High Stakes (The Kingdom Book 2) (36 page)

“Look. I know you have no reason to believe me, and I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. I owe him. So, he had me deliver flowers to her, here and at her work. He had me drop your sister off here the other morning. Then after the night of the ball, he called and told me the debt was paid. Sir, I think he …”

“He, what? For fuck’s sake!”

“I think he was responsible for your brother’s accident, sir.”

“You’re treading on lethal territory here.”

“Look, you don’t have to believe me; I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. But, something didn’t sit right with me, so I watched his condo. They hadn’t left until tonight … something happened and …”

“And?” I bark impatiently.

“Two hours ago he carried her out, unconscious. They’ve gone to the private hospital just outside of Boulder City.”

“Let me just get this straight, you work for him? How do I know you’re not playing me? ” I ask. I don’t want to believe this is true, because if it is, and Arianna is hurt somewhere, then I want to know about it. But if he’s playing me, this could be really fucking nasty, for him.

He sighs and hesitates before he answers, “I fucked around on her. Just before we got married, I cheated on her, and he had photographic evidence. He blackmailed me. I never wanted to rip you off, Mr. King, but I had no choice, I was trying to protect the girl I eventually fell in love with. After he had found her, he threatened the safety of her, and my family, if I didn’t work for him. I couldn’t risk that. So …”

“You fucking idiot. All this because you couldn’t keep your dick in your pants?”

I knew it. I fucking knew something wasn’t right and I sat on that feeling while the evil fucker was hurting my girl.

“Jack,” I bark. “Get the SUV up front. You,” I point at Aaron, “You’re coming with us.”

He nods solemnly.

“I’m sorry … about all of this …”

“You will be if we don’t get my girl back in one piece.”

I click open the safe, and do something I never thought I would have to do. I load my father’s gun, and tuck it into the waistband of my jeans. Aaron waits at the door with his head down in a defeated stance. I don’t want to, but I feel sorry for him. We have half an hour, maybe less, in the time it will take us to get to Boulder, so I’ll get everything out of him along the way.

“Hey,” Says a little voice from the doorway.

“Lottie. What are you doing here, babe?” I ask, trying to act as normal as possible.

“Your mom and Tara are with Spike, I need a drink. You busy?”

“Uh … yeah, I have some stuff I have to do. How’s the old boy doing?” I pull on my blazer as she talks. She shrugs before answering and her eyes start to glisten with tears.

“He doesn’t want me there.” Her voice cracks. I cross the room to pull her into me. When they brought Spike out of his induced coma, he was confused. Since he realized he can’t feel his legs, he’s been so angry, he doesn’t want anyone close. It’s not confirmed that he will never have the use of his legs, but there’s a strong chance. Lottie is taking his rejection personally, although at the moment, Spike is just mad at the world. I know that feeling.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and rest, Lottie? It’s been a tough few days.”

“Will you stay with me?” she asks.

“I-I’m sorry, Lotts, I have something I need to do.”

“Like what?” She narrows her eyes at me and I know I’m not covering this well. “Who’s he?” She tilts her head toward Aaron and narrows her eyes. Her radar is sharp, and I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this one. “Denham … What’s going on here?”

“I can’t tell you. Please trust me on this.”

“Has it got something to do with Arianna? ’Cause if it does, and I find out you didn’t tell me, I’m gonna …” She’s standing on her tiptoes, getting redder in the face with every second that she talks and as much as I would like to stay here and tell her everything I know, this is wasting time.

“Okay. I know where she is and I’m going to get her back. I can’t stand here talking all night; I will fill you in when I get back. Hopefully with her.”

I usher her out of the office door and stride down the corridor with her hot on my heels.

“I’m coming.”

“No. You’re staying here.”

“Not a chance, King. She means as much to me as she does to you. Where are we going? You can catch me up on the way.”

Fighting with her is futile. I know I should have made up another reason for where I was going, but my mind is so consumed with getting Arianna back that I can’t think of anything else but her. Nothing else exists right now.

“Fine, but you stay in the car,” I tell her.

“We’ll see.”

Fucking stubborn woman.

Aaron fills Lottie and me in, the best he can, on the way to Boulder City. I actually feel sorry for the poor guy. I know he hit her, once. And I want to knock his head off his shoulders for that, but I’m more grateful that he thought to come to me now. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been any the wiser. I’m desperate to see her. I’m desperate to know that she’s okay.

I also find out that Jonny was indeed responsible for Tara’s situation the other day. He slipped a sedative in her drink at the bar that night then sent Aaron and someone else to dump her at The Kingdom. If I ever get my hands on that man, he’s going to be one sorry fucker.

We pull up to the medical center and park. There are a couple of other cars parked here, but everything is very quiet otherwise.

“Is his car here? Are we likely to walk into him?” I ask Aaron.

He scans his eyes around, and shakes his head. “Nope. None of these are his that I know of.”

“Okay. Look, guys. I don’t have a plan. If she’s okay, I want to get her out. If she’s not … well, let’s just see, okay. Lottie, I want you to wait here.”

“No fucking way,” she yells.

“Lottie. I need eyes out here; you know what he looks like. Jack doesn’t. Can you drive this?” I ask her, tapping the dash of the car.

“Of course I can,” she answers indignantly.

“Well, then I want it running and ready. Just in case of … well, just in case, okay?”

“Okay,” she pouts.

“Good, you’re as much use to me out here as you are in there.” I kiss her cheek, and she smiles sadly.

