The Empire

by Lisa Renee Jones

  “I’m an us guy and there is no place you and I go, but happily ever after. I won’t let it be any other way. This doesn’t end any other way. That’s a promise.”

  “Don’t make a promise you can’t keep.”

  Savage steps around the tree to join us, clearing his throat as he does. “About the way this is about to blow up. It’s happening now.” He holds up his phone. “Don’t send me to my room just yet. I have more news.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Eric

  Turns out, it’s not Savage that has news at all. “Blake’s meeting us at your office.”

  “About what?” I ask, releasing Harper to turn and face him, my hands sliding under my jacket to settle on my hips. “Don’t walk around whatever it is Blake wants you to walk around. That’s not your style.”

  “No,” Savage says. “It’s not.” He offers nothing more.

  I narrow my eyes on him. “Spit it out, Savage. I can’t pull this shit into the middle of my NFL meetings. I owe Grayson, and everyone involved counting on this to be life-changing, my focus.”

  Harper’s hand comes down on my arm, and I don’t have any clue if she knows she’s covering my grim reaper tattoo there, not with my coat on, but I know. And I know this family will drag me to hell if I let them, and I’d go there, just to end them if it weren’t for Harper. She’s the game changer. I glance at my watch, the meeting time pressing down on us. “Savage. Now.”

  “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

  Frustrated, I take Harper’s hand. “This has to wait until I get out of my meeting. Don’t have Blake come to the office. I’ll go to him.” I start walking with Harper in tow.

  “I’ll meet Blake,” Harper offers, keeping pace with me. “This has to be important. We need to know what it’s about, but you’re right. You need to focus. You need to protect this life you’ve created.”

  I stop walking and press my hands to her shoulders. “I’ve created? What about our life, Harper?”

  “Our new life, Eric. Our new life. I’m here. And I’m really, really glad to be here. Let me be a partner and deal with part of this today.”

  Relief washes over me, my tension over her leaving, a part of that deep-rooted, inner demon that possesses me. The one that tells me everyone I love leaves. Not that I’ve given anyone but my mother the chance. Not until Harper. “We need to face this problem together,” I say. “And I want you in the negotiations.”

  “Me?”

  “If you’re going to play a role in the NFL operation, you need to understand it from the ground up. And you need to know it’s what you want.”

  She steps closer to me, her eyes searching my eyes. “I’m not going to let you down. Not now. Not ever.”

  She’s not talking about the NFL deal. She’s talking about that life I’ve pressed her to claim. “Nor me, you, baby. Which is why we’re doing this day, and this life, together. All of it. Come on.” I take her hand and start walking, aware of Savage at our backs. I feel him there, and the truth is, on a day when I have to put my mind someplace other than this problem, back-up is good. Savage is not good, but he’s moral, which makes him even better. He walks a line. I get him. He gets me.

  I also get my brother.

  Too well.

  He doesn’t know how well, but he will soon.

  We cross the street and I have a sudden awareness wash over me. Someone is watching us beyond Savage. I pull Harper closer, under my arm. I don’t tell her what I feel. I don’t want to scare her. We’re a half block from the building when my phone buzzes with a text. I slow our pace in case it’s an alert to detour, nonchalantly reaching for my phone to read a message from Savage: I know you feel the eyes on you. I do, too, but I don’t see them. We have men at the building. I have another man with me. You’re covered. Get her inside and we’ll lock you down.

  “Everything okay?” Harper asks, shivering and I don’t think it’s the cold winter day, I’m only just now noticing for the fires of hell are around us right now. She feels what I feel. She just doesn’t have the training to know what it means.

  “Great, baby.” I stop walking in front of the building. “We’re here.” I kiss her and I’d open the door for her, but Smith is there, opening it for us.

  “At your service,” he says his eyes meeting mine.

  I give him a quick nod and Harper hurries inside, a little extra lift to her step. Oh yes. She feels the urgency in me. She feels that we’re being watched. I wrap my arm around her and guide her to security where we obtain a long-term pass for her. “You’re official now,” I say, as we stop at the elevator bank and I punch the call button.

