The King and the Courtesan (39 page)

“I envy you.”

He laughed. “You’re the one wearing diamonds to the Park, and you’re saying you envy
me
.”

“Your life is so uncomplicated and free. No one’s there to tell you what to do or how to do it. Your life is
yours
. That’s what I envy.”

Ace stared at me a moment, then nodded. “That’s understandable.” He glanced at the wall clock, then smiled softly down at me. “Okay, so I’ll wake you at seven o’clock. And maybe a few times between then and now, to make sure you’re all right. And then we’ll get a cab for you, okay?”

“Thank you, Ace. You and everyone are being very generous.”

He winked slyly. “Anything for a pretty lady.”

“Any woman ever tell you that you suck at subtlety?”

“I get it every day,” he said before striding out the door. I fell asleep almost instantly, which seemed odd, considering how bad my situation was at the moment. But Ace was right. Even though I didn’t know what was going to happen tomorrow, I knew Ace and his unlikely gang of friends would take care of me.

“Are you sure you don’t want a ride? I can take you. I don’t have my own car, but I can easily borrow Juri’s roadster—”

“No.” While I was touched by Ace’s continuing offers to drive me, I didn’t want to hear them anymore. I’d already stayed too long. Ace had attempted to make me breakfast, which was a cute gesture, but he really couldn’t cook. Or maybe gourmet food had spoiled me. “Ace, I’m taking a cab, and that’s final.”

Ace looked unsure for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but nodded again. “Okay.”

“Thank you so much for the money.” I held up the twenties Wes and Rika had lent me. “I’ll pay them back somehow.” They had insisted it was no problem, but I’d still gotten their address from Ace. Perhaps I’d send Rika a nice necklace or Wes a silk tie. I’d prefer to get them cash, but Ezekiel only ever gave me a credit card. I assumed it was so he could keep track of all my purchases.

It was about six thirty in the morning. Metro was just waking up as the sun painted the sky orange. A chilly breeze whipped past me—a promise of colder weather. Zinya City winters were never too terrible, but they always felt colder than they were.

Finally, I spotted a yellow car making its way around the corner. I turned around to face Ace.

“Thanks so much for everything.” I would have hugged him, but I was in brutal pain, and just moving my head made me cringe.

“I gave you my phone number. Please call me and tell me how you are as soon as you can.”

“Of course. No problem.” I gave him a smile, but it didn’t seem to soothe his nerves. He looked at me as if he were expecting this to be the last time we ever talked.

Who knew? Maybe it would be.

The taxi stopped at the curb, the driver leaning across the passenger seat to ask if this was the right address. I nodded, and Ace opened the back door for me.

“I’ll be fine,” I told him when he gave me puppy eyes. I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry so much.”

“I can’t help it. It’s second nature.”

I chuckled. With his help, I sat down in the backseat. I was still wearing Juri’s clothing, which was far from flattering but certainly warm and comfortable. I offered to send it back to Juri, but Juri only scoffed and told me in his thick Metro brogue that he didn’t want the clothes after I polluted them with “girly” perfume. It was a sweet attempt to cover up his generosity with bravado.

“I’ll call you,” I said when Ace gave me another pathetic pout. “I promise. I don’t take promises lightly.”

“All right.” He closed the cab door and leaned through the window. “I’m trusting you.”

I blew him a kiss, and then the cab took off. I twisted around to wave until my taxi rounded a corner and Ace vanished from view.

A weight instantly dropped, and suddenly, I didn’t feel so good. I always felt better leaving Metro behind, with its grime, litter, and crumbling roads. I used to look forward to the drive to Ralston, each neighborhood I passed looking better than the next. But now all I felt was dread. I was returning to Ralston with some very bad news. Ezekiel probably wasn’t back yet—he wasn’t supposed to be back until tomorrow—but I’d learned his plans were always changing. He’d tell me a week and be gone two. Or he’d return earlier than planned. I never put much trust in his schedule. He always showed up when he was least wanted, and this morning, I had a feeling he’d be there waiting for me.

* * *

“This your place, lady?” the cab driver asked when he pulled up to Ezekiel’s building.

“Uh, a friend’s,” I replied. I shoved all the money into his hand. “Keep the change.”

