The streets glitter in diamond lights below me as the last of the sun disappears below the horizon. I look down at it, surveying my kingdom. I’m the King of the City now. The meeting with the mayor this afternoon, just the two of us, with no press, no retainers, just two guys having a couple of muffins in the park, cemented my status.

I have the keys to the city. I’m the king, and everyone knows it. Nobody’s going to come after me for Jacob’s death, not until they think they can gain an advantage. No one loved him. They only feared him.

I hear the click of high heels behind me, and I turn, momentarily stunned as Sarah comes into the living room, looking for the first time like the Hollywood starlet she used to be. I’d told Marcus to make sure she was outfitted properly for whatever she wants to do, and as usual, my brother came through. “You look . . . amazing.”

Sarah blushes slightly, tucking a long strand of her lustrous black hair behind her ear and smiling a little. “You look a lot better after a shower, a shave, and a nap too. I–I wanted to wait until you were free before I said goodbye.”

I look behind her, and I see that she’s got a small backpack already, her few things there with the ridiculous shoes Marcus got her sticking out of the top. Sarah looks over her shoulder, seeing what I’m looking at and laughing slightly. “Yeah, I decided to keep them. They’re really comfortable. And they’ll remind me of this.”

“Where will you go?” I ask huskily, my throat not wanting to work. “Back to Hollywood?”

Sarah shakes her head, looking down. “No. Let’s face it—that part of my life ended a long time ago.”

I nod, not sure what to say. “So . . .?”

“I thought maybe I’d take the money that’s now in my accounts and go to the beach for a while. It’s been five years since I left this city on my own, and well . . . it’d help.”

I swallow, stepping forward. “The beach sounds nice.”

Sarah nods, looking at me with confusion for a little bit before she steps forward and puts her hands on my shoulders. “Thank you, Ryker. You probably saved my life. You definitely gave me a chance at a real life.”

In her heels, we’re the same height, and when she kisses me, I feel something inside me loosen, something that I’ve kept under wraps for too long. When she goes to step away, I grab her wrist, not hard, but still enough to stop her. She whips her head back, her hair flying over her shoulder as she looks at me with those beautiful dark eyes as they widen in shock and maybe . . . hope?

“I don’t want you to go,” I say. “I want you to stay.”

I let go of her wrist, and she turns, her face twisting in a rich play of emotions as fear, desire, and I don’t know what else runs through her. “Ryker, you promised me that when you’d killed Jacob, I could go free.”

I nod, reaching out more tentatively and taking her hand. “I did. And you deserve your freedom more than anyone in the whole fucking world. And I will keep my word. You can leave if you want, but I want you, Sarah.”

“As your prisoner?” she asks, and I shake my head, stepping forward and putting my hand around her waist, pulling her to me.

“No. Next to me. Every king needs his queen.”

Sarah puts her hands on my chest, pushing away gently. “Ryker, I . . . I want you too. But I can’t be number two. I won’t do to you what Marcus said your mother did.”

At this moment, I could damn near kill my brother, but he’s right, and Sarah’s right too. She can’t be number two. I’m the king, and my kingdom deserves a king who is focused on it first. I pause, and Sarah steps back, going to her bag and picking it up. “Goodbye, Ryker.”

She steps into the elevator, and as the doors close, I know what I need to do. I run as hard as I can for the stairs, pulling my new phone out of my pocket as I pelt down the stairs. “Marcus!”

“What do you need?” Marcus asks. “I’m at the club, enjoying some drinks. Thought we were taking the night off?”

“Get over here. I need to talk to you. Now!” I say, hanging up before he can reply. I put my phone in my pocket, pausing at the thirty-third floor and praying that the taxi is slow in coming to pick Sarah up.

I’m gasping for breath by the time I hit the latch bar on the door and emerge into the building’s foyer. Even though I’m going down, running down forty-eight flights of stairs on a dead sprint is fucking hard. I cross the space, running out into the parking lot just as the taxi starts to pull away. “SARAH!”

The taxi stops, and I run up, pulling open the door. She’s sitting there, her eyes wide, and the taxi driver is looking over his shoulder at me like I’m a psycho. Hell, maybe at this moment, I am, but I know what needs to be done. “Ryker?”

I reach in, taking her by the hand and helping her out of the car before I pull her into a hug. “Sarah, stay. Not as number two but as number one. I don’t want this fucking city.”

Sarah’s shocked, looking into my eyes as my words sink in. “You mean . . .?”

“Give me twenty minutes. You can sit in when Marcus gets here. I promise you, it’ll change both of our lives.”

Sarah nods, closing the door on the cab. The taxi driver honks his horn, looking out his window. “Hey, lady, you going to the airport or what?”

Sarah turns, shaking her head. “Sorry, no. Sorry to have wasted your time.”

The driver looks like he’s about to bitch about it when he finally recognizes me, and before he can get worried, I pull my money clip out of my pocket and peel off two one hundred dollar bills, handing them through the window to him. “A tip, for your excellent service. Have a good evening.”

* * *

“You’re fucking nuts,” Marcus says, looking at me and Sarah in shock as he takes in what I just repeated to him for the third time. “You don’t want to be king?”

“No,” I reply, holding Sarah’s hand. “Some things are more important than money and power.”

“And you want me to take over? Ryker, I’m not the brains of this operation. You know that—” Marcus says, and I hold up a hand, stopping him.

“You’ve got plenty of brains, Marcus. And I’m not abandoning you. I’m just saying that . . . well, let the city think that I’m still the king for a while if you want. I don’t give a fuck. But the day-to-day operations, the real power, that’s you. I’ll still be around for advice if you really need it. Face it, though, Marcus—you’ve been running a lot of it by yourself for a while. Half the time I ask for things, you’ve already done them.”

He shakes his head, looking down. “You’re fucking nuts.”

“You keep saying that,” Sarah says with a chuckle. “To quote from my previous life, I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Marcus looks at Sarah, then chuckles. “I’m even more jealous of you now, Ryker. Got the crown, got the girl, and now you’re just giving up the crown because the girl’s more important. All right, man, if that’s what you want. Can you gimme six months to work a smooth transition? Like you, I don’t want a crime war in this city.”

I look at Sarah, who nods, and I offer Marcus my hand. “Six months. Minus this next week. I’m taking Sarah on vacation tomorrow. Then yeah, I’ll give you six months of help.”

Marcus takes my hand, shaking it. “Okay, then. Well, I guess my night out just became more of a celebration for myself. I’ll give you two your privacy. I already figured on staying out all night. Oh, and I’ll start looking for my own place. No offense, but you two . . . you’re gonna need your own digs.” Marcus gets up and leaves, giving us both a laugh and a wave as he gets in the elevator. “Good job, Rygirl!”

The doors close, and Sarah laughs, turning and putting her arms around my neck. “You realize Marcus is right? You just gave up an entire kingdom.”

“And gained something far more valuable,” I reply, putting my hands on her waist. “I’m not saying it’s going to be perfect. I can’t cook for shit, although maybe now, I’ve got the spare time to learn how. And I know it’s not guaranteed between us, but I know when I want something, and I want you.”

Sarah grins, leaning in to whisper in my ear. “So, Ryker Johns, how about you take me to your bed, and we celebrate your losing your throne?”

I growl, picking her up in my arms and carrying her toward my bedroom. “Well then, I suppose we’ll just have to go shopping for a new set of lingerie before we go on vacation, because I might just tear them off you.”

Sarah chuckles, wrapping her legs around my waist as we make our way down the hallway toward my bedroom. “My King.”

I kiss her and lay her on my bed, looking into her beautiful eyes. “My Queen.”

And that’s all I fucking need.