Reign of a King (Kingdom Duet #1) - Rina Kent Page 0,17
hidden agenda and he won’t stop until he achieves it. Whether I survive or perish at the end is the least of his concerns.
“I’ll give you time to think about it, and then I’ll send a driver to your house.”
“How do you know my address?”
He continues as if I didn’t just ask him a question, “If you don’t show up at my house tonight, Harris will start H&H acquisition procedures tomorrow morning.”
“How…how is that a choice?”
“It is. You’ll always have a choice with me, Aurora. Be smart. After what you did to Maxim, I expect that of you.”
“I told you not to say his name,” I snap.
He watches me peculiarly for a second. I expect him to invade my space again and confiscate my oxygen, but he turns around and leaves with the same savage power he walked in with.
Air whooshes back into my lungs and I fall on the chair, my heels scraping against the ground. It’s like he stole my thought process, and I can now have it back.
Or not really.
Now the air is thick with his indecent proposal that’s hanging over my head like a guillotine. I’m not an idiot. I know Jonathan wouldn’t pay so much money for pussy. I mean, he’s the Jonathan King. He can have whomever he wishes.
So why me? What the hell does he want from me?
The door opens and Layla rushes inside holding two cups of iced coffee. “That bastard had a smile on his face as he left. That’s not good, is it?”
“We’re screwed, Lay.”
We sit across from each other as I tell her all about Jonathan’s proposal and the price he demands I pay.
“That piece of S!” She jumps to her feet, pacing the length of the office and slurping from her coffee cup. “You can sue him for sexual harassment.”
“He didn’t force me. If anything, he wants me to be one hundred per cent willing.”
“D. I. C. K,” she spells out.
“There’s something else, Lay.”
“What? What is it?” She crouches in front of me, her mouth releasing the straw with a gentle pop and dread forming a crease on her forehead.
“I don’t think I’m his endgame. There’s something else I can’t put my finger on.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hmm. I must say, it makes sense. He’s Jonathan King, right? He wouldn’t pay so much for a mistress.”
My nose scrunches at that word. I can’t believe the bastard actually suggested that he gets…me. Out of all things, it had to be that.
“Is it because of your sister?”
“What?”
“You’re a carbon copy of her, even Ethan noticed that. Surely Jonathan noticed it, too. Maybe he wants you to be her replacement.”
“That’s…sick.”
“I know, but this is Jonathan. He’s kind of sick. You can tell that underneath all the silver fox appearance, there’s a Satan’s spawn. You can’t eliminate any possibility.”
“You know, I always hated him because Alicia had acute depression and he made it worse. I could feel it even when I was a little girl. And remember those articles that speculated she didn’t die because of an accident but from committing suicide? I believe them, Lay. I believe he’s the major reason my sister could’ve made that decision. And now, I have to relive her fate?”
“Oh, come here.” Layla wraps an arm around my shoulder. “You won’t, okay? We’ll start from scratch. Just the two of us, like when we were fresh out of uni and clueless. Remember those times we stayed up all night? You have the talent and I have the brains. We can totally do this again, mate. Jonathan King can suck our Ds.”
I laugh despite myself. “How about our employees?”
“We can keep some and help others search for work. Many small businesses do that.” There’s a sadness in her voice as she speaks.
I shake my head. I can’t do that to her and to them. Layla and I spent too many sleepless nights to stop now or to allow Jonathan to bring us down.
Besides, I doubt he’d leave us alone. If we choose to walk away, there’s nothing that would keep him from coming after me again. Knowing him and his ruthless ways, he might even let us prosper for a while just so he could swoop back in and announce ownership of our new company like he did today.
I won’t spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder because of Jonathan King.
I’m already doing that because of another devil. I’ll never let it repeat.