Chapter 22
Empire took off for the cemetery an hour ago. I’m not sure how long she plans to stay there, drifting wraith-like among the dead, but if it helps her, I’m all for it.
Her parents aren’t underneath those grave markers. At least, I’ve never felt them.
I went once after the funeral to pay my respects and stared down Olivia’s headstone, waiting for something to shift, for some nuggets of sensation to let me know she was there.
Nothing.
Fucking nada.
Though if there’s something waiting for us after death, I highly doubt the spirits would come back to talk to a guy like me.
The doorbell rings, the sound echoing down the hallway toward the office, out of place and loud. Scowling, I push away from the desk and head to answer it when the bell rings, insistent, a second and third time.
“I’m coming,” I call out.
The person on the other side of the door must be pressing their finger to the door, because the bell continues in a steady stream of nagging noise until I pull open the door and stop short.
Parker stands on the front stoop, two massive men in black suits behind him. His face lights in a cold smile when he stares me down.
“Marcus. I’m glad it’s you.” He doesn’t tip his shades down. “We need to talk.”
“What are you doing here?” And why would a call or text not fucking suffice?
“Ah, there you go, not paying attention to me,” he says with a sharp cluck of his tongue. “I already said we need to talk. Is Empire around? Perhaps she needs to be present as well.”
He cranes his head to look over my shoulder, and I take a not-so-subtle step further into the doorway to block him from seeing into the house.
I’m glad she’s gone.
The thought lays on repeat in my head, a never-ending circle, as I stare into Parker’s lens covered eyes.
“There’s nothing else for us to say,” I tell him. “Unless you’ve come to apologize for being a fucking asshole the other day.”
He chuckles dryly. “You want an apology out of me?” He straightens his shoulders and picks a piece of invisible lint off the front of his shirt. “You have a lot of nerve, Ortega. You understand how the business works.”
Parker tries to step around me, and I move with him. “I”m sorry. Perhaps my stance isn”t clear enough for you to understand, but you set one foot inside this house, and I’m calling the cops.”
Parker lifts a brow. “Meaning?”
“Meaning I will get you thrown out of here for trespassing.”
“Your ward is my star. I highly doubt any threats you make will stick…unless you want to consider this stunt a little bit of payback for what you perceive to be a slight the other day.”
“Perceive?” It’s my turn to laugh, a large ball of granite dropping further into the pit of my stomach the longer we stand and have this conversation. “You took advantage of a young woman with no experience. Try to sell me more of your bullshit and see if I buy it.”
“She was never in any danger,” he replies, staring at his nails. Nonchalant, unbothered. Prick. “She may be inexperienced, but she is perfectly safe on my set.”
His nose is bandaged, lending a nasally quality to his voice. Once again, I wish I’d done more than punch him in the face.
“Without an intimacy coordinator,” I remind him.
I don’t need to see his face to know Parker is rolling his eyes. “You’re still stuck on that. We have more important business to hash out today.”
I tighten my grip on the door jamb. “Hard pass from me.”
He doesn”t hear me. He never hears me.
“Let me in, Marcus,” he says, low and slow. “There are things for us to discuss, and I’d rather not do it out in the open.”
“Then perhaps you should have come to see me at my office. Better yet, set up an appointment for later in the day, and I”ll be happy to clear some room in my schedule to meet.” It’s a giant fuck you gesture, and we both know it.
Parker, however, is done playing games. Even his body language changes with his next statement. He flashes his teeth and says, “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this my way,” he continues.
“You had your chance to talk to me, and right now, I’m busy.” I also know better than to try and slam the door in his face. Parker is the type to sneak a foot out and break a few bones if it means he’ll have a way inside. Right now, he wants in. He’ll muscle his way past me no matter what sneaky or underhanded tactics he has to employ.
I keep track of the two meatheads out of the corner of my eye.
Neither one has moved yet, but I’m willing to bet every cent in my bank account that they’re packing. Parker would be a fool to come here unprepared on any level.
I set my stance wider. Immovable.
“Marcus, you know me.” Parker holds his arms out at his sides.
“And I know you’re too busy to pay house calls,” I snap back.
“I’m a terribly busy man, which should give you an indication that I’m not playing around. I’m not going to make a fucking appointment with your secretary to see you.” He glances over my shoulder again. “Now, where is Empire?”
He wants her to see this, whatever this is, and I’ll be damned if she does, because there is only one way this is ending. I feel it in my bones. It’s a remnant of long buried instincts, and once again, I’m back on the street, sizing up an asshole bigger than I am.
Always underestimated, the same way Parker underestimates me now.
I might have gotten out of the game a long time ago, but that doesn’t mean I won’t fight back. He’s been bloated on power for too long, a pampered rich pooch at the end of his master’s leash.
Beyond the movie, beyond her part, beyond all of it, Parker and I have had this coming for a long time.
When I fail to answer his question, he snaps his fingers, and the car doors slam behind him. Two more men exit the vehicle and move to stand beside their meathead friends.
“You needed to bring your goons here to talk to me.” I cross my arms over my chest. “Seems like a pretty pathetic power move. If I thought you were here to deal with me man to man, I might feel differently.”
