KING: Las Vegas Bad Boys by Frankie Love

Author:Frankie Love [Love, Frankie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-06-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Claire

I’m not money hungry. I mean, yes I’m here at the castle because of the potential paycheck … but my entire life doesn’t typically revolve around cash flow.

But for this family, money defines them.

I could earn a lot more money if I worked different hours of the day, but being home with Sophia has always meant more than a bigger paycheck.

Except for when Landon offered me this proposition. Because getting paid two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be his fake fiancée was a chance at a jackpot. It would be like winning the lottery. It would change everything. So, yes … in this singular instance money means more than being home.

But The King’s Diamond is bankrupt.

No matter how convincing Landon and I are … there will be no chunk of change to take home.

There is no money, period.

So what the hell am I still doing here?

Landon’s dad, Arthur, seems to have admitted defeat; his head rests in his hands as if he can’t bear to look at us.

Landon doesn’t hide his emotion. He’s livid. He keeps making these incredulous sighs that aren’t helping anything. His mother, Helen, sits wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.

Geoffrey and Fiona have their faces pinched, tight and disapproving.

I’m trying not to hyperventilate. I left my daughter—traveled across the world—for a lie. I feel like a fool.

But as my eyes meet Landon’s it’s clear that, besides being angry, he’s also embarrassed. He looks away from me as fast as he can, which is something that has never happened before. Usually it’s impossible to break from his gaze.

“Is everything really gone?” he asks his dad, disbelieving. “Because the house, the property, the staff, everything appears unchanged.”

“The business is a separate entity from the family estate,” Geoffrey explains, not letting Arthur get in a word. “Mum and Dad are well-secured; they’ve worked hard all their life, invested well. Even without the business, they can continue living here using their savings, or downsize and allow more money to be in their will after they’ve passed away. They’ll be fine.”

“Can’t they leverage the castle?” Landon asks.

“They could, but Mum and Dad don’t want to risk the house. It’s the business that’s dying. The business that is dead.”

“Not dead,” Arthur interjects.

“It’s true, Landon. It is nearly dead—we can hang on for a few more months, but we’ve got to prepare for the worst,” Geoffrey says. “Look, I wish the news were better, and I’ve been working my ass off to keep things afloat. Ask Fiona. I work fourteen-hour days so that Dad and Mum can continue living a fantasy. But it’s done. Dad doesn’t want to take the business into a viable model—”

“Correct,” Arthur says. “I don’t want The King’s Diamond to go down in history as being a strip-mall discount jeweler with shady importers selling inferior diamonds. The King’s Diamond represents history, heritage, something treasured. If it can’t be what it has been, I don’t want it at all!”

“I don’t understand,” Landon says. “I was just in the Vegas branch, and the shop looked as it always has.

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