I’m taking Emilee to dinner on the rooftop of Kingdom. I’ve had staff members up there for the past three hours getting it ready. A table for two, champagne, twinkling lights, and a rolled-out black carpet. The works. And not to mention, the fireworks show that is set to go off after I get down on one knee and propose.
Emilee has never needed an audience. She would prefer a quiet proposal—just us one on one in an intimate moment over a huge show in front of hundreds of strangers. And I want to give her that. I want to give her everything. But I’m going to start with offering her my life. I just pray that she accepts it.
“Stop worrying.” He waves me off as if he can read my mind.
I hold up my hand, ignoring him. “What did you want?”
“I just wanted to let you know that Nick has been taken care of.”
Bones had reminded me that we had an agreement when I wanted to fucking kill Nick in the conference room. Earlier before the meeting, we had decided that Bones was going to get rid of him, and I wasn’t going to ask any questions.
I know Emilee is hurt over what her father had done, but Bones thought it would be best if he took care of him on his own. Keep my hands clean, sort of thing. She can’t hate me for something that I didn’t take part in. I nod. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” He smiles, letting me know that he enjoyed whatever he did to the fucker. “Oh, and I wanted to let you know that I’m taking some days off.” He looks at his watch as though he has somewhere to be.
I frown. That’s unlike him. “Everything okay?”
“Yep.” He slaps his hands on his jeans-clad thighs before standing from his seat. He makes his way over to my office door and stops, turning back to face me. “Congratulations, Titan. You deserve to get what you’ve always wanted.”
I run a hand over my hair nervously. “She hasn’t said yes, yet.”
“She will,” he assures me before he exits.
EPILOGUE TWO
BONES
I FEEL MY phone vibrate in my pocket, and I pull it out to see I have a picture from Emilee. I open it up. It’s of her and Titan standing on the rooftop of Kingdom a couple of nights ago. He’s holding her up off her feet, his hands on her hips. Her head bent down, kissing him. Fireworks are going off in the background, lighting up the Vegas skyline. With the caption that says, I said yes.
I smile and type back “Congratulations.” I couldn’t be happier for my best friend and the love of his life. I could never love Emilee like she deserved. Or any woman for that matter. Kingdom will always come first, and I know that’s not how love should be. I’ve accepted it.
That’s why I’ve flown halfway around the world. I tell myself this is about Kingdom. But it’s also about the woman in that photo.
“They’re getting married.” I hold up my phone to the man’s face before me. He sits tied to a chair in the middle of the cold and damp room. A single light bulb hangs above his head from a chain.
“Argghh,” he mumbles around the gag in his mouth.
“I’ll make sure to give them your wishes.” I tap his face a couple of times with my open palm.
He pulls away the best he can, which isn’t far. I pocket my cell and pick up the knife that sits on the table next to him. It’s stained with his blood. We’ve been in here for over eight hours.
“It’s been a while since I got to carve a man.” I tell him, running the blade gently down the side of his face, just letting him feel the cold steel while I fuck with his mind.
He throws his head back and fights the restraints, but he’s not going anywhere. “See, George, five hundred thousand dollars isn’t that much money. I could have let it go, but then you fucked with Emilee.”
He shakes his head quickly. His teary eyes begging me not to kill him. To spare his sorry, fucking pathetic life.
“And that sealed your fate.”
I run the tip of the blade down his bare chest, splitting the skin like butter. He screams out as the blood flows like a steady rain.
I once told Titan that if I ever found this fucker, I was going to make him pay in pounds of flesh. And I’m a man of my word.