London is something else: it’s beautiful and old with buildings that I want to explore. I’ve always loved history and being in such an ancient place is exciting. I just wish I was here under better circumstances.
The buildings in this part of London are all glass and metal. But near the wharf itself, open brick apartments line the river. Their balconies overlook the water, and I wonder just how magical it must be at night when the lights dance along the dark surface.
The building I enter is where I’m meeting Dad. He’s with the rest of the Sovereign who run things in the UK, and even though they’re a larger society than the one in Tynewood, they still obey the rules set out by the four men back home.
The slate walls and floor to ceiling windows make the place feel modern, but the further into the bowels of the property you go, the open brick shows evidence that this is one of those older buildings.
As the elevator takes me up to the top floor, I think about Tynewood. About school. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be here, but I want to finish my degree, one way or another. And I want to do it at home—in Tynewood. I never thought I’d ever consider a place as home if it weren’t D.C., but knowing I left my best friend back there makes my heart ache. She must hate me for running away; I just wish I could let her know I’m okay.
The problem is, any move I make, Dad will find out. It’s as if he’s tracking me. The metal doors slide open, depositing me in a long brightly lit hallway. At the far end, I notice a door that’s currently shut, but it’s the only exit on this floor. My heart thumps in my chest, but as much as anxiety is twisting in my gut, I follow the hallway toward the waiting doorway.
I knock once, twice, and a third time. It’s the way Dad showed me. As soon as it opens, I’m met with the familiar gaze of Etienne Durand. The one person I didn’t want to know where I was.
“Etienne?”
“I need answers,” he tells me, before stepping aside and allowing me to enter the penthouse, which takes up the whole top floor. “And I need them before we walk in there.” His voice is low, a threat hanging between us.
I can’t look at him or I’ll lose my nerve. His face covered in dark stubble makes my fingers itch to touch it. To feel him against me, but I know this will never work between us.
Meeting his dark eyes, I silently plead with him to leave this. But the more I stare at him I know he’ll never give up. I move to walk by him, but he’s fast, his hand shooting out to grab my arm. I turn my attention to the man who is chipping away at my walls and pin him with a glare.
“Not now. Not here.”
He releases me when I tug my arm free. As I walk away, I feel his eyes burning into my back, and for just a moment, I toy with him by swaying my hips left and right as I walk into the office, which sits on the opposite side of the entrance and the living room.
Time to learn about Daddy and his cronies.
5
Etienne
Settling at the table, I can’t keep my eyes off her. Long blonde dreads hang down her back, the smooth, caramel skin that taunts me from under the white tank top she’s wearing causes my blood to heat.
“It’s nice to see you here today,” my dad, Isaac, smiles over at her. From the information Dad gave, I’ve learned about her past.
Her mother, an exotic film star from India, moved to London when she was shooting a movie. She met Fergus, fell in love, and moved to America not long after filming finished.
We know her mother died, committing suicide when Rukaiya was very young. Rukaiya had found her mother in the bathtub, her wrists torn from an old razor blade with blood everywhere. That’s when Fergus ended up joining the police force. He went undercover, leaving Rukaiya with the nannies he’d hired.
What we don’t know is how he links up with Abner. I glance at the asshole as frustration burns in my veins at not being able to grab him by the throat and squeeze tight. I want to see him take his final fucking breath for what he did to both Rukaiya and her mother.
“Can we get started?” Fergus mutters, his sneer at me doesn’t go unnoticed. What he doesn’t realize is that I don’t give a shit who he is, I’ll kill him right now without blinking. “I don’t see why your son has to be present, this is business for the London Sovereign.”