Ruthless King

Perhaps he should go around there.

Anne had been concerned when Jilly wasn’t getting back to her. Was there a reason for him to worry?

Leaning his head back, he stared up at the ceiling. He was tired. That must be why he couldn’t get her out of his head.

That might also explain his obsession with Nyx. She was so different from Jilly that he didn’t really understand it.

She’d moved around the stage like no one else was there.

Sexy and confident.

Yeah, thoroughly different from Jilly. But still, both of them were occupying his head tonight.

He hadn’t talked to Santé about having a private moment with Nyx. It had felt wrong.

Plus, after talking to Kimmy, he’d just wanted to get out of there. Kimmy had kept trying to get him to touch her, and he’d had to get harsh with her to get her to stop.

Finally, he’d managed to get her to answer some questions. She swore that she hadn’t heard from or seen Patrick.

But he wasn’t sure he believed her.

Which made him even more curious as to what the fuck was going on with Patrick.

He tapped his phone. There were several messages.

None from Jilly.

Perhaps she was busy.

It wasn’t like he didn’t have things to do. He needed to get on with them.

And push Jilly from his mind.

18

Jilly stared down at the last message from Regent.

There was nothing personal in it. Just straight to the point.

This was even more evidence that he wasn’t attracted to her. He didn’t keep coming around because he wanted her.

He was concerned about security due to the secrets this house held.

But somehow, that didn’t make her hurt less. She still felt the pain of a betrayal, even if Regent didn’t know that he’d betrayed her.

As her phone rang, her heart raced. Was it him?

She debated whether to answer. Until she saw that it wasn’t Regent, but her mom calling.

Jilly groaned. Shoot. It had been a few days since she’d spoken to her so she better answer or she’d call Mrs. Yards and have her come over.

That had happened before.

“Hi, Mama.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked immediately.

Jilly rolled her eyes. “Why would something be wrong?”