Page 125 of My Five Daddies

I knock three times and wait. After a second, the door creaks open and I take a sharpbreath.

Jessie looks surprised to see me. “Nolan,” she says. “I wasn’t expectingyou.”

“Are you alone?” I askher.

“Yes,” shesays.

“I need to ask yousomething.”

She hesitates but steps aside. I walk into a sitting room very similar to my own, though decorated to fit Jessie’s style. It’s very bohemian, with lots of lace and natural decorations. I pace over to the kitchen and turn to faceher.

“Do you support my cousin over me?” I askdirectly.

She looks surprised and hesitates. “That’s a bold question,” shesays.

“I’m done dancing around the subject. I need to know where the noblesstand.”

She walks over to me, her arms crossed. “What you’re saying isdangerous.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Since when did you back down fromdanger?”

She comes closer to me, a little too close, and I take a step back. But she follows me until I back right up into the counter. She leans forward, her mouth coming toward mine, and my eyes gowide.

I’m about to pull away when she stops, her lips near mine. “You think he’s not listening right now?” she whispers. “Damnit, Nolan. Followme.”

Slowly she pulls back, a smile on her face, and she takes my hand. She turns and we walk back into her bedroom and into her private bathroom. She shuts the door, turns on the shower and both the faucets, and stands close tome.

“Idiot,” she says, her voice barely audible over thewater.

“What the fuck is all this for?” I whisperback.

“We think Julian bugged our rooms,” she says. “We haven’t been able to prove it yet, but there have been strange…coincidences.”

“Likewhat?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she hisses at me. “Listen, you idiot. Yes, we support you, the young nobles at least, the ones that I control. And a few of the older guard too, but mostly because they hateJulian.”

“How many?” Iask.

“Not enough. But do you understand now why we haven’t been talking openly aboutit?”

I nod slowly. “I underestimatedhim.”

“He’s a sly fucking fox, Julian is,” she says. “But now you know. We’ll support you, but you have to be smarter than this.Understand?”

I nod my head and stare into her eyes. “I won’t let you down,” Isay.

“Damn right youwon’t.”

I turn to leave, but she grabs my hand and laughs. “Where are you going?” sheasks.

“I need to get back.” I cock my head ather.

“We’re fucking right now, idiot. So unless you want Julian to think you’re pathetic, you better sit in here with me for awhile.”

I sigh and nod. She hops up on the counter, pulls out her phone, and starts scrolling through it. I sit on top of the toilet seat and lean back, my eyes closed,thinking.

The young nobles and a few of the old guard support me, but that’s not enough. There are hundreds of nobles, and it sounds like I have the support of maybe thirty. Julian clearly has an iron fist around everyone’s fucking balls, and if he’s been surveilling these rooms, he absolutely has dirt on pretty mucheveryone.

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