I step out of the elevator and into the hallway. There is only one room on this floor of the hotel—the presidential suite. The two armed guards who always stand sentry at the door smile at me as I approach.
“Buenos días, Ms. Montoya,” they say in unison.
“Buenos días, guys. Is he in?”
They nod.
“Is he alone?”
“Yes,” they reply.
I heave a sigh of relief. I’m not sure how he’s going to take the news of my decision, but one thing I do know is that he will deal with it a whole lot better than my mom.
I open the door and step into the expansive and luxurious hotel suite. His office is in the corner and the door is open. I cross the room, my sneakers not making a sound on the plush carpet, until I’m standing in the doorway. As I expected he’s sitting at his desk, his brow furrowed as he stares at his computer. Dressed in one of his impeccably tailored suits, his biceps bulge out of the fabric as he rests his hands under his chin and frowns at something on the screen.
Alejandro Montoya.
The King of LA.
My father.
He is an imposing sight and I wonder how many people have stood in this doorway full of fear and terror as they wait for the attention of the man who fills the entire room with his presence. I shift from one foot to the other and the movement must catch his eye because he looks up, his frown transforming into a smile.
“Buenos días, mija,” he says, pushing back his chair and standing up.
“Buenos días, Papi.” I smile back as he walks toward me and pulls me into a hug.
“This is a nice surprise, but I thought you were checking out that new place today?”
“I just came from there now. I don’t think it’s for me,” I say with a shrug.
He scowls at me. “What? It’s perfect for you.”
“No, Papi. It’s perfect for you. It’s too big for me and Matthias. I’d feel lonely in a place so big.”
“But…” he starts but then he presses his lips together and draws in a deep breath through his nose. The two of us have been arguing over where I am going to live for months now.
I love my apartment by the beach. It’s the perfect size and location for me and my four-year-old son, Matthias, but if my father had his way I would be living in a huge gated mansion, much like the one he arranged for me to see today. I have agreed to look at some places to keep him happy, but deep down he knows this is a fight he won’t win. I love that he accepts my independence, because I know how hard it is for him to let me go.
“Fine,” he eventually says with a shake of his head.
“Thank you, Papi,” I reply as I give him a soft kiss on his cheek.
“So, why I am being blessed with a visit from you this morning? You’re still coming for dinner tonight, aren’t you? Your mama is making her famous bacon cheeseburgers and if you deprive her of yours and her grandson’s company, neither of us will hear the end of it.”
I can’t help but laugh at the look on his face when he talks about my mom. He might be the King of LA and have the toughest and most ruthless of men quaking in terror at the mere mention of his name, but it is my mom who makes us both tremble with fear. She can bring my father to his knees with a simple look. She is the kindest, but fiercest woman I have ever known.
Alana Montoya isn’t my biological mother, of course. That would be a physical impossibility given that she’s not quite thirty yet. Alejandro Montoya isn’t my biological father either. They adopted me when I was seventeen and every day since then they have loved me as much as if I was their own flesh and blood. I couldn’t ask for better, or more loving, parents.
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” I say.
He frowns again. “Then make yourself comfortable.” He indicates the chair opposite his desk before returning to his seat.
I wait until he’s settled before I speak because I’m pretty sure he’ll want to be sitting down for this. He stares at me, his dark brown eyes full of concern and trepidation.
“I’ve finished college and you and mom agreed that I could do what I wanted to as long as I got my degree.”
“I remember.”
“Well, I’ve given this a lot of thought and I want to join the family business.”
“Well, your mama will be pleased to have you on board,” he says with a flash of his eyebrows, because he knows that is not what I mean.
My mom took over the running of the women’s and children’s shelter she worked at two years earlier and since then she has gone on to set up her own charitable organization to support abuse victims across the whole of the Unites States. She does this all while raising my two younger brothers and being an amazing mom to me and grandma to Matthias.
She is a superwoman and I admire her and her work greatly, but that’s not the kind of business that excites me.
“You know that’s not the family business I’m talking about, Papi.”
He sucks in a breath and leans back in his chair, his fingers steepled under his chin. “Lucia,” he warns with a shake of his head.
“What, Papi? I’m not cut out for charity work, you know that. You also know this is the life I was born for. It’s in my blood and I can’t change that. I wish that I could.”
“This world is dangerous.”
“I know that,” I remind him. I watched the man I believed was my biological father and my two older brothers slaughtered when I was fourteen years old. “Is it really any less dangerous working in one of Mom’s shelters?”
He stares at me for a few moments. I love our relationship. Despite only being in my life for the past four years, he is my father in every sense of the word. He understands me in a way that my mom doesn’t, and even though I know it’s hard for him, he treats me like an adult and lets me make my own decisions. He jokes that it is the only way to prevent his hair turning gray, but I also know that it is because he recognizes that the same animal he has inside him — one that will never be tamed — lives in me too.
He arches one eyebrow at me. “She will be heartbroken.”
“I know, but this is my decision and you both said that you would respect my choices. I’m twenty-one now. I’m not a child anymore. I don’t need your protection any longer.”
“Lucia! You are my daughter, and you will always have my protection, whether you want it or not,” he replies sharply, causing me to sit back in my seat.
“I know.” I swallow, conscious of not pushing him too far. He may treat like me an adult but he is still an overprotective father. “But you know there is a role for me here. I can be an asset to you and to the Montoya Corporation.”
“I know that,” he sighs, running a hand through his hair. “It would be much easier if that weren’t true.”
“So, you will speak to Mom?”
“Oh, no,” he chuckles and shakes his head. “You’re such a grown up, you can speak to your mama tonight at dinner.”
