The Fearless King (The Kings #2)(71)

He could lose her.

It wouldn’t happen because things fell apart in a mundane way, because she realized that Frank’s damage and hers were a recipe for disaster when thrown together. Losing her like that would tear out his fucking heart, but at least give him the comfort of knowing Journey was going on with her life. Living. Breathing. Pulling her tattered strength around her and moving through her days with purpose.

He could lose her in the same way he’d lost his mother and his old man.

At the very core of his being, Elliott was a bully. Since he couldn’t lash out at his mother, he would lash out at his children.

At Journey.

This position within Kingdom Corp was the first real power Elliott had in his life. Running Kingdom Corp, especially in the wake of his hated wife’s departure, was personal. He’d see Journey and his mother’s collusion as an attack against him, and he’d come gunning in the only way he knew how.

This time, he wouldn’t hold back.

Frank was sure of it.

Even with two of his best men watching over her, that bastard could still find a way to get to her. It could be as simple as lying in wait in her parking garage and shoving her into the trunk of a car. Or accosting her in a stairwell. I know how that ends. With her bent and broken at the bottom of the stairs. Too many scenarios kept playing in his head of Journey dead and gone, the life bleeding out of her hazel eyes.

And I can’t stop it.

Frank dropped to the sofa against the far wall. “He will hurt you,” Frank said. The only reason Elliott hadn’t done something irreparable up to that point was that pushing her out of the company she lived and breathed would hurt her more. Without that option, Elliott was a wild card. He would destroy his children if he could. Frank nodded to himself. “I’ve been working on increasing the security in your building. The goal was to have it done before we came back from the Hamptons, but obviously that timeline changed. It will be finished in a few days. You’ll stay with me in the meantime.”

She raised one eyebrow, a deep understanding shifting through her hazel eyes. “I see.” Journey laughed softly. “God, you really are a big spiky marshmallow, aren’t you? Did you try to pull this shit with Beckett when he went toe-to-toe with my mother?”

“Beck’s just as stubborn as you are, and that time I backed down. But I won’t make the same mistake twice. It kills me that so much was stolen from him.”

“Frank…” She reached up and cupped his jaw. “You can’t save everyone.”

“You don’t think I know that? If I could have, I would have saved my parents.”

There it was. Out in the open. He’d been so fucking powerless when the cops came and took away his father, and during his mother’s rapid decline when he watched her slip through his fingers more and more with each day that passed. If she’d agreed to surgery and chemo, there was a chance she could have beaten the cancer, but she decided to forgo treatment. She died a little more each day and there was nothing Frank could do to stop it.

Just like he hadn’t been able to save Beck from a soul wound.

Just like all his precautions hadn’t saved Journey from being hurt.

He ran his hands over his head. He never lost control. Never. But these days he was a runaway train and there was no stopping it until he eliminated the threat. Taking Journey somewhere he could ensure her safety was the only thing that would calm him.

But she’d been hauled around enough in her life.

“Come home with me.” He stopped and tried to moderate his tone. “Please, Duchess. I refuse to lose another person I love over something I can prevent.”

Journey moved to stand in front of him and stared up into his eyes for a long moment. He was too fucked up to maintain his normal calm mask, and whatever she saw there was enough to have her nodding. “I just need to run by my place to pack an overnight bag.” She held up a hand when he would have protested. “This is just for tonight, Frank. You can’t hide me away in your secret house outside Houston and go to battle on my behalf. Anderson and I have a decision to make—Bellamy, too—and that can’t wait.” She shook her head. “Plus, I’ve already dropped the ball enough when it comes to my job. If I’m gone longer, the whole place will be falling apart.”

“Duchess—”

“That was not a request—that was me stating my plans.”

If he didn’t accept them, she wouldn’t leave with him. That much was clear. “My men stay in the room with you while you’re in the Kingdom Corp building.”

She opened her mouth, seemed to reconsider, and closed it. “They can stand by my office door and glower at anyone who walks past.” When he hesitated, Journey sighed. “Frank, no matter what you think is going to happen, I do have meetings that require confidentiality. I’m not calling the trustworthiness of your people into question, but the fact remains that they will stand outside a closed door while I conduct my business. Understood?”

How had he mistaken this woman for a broken thing? She might be bruised and a little battered in both body and soul, but that just made her strength shine brighter. If circumstances hadn’t taken her down her before now, they wouldn’t.

Elliott has to have realized that by now. He’s got to know he can’t undermine her and discredit her because she’s found her legs and she’s not going to bend to his will. He never expected her to go over his head to Esther, and he’s going to be furious when he finds out.