Ruthless King (Mount Trilogy #1)

“Ke-ke, you know I love you, but there are some things you don’t need to know.”

It doesn’t surprise me that Magnolia would try to shield me if she could, but right now, I need answers. I take a slow, deep breath and let it out, as though preparing for something painful. Which I suppose I am.

“Tell me what you heard.”

After a few beats, she finally speaks, her tone flat. “Word on the street is that part of the money went to pay off one very irate loan shark, which is like borrowing from the devil to pay one of his minions. Some went to his very expensive nasal problem, and the rest to the bitch he was banging on the side, because she told him she was pregnant. That’s all rumor and hearsay, though.”

My knees are supposed to hold me up, but they fail. I fumble for a grip on the counter, but miss and fall flat on my ass on the floor. The crystal tumbler shatters on the marble as I go down.

“Ke-ke!” Magnolia bolts toward me, her arms outstretched.

I hold my hands out. “Don’t. Just. Don’t.”

Stunned, I suck in breath after breath as I process her words.

Loan shark.

Nasal problem.

Pregnant mistress.

I knew Brett was cheating on me. He barely tried to hide it. I can’t even believe it took me almost the entire four months we were married to figure it out. It’s why I met with a divorce lawyer three days before he died and leased an apartment so I’d have somewhere to go when I filed the paperwork.

Magnolia backs away and reappears with a broom to sweep up the broken glass. I pull myself together and stand. There’s one part of what she said that doesn’t make sense.

“What kind of nasal problem did Brett have? Allergies?”

She dumps the dustpan in the trash bin and looks at me with an expression that can only be described as sympathetic. “Ke-ke, he was a cokehead. Since before the day you met him.”

“What?” The word bursts out of me. She surely can’t mean . . .

“Cocaine. Blow. White.”

“That’s impossible. I would’ve known. I—”

“You’re a good girl,” Magnolia says, shaking her head benevolently. “You can recognize a drunk at twenty paces, but drugs are out of your wheelhouse, Ke-ke.”

“That piece of shit put my family’s legacy at risk because of drugs?” I’m no longer on the verge of hysterics. I’m there.

“That and p*ssy, which is even more addictive, in my experience. Plus, Brett Hyde was a con artist. He had you hook, line, and sinker before you even had a chance.”

I cover my face with both hands and focus on breathing. Counting to ten. Trying to let the anger recede.

It doesn’t work.

Eloping with Brett was the one impulsive decision I’ve made in my life. I thought meeting him was fate. He was so perfect for me from day one, I couldn’t help but believe the world had destined us to be together. And after that incredible night . . .

I shake off the memories. I was such a naive little idiot.

“I wish I could bring him back to life so I could kill him myself,” I whisper.

Magnolia aims another indulgent smile my way. “Sweetie, if he were still alive, you know I’d chop off his pathetic excuse for a dick with a meat cleaver.”

“What the hell am I going to do?” I ask her as I begin pacing the marble floor.

Magnolia’s head swivels back and forth as she watches me. “Ke-ke . . . this shit is serious.”

I spin around to face her. “I know. I need five hundred thousand dollars or I’m f*cked. How the hell do I get a half million dollars in a week? No bank in this town will loan me another cent with the debt I already have.”

She clasps her hands together in front of the silk belt knotting her peach robe closed. “I’m gonna get real with you. Even if you were a virgin, there’s no way we could organize a payday like that so quick.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. Auction myself off? A shudder of disgust slithers down my spine. Even that’s not an option because I’m not worth that much. I look up and meet her tawny gaze.

“Brett got five hundred thousand in a week. I have to be able to do it too.”

“No one is gonna give you that money.” Her face is solemn.

“What about another extension? A payment plan?” I jam my hands into my hair as I attempt to think of all other possible options.

“Girl, you don’t need me to tell you that isn’t gonna solve your problem.”

I cross my arms over my chest, hugging them tight around me before walking backward until my knees hit Magnolia’s leather sofa and I land on it.

“What if . . . what if I just don’t pay? What if I tell him that it was Brett’s problem and he’s dead, so leave me out of it?”

This time, Magnolia’s gorgeous golden face pales. “Keira,” she says, and I stiffen when she says my full name because she never says my full name. “You don’t want to go down that road.”

“I don’t have a choice! I don’t have the money.”

Magnolia crosses the room slowly and sits on the couch next to me. “The last woman who crossed Mount ended up in the morgue.”

Goose bumps prickle every inch of my skin as I swallow. “He killed her?”

Magnolia’s slow shake of her head sends an icy rush of fear into my veins.

“Mount doesn’t have to do his own dirty work anymore. But that bitch was sliced and diced. Died from blood loss.”

I picture a woman bleeding out in a dark alley, slit from ear to ear, but Magnolia continues.

“They say his people pumped her full of uppers and forced her to dance barefoot on broken glass until eventually she fell and managed to grab a shard. She slit her wrists herself just to end it.”

My stomach rolls as I picture the brutality in vivid color. I bolt off the couch with my hand over my mouth, making a mad dash to the bathroom.

Magnolia is behind me in moments, pulling my thick red hair away from my face. “I shouldn’t have told you. But I don’t know how else to make you understand what you’re dealing with. You don’t want to know what I heard they did to her boyfriend. It was even worse.”

I heave again, bile burning my throat as I retch. Magnolia rubs my back until I wipe my hand across my mouth.

“Water?” The request comes out as a croak.

“Sure, hon.”

I follow her out of the bathroom, back to the kitchen, picturing the broken crystal shards she’d swept up moments ago, except this time I imagine them digging into the soles of my feet as my blood stains the floor.

Magnolia slides a bottle of water across the counter to me, its cap already removed, and I take a cautious sip.

“What am I going to do?”

She covers my free hand with hers. “We, sugar. Because if you don’t give the man what he’s owed, then he won’t stop with you. He’ll take out everyone you love.”

I gag on the sip of water. “Oh Jesus, I have to leave. I can’t get you involved—”

“Too late. Mount never makes a move without knowing everything about his target.”

“My parents . . . my sisters . . .”

Magnolia nods. “And your friends. Employees.”

My eyelids sink closed. “He said . . . he said there was something he was willing to take in trade.” I hate to voice the option, but I can’t contemplate the alternative consequences without running for the toilet again.