I groan loudly, like a petulant teenager.
“But,” he adds, “I will be there and I will help you smooth things over.”
“Thank you, Papi.” I smile at him.
“Did you purposely choose to tell her this news the night before we go to London?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at me. He knows me far too well.
I shrug. “Well, I figure a week-long vacation in London with you will be the perfect way for her to come to terms with my decision.”
He laughs as he shakes his head. “You truly are my daughter, chica.”
Pride swells in my chest at that statement. Both my biological father and the man who had raised me as his own until I was fourteen were cold-hearted and cruel men. Some might say that is true of the man sitting before me, but he has shown me nothing but love, compassion and patience and I am proud to be his daughter.
I am about to reply with a snappy comeback when he looks behind me and smiles.
“Hey, amigo,” he says. My heart beats faster in my chest and my stomach flutters in excitement. I know who just walked into the room before I even turn around.
I turn in my seat anyway to seat to see Jackson Decker, or Jax as he is more commonly known, stroll into the room. He is my father’s best friend, his most trusted soldier and his brother in all but blood. He is the smartest man I know. He could have done anything he wanted to with his life, but he has worked for my father since he was sixteen years old, and the two of them would be lost without each other.
Jax also fills a suit like no one I have ever met before. He is six feet four inches of muscle and tattoos, and I know this because I study him every single chance I get. I first developed a crush on him when I was sixteen and he bought me pizza. But now, well it’s a full blown obsession. He is way off limits for many reasons, but that doesn’t stop me fantasizing about what it would be like to have those huge hands of his running over my skin. I clench my thighs together as dirty thoughts of him make warmth spread through my core.
“Hey.” He nods a greeting to my father before he turns to me. “Good morning, Lucia,” he says in his soft Southern drawl that makes my insides turn to melted chocolate.
“Hey, Jax.” I snap out of my daydream and plaster a polite smile on my face as I watch him walk past, trying not to stare at his fine ass in front of my father.
He stops a few feet away from me, leaning against the nearby cupboard, stuffing his hands into his pockets until the material of his trousers is stretched taut across his thick thighs. I have to stop myself from licking my lips and drag my eyes away from his whole groin area, remembering that my very protective and violent father is also in the room.
“Everything okay?” Jax asks with a frown as the room falls silent.
“Lucia has decided she’s like to join the business,” my father replies with a flash of his eyebrows.
“Oh, wow.” Jax grins at us both. “Does Alana know yet?”
My father chuckles softly.
“Not yet. I’m telling her later at dinner,” I reply.
“Hey, it’s your funeral, kid,” he says and I feel a pang of disappointment. What had I hoped for? That he would give me a hug and tell me he can’t wait to spend more time with me? But then he winks at me and I almost melt into a puddle.
“You’re still coming to dinner, right?” my father asks him.
“Well I sure wouldn’t miss it now.” He flashes me one of his incredible smiles before he takes a bottle of water from the side and opens it up.
The room is quiet again and there is a nervous energy crackling through it that I can’t quite figure out. Or perhaps I am imagining it and it’s all coming from me because I feel all kinds of things I shouldn’t whenever I am around Jax.
I need to break the tension before I say something completely inappropriate. “I’d better go. I have to go and pick up some things from my place,” I say as I push myself up from my chair.
“You and Matthias are going to stay over tonight, right?” my father asks.
“Sure. Then the boys and I can wave you off before we trash the place.” I grin at him.
“Don’t even joke about things like that in front of your mama later, Lucia,” he warns me. “Do you have any idea how hard I had to work to persuade her to leave the twins for a week to go to London?”
“Hmm. I can imagine.” I laugh. My twin brothers are almost two years old and my parents had thought they may never have biological children of their own. We were all overjoyed when they eventually conceived after fertility treatment. Due to some complications when the twins were born, they—and me of course—are to be their only children. My mom hates to leave them even for one night, but my father’s cousin is getting married in England and she has begged them both to attend the wedding, so he has finally convinced my mom that I can be trusted to look after my little brothers for a week.
I love my apartment near the beach, but I can’t deny I’m looking forward to spending a week in my parents’ beautiful house in the Hills. The place is so huge, it should come with its own zip code. Of course I could live there permanently if I chose to, but I love my freedom and my independence too much. It’s stifling enough being the daughter of the King of LA without living with him too.
“I just dropped my car at the shop. It needs new tires. Do you think someone could give me a ride?” I ask hopefully.
“Of course,” my father replies.
“How about you, Jax?” I ask with a smile and a subtle flutter of my eyelashes.
Jax clears his throat and looks at my father. “As long as you don’t need me for anything, amigo?”
My father shakes his head. “No. In fact I was going to ask you if you could have a word with Anton and his team. They’re at the club. You could drop Lucia on the way?”
“Perfect,” I say, jumping up from my seat a little too quickly and revealing my eagerness to be alone with Jax. But what the hell. This is just a little bit of fun, right? There could never be anything between him and me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy flirting with him outrageously every chance I get.
“Can I have quick word before you go?” my father asks. His question is directed at Jax and the tone of his voice also lets me know I’m excused.
“You know I’m going to have to be party to these conversations soon, right?” I flash my eyebrows at him.
“Yes, but you don’t work here until you have spoken to your mama and she agrees to it.”
“Fine,” I say with a dramatic sigh. “I’ll see you later.”
“Hey,” he snaps as he stands from his chair and holds his arms wide.
I walk over and give him a hug. “Bye, Papi.” Then I turn to Jax. “I’ll wait for you in the hall.”
