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We. For a moment, I almost forgot that Ward Enterprises does a deep dive into the lives of the people they want to manipulate into doing their bidding. They knew how much debt I was in, obviously that’s why they brought it up to blackmail me with, and it worked. It’s thewhythey didn’t know, and I guess now they do. “Life sucks sometimes. I live in the guest house at my Nana Noel’s to help pay off the debt since she charges me cheap rent. Depending on the charity I work at night, usually I score a free meal for helping so it lessens my load on having to buy groceries and takeout.” Not to mention, I try to help with her medical bills when I can since she’s not the best at remembering when to pay them on time.
Emilia blinks several times, her shoulders tightening as she continues to stare at me for far longer than necessary. “You live with your grandmother?”
“In her guest house,” I repeat. I don’t understand why it seems so shocking, though. “You didn’t know that? I thought you knew everything about my life and that’s why I was targeted.”
“Targetedis a bit of a strong word to use, though not incredibly wrong for how it works in our field. Honestly, it wasn’t a super thorough background check because King trusts you and clearly Thorin does or he wouldn’t have married you.” She holds up her finger to stop me from speaking. “I know you don’t think they trust you, but this is a serious matter that needs to be handled delicately and the best person to do that is you.” She presses her lips together momentarily. “But I didn’t know about all of that. I’ll have to speak with King. Usually he’s pretty up front about all the information he knows, so there’s a chance he didn’t realize how much you’re struggling.”
Now I’m really confused. “I don’t understand. What does me living with my grandmother have to do with anything? You still would have come after me for this assignment.” Even I know the amount of debt King is covering is generous enough, all wrapped up in a black blackmail bow.
“You’re not wrong,” Emilia slowly responds. “But we try to meet the needs of the people we encourage to help us.” She gives me a wilting smile. “Blackmail is a dirty world. But I feel like we’re not meeting your needs for this assignment.”
Meeting my needs? King offering to pay for over half my debt is meeting a huge need for me. “It’s really not necessary. What he offered was beyond enough for me.”
A ghost of a smile graces Emilia’s lips. She doesn’t respond to my comment. I can’t tell if she’s satisfied that I’m not asking for more things from King in exchange for my help or if she thinks I’m being dumb for not doing exactly that. Instead she redirects the conversation back to a previous topic. “Variant, like I was telling you earlier, is one of the girls’ favorite spots to grab lunch. We’d love for you to join us whenever you have an opening in your schedule.”
“Absolutely,” I find myself immediately agreeing. All this talk of my Dad and I not being on speaking terms or having any involvement together inside Hastings Center reminds me how truly alone I feel when I have a moment to catch my breath. Maybe it’s about time I tried to have a life of my own outside of Hastings Center. The rest of lunch flows easily, reminding me that I don’t have to be secluded in a city full of millions.
10
“She’s going to ruin me in the best way possible.” - Thorin
King glares at me from where he’s standing against the car as Emilia finishes her phone call in the back of the SUV they arrived in a few minutes ago.
I stifle a smile because he looks so goddamn uncomfortable in his gym clothes in public, the horror on his face is absolutely priceless. At least he didn’t make the same mistake Aillard and I did last time by showing up in a suit.
My lips twitch as he continues to glare at me. “Don’t act belligerent tonight just because you’re in street clothes,” I warn him. Shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I nervously tap my foot.
I want to see her already. It’s only been a few weeks but I feel starved for Bex’s presence. Everything about her still calls to me at a soul deep level I can’t ignore. She’s the siren singing to me, dragging me deeper and deeper out to sea until I’m far enough away from my crew to drown.
“Are you sure you want to be here?” I ask, not for the first time. While I’m aware King is philanthropic in his own way, doing something publicly with Emilia is not. She hates being in the spotlight even though I’m unsure why.
“I already have the media team tracking any coverage that may appear from tonight.” King glances to the shut door of the SUV where Emilia is at. “She wants to be here so it’s fine. I wouldn’t have come if she didn’t want to be friends with Bex so badly. I’m glad she’s reaching out to change up her life.”
So am I. “I take it that their lunch went well the other day?”
“It’s been very informative.”
I don’t like the sound of that. “In what way?”
King gives me the stony expression that tells me I’m not getting the answer I want from him. When he gets like this it’s usually because he can’t actually speak of it. But all I asked was about the lunch, meaning his reaction probably has to do with Bex.
Fuck. “Is it bad? I deserve to know if it’s bad.”
He flicks an eyebrow up. “You do? I don’t go walking around your hotel pointing out all the things I dislike, do I?”
Is he for real? Irritation floods my voice, “Yes, motherfucker, you do. A lot. Every time you come through the doors you point out things that you would change.”
King stares at me for a few moments before sighing. “You’re right, I think your entrance foyer should be more modern. There’s a goddamn fountain in it.” He pauses and frowns slightly. “But I still can’t tell you what’s going on, just that it’s a nonissue for you to deal with.”
That’s not very reassuring. Before I can comment, the back door of the SUV opens and Emilia pops out, her blue eyes sparkling as she smiles at me. “Thorin! I’m glad you didn’t wear anything ridiculous.”
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. All Detrick told me was to wear comfortable clothing or gym clothes if I couldn’t figure out what “loungewear” is. “You know what we’re doing?”
Emilia’s smile dims. “No, Bex wouldn’t tell me. Something about it being good for us to go in blind with no preconceived emotions built up about it.”
“What about you?” King frowns at me. “You picked this charity, didn’t you? Did you do any research about this one?”
Clearing my throat, I tightly shrug my shoulders. “Actually, I asked Detrick what a good charity event would be to get to talk with Bex more without interfering with what we were doing. He suggested this one but didn’t explain it.” Forcing a smile, I slap King’s shoulder. “Have a little blind faith.”
