PRESENT
When something bad happens, I feel it beforehand.
It’s one of the additional senses I have aside from predicting monetary income and international markets’ values.
No one believed me when I told them decades ago that the Chinese and the Russians were the future. It’s due to that very reason that I have the strongest partners in said countries.
The moment I left the company, I sensed something was wrong. I checked on Levi and Aiden — by checking, I mean, Harris confirmed that my son was in a class at university and my nephew was at a football practice.
Yes, I do have people following my heirs around to ensure their safety. I always have since they were toddlers. I’ve lost enough family members for a lifetime and I will not be taken off guard again.
I step into the silent house. Its eerily calm atmosphere is almost like the cemetery from that day at the exact moment before my father had a cardiac arrest and passed away. On the day of my mother’s funeral.
He died of anguish, of fear of losing this house his father left him and the last reminder of Mother’s presence.
Persian carpets extend in my vision and Greek marble flooring shines under my feet. The vaulted ceilings and the handmade ornaments decorating the entrance and the rest of the house’s doors weren’t something we could afford when my parents were alive.
I did this.
I returned this house to its initial glory from when my grandfather was alive. Gregory and James King didn’t protect the family legacy, I did.
After everyone started doubting our position, I’m the one who transformed the King name into something people respect and speak of in a hushed tone, either due to awe or fear.
Coming this far wasn’t done through pleasantries or being nice. The only reason I get to sit on the throne is because I’ve slaughtered everyone who looks at it, let alone dares to approach it.
I’ve seen grown men tremble and nearly piss their pants when I acquisitioned their companies. I’ve had them throw lawsuits at me, just so I would crush them in court and take everything they have — and more. I’ve had men offer me their wives and their daughters if I would leave their companies alone, and I took pleasure in erasing their names from the business world.
Compromise and mercy are terms I abolished from my dictionary the day my father dropped dead over my mother’s fresh grave.
If I want something, I take it. Fuck the world and its weak people. If they’ve chosen to be in a position I can explore, that’s exactly what I do.
If I find a chance to grow the King name, consequences be damned.
Only one thing matters: my family.
So why the fuck have I been thinking about Aurora ever since this ominous feeling gripped me?
She’s not family. Far from it.
Still, I spend more time with her than I ever did with Aiden and Levi.
Her face is the only one I wake up to every day and fall asleep staring at every night.
She’s the one whose black strands I stroke when her pupils move beneath her lids and she’s struck by a nightmare.
That’s when she’s most vulnerable and can’t put up her walls or hide from me. I get to witness her bare.
The more I see, the more I want.
The more I dig my fingers into her, the deeper I want to go.
It might have started with her body, but it’s her mind that I want to invade and conquer.
Which shouldn’t happen, because I make it my mission to not get interested in any other human being.
I didn’t sign up for being consumed by Aurora, and I’ll put an end to it…eventually.
I check the notifications on my phone. Since Harris, the COO, and I spent the entire day locked in my office going through possible companies to add to our arsenal, I didn’t have time to send her the occasional email that usually implies how I’ll fuck her that night.
Besides, she’s the one who wanted a date, so I thought she would be the one to get in touch.
There’s only a missed call from her in the morning.
It doesn’t add up, considering she never calls me when she’s at work.
Something tells me she’s not home, either. Otherwise, there would be some music playing in the hall. She does that a lot, especially when her black belt friend is around.
“Dinner, sir?”
I lift my head from my phone and shift my attention to Margot. She stands with her hands intertwined in a respectful pose over her white apron.
“We’ll eat outside.” I slip the phone back into my pocket. “Have you seen Aurora?”
“She didn’t come home, sir.”
Huh. It’s past seven. She couldn’t have stayed at work this late — especially since she insisted on a date.
“If there’s nothing you need…” She nods.
“Where’s Tom?” He’s a decent butler, but he’s usually hanging on to her robes, waiting for an order. I’ll send him to Aurora’s flat and Moses will go to her work since she has no other place to go.
But there’s also Layla’s family restaurant. Harris will go there. She better not be spending time with Layla’s brothers, or the night will take a dramatic turn that will end with my handprint on her arse.
I have no tolerance for other people in her surroundings, not even people I trust, like Harris and Moses. It doesn’t matter that she’s known Layla’s brothers for a long time, as she likes to remind me. They didn’t come into her life first — I did.
“Tom stepped out for an errand, sir. Is there anything I can do on his behalf?”
“Have him find me as soon as he’s back.”
“Yes, sir.” As Margot disappears, I retrieve my phone and call Aurora again. She’s still not answering.
I type an email.
From: Jonathan King
To: Aurora Harper
Subject: Where Are You?
Must I remind you of who demanded a date tonight? My time is gold, Aurora, so answer your fucking phone.
As soon as I hit Send, the screen lights up with a call from Harris.
“You’re just in time. I want you to go to —”
“We have a situation,” he cuts me off. Harris never cuts me off, which means this is serious.
“And?”
“I just got updated when we left the meeting. Maxim Griffin is giving an interview for the first time since his capture.”
“What?”
Harris’s voice continues in a grim tone, “From what I’ve seen, he’s accusing his daughter, saying it’s time she’s brought to justice, too. There’s an uproar from the victims’ families and the media about this. It’s not looking good.”
Fuck!
“Where’s Aurora?”
“What?”
“She must’ve seen it and that’s why she disappeared. Find her. Now.” I head out. Moses is stepping out of the car, but when he sees the expression on my face, he slides back in.
“I’ll get in touch with my men. Give me ten minutes.”
“You have five, Harris. I don’t fucking care what you have to do to find her. I need a location sent to Moses immediately.”
I hang up without hearing his reply. There’s no way in fuck I’m going to let her slip between my fingers now.
Aurora Harper sold her soul to the devil. It goes without saying that she’ll never be able to escape me.
