The Queen’s Denial

Prologue Andy

Prologue

Andy

I just feel like this was a bad idea.

I’m sitting in a car, in a private parking lot, with the girl I’m currently trying to persuade to sleep with me. We are just outside of a party thrown by Boston’s richest and most powerful. A party of this caliber would normally be a great place to make a move on Chi Yan, the socialite and billionaire’s daughter I’ve been tasked with protecting, but unfortunately, we’re not actually going into the party. And we’re definitely not here for pleasure.

There’s a pit in my stomach as I look toward the passenger seat where she sits. This could all go terribly wrong.

I didn’t want Chi to come with us today, since it’s really not safe for her, but she insisted. It was hard for me to say no since the criminal organization I work for, run by Casca Scutari, my cousin and closest friend, has been hired by Chi’s father. One of Cas’s legitimate businesses is a security firm dedicated to stopping billionaires from being killed by other billionaires, and I have been put in charge of Chi and her family. Right now, their safety is my number one priority. Yet here I am, putting her right into harm’s way.

I’ll be kidnapping one or two huge mafia men tonight — bodyguards that work for an enemy of our allies. Not exactly the best way to turn a girl on, but we’re currently in the throes of a mafia war, and this is the best way to get the information we need. Or figure out what information we need in the first place.

Chi has done what she needed to do already. She got me past the gates without suspicion, and she showed me where the cars would be. We couldn’t get our hands on extensive blueprints and needed her knowledge of the grounds. Because she’s part of Boston’s elite, she’s been to many parties here already and is always welcome to drop in.

We can’t use ear pieces here because of the detection technology on these grounds, so I can only communicate through text with Cas. We’re just waiting for his message to come through to make our move.

“Why did I have to wear this dress?” Chi pipes up from the passenger’s seat. “What’s the point? No one’s even going to see me.” She smooths down the tight, silky material that ends mid-thigh. “Such a waste.”

“I see it.” I raise an eyebrow and smirk at her.

Chi bites her lip, shooting me a side-long glance. “You don’t count,” she says in a coy voice that very much indicates that I do count. I hate that I have to dance around our attraction, but her father is currently in the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, after a nasty attack on the grounds of his mansion just a week ago. Even if she wants me as bad as I want her, it’s not exactly a good time for her to indulge herself.

And really, neither should I. Especially not at this moment, while I look out for her immediate safety. “There they are,” I say, trying to get our attention off the rising sexual tension in the car. A flashy Maserati idles in a spot a few rows down from us, the windows too dark to see inside. Now we have our sights set on the car. Or rather, I have my sights on it. Chi won’t be putting herself in danger if I have anything to do with it.

Unfortunately, Chi has a part in this whether I like it or not. Her father is head of the Yakuza, a Japanese crime organization with its roots in both America and Japan, and she’s most certainly going to be married off to a Japanese man. The fact that she will take over the Yakuza from him isn’t supposed to be public knowledge, but everyone who has a hand in this game we live knows. She might need to marry a Japanese man for honor’s sake, but her father still lets her play around.

As far as the unattached sex goes, it will be a perfect set up for me. I don’t exactly have a track record of serious relationships — or any relationships — in my wake. I like Chi, and even though we can’t do anything more than fuck around, she’s funny and smart as a whip. She’s also a great friend to Mara, Cas’s girlfriend. Add to this the fact that she’s easily the most attractive woman I’ve ever seen, and she’s the full package. I’m sure we can have some fun. Eventually. I just have to wait for the right time.

That time is not now. Especially since Cas and Mara seem to be wrapping up their part of this mission, creating a diversion at the party and tying up the rest of Giardi’s men so that I can grab whoever is up here in this parking lot. The plan is to head out to the car alone, tranq the one or two men who sit in it, and get us the hell out of here. Chi knows to stay in the car - she has explicit orders from both Cas and me.

“I’m moving in,” I say, taking the tranq gun from my waistband and slipping it into my back pocket for easier access. I haven’t worked with these too often, and it’s going to be tricky as they take a few seconds to slow a target down. My gaze finds Chi’s one last time. She looks at me seriously and gives me a reassuring head nod as I put my hand on the door.

As I walk toward the car, I start stumbling, smacking into every shiny fender I pass, and generally making a scene. I don’t have to worry about anyone else being this far away from the party or any other cars idling way back here. Many billionaires who have their chauffeurs wait for them leave them in the parking lot closer to the main house, but Giardi always has two cars with guards parked in either lot because he’s a paranoid fuck.

I make sure to smack hard into their car as I pass, and it does the trick. The window rolls down as I flail around on the hood, doing my best to look as drunk as possible. Just then my pocket buzzes. I need to check it, since this is the only way I can communicate with Cas, so I wipe my body off the hood and turn my back to the driver to pull it out quickly.

“Let’s go,” is all his message says, which means Cas and Mara have hit trouble a bit earlier than they were supposed to. But I’m already committed to this now, so I’m forced to see it through.

“Get off the car, you drunken asshole!” Giardi’s chauffeur sticks his head out angrily, but doesn’t open his door. I need him to get out of the car. I still can’t see through the darkened windows, and I need to make sure it’s just him before I try to take him down.

“Oh. Oh, I’m sorry man…” I slur, as I turn and clumsily go to stick my phone back in my pocket, falling forward again. This time, I make sure to land my entire body on top of the hood with a thud.

“Hey!” The car door opens a fraction as the driver begins to get out. Before he does, he looks to his side and says quietly, “I’ll take care of him.” Now I know there’s another man in the car. I’ll have to act fast, but I’m sure I can handle them both.

