King for a Day Read Online Free PDF

Whoever hired him didn’t want the heads lying around, so they asked King to hold on to them.”
    Holy Christ . I knew that King was powerful. And dark. But this was pretty bad. Despite all that, however, what choice did we have but to attempt to fulfill King’s obligations? If we came across something we weren’t able to do, then that was that. But we had to try.
    “We need to get the list,” I said. “Don’t you know anyone that owes you a favor?”
    Mack ran his hands through his hair, clearly mulling over the situation. “We can’t let anyone know King is AWOL. Otherwise, the members won’t accept the debts as being paid by King. They’ll see it as cheating. Our cheating.”
    Ridiculous! Why would it matter who paid the debt, just as long as it was paid? These people were so frigging bizarre.
    “And we’ll need to find him before anyone realizes the truth,” Mack added.
    Well, likely Vaughn had him, though we weren’t one hundred percent sure. But if we were right, it wasn’t like Vaughn would just stick King in the guest bedroom at his L.A. mansion.
    I sighed, thinking it over. “I’m going to the hospital to talk to Justin.” My mother was still under observation after her stroke, and we’d all been taking turns staying with her; I might find my brother there now. Maybe he knew something but was too afraid to say.
    “Come straight here when you’re done,” Mack said. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
    “Where are you going?”
    “To see a friend.”
    “Friend got a name?” I asked.
    “Yes. But they’re a Club member, and if they decide to help us, they won’t want anyone to know.”
    Okay… I had no choice but to trust he knew what he was doing.
    It then struck me as odd. A couple of weeks ago, I wouldn’t have dared trust Mack—not this much, anyway. But now he felt like my savior. I’d trust him with my life.
    “Please be careful,” I said. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”
    “Awww. Isn’t that sweet.” Mack turned to leave.
    “By the way, what happened to Arno?” Arno was King’s chauffeur, who always appeared mysteriously driving a black SUV. It didn’t matter which country. It was unsettling.
    “I’m sure he’s gone into hiding. He knows the drill.”
    “Drill?” I asked.
    “King gave us very specific instructions of what to do should anything ever happen.”
    “What were your instructions?”
    Mack smiled. “Not to come looking, and to get the hell away from here.” He disappeared down the stairs.
    I supposed that, like me, Mack had a strange loyalty to King. Then I wondered how evil King could really be if two good people saw enough redeeming qualities in the man to care about him.
    Maybe we are King’s redeeming qualities.
    I looked back down at the ring in my hand and noticed it had an unusual shimmer to it, just like the one in that crown. But what did I know about diamonds other than this one was huge? And King wanted me to find it. There was no way any of this was a coincidence. I knew that for sure now. The little card that came with the key had the number ninety-two written on it.
    Why does this all feel so contrived? Like we were rats being herded into a labyrinth. In any case, we didn’t have much choice but to push forward and hope that a slice of cheese awaited us.
    I shoved the ring deep into my jeans pocket and glanced at my watch. Quarter to eight already? Where in the hell are you, King?

CHAPTER THREE
    8:00 P.M.
    When I arrived at my mother’s flower-filled hospital room, I was thrilled to see her sitting up, laughing with my father and brother, watching something on TV. In fact, seeing them really made me hit pause and take a moment. Everyone was together, safe and alive. Happy. Well, almost everyone. I tried not to think about how, by this time tomorrow, things might be different. I might be out of their lives forever.
    What would that do to my mother’s health? What would that do to my father? Christ. I