I used my good hand to open the door. I’d only taken a few steps when the cab driver peeled away from the curb.

I was on my own now. There were several doormen in the lobby that I recognized, though I didn’t know their names. They’d made no effort to get acquainted with me, and I felt like it was because they knew who Ezekiel was and didn’t want to get involved.

Usually, to get the elevator, one had to call the elevator operator. I didn’t know his number—it had been programmed into my phone. I turned to the doorman.

“You know who I am, right?” I asked.

He was looking me up and down in disdain. I knew I wasn’t wearing my usual regal splendor, but I hadn’t changed
that
much. I was still tall and thin, with copious freckles and curly red hair. Certainly he would—

“I suppose I do, ma’am.”

“Well, I was in an accident last night, and my phone was destroyed. I need to get up to the penthouse. Is it possible to—”

“I don’t know the code for that elevator, ma’am.”

“Yes, well, do you know the number of the oper—”

“No.”

I sighed in aggravation. “Doesn’t anyone ever get locked out?”

“I assume they memorize the code.” He lifted his eyebrows, and I wanted to throttle him. Weren’t doormen supposed to be nice? I always imagined nice, old men wearing gaudy red suits. This guy was in a suit that could have been worn by a banker or CEO, and he wasn’t old at all. In fact, he was probably only a few years older than I was.

I was about to get into a fight with this man. I felt the anger and helplessness boiling. I was terrified of what Ezekiel would do once he found me, and combined with the pain in my arm and my bubbling frustration, I felt prepared to unleash a whirlwind of fury. I never had the chance, however, because Ezekiel’s private elevator opened at that moment to reveal not only the operator, but also Bruce.

Oh shit
.

Ezekiel never went anywhere without his two trusted bodyguards. Which only meant one thing.

Ezekiel was home.

Bruce lifted a finger and crooked it at me. Throwing a fleeting look at the operator, I headed in that direction, my head bowed.

Once inside the elevator, I looked up at Bruce. “Is he pissed?”

Bruce shrugged. “I suppose you’ll see.”

“Thanks a lot,” I muttered, turning opposite him. A lot of help he was. I would have protested further, but I was still terrified of confronting Bruce. He was a really big guy, after all.

The ride to the penthouse couldn’t have gone on long enough, but eventually the elevator purred to a stop and opened with a whisper. I thought about running somewhere—anywhere—but Bruce took my good arm and led me in a familiar direction—to Ezekiel’s office.

“Can’t I even get dressed first?” I asked, motioning toward my extremely frumpy attire.

Bruce shook his head.

Ezekiel was going to kill me.

Bruce pulled up in front of the office door and knocked twice. A green light on a box above the doorknob blinked, and Bruce opened the door for me. I wished his gaze were a tad less robotic. I wanted to know what he thought about Ezekiel’s intentions.

I took a deep breath and shuffled into the room, still wearing the pair of flip-flops Rika had given me. I had protested, but she said she was fine with going home barefoot. I had hoped her footwear would be more feminine than the rest of my attire, but it wasn’t. They were old, brown, leather sandals—the kind men usually wore. Rika, like Lucille, did not understand “femininity” very well.

Ezekiel was seated at his monstrous cherry wood desk, which looked out across Ralston and the ocean beyond. The light hit his back and threw shadows across his face, though I could still detect the cruel flicker of his blue eyes.

I remained as close to the exit as I could, in case I needed to run for it. I wanted to blurt out my excuse, but I kept my mouth shut.

Ezekiel stood, keeping one hand on the desk, the other straight at his side. “You look like you’ve been through quite an ordeal.”

I glanced down at the arm still cradled against my chest. “Uh, you could say that.”

“I heard of an accident down in Metro early this morning. Or late afternoon, considering the spot on the planet where I was conducting business. Apparently, one of my cars was found totaled with a dead bodyguard inside.” His voice was flat, perfectly even, and impossible to read. “But no one else was found. Simply a lady’s handbag, crushed between the gearshift and the seat. There was blood, however.”

“I had to get out of there,” I blurted in panic. “If the police had found me—they’ve had me in there before—”

“You needn’t worry about the police. My authority can exceed theirs.”

