“Mafia? Really?” She laughs. “Since when do you believe in that shit? And what could this Bones guy get them?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know exactly. I just know that anything goes there. I guess there’s some sort of black market that the guys run.”
“Illegally?”
He rolls his dark eyes. “That’s what black market stands for.”
“What would Ethan have to do with that?” She wonders, still skeptic.
He shakes his head. “You need to find out. And better hope that it’s not too late to get him out of it.”
Bodies? Isn’t that what Jasmine mentioned to Haven that morning at breakfast? How in the fuck did Derek know about all that? And who did he hear it from? Who is he hanging out with that would have that kind of inside information?
“Alexa?” I hear Jasmine call my name, but I jump onto the elevator. Before the door can close, she jumps in. “Hey, what happened?”
I spin around on her. “Luca runs the Mafia?”
She sighs, her shoulders sagging.
“Derek was right, and you …”
“It’s none of Derek’s business what others choose to do with their life,” she snaps. “Sometimes it’s either you do what you’re told, or you die.” She turns away from me, all of a sudden regretting getting in the elevator with me. “I don’t expect someone like you or Derek to understand that.”
The elevator dings, and the door opens. She steps out, and I go to reach out for her, but she pulls her arm away just in time to avoid it. “Jasmine?” Now I’m the one hollering at her, but she’s gone.
I run my hands through my hair, aggravated. What in the fuck just happened?
“Problem?”
I jump when I hear the man behind me. Spinning around, I come face-to-face with another King—Titan. All the Kings have one thing about them that’s the same—intimidation. They are all covered in ink, have muscles, and a pretty face. It’s truly unfair. Like they were all made in a lab. Titan is by far the largest of them. He has tattoos like Bones that run up and around his neck.
“Something like that,” I mumble.
He looks over at their private entrance where Jasmine ran out of the double doors. “She’ll come back.”
She can’t run too far. We’re partners now. “Yeah,” I agree.
“There you are, babe.” I hear a woman say and then see Emilee step up next to him. “Thought you were meeting me outside.” She looks at me, smiling. “Hey, Alexa. How are you doing?”
“Good,” I lie. I’m confused as fuck, and I hate that my best friend is away. But even if April was here, I still wouldn’t be able to talk to her about what’s going on. Not with what she’s going through right now. It sucks feeling alone.
Emilee frowns. “Titan, I’ll meet you up in your office,” she says, dismissing him.
“Okay.” He leans down and gives her a quick kiss on the lips, and then he turns, getting back on the elevator.
“Come on. Let’s take a drive.” She links her arm in mine and escorts me out the glass double doors and down the steps to a white Rolls-Royce Phantom coupe parked at the curb. I fall into the passenger seat, and she starts it up. “Talk to me.”
I glance out the blacked-out window, not really looking at anything as she pulls away from the Kings’ private entrance. “About?”
“Whatever it is that’s bothering you,” she says simply.
“It doesn’t matter.” Everything I’ve known is a lie. Or maybe I was just stupid and naïve. Bottom line—I only have myself to blame.
“Of course, it does. Tell me. Maybe I can help you out with it.”
She did grow up with them. She’s married to a King. Why not? I’ll give it a try. “I just found out that Bones is in with the Mafia.”
“Ahh.” She nods, pulling onto the Strip. “I see.”
“And I guess Haven is married to it.”
“Yep. Poor girl never stood a chance.” She chuckles. “She dated Luca while we were in school. She fell for him before she even knew what the Mafia was.”
Not surprised about that part. “Jasmine is mad at me,” I add, seeing where it gets me.
She sighs heavily. “Jasmine is going through something right now.”
“Like what?” I ask, worried for her.
“Her dad.”
I frown. “What about him?” I don’t know much about Jasmine’s family. She never talks about them.
“Well, he found out about Kink, and he is pissed. Told her to back out. She refused, of course. Jasmine isn’t one of those women who can be told what to do, ya know? Even by her father.”
That’s why she was snappy with me. I’ve never seen her that way before. She’s always smiling. Even when I know it’s fake. She’s good at that—making things look okay. “So, what happened?”
“Last she said to me was that she told him to fuck off and to stay out of her business.” Emilee shrugs.