  She smiles, a beautiful smile, all the nerves she’d been throwing from the sidewalk outside, fading away into happiness. “I can’t believe I’m doing this. That we’re doing this.” She kisses my cheek. “You’re going to—”

  I drag her to me. “Make you come on my desk, and then later on your new desk.”

  She blushes a pretty pink. “You could get me fired.”

  “I know the boss.”

  “Hmmm. Well, if you know the boss.”

  “Boss? I’m right here.”

  Savage. “Fucking Savage,” I growl, but it’s not a sincere growl. I eye him over her head and he gives me a barely perceivable shake of his head. He didn’t find those eyes that were on us and he’s nervous. Me fucking, too, because the assassin being gone doesn’t mean anything besides he’s gone. Someone else could have taken his place. My brother is insane. He’s desperate.

  The elevator door opens and Harper glances at Savage. “Fucking Savage. Go to your room.”

  “Watch it there, mama,” he warns. “Your man there might have to spank you for me.”

  She laughs and I do not. Savage’s comment does not sit well. Fuck. I’m in all kinds of places with Harper I’ve never been with a woman. My hand settles at her hip and I walk her into the elevator, making damn sure I place myself in between her and Savage. I stare straight ahead as the doors shut and then say, “Don’t talk about my woman’s ass in any context ever again.”

  Harper laughs. Savage doesn’t. I glance down at her and she pushes to her toes and whispers, “I kind of liked your hand on my ass.”

  I grind my teeth against the sudden thickening of my cock that doesn’t last long. The elevator doors open and I find Grayson waiting on us in the hallway with Blake standing next to him, both men in jeans and collared shirts. Blake, who I told to fucking wait.

  With a flex of my fingers at her back, Harper steps forward and I join her, Savage immediately at my opposite side. “You have a minute for me?” Blake asks.

  “After my meetings,” I say.

  “Mitch Carmichael is running a half hour late,” Grayson interjects. “I can give Harper a rundown of the players and meet you in your office in fifteen minutes.” He glances at Harper. “Mia’s in my office. Let’s head in that direction.”

  “I’d rather stay with Eric.” She turns to me. “Together, remember?”

  I glance at Blake. “Can this wait?”

  “No. And we need to talk alone. You and me. Just you and me.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Eric

  Blake’s request to speak to me alone is unexpected.

  Alone.

  As in without Harper present.

  Blake’s point is crystal clear. He’s sheltering her from something. I don’t believe Harper needs to be sheltered. I believe she needs to feel in control. She needs to trust me and settle with two solid feet in this new life. That doesn’t happen by shutting her out.

  My hand settles possessively on her lower back. “Harper can hear anything you have to say. She’s with me. We’re relocating her here. She’s moving in.”

  “Alone,” is Blake’s only reply before he seems to feel a need to clarify. “Alone means alone and I don’t ask for things without a purpose.”

  Harper squeezes my arm. “Blake, my mother—”

  “Is fine,” he replies, hi
s eyes meeting hers. “No one is injured. No one is in imminent danger.” He looks at me. “Are we doing this or not?”

  In other words, he’s not talking to me with Harper present, but he knows she’ll ask what we talked about.

  Harper steps in front of me, hands on my chest. “I’m going with Grayson. You go with Blake.” She gives me a tiny nod, silently telling me this is fine. She’s fine. We’re fine. I cup her head and kiss her. “I’ll find you when we’re done.”

  She turns away and I share a look with Grayson. He’s worried about what this is all about and where it leads, and so am I. He offers Harper his arm and the two of them walk away. I stand flat-footed right where I am, waiting until the glass doors to the lobby close before I level Blake in a hard stare. “I have a massive contract to negotiate today. Whatever this is—”

  “Can’t wait.” He scrubs his jaw. “Look, man, I don’t like to throw heavy shit down before big meetings. I get it. This is big. But you’re a genius. I’ve studied you. I’ve researched you. You can compartmentalize most things. I believe you need to know this now, in case someone in that room suddenly gets a call that calls you out.”

