The Fearless King (The Kings #2)(68)

She walked into the lobby and breathed a small sigh of relief as José flanked her. He moved close in enough to say, “Ethan has secured the car. He’s out front. I’ve got your back covered.”

“Thank you.” She kept moving, scanning the faces of the people scattered through the lobby. No one seemed particularly interested in what she was doing, but that didn’t change the crawling sensation just beneath her skin. Something’s coming.

Her phone buzzed in her hand. She stopped short at the sight of her grandmother’s name. Journey glanced at José and followed his silent direction to the black SUV waiting at the curb. Once she was inside, she answered. “Twice in a single day, Grandmother. I’m honored.”

“I’ve considered the information you brought to me, and I’ll investigate the attack on Eliza.” No hint of frailness or age in Esther’s tone. Just pure command. “In the meantime, I will remove Elliott from his current position—on one condition.”

“I’m listening.”

“You and Anderson will vote with the board every time, without fail.”

Journey glared at the back of the seat in front of her. “You mean we’ll play the part of puppet for you and jump when you say jump.”

“Call it what you wish. That is my condition.” Esther’s voice softened. “I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing you children more often.”

Trap.

Nothing good came from her grandmother playing the gentle relationship card. There was nothing gentle or grandmotherly about Esther, and the fact that she thought Journey was stupid enough—or emotionally wrecked enough—to fall for it irked her. “I’ll discuss your terms with Anderson and Bellamy.” She took a careful breath. “In the meantime, as a show of good faith, you will call off Elliott.”

Esther laughed. “There’s some Bancroft in you, after all, isn’t there?”

“No, Esther. I’m all King.” She hung up and slouched back against the seat, every muscle in her body going slack and weak.

That’s when the shakes started.

She nearly dropped her phone as she dialed her older brother. Keep it together. You’re safe. She can’t hurt you. Elliott can’t hurt you. You’re winning.

This doesn’t feel like winning.

It felt a whole lot like defeat.

“Jo?”

She ran her free hand over her arm, debating asking Ethan or José to turn on the heat. “I just talked to our grandmother.”

“Grandmother…You talked to Esther?”

“Yeah. In a strange turn of events, she’s in Houston right now.” Her sarcastic comment fell flat. “She agreed to call off Elliott.”

“For a price.”

“Yeah, for a price. She wants control of Kingdom Corp, one way or another. In exchange for removing Elliott, she wants us to vote with the board majority every time.” The fact that their grandmother had control of the board was something Journey would have to think about in greater depth. She’d known many of those men and women for years—decades in some cases. Flipping their loyalty hadn’t happened in the last couple of weeks—the last couple of months, even.

Esther had been planning this coup for a long time, a spider constructing a web around an unsuspecting fly, waiting for the moment when it moved into just the right place to trap it and strike.

I am no fly.

We are not flies.

“If we agree to that, we might as well let Elliott take over, and walk away. It accomplishes the same damn thing.”

She bit back a curse. She didn’t disagree with her brother, but he was missing one very important point. “We can’t fight if we lose our positions within Kingdom Corp. We sure as hell can’t win. If Esther can take over the board, then we can damn well take it back. Agreeing is just a quick patch until we come up with a better plan.” When Anderson didn’t immediately speak, she leaned her head back against the car seat and sighed. “Yielding a single time doesn’t mean we’re weak. It doesn’t mean she wins.”

Silence for a beat. Two. “I don’t see a way out of this, Jo. I thought I had things under control, but after Eliza…”

“I know.” Anderson wouldn’t be coming in with a last-minute solution to save all their asses. Not this time. “Give me twenty-four hours to figure out a game plan and then we’ll give our answer to Esther.”

He exhaled harshly. “I can do that.”

“Thank you.” She hesitated. “It will be okay, Anderson. We’ll find a way through this. I promise.” Journey hung up and leaned forward to catch Ethan’s eye. “Take me to Frank.”





Chapter Twenty



Frank glanced up as Mateo walked into his office. No mistaking the look on his second’s face. “You found something.”

“I found something,” he confirmed. He drank from a giant mug of coffee, and his dark face was drawn and exhausted. Frank made a mental note to double Mateo’s hazard pay for pulling this shit together in such a short time. The man set the mug on his desk and passed over a manila folder. “I compiled this last night…” He looked at his watch. “Well, technically this morning.”

Frank flipped through the information, dread curling through him with each word he read. “That dumb fuck.”