Ruthless King (New Orleans Malones #4)

Chapter 28

28

H ow was it possible that she felt worse today?

Jilly moaned quietly, her throat protesting even that much noise. Her entire body hurt.

Heck, even her eyeballs hurt.

She glanced over through watery eyes to see Regent walk in with a tray of food.

He was still here?

Jilly really thought he might have gotten tired of taking care of her by now.

“I’m sick,” she complained as he set the tray down.

On the tray was a plate of burned toast with sliced bananas on the side.

Hmm.

“I know you are, baby.” He picked up the thermometer and took her temperature. “Still high. Here, take this medicine.”

He placed the pills on her tongue, following up with some water. Hr throat protested as she swallowed them.

“Do you want the bathroom before you eat?” he asked.

Well, she didn’t want to eat at all. But she nodded.

She let him pick her up and carry her into the bathroom without argument. She wasn’t sure her legs would get her there and back. After she was finished, he carried her back and tucked her in.

What would she do without him?

“You’re so good to me,” she told him. “Staying here, taking care of me, carrying me around. Bringing me food. And I’m probably going to make you ill.”

To her surprise, he sat in the chair beside the bed with a sigh. “I’m not that good to you.”

Jilly stared at the food. “Well, it is questionable whether breakfast will make me better or worse . . .”

He grimaced. “I told Gerald to sleep in after last night. And I’m not much of a cook.”

Yeah, he really wasn’t.

Wait.

“What happened last night?” she asked with a frown.

“You don’t remember?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“I had to leave for work and Gerald stayed here with you. You had a nightmare, and when he came in to check on you, well, you thought he was your father.”

“Oh no.” What the heck? She couldn’t remember any of that? “What did I do?”

“You were hysterical. Gerald called me and I returned to find you hiding in the closet. You were so scared.”

“I’m so sorry,” she told him.

His mouth dropped open as he gaped at her. “You’re sorry?”

“Yes! I’m sorry you had to come back to take care of me.” God, that was mortifying. “You don’t need to stay if you have things to do. I really can look after myself.”

“No, baby, you don’t understand. I’m the one who is sorry. I left you and you had a nightmare; then, you were so scared you had to hide. I shouldn’t have left you while you were ill.”

“But you had business to attend to. That comes first.”

There was a strange look on his face.

“Really. I’m feeling much better.”

He gave her a skeptical look. “You don’t look better.”

She sighed. “You’re right. I feel awful. I’m sick.”

Regent’s lips twitched. “Poor baby. I promise I won’t leave you again. You really don’t remember anything?”

She frowned. She couldn’t remember the nightmare.

But a few images danced through her mind.

A man looming over her.

Fear.

Huddling in the closet.

Your father is dead.

She shuddered. God, it had felt like he wasn’t. Like he was right there.

I killed him.

A gasp escaped before she coughed. Regent leaned over and grabbed her glass of water, holding it to her lips.

“Sorry,” she whispered hoarsely. “I must be having delusions still because I thought I remembered you telling me that you killed my father.”

“I did kill your father.”

Holy. Moly.

Mind. Blown.

She sat there for a long moment until she realized Regent was as still as a statue.

He was probably worried she’d tell someone or freak out.

So she leaned forward and gave him a fierce look. “Good. The asshole deserved it. He terrorized Mama and me all of our lives. He would fly off the handle at the smallest thing. While he wasn’t always violent, there were times when he was. We weren’t even allowed to leave the house most of the time. When we did, we had to be very careful. I had a childhood filled with fear. Mama rarely smiled until after he died. So good. I’m glad you killed him.”

“Do you think me a monster?” His voice was monotone, as if he didn’t care either way about the answer.

But she had the feeling he did.

“No. He was the monster. And I’ll never tell anyone. I promise. Thank you for killing him. You set me free. You saved me. You’re my hero.”

“I’m not a hero, baby. I’m the villain. But that just means that I can and will do whatever it takes to protect you.”

She believed him.

Regent frowned as he watch his girl sleep. She’d done a lot of sleeping today. He’d grown so worried he’d actually called Doctor Stanley’s nephew who’d told him that sleep was good for her.

But Regent had barely been able to tear himself away from her side. At least she hadn’t had any more nightmares.

