At least she stopped calling him my husband-to-be.
I roll my eyes. “Puh-lease. This is part of a well-oiled publicity machine. Phoenix König must be enjoying every minute of this.”
It’s official.
The fake news of my pending wedding has gone viral.
Lucky me.Not.
It’s a little freaky how fast fake news can travel. My phone was lighting up like the giant Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. I let it all go to voicemail. Until I have answers, I’m ignoring everyone. Too bad for me, the two people I’m dying to hear from haven’t called me back.
“Innocent until proven guilty, remember?” Keira says. “It’s the legal principle our great country was founded upon.”
“Yeah, well, I’m about to administer my own legal principle.”
“What do you have up your sleeve, Miss Knight?”
I adopt her formal tone. “I’m glad you asked, Miss Weatherly. I pinned down King König’s HQ.”
“Oh, this sounds James Bondish.” Keira’s eyes sparkle with excitement.
“Trust me, it feels like a covert operation. All that to say, I know where to find him. Now, I’m going to pay the king a little visit.”
Keira shrieks. “You’re going to drop in unannounced?”
“I am.”
She squints at me. “Is that a good idea, Mikki?”
“What other choice do I have?” I shrug. “Sure, I could open a bottle of wine at nine o’clock in the morning and get drunk, butthat won’t do much to help me understand how I got entangled with this stranger.”
“What if he can’t meet with you?”
“If he’s in connivance with my stepmother and willing to spread lies, he’ll make time to meet with me,” I say, lifting my chin up.
“You should wait it out,” she says. “I’m sure you’ll be able to get through to your stepmother at some point.”
“She’s barely interested in talking to me when she’s in a chipper mood,unless it’s to shove a ‘suitable life mate’ down my throat,” I say with quotation marks. “Given the drama in New York, I doubt she’ll want to talk to me. It’s not like Daddy knows anything about this farce. I want answers and I want them now. If not from her, then from this King Kong Tycoon.”
Keira laughs.
While my cabbie weaves his way through traffic, I research as much as I can on King Kong Tycoon. It wouldn’t be wise to walk into battle without an ounce of preparation.
Keira was right.
My never-to-be-husband is a serious tycoon.
Given my family is also in the hotel industry, you’d think I would’ve heard of Phoenix König before. I’m sure his name came up in conversation, but there was no point in bogging my head with facts about a man I was unlikely to ever meet.
The Königs play in a whole different league from us. It’s like comparing a goldfish to a blue whale. Phoenix’s family owns a plethora of commercial real estate and luxury residential complex buildings across the country, on top of owning the biggest flagship of luxury hotels in California, the second mostprominent hoteliers in the nation. They also own many luxury hotels around the world. King Kong Tycoon’s dad, Soren, is the CEO, but he runs the corporation along with his four sons—Phoenix, the oldest. Slate, the middle child. Wilder, the other middle child. Roman, the youngest.
I was dead set on finding as much dirt as I could on Phoenix, but I got sidetracked by the numerous articles about the patriarch’s recent heart attack. As I was reading about the heart-wrenching ordeal, I tried, but failed to push aside traumatic memories of Daddy’s close call three years ago. I don’t think I could’ve survived losing a second parent.
A taxi ride later and I arrive at my destination. I pay the cabbie and get out of the car. Even if I’m wearing shades, I shield my eyes from the blinding sun as I crane my neck upwards to take in the grandeur of the Pompadour Hotel & Residences. Impressive skyscrapers rise above me. They’re not nearly as tall as the average building in New York, but they still touch the sky. The Pompadour is an uber modern luxury complex composed of three sleek glass towers. It isn’t only apied-à-terreto the extremely rich and wealthy, it’s also where the beast presides over his empire.
Let’s see what you have to say King Kong Tycoon.
I stride across an ocean of asphalt to the Beverly Hills premier HQ, each step of my Christian Louboutin shoes stomping with the determination of a take-no-prisoner warrior.