“I just wanted to…” I put my hand on his shoulder to steady myself, reaching for the tranq gun. He looks disgusted and holds me at arm’s length, but doesn’t quite seem to know exactly what to do, since I just seem like a harmless idiot.

“Okay man, where the fuck is your car?”

Before I can answer, the passenger side door opens. “Be careful. There’s trouble—”

There’s no time to lose, since it’s obvious that this man is about to blow my cover. I quickly yank the tranq gun from my pocket, shoot the driver with it, and duck before I get shot by the passenger. The driver jolts at the impact and is surprised for a moment,, but he’s huge, so it’s going to take a bit of time for the tranquilizer to work. I aim over the hood of the car and shoot the passenger as the driver realizes there’s a dart in his thigh instead of a bullet. He plucks it out with a growl. I take a breath and ready myself. Now I just need to defend myself while the drug takes effect.

I spot Chi’s determined face peeking out from behind the car next to ours. I should have fucking known she’d defy my orders. At that moment another man pops out of the car. Three fucking men? Giardi’s more paranoid than I thought. I guess he has a good reason to be this time.

I know I’m in trouble. I wasn’t anticipating a third man being in there. I know from the look on Chi’s face when she sees this that she’s scared, but also that she is going to try to help anyway. Fuck.

As I worry about what the hell she might be thinking of doing, I’m nearly pummeled by the driver, whose arm I grab to throw over my shoulder just before he punches me in the jaw. I grab his gun and fling it far away from where Chi stands. I don’t need her thinking she can help me by attempting to shoot one of these men. I have no idea if she’s ever shot a gun in her life, and I don’t want to find out now.

I aim the tranq gun at the guy who just got out of the car, but it’s knocked out of my hand by the guy from the passenger’s seat, who hasn’t slowed down at all, before I can pull the trigger. Now it’ll be three-on-one, with one of those men at full capacity. Which are admittedly pretty bad odds for me.

I smack my fist as hard as I can into the side of the passenger’s face, and he goes down with a thud. Unfortunately, my wrist is grabbed and wrenched back by the driver, who has an exceedingly strong grip for someone who has just been tranqued. I just have to be thankful that he didn’t get his hands on me sooner, or my wrist might be broken right now. He pulls me toward him and head butts me so hard I see stars. I’d be on the ground for sure if he had his full strength.

His grip loosens at the impact, and he stumbles, allowing me to get my bearings. I take the moment to grab his shoulders and plant my knee into his face. He finally goes down. I gather myself, getting ready for the attack that is surely about to come from the third guy, when the commotion behind me registers.

I twist around quickly to see Chi with a fucking tree branch, whipping it side to side and parrying all the movements of the man from the back seat of the car, trying to stave him off, it seems. He’s got a huge gash on his face, bleeding onto his suit. Despite myself, for a split second, I’m impressed that Chi seems to have dealt him such a nasty blow. Then again, it’s likely because he knows who she is, and he knows he can’t kill her. In fact, he has his gun in his hand, but he’s using it more as a shield from her advances than anything else.

Chi notices me staring at them and breaks concentration just long enough to allow her attacker to grab the branch, fling her toward him, and put his arm around her neck from behind. I spring into action, but before I can get to them, he deals her a loud crack to the back of the head with his gun that sends her to her knees with a gasp of pain.

All I see is red. He’s hurt the woman I’m responsible for, and now he’s going to pay. I am on him immediately as he straightens up. I grab the hand that holds his gun and disarm him by breaking his wrist. I hear his scream of pain as if from far away, as I methodically smash his face in with my tranq gun. I land multiple blows before he goes down.

I’m just about to lean over and finish the job when a gagging noise pulls me from my rage. It’s Chi. I whip around to check on her as she tries to push herself up, eyes fluttering, retching like she’s about to be sick. I know what it is immediately.She’s got a concussion. It’s happened on my watch. Fuck.

I shoot the motherfucker who hurt her directly in the back of the head, knowing that it will alert everyone to the commotion we’ve just caused and not giving a shit. He needed to die.

I close the distance between myself and Chi in a few long strides and pull her up gingerly by her shoulders. It looks worse than I thought; I can tell this isn’t just a mild concussion by the way her eyes wander in and out of focus. She doesn’t even attempt to look at me. Her head lolls forward as I heave her against me.

“Hey, Chi? Chi, look at me.” She doesn’t seem to register a thing, so I tap her cheek with my hand lightly and say her name again. “Chi!”

Finally, her eyes give me a hazy focus. “Ow,” is all she gives me. But it’s something.

“Don’t go to sleep.”

“Okay.” She grabs a hold of my shoulders and coughs out a heave once again. I decide not to take any chances on whether or not she’ll be able to walk, as we really need to get the fuck out of here immediately. “I’ve got you.” I say, scooping her up as she holds onto me for dear life.

She groans as her head falls back, and her eyes shut. “Wake up!” I say, trying to shake her lightly enough so that she doesn’t become further injured, but hard enough so that she does not, under any circumstance, fall asleep before we can get to the hospital.

She says nothing, but she slits her eyes open a crack and groans again. I grit my teeth and try to focus on what I have to do now as I get her situated in the car. I pull her seatbelt over her, and she catches my eye with her own. A worry that I’ve never seen before crosses her face and makes me pause for the slightest moment. She puts her hand to my face and looks into my eyes as she pushes out a few slurred words. “Are you okay?”

My mouth drops and I blink at her. Out of everything she could have said, I definitely didn’t expect that. Why is she asking if I’m okay while she sits here with a concussion? I was the one who was supposed to protect her, and I failed.

I ignore the question, even angrier at myself than I was before. Instead, I answer with a promise to her. “You’re going to be just fine, Chi. I’m going to make sure this never happens to you again, trust me.”