“Just bring my best friend back, okay?”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I’m here to see Arianna Fraser,” I say to the night staff at the desk.

“I’m sorry, sir, visiting time is over. You’ll have to come back tomorrow,” she replies professionally.

“Look,” I say sharply, my patience is near nonexistent and I’m trying my hardest to contain my anxiety. “I need to see her, and I’m not leaving until I do so.”

“Sir, I’ve told you there is no visiting now. Do I need to call security?”

“For fuck’s sake,” I grate out, dipping my hand into my pocket. Maybe I can buy my way in.

Aaron then lets out a howling cry and drops to the floor. My hand instinctively flies to the gun at the back of my jeans, but I don’t pull it out. I catch Aaron’s eye, and he flicks his head toward the corridor, before crying out again. The nurse rushes from behind her station, and calls out for someone to come and help her. Within a minute, there are three nurses surrounding him, trying to ascertain what the problem is.

He’s not in pain, he’s providing a distraction. It’s that moment that solidifies that he’s helping us, and not leading me into something I might not be able to get out of.

Jack and I run down the corridor and into the first wing on the left. There’s a whiteboard over the nurses’ station with room numbers and patients’ names.

“Room four. Jack. Room four,” I call out.

We run to her room, and burst through the door, stopping abruptly when I see her lying there. There’s a nurse tending to her, and Arianna looks so pale and helpless. She’s hooked up to a drip. There’s a monitor attached to her, measuring her heart rate. There’s a steady bleep echoing around the room, but that’s the only sound. She doesn’t open her eyes at the intrusion.

“Excuse me, sir,” the nurse snaps, turning a hard glare to me.

“I’m sorry. I … is she okay?”

“And you are?”

“I’m her … shit … I’m her fiancé,” I say, thinking it’s the only way she’ll tell me what’s wrong with her. I stand by the side of her bed and reach out to touch her face.

“But, the other guy,” the nurse answers confused.

It looks like I need to tell her the truth, and hope she believes me. “Look, I need to know what’s wrong with her, and if she can be moved. That other guy is her ex fiancé who beat her to within an inch of her life just a few years ago,” I explain, hoping it’s enough for her to not stop me.

“I remember,” she whispers.

“You do?”

“Yes,” she says sadly. “I was the one who sat with her every day. So when she came in this evening …”

“Okay, then you’ll know that I’m telling the truth,” I say, and she nods. “What’s he done this time?” I ask, not wanting to hear it, but I have to know.

“It wasn’t him this time. It was her. She tried to take her own life.”

“She, what? She ... how? Will she be okay?”

My girl. She … it was so bad that she didn’t want to be here anymore.

“She took sedatives, too many. But luckily for her, they were low dose. We’ve pumped her stomach, and we have her hooked up to an IV, but she’ll be okay. She’s gonna be out of it for a while.”

“Can we move her?”

“I wouldn’t recommend it, sir. She’s very vulnerable right now.”

“Okay, if I take her to another private hospital right away, can I move her?”

“Well, if you make sure she’s hooked up to the IV, I can’t see that it …”

“Good. Jack, give me a hand.”

I don’t give her a chance to change her mind, and I slide my arm around Arianna’s back carefully. I kiss her forehead tenderly, and it’s bittersweet to have her back in my arms. “Hey, Stunner,” I whisper. “We’re gonna get you out of here, okay?” I wish that we were somewhere else, another time, and another place. I would never stop kissing her. I would never stop touching her.

“I wondered how long it would take you,” The deep voice resonates around the room.

Fuck.

Jonny appears in the doorway. Only, he’s not on his own. He has Lottie in front of him. His arm around her throat and the other has a gun to her head. “You just couldn’t leave her alone, could you? You would have thought that after the warnings you had—”

Lottie struggles, and he tightens his grip with a cruel smile on his face. His strength is too much for a little thing like Lottie, it doesn’t matter how fierce she is.

I let Arianna back down on the bed gently, and stand in front of her. The nurse stands behind Jack, who is surveying the situation with a mask of calm and ease. But I know Jack. He’s ready, and so am I.

“Why do you feel like you have to have everything that belongs to me, huh?” Jonny asks cryptically. “You took over The Kingdom, and if that wasn’t enough, you took my woman, too.”

“Look. I don’t know what you’re talking about. But if this is about money, you can have whatever you want, name your price,” I say, meaning every word. If the last couple of days have taught me anything, it’s that I don’t have a damn thing if I don’t have my family and my girl.

He laughs, a manic, controlled laugh, and I feel everyone still. “You just don’t get it, do you? All my life, I’ve fought to be noticed. And you … you’re me, just minutes earlier.”

I hold my hands up on either side of my shoulders and try a different tactic. “Hey man, how about we go for a beer, talk it out? I’m sure we can work something out between us, you want a bigger share in The Kingdom, we can talk about it.”

“It’s too late,” he spits. “It’s all too late. You … You’re the reason everything goes wrong. You and your family. Your father took what was mine, and handed it to you.”

My father?

I feel the creases in my forehead pull together as I try and piece together what he’s telling me, but it still doesn’t add up.

“For a smart guy, you’re not so clever now, are you?” he sniggers, pulling his forearm tighter around Lottie’s neck, and the hand holding the gun shakes against Lottie’s temple. She whimpers, and I know we need to stop this now. “…and you’re still not fitting the pieces together, are you?” His eyes go wide as he pushes the gun hard into Lottie’s head and she cries out. “Simon Ackerman … Simon fucking Ackerman! Ring any bells yet?” he screeches.