  “Calls me out? What the fuck does that even mean?”

  “Can we get a room or something?”

  I grimace and do what I was avoiding. I motion him toward the lobby doors and we walk in that direction. Thankfully without interruption to drag this out, we travel to my office and end up there. Once we’re inside, I enter and he shuts the door behind him. I walk toward my desk but I don’t round it. I sit on the side, on the edge, hands on the surface in front of me. On even ground with Blake, the way I try to keep everyone on even ground. I’m not my fucking father or brother. I don’t need to be above anyone and I find that’s not the way to make a deal anyway. People deal with people they trust and they never trust someone above them.

  “You have my undivided attention,” I say.

  Blake closes the space between us and stops in between the two leather visitor’s chairs to my left and right. “Harper’s mother is having a meltdown,” he says.

  “When is she not having a meltdown?”

  “She wants to call the police and the press to tell them that you attacked your father because he denied your mother cancer treatments. She says she has proof you know about it.”

  “That’s an amusing premise,” I say dryly. “But she’s not going to the damn press. That would fuck up her perfect world.”

  He arches a brow. “You sure about that?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. And I know about it, yes, because she told Harper, and Harper told me after my father was already in the hospital.”

  “She says one of the nurses from the hospital in Germany where the treatment was denied will confirm you went there, and you met with them.”

  Irritation ticks through me. “I did. What else?”

  “You did?”

  “You want to know why,” I say, my hands settling on my hips.

  “Yes, I need to know why. I’m part of your defense if the press goes after you with the police.”

  “Okay. Fine. Fuck.” I shove fingers through my hair. “I battled with why my mother killed herself. Some part of me needed to hear she probably would have died anyway. And you know what? If her mother wants to come at me. Let her come. I didn’t put him in the hospital.”

  “You said that Harper told you about this. Did she set you up in some way? Are she and her mother—”

  “No,” I say with no hesitation. “Harper did not set me up. The blood tests are not going to show poison. This is a non-issue, just a crazy woman talking. Move on. What else?”

  “You’re pretty damn certain about those tests,” he says.

  “And that makes me guilty?”

  “No, but it makes you a hell of a lot more confident than I am. I believe you didn’t do it, Eric. I don’t trust the person who did was as smart as you and I. My job is to protect you if this goes south.”

  “What else, Blake?” I press, sensing there’s more.

  “Your father met with the new head of the mob a few weeks ago, and Harper’s mother was with him. Does that mean that she’s involved in all of this? No, but I don’t see how she’s blind as a bat either. You have to see where that leads.”

  I push off the desk and straighten. “Speak frankly, Blake. I enjoy a puzzle, but I have a meeting to attend. Where are you going with this?”

  “Harper—”

  “Did not know about the mob. She’s not involved. And you’re about to piss me the fuck off.”

  “Her mother is all she has,” he counters, still pushing. “How far would she go to protect her?”

  He’s doing his job, which, unfortunately, makes me punching him inappropriate. But then, Isaac has a way of making me want to punch someone I never get to fucking punch. I change the subject. “What about the birth certificates?”

  “We found Isaac’s and it looks fine, but I did some digging. There was an amendment to it filed several years back and I can’t get to the original. All versions were destroyed. The other birth certificate is a man named Ryan Kensey. Does he sound familiar to you?”

  “Not at all. I need an address. I want to go see him. Now. Tonight. I’ll charter a plane.”

  “Impossible. He died a few years ago. We’re looking for a connection between him and the family. More soon.”

  “How did he die?”

  “A car accident.”

  Alarms go off in my head. “Find out the details on that accident. Compare them to the accident Isaac’s mother had years back.”

  His eyes go wide. “You think Isaac killed his mother and Kensey?”

  “Look closer. Answer that question with facts.”

