Guarded truths, p.1
Guarded Truths, page 1
Guarded Truths
The Savage Kings Series, Prequel
Jade Royal
Copyright © 2021 by Jade Royal
www.authorjaderoyal.com
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Playlist for Guarded Truths
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
The Domino Effect
The Entanglements
Savage Kings Empire
Acknowledgments
About the Author
New Releases
Also by Jade Royal
I always use music to fuel my stories. Because the list keeps growing, I’m going to give you the link to my Spotify playlist to listen to. Usually, I list the titles of the songs in a playlist but thought that giving you the direct link would be better. Don’t worry about whether you have Spotify or not. They’ll still let you listen to the tunes at no cost as long as you follow the link.
You can always send me a email at jaderoyalnews@gmail.com to let me know what you think. Enjoy the playlist as you read, I know I have a few times.
Cheers,
Jade Royal
She's a Savage...
Abigail
When the King gives you a mission, you complete it. But sometimes, even the simplest things are easy to screw up. I didn’t expect a partner to accompany me, used to working on my own. Especially not one that would be my roommate, and so damn tempting. Forced proximity keeps us breathing desire-heavy air together, unable to hide from the chemistry. Making a mistake could lead to fatal repercussions affecting more than just my life, but is it preventable?
Aaron
I need to handle all possible legal matters as they surfaced in Cincinnati. Beyond that, the details were scarce. I was assured that once I arrived, the missing pieces would be filled in. In a split second, the dynamics change giving me a taste of a woman I’d considered off-limits. Attraction lowers my guard and distracts us from the assignment. Will we be able to do what we need to, or will we crash and burn?
Abigail
The room was cool since Domino loved to freeze the entire place to a teeth-chattering temperature. I looked a damn fool when I left daily with a sweater on during the end of the summer. Suave, he leaned back in his office chair, stroking his chin. Something was up. He had not tamed his curly hair as it usually was, and his goatee needed a serious lineup. A quick text to O, his brother, and barber, required him to come to fix the situation. I also made a note to get his laundry from his bedroom. Wearing a wrinkled shirt wasn’t allowed. Was that a stain on the collar? Leaning forward, I confirmed it was. His eyebrows furrowed together, bunched in deep concentration.
Domino called me into his office because he had a special project for me. He’d mentioned how important it was that I came immediately, but he sat posed as if time had no place here. Unable to stand the disarray in his appearance, I stood and went to his closet. Inside, I pulled out fresh clothes: a blue and green pinstripe polo shirt, jeans, and blue and green tennis shoes to match. The man had more shoes than me, and I’m a woman who enjoys a new pair of heels often. My shoe closet is bigger than the ones with my clothes. Domino, though, had shoes lining the closet down here and the one inside his bedroom. Every outfit had a pair to match.
I placed the items, minus the shoes, down on top of his desk. High tops on the floor. I leaned in, sniffing him. Clean. The clothes were our only problem.
“Arms up,” I instructed.
“What are you doing, Abbey? I called you in here to talk, not to redress me.”
“Except I’ve been sitting here while I lost you to your chaotic thoughts, trying to sort through the issue alone. When you’re ready to include me, you’ll speak.”
Domino gave me that intense stare that he used to get people to do his bidding.
I giggled, not really sure why he was trying it with me. “You don’t scare me, and I still need to get you into clothes that aren’t stained and wrinkled. You look homeless.”
“I don’t.” Domino looked down at himself, noticing the state of his attire for what seemed like the first time. He sighed before standing.
“Talk,” I prompted him while I began unbuttoning his shirt and removing it from his body.
“Paula claims to be pregnant.”
My fingers didn’t miss a beat as I threw his dirty shirt in a pile on the chair. I checked his wife-beater for cleanliness before putting on his clean shirt. He helped when I needed it, and when I looked at his legs and then his face, he unbuttoned his pants.
“Your undies clean?” I asked while turning away from him.
“Yes, mother.”
I laughed at his horrible joke while sending a text back to O, who explained that he was on his way over to cut Domino’s hair and shape him up. I slipped my phone back into my pocket and rocked on my toes.
“Are you going to say anything?”
I heard the zipper being put into place and turned back to him. “No reason for me to.”
I grabbed his pants from the floor, added them to the chair, and then looked at his socks. Definitely not clean. Getting clean ones was a quick in and out of his closet. He was sitting down, and he tossed the socks he’d been wearing. Handing him the clean ones, I put all the dirty pieces into the laundry bag that I was carrying before I sat back down in my seat and gave him my undivided attention.
“She’s up to something. I can feel it. I need you to go to Cincinnati. She’s there at her mother’s house. She swears she’s homesick, but I think it’s a ploy to keep me away from her lying ass. I believe that she’s pregnant, but I don’t think it was an accident.”
