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I knew this was all standard, but it wasn’t right that Lane was treating me and his daughter as if we were prisoners. Emma didn’t like it either. Still, when she reached her hand out to hold mine, I could tell that she cared more about the love between ourselves than whatever power moves her father made.
For a short while, no one said a thing, but Emma broke the ice. “I need to get up.”
I followed her cue. Neither guard dared challenge me, and I helped Emma get up. She walked around like she owned the place.
“Did Daddy make sure we had a chef on board?”
Karen got up. “I can cook. What would you like?”
Emma looked at me with shock painted all over her face. I shrugged.
“What are your credentials?” Emma asked. She wasn’t going to accept Karen as a chef if she wasn’t good enough. “I would rather cook myself than have someone who can’t do it.”
“Suit yourself,” Karen said. “But I was trained by Albert Roux and Marco Pierre White in London.”
“Prove it!” Emma said.
“Your father did say you were a petulant little brat,” Karen said nonchalantly.
“I’m just saying it likes it is,” Emma said. “If you’re not good enough for me, you’re wasting my father’s money.”
“Like you did?” Karen asked.
I had no idea how to stop these two without causing a tussle between myself and the guards. I had to do something though.
“What would Lane say if you denied his daughter an order?” I asked. Despite Lane Price’s harsh critiques of his own daughter, he was still very much a man who wanted nothing but the best for his daughter. Even if he was incredibly toxic. I grinned at Karen. “We wouldn’t want his money to go to waste, am I right?”
Karen laughed. “Very well. I’ll whip something up. What would you like?”
“Surprise us,” I said to her, and Emma nodded curtly.
“Fine,” Karen said. “You won’t regret it.”
Within the hour, Karen returned with some fairly impressive fare. She hadn’t lied—her cooking talents were extraordinary. She returned with roasted vegetables, stuffed salmon, and a lemon berry cheesecake that she served everyone including the guards. Emma was quite pleased, and I only had more questions about Karen’s motives. I still didn’t trust her, but everyone else seemed very happy.
“What does Lane Price want exactly?” I asked.
“You’ll find out when it’s time,” Karen said. “In the meantime, enjoy his money, which, I might add, is money well spent.” She winked at me, a mischievous look on her face. “He’ll get exactly what he wants from both of you.”
The fact that Lane Price would treat his daughter and myself as if we were simply pawns in the game of his life disgusted me. I wanted nothing more than to get rid of him, but I knew that Emma would be distraught if I did anything to him. We spent the rest of the flight sleeping, and soon, we were back in American airspace. The sun was rising in the distance, its rays hitting the blue skies with orange and red overtones. I looked down to see the city below us. The structures were still too small for me to recognize, but I knew where we were headed. Lane had a small private airport several miles from the city. As the city skyscrapers grew larger, I could see the sparkling blue water along Lake Michigan’s shoreline. Soon we were landing in the secluded airport.
Would Lane greet us personally?Every move the man made said something, and he was known to give little away. I wasn’t afraid of him, nor was I personally afraid of whatever conflict was going on between the Kings and the Reeds. My only issue was how it would affect Emma. I was sure that Lane would find some way to make her miserable and I wasn’t looking forward to correcting him. I had to handle everything carefully.
Both guards stood up as we landed, and Karen got up as well.
As soon as I stood, Karen put her hand out. “You stay here.” Then she pointed at Emma. “Your father’s guards will take you.”
“Over my dead body.”
Karen groaned. “You’re really going to make us do this? Don’t you know what’s good for you?”
The guards advanced on me, and I quickly sprang into action. The guard on the left aimed his fist, and I blocked it and threw a punch of my own.
However, the one on the right was much faster, and kicked me in the stomach.
Emma screamed in anguish as I felt the insulting pain of the blow. It only served to make me angrier. Worse, the guard I had blocked had simply walked away, like I wasn’t worth his time. He grabbed Emma’s hair, and held her back as she yelled angrily, her cries riling me up even more.
Karen’s voice was almost god-like, cutting through the tension.“We need her!”