  “All right then, back to Harper’s mother. I can’t hold her prisoner. That’s kidnapping. If she wants to use her phone, I have to let her use her phone.”

  I pull out my cellphone and dial Grayson. “Is Harper standing there with you?”

  “We’re taking a tour.”

  “I need her. Now.”

  “You got it. We’re actually passing your door now.” I disconnect and slide my phone into my pocket.

  “What’s the plan here?” he asks.

  There’s a knock on the door and Grayson opens it. “Now?”

  “Now,” I say, and he backs up, allowing Harper to enter.

  She appears, looking stunning with her long dark hair draping her shoulders. Every damn time she enters a room, I feel a punch in my chest, a surge of adrenaline. “What’s happening?” she asks and Blake steps around to allow her to join us by my desk.

  “Your mother is threatening to call the police and the press and tell them that I knew my father denied my mother medical care, therefore I tried to kill him.”

  “You didn’t even know when your father fell ill,” she argues. “I didn’t tell you until afterward, when she called and confessed knowing about it to me.”

  “I went to the facility in Germany. I was trying to find peace in her suicide. I did ask why she was denied, but they gave me the standard—not enough spots—reply.”

  She studies me for several beats. “You didn’t know when I told you. I’d bet my life on that.” She reaches into the small purse hanging at her hip and pulls out her phone. I don’t ask what she’s doing. I know.

  She punches in a number and a minute later I hear her say, “Mom, don’t talk. Listen. If you come at Eric, you’re coming at me. I’m moving in with him. We’re together. And we both know he didn’t attack his father. You know why he was attacked.”

  She listens a minute and then says, “The smartest thing you can do is to tell me everything, but since you won’t, let me make this crystal clear. Those men are men Eric hired to protect you because there’s an assassin on the move. Gigi fled the country, we assume to save herself. I’m going to have Eric pull all of those men. You’re on your own. I hope you don’t die but if you do, I love you.” She hangs up and slides her phone back into her purse. “The men you were wa
iting on arrived. It’s time for you to become an NFL team owner.”

  I stare at her, this beautiful, strong woman, and I feel things that I can’t even name. She stood by me. There was no hesitation and I can’t say that it was a conscious test, but if it were, she’d pass with flying colors. I look at Blake. “Pull your men from direct contact, but keep them close. I’ll call you for an update when I get out of the meeting.” I eye Harper. “On our way to the airport to go to Denver.”

  “Understood,” Blake says, walking toward the door, and the minute he exits and shuts us inside, Harper and I collide. Our bodies meld. My hands tangling in her hair, her hands sliding all over my body. My mouth slanting over her mouth, hungry and hot, neither of us daring to breathe. Neither of us thinking about what happens next, and yet, the very fact that there is so much yet to happen is what drives what comes next.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Harper

  Eric turns me and presses me against the desk, his hand cupping my backside. “I can’t believe I just did that,” I pant out. “But it was a good plan, right?”

  “It was perfect, baby. Perfect.” His mouth comes down on mine, another long lick of his tongue and I’ve forgotten what is perfect besides his hands, his mouth, his kisses. “I really need to be inside you right now,” he murmurs, unsnapping my pants.

  I catch his hand. “No. No, you have an NFL team to buy. This comes later.”

  “Now and later.” He leans in to kiss me, but my cellphone rings.

  He freezes a breath from touching me. “That will be your mother.”

  “Yes, because we can’t get away from any of this. It won’t end.” I press against his chest and search his handsome face. “I did the right thing, right? I didn’t push her in the wrong direction? At the time, I just felt—”

  “Like you needed to take control?” he supplies. “Because we do and that’s what you did. Yes, you did the right thing. We are no one’s captives.”

  My cellphone stops ringing. “I hate that she threatened you like that.” My hands flatten under his jacket, on the hard wall of his chest. The thin jacket with smooth leather that I know he’s still wearing because of the gun he’s placed at his back. That’s where we are right now. In a place where guns are necessary and it has to end.