His phone rang and he glanced down, seeing it was Lottie.

He moved out into the hallway. “Darling? Everything okay?”

“Everything is more than okay. Well, other than being nervous about this showing this weekend.”

He hated that she was nervous. Why weren’t her men doing something to reassure her?

“Why are you nervous?” he demanded. “You have no reason to be nervous.”

“What if I flop, Reggie?” she whispered. “What if I’m a complete failure? I’ll let everyone down.”

Outrage filled him at the sound of the wobble in her voice.

“You could never let anyone down. Not ever. No matter what you do.”

“You’d never be disappointed in me?”

“Never.”

He heard her take in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Something niggled at him.

“Lottie, darling, have I ever given you a reason to think you have disappointed me?”

“What? No. No, Reggie, you’ve always looked after me. You never gave up on me, even when you probably should have.”

He let out a low noise of disagreement at that remark.

“It’s just you’re so confident. You never fail at anything. I don’t want to let you down.”

“I’ve told you that you won’t. And you need to believe that,” he said firmly. Then he closed his eyes. That wouldn’t help her. Not fully. “I’m also not good at everything I do.”

She let out a soft laugh. “Yes, you are.”

He understood why she thought that. It wasn’t like he went around telling people about his failures. His father had taught him that admitting failure was weak. But he was trying his best not to be his father.

“I fail at plenty, darling.”

“Like what?”

“Well, right now, I think I’m failing Jilly.”

There was a beat of silence. “Jilly? From the tunnels?”

“Yes. That Jilly.”

“Is she all right?” she asked.

“She’s ill.”

“Ill? How ill? Did you call Doc?”

“Yes, I called that crotchety old bastard,” he grumbled.

“Oh, he’s leaving soon for his holiday, isn’t he?”

“You knew about that?” he asked.

“You didn’t?”

He grumbled to himself. “I suppose I did and I forgot.”

“But you never forget anything.”

Not usually, though.

“He said it’s the flu.”

“Oh, poor Jilly,” Lottie said. “Is Alister looking after her?”

“You know Alister?”

“Of course, he’s Doc’s nephew.”

Regent thought he knew everyone in this city. Or everyone who could impact his family.

“No, I sent him away.”

“What? Why?” Lottie asked.

“I didn’t like him.” Even he could hear how ridiculous he sounded.

“Why?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Then who is looking after Jilly? Does she have any family? Friends?”

“I am.”

There was a beat of silence. Then another one. Finally, Lottie cleared her throat. “Do you know how to do that?”

“It’s not that hard. I just follow Doctor Stanley’s instructions. Make sure she rests, eats, drinks, and doesn’t do too much. Not that she makes it easy. She continues to defy me at every turn.”

“She does?” Lottie asked.

There. She sounded suitably shocked. Because no one defied him.

“Wow. Brave girl.”

Foolish girl.

Sassy girl.

Sweet, gorgeous girl.

“How are you failing her, then? It sounds like you’re doing everything you can to take care of her.”

“She’s keeping things from me.”

More silence.

“Lottie?” he asked.

“People can have secrets for a reason, Regent.”

“There is no secret she’d need to keep that she couldn’t tell me. People aren’t supposed to have secrets from me.”

Especially Jilly.

But he didn’t say that because he couldn’t explain to Lottie exactly what Jilly meant to him.

He couldn’t tell anyone what she meant since he couldn’t even explain it to himself.

“Are you and Jilly . . . are you together?”

There was such hope in his sister’s voice that he hated to let her down.

“No. No, we’re not.”

“Oh.”

“Lottie, you know I can’t have a relationship.”

“Why not?”

“Because it would put the other person at risk.”

“I also know that you’d protect them. You wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt the woman you loved. You’re the most protective, ruthless, terrifying, powerful man I know.”

“Can you say that again in front of your husbands,” he said dryly.

“Regent,” she said. “Don’t change the subject. If you really want something, you find a way to make it happen. And you don’t let anyone else get in your way. I think the real reason you don’t want to fall in love is because you don’t think you deserve to be loved. But you do . . . more than anyone I know, you deserve to be happy. Please let yourself be happy.”

Half an hour after he ended the call, Lottie’s words were still rattling around in his head.

If he wanted something . . . no one stood in his way.