Empire needs to stay gone. I’m not sure how long her errands are going to last after her visit to the graveyard, but I send up a silent prayer that they take hours. Maybe she’ll get coffee with River again. Anything to keep her away from this house.
Away from Parker Heath and the “conversation” brewing between us.
“I need my men with me when we’re talking about money,” Parker continues. He sniffs, bothered and tense at once. “Or when I’m speaking to you.”
I wonder if he sees me as less of a threat now, with my distance from the organization. Does he think I’ve gone soft? I grit my teeth. He’s about to find out.
“The only thing I’d like to hear from you is an apology for what you did to Empire.” I step outside into the blinding sunlight and close the door behind me, using my body to physically block anyone from coming inside. If there are photographers hidden in the bushes outside the house, then so be it. Let them bear witness.
There’s always a snake lurking in the grass somewhere.
“I did what I had to do. You understand the business better than anyone else. You also negotiated her contract, Marcus.” He says it like I need the reminder, like he had no choice but to treat an untried actress the way he had. “The money to pay her what you demanded had to come from somewhere.” Parker steps closer and brings his mouth in line with my ear. “And the money for the production came from the mafia.”
The others don’t even blink, but the crassness of the word, the way Parker drops it so nonchalantly, has tension growing to a cracking point in my chest.
“Your world,” I remind him. “Not mine. We all made our choices.”
Parker sneers. “Yes, we did. And there’s no way you’re getting out this easily. Not this time. You knew exactly what you were doing when you got involved with me and this project. You can’t expect to skate away. You or your girl.”
My blood goes from a simmer to a boil. “I’m not involved in any of your dirty dealings. If you try to rope Empire into your spider web, then I’ll—”
“I’m sorry to tell you, old boy, but you are,” Parker interrupts smoothly.
The longer this goes on, the more chance the meatheads have to take advantage or for Empire to come home. I’m not willing to risk either one.
Think.
“I’m not the one who sold my soul,” I say. “You figure out your own shit.”
“You’re just as involved as I am. The two of us are tied together, and your name is on Empire’s contract too. Or have you forgotten that little fact?”
“She’s my client.”
Parker smirks, as though I’ve given something very important away. “She means more to you than anything else in this world. How far are you willing to go to protect her? I wonder if we’ll get the chance to find out. Or maybe you want to keep her in the dark about who you really are.”
“I’ll go as far as I have to in order to protect her. She’s an innocent.”
“Not if she’s with you,” he replies sharply. “You’ve damned her with your presence alone. And now we’re sharing her, aren’t we? Both of us want something from the girl.”
“I don’t give a shit how you financed your film, Parker. You’ve got an issue with the source? It’s on you. My name is on her contract and nothing more.” But the anger is starting to shift and change directions. It isn’t focused solely on the man in front of me anymore.
I got Empire involved with the deal, and I should have known, given Parker’s proclivities, how he’d come into such a large budget for the production. I hadn’t thought about it, too distracted by her to consider anything deeper than surface level.
I’ve known Parker. I’ve worked with him before. I thought I’d be able to handle him.
“You’ve always been a sneaky son of a bitch,” he says with a snarl. “You get in too deep and then you weasel your way out and expect there not to be consequences.” Parker gets up in my face. “I’m telling you something. This time, you’re just as deep as I am, whether you wanted to be here or not.”
“I never made the deal with your boss,” I argue. In fact, I’ve always done my best to keep two steps removed from Stanic Maxim, the mafia boss turned Hollywood mogul. Until now.
“You made the deal for her.” Parker sounds smug. “When you agreed to be in my picture.”
“Which means what?” My gut spirals lower yet, and my heart thuds against my ribs, the ache slowly crawling up the back of my neck and into my skull. “What are you trying to say? And you better be willing to put your dirty money where your mouth is if you plan to threaten me.”
“You wonder why I brought the guys? It’s because you always get so heated. You have a hard time controlling your temper, Marcus. I needed to be prepared for whatever you’d do once you found out—”
“Get to the point.” The argument is about to get out of hand if we don’t wrap this up, and I feel myself losing control.
“Bottom line? You need to make amends to the Family.” Parker shrugs, steps closer, bears down on me. “Otherwise, you and Empire both might meet with a little accident, the same way her parents did.”
Just like that, something inside me snaps and goes cold, the logical part of my brain trying to stay ahead of Parker and trap him in my web shutting off entirely. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Open your eyes. You know exactly what I’m saying. There are ways to get people to cooperate when they’re being stubborn. You’ve been there just the same as I have.” The four men step closer to Parker on some invisible signal. “And if things don’t go the way the Family needs them to, then there are consequences. You have to be willing to pay if you want to play. You played for a lot of years before you found your way out. But you’re never really out, as you’re seeing now.”
My spine straightens. “You’re out of your mind.”
The plane crash.
He can’t possibly be talking about—
“Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with it. Parker…” I trail off, shaking my head as my stomach sours and curdles. “Did you have anything to do with her parents’ death?”
“Me? No—” He breaks off and laughs. “Not me, Marcus. It’s all on you. Because you were supposed to be on that plane, too. That crash was meant for you.”