LOGIN“Good morning,” I chirped, strolling into the living room and grabbing an apple from the table. But I did a double-take when I realized how normal it all looked. Mom was sitting by the table, stirring a cup of coffee.Only Dad was absent. “Mom!” I didn’t know how much I missed her or how much I was worried until I saw her right there. “Oh my God! How are you? Where did you spend the night? I was so worried about you last night. You didn’t tell us where you were going and…”“Slow down, Marcus.” She dropped the spoon and stretched her arms wide open. I rushed into them, breathing her familiar scent. “I missed you, Mom.”“I missed you too, baby.” She pulled away slowly, taking me in. “Marcus, what happened to your face?”“Erm…Nothing, Mom. It was just…”“You better think carefully about the next words that come out of your mouth, because you cannot lie to me. What happened?”“Mom….”“Gary!”My brother appeared in another minute, scratching his red eyes. He looked unfocused, looking aro
“Private Jet,” Nita whispered as she climbed in with my help. “I know the Arthurs are like the most powerful family in the state, but they let you fly the private jet?”I rolled my eyes and got in. “This one is my name.”“What?”"You mentioned you've been working for the company since your internship days. Surely you know the family has more than one private jet. You're just overdoing it right now."“Okay,” Nita laughed, buckling in. “I just…I always thought you were so uptight and rigid, and tonight…I don’t know. It just feels like there are many layers to the Arthur Jordan.”“I don’t know about layers,” I murmured, hitting the knobs and preparing for take-off.Nita didn’t say anything until we were in the air already. “So where are we going to?”“We are not going anywhere,” I replied. “I am taking you home…or wherever you want to go, and I have to go … somewhere else. Something came up.”“Something that was important enough to defy your father,” she mused, stroking her chin. “Let me
I'd always known Joshua had a huge build. Of course, he wasn't as huge as Jordan, but with those arms and well-defined shoulders blocking the lights in front of me, I knew nothing was going to be peaceful about tonight.And I wasn’t sure whether it made me excited or nervous.But the one thing that played on in my head was the fact that Jordan actually sent Joshua over to get me. I couldn’t fathom it. I didn’t know how he heard I was stranded. But I was grateful. So grateful.And giddy.Joshua placed a hand casually around my shoulders, and leaned against the wall near the door. “I heard there was a party in here. I want to get in.”"Nice," one of the boys at the door grinned. "But I'm afraid, bro, you can't come in with him. Orders from above."Jordan sighed softly. “Like from God? Don’t tell me his a part of this party too.”“No,” he laughed. “This dude is funny. No. Not God. The one throwing the party. He doesn’t want this place to be filled with the stench of gay dudes. You unders
"What do you mean you have no idea?" I ran my fingers through my hair, already thinking of a million possible scenarios. And each last one was worse than the first. "Isn't he with you?""He went out … I don't know. He and his brother got into a fight, and he said he was going for a walk. That was hours ago. His number is not going through, and I have no idea where he is.""Calm down, Anna." I was talking to myself. I had no clue why it felt like I was about to hyperventilate. "Have you checked the places he would usually visit?"“Don’t you know Marcus? He doesn’t go anywhere. I was so surprised when he told me he was at yours the other day for a pool party.”And then, she paused. “Wait, Jordan. Do you think he went to yours? I bothered him about calling you when the chaos happened this morning but…”“What chaos?”I heard her swallow. “It’s … I can’t say. Only Marcus can decide to tell you. But he doesn’t usually stay out this late. Only when he’s with you. And now, he’s not with you…
One of my father's men was waiting out front when I strolled out of the building, and I barely even got the time to breathe before I was being taken to a fashion house to change into something more formal and then to a charity gala happening in New Mexico.I knew what my father was trying to do – get my mind off my sister and JAR enough to pour myself into his business. He knew how tied Jane and JAR were. It was her sanctuary, so it was like killing two birds with one stone. I didn't know how his mind worked, and honestly, I wasn't interested in finding that out. But for tonight, I was going to bite. A friend of mine told me that it was okay to hurt. I was willing to bet that it was okay to do a 360 and not hurt."That's my son," my father beamed as I sauntered into the hall, my hands in my pockets. "Jordan, I want you to meet my really good friends who have dominated the hospitality space. Mr. Mica, Mr. Vaughn, and Hathaway."Hospitality. It was about the hotel. I wondered how they
The meeting was taking longer than I cared for. There was a bunch of absolute nonsense being spewed around by people who obviously feared my father, and I just sat there, thinking of all the times Marcus had called me and how pissed he would be right now.Or worse, he would probably think I was ignoring him on purpose.But the reason I didn't want to step out to take it was that the first time, I was with my father and doing that would have made Marv Arthur implode into my life. And now, I just felt he would be able to tell I was stressed by how I sounded.Call it weird or anything, but Marcus was the most innocent and free person I’d ever met in the last five years, and I didn’t want to ruin that by giving him an inkling into my life. The funeral had done more than enough of that already.“Mr. Arthur?”She’d been calling me. I knew. I leaned back in my seat and cast her a lazy glance. “Yeah?”"I was saying that we should run it by your father first, you know? Ask him if he is cool wi







