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“He loves you, Ash. You just don’t see it.”
“No one has ever loved me before.”
“I love you.”
I wrapped my arms around my best friend and sobbed against her neck. This was useless, and it accomplished nothing, but I needed a rock in my corner.
“I shouldn’t be crying all over you.” I pulled away, wiping away the tears and snot on a kitchen towel and then tossing it into the laundry basket in the far cupboard. “I need to finish the food.”
The potatoes hadn’t boiled over or gone mushy. After draining them, I allowed them to dry a little in the colander as I got to work on the onions and peppers.
My hands shook.
“Loving him is not a crime, Ash. You have the right to happiness.”
“What about the other women?”
“There’s nothing I can do about that, but, from my own experience with men who do bad things, you learn to deal with it.”
“Do your men sell women?” I asked.
Emily’s lips pressed together. “No.”
“Then I don’t think this is something I can learn to love. Even though I love the man. I can’t love what he does.”
“It’s not your place to do that. Maybe if he felt your love, he’d give up the business.”
I wasn’t that powerful. I wasn’t worth giving up an empire of pain and suffering.
Emily didn’t know that, but I sure did. I’d spent my life knowing how I didn’t measure up. How I failed at everything.
Earl would never pick me over his power and his wealth.
****
Earl
Pissed off seemed to be an emotion I was feeling quite frequently these past few days. The only time it dissipated was when I was with Ashley. The way she joked and teased. Even when I was the one supposed to be taking care of her, she was the one who was constantly taking care of me.
“You ever heard of a guy named Knight?” Caleb asked, coming toward me.
“Yes.”
“Word is, he’s the one that put the hit on you.” This came from River. Even though he had his woman, Emily, at his beck and call, he still had a fascination with knives.
I knew all their pasts and presents. I could also imagine their future, especially with how heavily pregnant Emily was. They were going to keep her bound to them and pregnant. It wasn’t a hard future to imagine.
My thoughts went to Ashley.
Seeing Emily pregnant, I couldn’t help but imagine Ashley full and ripe with my kid. I hadn’t gotten her on the pill yet, and I’d been coming inside her every chance I got.
Running a hand down my face in an attempt to clear the distraction of knocking Ashley up, I focused my attention on the four men currently in front of me. We were in one of my legal offices.
This building had several floors, the Valentine name marked for the world to see. Advertising. Media. Cosmetics. Each floor dedicated to a segment of the company I’d built. With money came power. With power came control. This was how I was able to stay on top.
I was very much aware of who ordered the hit on me. It was the same man who had tried to take my city away from me, and had also tried to orchestrate a takeover merger. In my world, there was no such thing as clean business. Just dirty deals.
Money helped make the world go round, and my money helped to pay for all this shit to be kept silent and hidden.
Even now, men were out there conspiring to take me from the top.
Knight was one of many, but he was currently the most powerful. He didn’t need to hide in the shadows.
Some bad men liked to keep to the night and the darkness. To allow others to fear them with tales of the bogeyman, and yeah, they were scary. The worst were the men who could walk day and night. Where there was nothing to keep the evil at bay.
This was my grandfather’s doing. He started the company and built it on pain and death. I took it to the next level. There was a time my grandfather was a tiny shark in a tank full of them.
I became the fucking megalodon of them.
Now, my position was being challenged.
I wasn’t afraid. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, and I doubted it would be the last.
However, this was the first time one had gotten close. The car crash was a clear message. My days were supposedly numbered.
“I don’t need you boys here,” I said.
Having the Monsters Crew on my turf didn’t exactly help my cause. I didn’t invite them. “I need you to leave.”
“You think Emily’s going to want to go?”
“Ashley’s safe. I’ve given her time to visit her friend. Now you have to leave. This is going to get ugly.”
Caleb laughed. “You know, we don’t get along. To be honest, I think you’re a fucking pervert, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help each other. You had our backs, so why don’t you let us have yours?”