“How would she have gotten your sperm then?” I quizzed him. I’d told him more than once that he needed to be the person to dispose of his condoms. Floozies were scandalous, and having a baby by Domino Foxworth, King of California, Savage King of kings, was like winning the lottery.
“I don’t remember slippin’ up, but she had to get that shit from somewhere.” He bent down, folding himself in half as he put on his sneaks and laced them up. “I need you to watch her. Make sure that she doesn’t abort it or give it away for money. She’s not the type of woman who gets pregnant and suddenly becomes caring toward children. If she’s pregnant and it’s mine, the baby will live with me.”
“And if it’s not yours?” I hoped he would not be cruel.
“Let’s figure out the what-ifs if they happen.”
“How long are we talking?” It was time to get down to business. I knew there was a catch somewhere. Where was it?
“She’s six months pregnant.” Domino leaned back in his chair, waiting for my response. He thought I was going to object.
I could see it all over his face. There were three ways I could respond. One, go ballistic about the fact that he was sending me away for three months. Or two, I could respond in kind doing what I was told. The third option was more my style. I was honored he was sending me to handle this. As silly as it might sound, sitting around there all day became melodramatic. There was a reason he was trusting me with this.
Domino was right, though. If Paula was carrying his baby, it would be better off with anybody else but her. She wasn’t capable of being a mother. The child would become a bargaining chip that would give her all the financial gains that she wanted.
“When is my flight?” I asked.
There was a tap at the door, and Domino glared at the person disturbing his meeting with me. “It better be damn important.” His voice echoed off the walls.
The door creaked open, and O filled the opening, his long dreadlocks draped in front of him. Girls fawned over his handsome face, yet most of the time, he was immune to them. He didn’t like the attention, an exact opposite parallel to Saint.
He held a sandwich in his mouth and a duffle in each of his hands. He wobbled into the room and dropped both bags on the floor beside Domino’s desk. O took a bite of the sandwich he had and looked at us.
“Am I interrupting something?” His focus shifted to Domino, who was eying him and his presumable behavior. “Bro, you’re past due on the grooming.”
“Did you call him?” Domino twirled his thumbs as he watched O start unpacking his bags.
“You know I did.”
He was agitated, but that wasn’t why he had determination in his eyes. “Tomorrow.”
Figures. Standing up, I grabbed the laundry bag filled with his poor choices for today inside.
“Then I need to go pack my bag. Details?” I paused just before I exited his office.
“We’ll cover them after dinner.”
The buzz of clippers chimed in, ending the conversation for now. I knew the important parts of the assignment. Make sure that this girl did nothing stupid for the next few months, bring the baby to him, and as always, I needed to stay out of sight while I was there. I could handle that easily.
Abigail
My driver drove down a quiet street that reminded me of a typical scene from a thriller movie. The houses were al l cookie-cutter and perfect. Lawns with mow lines, identical fences, and wrap-around porches. The house I was staying in was at the end of the cul-de-sac and two houses over from Paula’s mother’s house, where she was staying. Where she went, I went. And this is where she was. She’s told Domino she wanted to be close to her mother, so this is where I had to be. Cincinnati, Ohio.
It was nighttime, and I’d lost three hours somewhere in the time zone changes. The air smelled different from the California air I was used to. It was humid there; my skin had protested as soon as I’d left the airport.
Following the instructions for the lockbox, I entered the house quickly, avoiding being seen. The driver brought my luggage inside, and I tipped him before he departed. Closing and locking the door, I leaned against it, considering what I’d signed up for.
I had to keep Domino’s child safe while not kicking the mother’s butt. I’d seen her in passing once, and it was enough for me to determine that I didn’t like her. She was dramatic and vied for attention from the other brothers in the house.
Mind you, I understand that the Savage Kings were seven very attractive men. Domino, Saint, and Turner were brothers by blood. The rest of them, O, Deer, Ward, and Perc were brothers by creed. They acted as if they came from the same mother. Argumentative, horse playing, bonding, love me now and despise me later, but when it came down to it, they were always right there for one another. They were all the same in that way, but their personalities were as different as night and day. I loved them all, but that’s because they were my brothers, too.
As close as I worked to them, knowing their secrets and most of their moves, the swooning stopped soon after I started working for them. The power they radiated only drew women in deeper. I was immune, almost repulsively. Brothers, and that’s where the line was drawn for me.
This house, though… I took a serious look around the room I was in. It was a fully furnished rental, and the owner had amazing taste. Unlike all the glitz and glamour I was used to, this place was homey. They’d definitely paid good money for the ceramic pieces, plush full floor rugs, and the leather sofas, but it was tasteful and downplayed the value in here. The TV alone had to be a few thousand. Seventy-five inches or better. Then, there was a surround sound station.