She was right. If someone he cared about was at risk, he always did whatever he could to keep them safe.

But keeping Jilly safe would mean . . . it would be totally uprooting her from her life. Restraining her. Would he smother her spirit?

Or was he making up excuses because he didn’t think he deserved to be happy?

Because he thought he was a monster like his father?

Fuck that shit.

Determination filled him. Would he be happy walking away from her? Never seeing her again? Could he stand to see her with someone else?

Considering he couldn’t even stand seeing her in pajamas that looked like they had belonged to another man . . . likely not.

At least if she was with him, he could keep her safe. She wouldn’t have empty cupboards, smoke alarms with no batteries, or a security light without a bulb. She wouldn’t be coming home in the middle of the night in a stranger’s car, wearing next to nothing with a high temperature.

Moving into the bedroom, he spotted the clothes she’d been wearing the other night. He had intended to get Gerald to wash them.

Or get rid of them entirely.

Picking up the hoodie, he frowned as something fell out of the pocket. Picking up the piece of paper, he didn’t even hesitate before checking what it said.

I know your secret.

And if you don’t want everyone to know . . . you’re going to have to buy my silence.

Ten thousand dollars.

What. The. Fuck.

After the threat, there were instructions on how to pay. The person wanted her to drop the money off next Sunday.

Well. They were going to be in for a surprise.

Because it wouldn’t be Jilly dropping that money off. And they would learn not to threaten his girl.

But what did it mean? What secret? What did she not want people to know? Something that she’d pay ten thousand dollars for them to keep to themselves?

It didn’t make a lot of sense. He’d known she was keeping something secret from him, but he hadn’t expected something like this.

Why would someone blackmail Jilly? It was obvious that things were tight for her. She didn’t have any spare cash.

Or was that why things were so tight? Because she was paying blackmail money?

Maybe this wasn’t the first time they’d sent her a note like this.

Why the hell hadn’t she told him?

She had to know he’d gladly take care of this for her.

Unless it was because she didn’t want to tell him the secret. Was that it? Whatever was going on . . . she knew he’d insist she tell him everything.

He glanced at the note again, turning it over. His stomach dropped as he saw the name written on the front.

Nyx.

He’d heard that name before. But where?

Glancing down at the floor, he spotted another piece of clothing. Bending over, he picked up a black negligee. It had threads of gold in it and was nearly see-through except for a couple of lined patches to cover the nipples and pussy.

Then it hit him.

The club. The woman on the stage with the white hair and mask.

Nyx.

That dancer in disguise.

The one he’d been attracted to in the club. Fuck. Well, that explained that.

But it didn’t explain what the fuck she thought she was doing dancing in a fucking strip club.

Fury flooded him as he remembered her showing her breasts at the end.

Arguably, her dancing was more modest than the other dancers. It was only right at the end that she bared her breasts.

Or at least from what he’d seen.

However, that didn’t mean he liked it.

So, did that note mean someone knew she was Nyx? She obviously took pains to hide what she was doing.

Why, though?

Because she was worried about her job? Surely they couldn’t fire her for what she did in her spare time?

Or was it because she was ashamed? It seemed a strange thing for Jilly to do. He’d never seen her wear anything but long skirts and full-sleeve tops.

Perhaps that was the reason why.

Which meant she was definitely doing this out of necessity.

It still made little sense. Who was the note threatening to tell?

Did she realize how dangerous stripping was? Especially at Santé Santiago’s club? God, anything could have happened to her while working there. Yeah, Santé seemed a better person than his uncle, but that didn’t mean a lot, considering what a snake Carlos had been.

Had she worked for Carlos?

Just the thought made him murderous. Santé said that Nyx wasn’t available for private dances, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been put in risky situations.

Fuck!

He should have been protecting her better. He should have pushed her to tell him what was going on.

There would be no more putting herself in danger. No more stripping.

No. More. Secrets.

He guessed he wouldn’t get answers until he could talk to Jilly. Both about why she was stripping and why someone was blackmailing her over it.

How dare someone threaten his girl.

Regent crumpled the note in his fist but forced himself to loosen his hold before he put it in his pocket.

Then he grabbed his phone and prepared to make arrangements.

One thing he knew for sure was that no one would harm her.

Not on his watch.