I hadn’t even thought about that. I felt stupid. However, I didn’t regret my decision. I would much rather have spent the night amongst friends than inside a hospital or jail cell until my knight in a designer suit came to rescue me.

“I panicked,” I murmured. “I-I had to get out of there.”

“And where exactly did you go?”

I inhaled with a rattle. “Um, a friend’s house. It was just a few blocks away from the crash site.” I slowly raised my broken arm, wincing. “They…they tried patching me up.”

“I see that.”

I gulped and bowed my head.

“You told me you were going to stay at Mimi’s.”

“I was. But we got into an argument and—”

“Yes, that is what she told me.”

My head snapped up. “You—you talked to her?”

“Yes. I called her once I heard of the accident.”

“I didn’t think—I didn’t think you’d have a problem with it, because Noah and I were going to come back here.” After finishing, I realized I probably shouldn’t have mentioned Noah’s name. Ezekiel wouldn’t want me getting “attached” like I had to Roger. However, Noah was dead, so there was no possible threat anymore. When Ezekiel’s gaze hardened for a moment, I stumbled to continue. “After the accident…I would have called you, but I think the phone was broken, because my purse was all squished, and I couldn’t get out my wallet with the credit card, so I couldn’t find a taxi, a-and the buses were no longer running, and who knows what they would have said about the fact I was bleeding all over the place—”

I stopped abruptly when Ezekiel raised a hand.

“I understand, Melissa.”

“You…you do?”

Ezekiel rounded his desk and leaned against the edge, both hands pushed into his pockets. “Desperate times call for desperate measures is what they say, correct? I understand that these situations are not normal for you, and so you behaved in the way any woman of your experience would. You searched out the familiar.”

I nodded. “They were—well, I wouldn’t call them
really
good friends, but I was safe there, Ezekiel. I promise. Otherwise, I would have ended up on the streets—”

Ezekiel silenced me again with a hand.

“Who were these people?”

I bit my lip, running my good hand through my hair. I had feared him asking this question most of all. I couldn’t lie to him, because he’d know. Ezekiel knew everything. He was some kind of super human, knowing all my cards before I even put them down.

“Uh…J-Juri.”

“Juri.” I expected some sort of glitch in his mask, some expression of rage or confusion, but he acted like he’d been waiting for this answer, which was impossible. I’d never told him a thing about Juri, nor had we ever discussed him. But I knew they were acquainted. With Juri’s reputation as Metro’s unofficial police and Ezekiel being Metro’s biggest drug kingpin, they had to have met before.

“I actually don’t know Juri. But I met this guy who said he knew Juri, and I didn’t have any other choice. Juri was there, along with a bunch of his friends, including…uh…” Would name-dropping hurt or help me? I decided to take a chance, “a Milford.”

“A Milford.”

“Yeah. You know, the super-rich Milfords.” They’d been well-known when three of them supposedly died after a private plane crashed crossing the Vonosh border, but one hadn’t gotten on that plane, and ever since, he’d been an outspoken opponent to the Yentis. I hadn’t asked Rika about her brother—I didn’t think it was polite. I had to wonder if she was involved with his work, if that had anything to do with why she hung out in Metro. Since much of the Yentis’s money was linked to drug trade in Sumertha, it seemed like a good place to snoop around for info.

“Rika, I assume?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, I’ve heard she’s friends with Juri. And who else? Lucille perhaps?”

“You know about Lucille?”

“I make it my business to know about all of Juri’s close accomplices.”

“Oh. Well, yeah, she was there. Along with Rika’s husband and the guy I met before.”

“Who is?”

I really didn’t want to tell him, but of course I had to. “Ace.”

Ezekiel thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I’ve not heard of him.”

Thank goodness for small miracles.

“Come here, Melissa.”

I hesitated. Ezekiel didn’t
seem
to be pissed, but I’d learned early not to trust him. Ever. I took a few anxious steps forward, but he continued to crook his finger. I shuffled across the office floor until I stood right in front of him.

He reached out, and I tried my best not to flinch. The slap I was waiting for did not come. Instead, he put his hands on either side of my neck and surveyed my face with distant curiosity.

“You’re shaking,” he murmured, his voice soft.

“I-I am?”
He’s gonna hit me. He’s gonna kill me. I just know it
. His voice carried a threat. I could hear it.