“I lost my job yesterday.”
I’d circle back to that later. “How’d you meet Adler?”
“I told you, his family owns the building I live in.”
“Is he friends with everyone who lives in it?”
She got up and paced to the other side of the room. “Why are you asking so many questions about Ad? He didn’t even know my sister.”
“Never met her?” This line of questioning was angering her. Why?
“Once, when he flew out to attend my grandfather’s funeral.”
I needed to call Rile back and find out exactly what kind of information he was looking for on Mila’s asshole landlord. I wasn’t making any headway other than to piss her off.
“I don’t want to be rude, but I’m really tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night, and then the flight…”
“Right.”
“Would you mind taking me to the guest house now? I’d like to get some rest.”
I stood to pick up my keys. There was something about this that didn’t feel right. The more she talked, the more I felt it.
“I changed my mind. I think you should stay here.” I pointed toward the hallway. “I have a guest room.”
“Why?”
“Did I change my mind?”
Mila nodded, and I pointed to my gut. “Call it intuition.”
8
Adler
“What in the hell do you mean, she’s in Texas and you’re back in Boston?” my father, Marshall, barked.
“She wanted to stay a few more days. I told her she needed to come back with me, but she refused.”
I heard the phone drop and a muffled conversation in the background, followed by the sound of my dad picking the phone back up.
“You have one job, one responsibility. You stick to Mila Knight like fucking glue. Do you understand me?” he yelled.
“She isn’t going to agree to come back here. At least not right away.”
“Then you get your ass on the next plane back to Texas!”
9
Mila
I was too strung out to argue with Decker. Plus, I was a guest. I could hardly demand where I stayed.
“Bathroom is across the hall,” he said after showing me the bedroom. He pointed to a door in the bathroom. “Whatever you need in the way of towels is in this closet. Get some rest,” he added before walking away.
The sun was still high enough in the sky that when I looked out the bedroom window, I could see the rolling hills of the ranch along with cattle scattered on them. I’d heard rumors about this ranch all my life but had never been on the property before. It was as impressive as I’d always heard, but then the King name alone was synonymous with the biggest and best in Texas, maybe in all of the US.
I lay on the queen-size bed and closed my eyes, trying to remember everything I could about the last time I saw my sister.