Someone fully equipped the kitchen with more appliances than I could name. There were three ovens, a long island with a fruit bowl filled with bright and healthy-looking items, and the refrigerator didn’t disappoint with the crushed ice maker. There was plenty of space inside it for my takeout meals. I didn’t cook, so I would use none of these pretty things during my stay.
Chrome, red, black, and white were the color options there. Every room in the house had the same palette. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a sunroom, first-floor laundry, and plenty of space to lounge made it my dream getaway. The room closest to the steps was going to be the one I used to set up a security station. I’d take the master suite as my own, and since the walk-in closet had been cleaned out, I’d load all my stuff inside tomorrow. For three months, it would be home.
I stripped down to nothing and put my curly hair into a bun before climbing into the soft king-sized bed. I draped the cool comforter over me to shield my skin from the chill that threatened. The warmth from the blanket and the cool house reminded me of my home back with the brothers. Feeling like the miles had suddenly melted away, I drifted quickly to sleep, exhausted from traveling.
When tomorrow came, I’d be ready for whatever it had in store for me.
Malcolm was our tech guy. He did whatever needed to be done with electronics. Right now, that was getting me into Paula and her mother’s phones. I watched as a van full of my men disguised as electricians from the local energy company came and went inside their house. They’d faked a gas leak call in to gain access. By the time they left, I’d have eyes everywhere in that house. Video screens loaded one by one, creating a grid on the laptop that Malcolm had sent to me. He was talking me through the different windows while he hacked their cell phones. Thanks to the men inside, he had access to a lot more than just that.
“Just remember, you’ll watch them from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. I’ll take over after that. Let me know if you need to step out or something so I can tap in.” Malcolm wasn’t looking at the screen of me on our video chat. He’d tuned into his hack and focused on that as he spoke.
“Yup. Do you know why we’re going through so much trouble over this girl?” I hoped he wasn’t too suspicious about why I was asking. I loved Domino, but this still felt like overkill. When he’d told me to babysit this girl, he meant it in every sense of the word. It would have been easier to attach me to her hip.
“He just said that he didn’t trust her. She’s known for being sketchy. This isn’t the first time that he’s had me do something pertaining to her. A couple of weeks ago, he had me search hospital records. He wouldn’t say why or what he was looking for. Whatever threat she poses, it must be serious.”
I let the new information settle in for the rest of the afternoon as I moved about. By 6 p.m., I had eyes everywhere. They’d even been nice enough to add the tracking devices to Paula and her mother’s cars. Malcolm had finished with his demonstration of how to use everything. He’d also had a box sent over to me by the workers so that I could put a tracker in my rental car when I got it.
Feeling like my day was complete, I ordered a meat lover’s pizza to go with the bottle of wine that Domino had delivered to me.
Abbey,
Thank you for doing this for me. I don’t trust anybody else to see it through. I know you’ll help me understand things and find out the truth. She’s hiding something. I feel it in my gut. I hope that’s enough for you to give me even more of your dedication and support. If not, I’ve chosen to bribe you with your favorite wine.
There’s more where this came from,
Domino
* * *
I studied the note for a bit before I placed it on the counter. Domino had a way of making people feel special even when he was about to get them caught up in some mess. I guess that’s how he kept a faithful army under his thumb. Leadership could reign through force or by nurturing. He had a way of mixing the two together to get what he needed. I guess that’s why I respected him. He could be a brutal asshole–trust that I’ve seen that side of him. Instead, he did things his way, and it was different than I expected, that’s all. He tortured his enemies however he needed. But he built his dynasty on loyalty, a different feel from when his father ran things. I’d heard the stories. Dominic Sr. was a ruthless son of a bitch who people feared. His son, the Jr. who preferred to be called Domino over Dominic, was still ruthless but never turned that power on his own people.
The doorbell rang, pulling me from my thoughts. The delivery man handed me the most mouthwatering smelling box of pizza. I tipped him extra just because of how amazing it smelled. An entire bottle of wine down, a movie, and three slices of pizza put me into a food coma. If I wasn’t careful, I’d gain weight while I was here. Around 2 a.m., I groggily shuffled to bed. I needed sleep before my first day of Paula’s watch began.
Aaron
Using the key that I was given, I entered the house where I’d be staying for the next few months. My flight from Morocco came in late, and I was exhausted. 5 a.m. was too early to function on no sleep, discomfort from the flight, and a starving stomach. I left my bags at the door and searched for the bedroom in the dark, afraid the light would burn my corneas and set my pupils on fire. The couch was closer, but I wanted to pass out in a bed that I’d be comfortable in. I stripped as I walked down the hall, dropping everything on the carpeted floor of the bedroom that I’d deemed the master suite. The other three rooms were smaller, and one had computers everywhere. Too much light.
