the private jet, but easy enough to buy a commercial ticket this time of year. It wasn’t as if Eliza King was hurting for funds.

“She called to have help bringing her luggage down to the car.”

Which was how they knew exactly when she’d be at the intersection. She took the most direct route to the airport, and it was late enough that traffic wasn’t a huge issue. Child’s play to plan an ambush.

He tapped the arm of his chair. “Her old man didn’t like that she wasn’t going to play ball.” The was the only explanation. Unless…Wonder if Journey knows what that meeting was about? It was entirely possible that Elliott had put out the order to stop his youngest daughter from leaving Houston by whatever means necessary. But if that was the case, why not just arrange to have her nabbed off the street? She wasn’t an active part of Kingdom Corp. She held no value as far as the company was concerned, inherited shares aside.

So why was she in a meeting with Elliott and Anderson?

Frank ran a hand over his face and made a mental note to ask Journey about it when he saw her. “Let’s treat this as a separate incident for the time being and assume it’s not part of Elliott’s overarching plan.” All of Elliott’s actions up to this point had been directed at removing his children through bullying and intimidation. While he was more than capable of violence, murder was still a big step to take—and it was attempted murder. There were a thousand different ways he could have stopped Eliza from getting to the airport without endangering her the way the hit-and-run had. Elliott was too smart to escalate on this scale.

Unless he was desperate.

It still doesn’t make sense. I need more information.

Frank’s phone buzzed, and he frowned when he saw Beck’s name. “Hey.”

“You got time for a drink?”

He checked his watch. “It’s not even noon, Beck.”

“I have something I want to talk to you about.”

That much was obvious. His friend wasn’t the type to grab a drink in the middle of a workday, no matter how stressful life got. And he sure as fuck wouldn’t call Frank to do the same without cause. It was just as obvious that Beck didn’t want to talk about it over the phone. “Yeah. Normal place?”

“See you there.”

He hung up and found Mateo watching him. “What?”

“That’s some cloak-and-dagger shit right there, boss.”

Frank rolled his eyes. “No more so than what we were already doing.” He sat back. There were a couple of options available moving forward, and he didn’t like any of them. Elliott’s determination to take control of Kingdom Corp stemmed from either one of two places—him owing money to someone scary, or the Bancroft family finally utilizing him in their quest to devour any and all lucrative businesses in Texas.

He could have Mateo keep pulling the financial string, but at this point it was unlikely anything new would pop. Frank could arrange a meeting with Esther Bancroft and try to get a feel for the woman, but without more information and an ace or two in his pocket, that would tip their hand without any real benefit. All while keeping a close watch on Journey and hoping like hell he could counter Elliott’s next move before someone else got hurt.

Fuck. No good options.

The look on Mateo’s face said he’d realized the same thing. “What’s next?”

That was the question. “We need to know what went on in that meeting with Eliza and Anderson. I’ll talk to Journey King, but I want secondary confirmation.”