Chapter 18: Revelation
I park my motorcycle a few boats away from the coordinates I've written down. If I have any suspicion that someone in court is responsible for that text message, it's confirmed now. Only the rich and royal can afford a boat at our beaches, especially yachts as nice as these. I doubt that a businessman my foundation has guided to wealth would kill my boyfriend before my foundation has even existed.
I thumb my weapon under my jacket as I read the GPS on my phone. The yacht I'm headed to is the closest one to deep waters, making it easy to leave the docks if the situation calls for it. A metal gate usually guards the boardwalk leading to the yachts, but tonight, it's open wide for me.
I thumb my weapon again and move forward.
After boarding the yacht at the end of the boardwalk, I observe the deck and see that no one is around. No one by the pool, pillowed couches, or bar on the lower deck. No one in the railed section of the upper deck either. The floodlights are off, but the lights inside the yacht are on.
What's the right course of action here? Do I knock? Wait for someone t—
The entrance doors for the inside open so two men in suits greet me. But I've seen these two before. These two Vestige guards.
They've also seen me because they comfortably bow and gesture at me to enter.
"Good evening, Princess Maybelline," Rosenfield smiles. "King Andrew is inside with the guest."
King Andrew is with what?
Sure enough, I storm into the main hall to see Drew standing over a bloody, bruised man tied to a chair. Surrounding them are more Vestige guards waiting for Drew's orders.
"What the hell?" I run up to Drew and his hostage. The hostage is still recognizable behind the swelling and cuts. He's one of Uncle Davian's closest confidants, Gregor Sumner. "Drew, what are you doing here? Why is he here and tied up? What the fuck is going on?"
"What's going on is that you've come to this place without telling me!" Drew barks. He doesn't look happy. He looks pissed.
Well, so do I! "I don't have to tell you everything I do."
"When it concerns your life, you do."
"How are you even here?"
"Your brother contacted me through one of my hotels telling me your plans tonight. As soon as he sent me the coordinates, I turned my jet around and immediately flew back here."
Fucking Max and his eidetic memory. He had been in my room when my phone had been playing back the coordinates. I can't believe he has ratted me out again! "You said you have an important business trip. Why aren't you there instead of here?"
Drew growls and orders a guard, "Show her."
A Vestige guard presents me with a dart encased in a plastic bag. I reach for it, but Drew shakes his head, and the guard retreats.
"That's a tranquilizer dart, the type of tranquilizer that can paralyze even a vampire. It won't kill you but chopping your head off with that ax will."
He nods to a lumber ax leaning against a wall, and my eyes bug.
"This blowhard had been plotting to kill you in this boat," Drew sounds more like a beast than a man now. "If I hadn't come here first, he would have used the dart and ax on you, and you would've been dead before midnight."
I tense. "Did he use it on you?"
"He tried, but I caught the dart before it hit me, and I've had him beaten and bound since. When we get off this boat, you and I are going to discuss what you've done. In private."
My hands ball into fists. I don't know what to say, so I turn to Gregor on the chair. "He sent me that text message."
"Aye."
"He knows who killed Brendan."
"Yes, and so do I."
I scowl at Drew and approach Gregor. "I want to hear it from him."
I yank out the strip keeping Gregor from opening his mouth and slap him.
"Tell me what you know."
Gregor glares at me with hatred, even more than what he holds for Drew. "I killed your fucking boyfriend because I and the rest of the court are tired of your humanistic bullshit."
Anger shoots through me like lightning. "So, you killed him because he was poor?"
"Because you wouldn't stop fucking a rat! When King Davian found out what you had been doing, we tried roughing your boyfriend up until the bastard agreed to leave you; and when he wouldn't, we tried to make him disappear. But the fucker put up a fight! So, I just watched him die instead."
"You, son of a bitch."
"I watched him plead for mercy and his life," Gregor grins. "I could tell he had never been so afraid until that moment, and never regretted anything more than being your fuckt—"
A gunshot blasts through the yacht, prompting all the guards to stand. But they don't do anything because the gun is in my hand, and the bullet is between Gregor's eyes. I shoot his face again and again, piercing holes into his cheeks and forehead, before kicking his chair so he falls to the ground.
"Easy, easy, love," Drew lowers my arms and hugs me from behind. "He can't be any more dead than you've already made him. You've had your revenge. You've won."
"No, I haven't," I grunt. "Gregor is just a pawn. My uncle had asked him to do it. He's the one I should be after, not his friend."
"And you will. We just have to get rid of this bastard's body and, when the time is right, go after your uncle."
"Why are you doing this, Drew? I'm proving you right about your prejudice against humans. I've just killed a man, and I'm going to jail for it."
"No, you're not," Drew hisses into my ear. "No one is going to put you in a cell. You don't think I can protect you from that? You don't think I can protect you from anything?"
"I know you can, Drew. I just don't think you should."
"What the hell are you saying, May?"
"I'm saying you should break up with me."
Drew growls very loudly. I don't just hear it; I also feel it on my back. The arms around me tighten, trapping me, as Drew barks at his guards. "Leave us."
After Rosenfield and the others leave the room, Drew pushes me to bend over the back of a couch. The zip of his belt looping out of his trousers reaches my ears. I try to run, but Drew palms my back and keeps me down.
I yelp when the belt strikes my ass.
"Who has saved your life tonight?" Drew demands. "Who beat and tied that man up so you can get your answers from him?"
"You did," I croak.
"That's fucking right, love. If I hadn't been here, that blowhard would have chopped your bloody head off! You wouldn't have gotten your answers or your revenge. You would have died for nothing!"
"No, I wouldn't have! I would have finally done something that means something to me. I would have avenged the man I loved. And if I died, I would have finally paid for what I did to him."
"I'm tired of this, May. You didn't have to do this alone. You would've had an easier time if you had just told me what you wanted to do—what Bastien told you in that alleyway."
I gasp. "You knew?"
"Of course, I knew! I interrogated that bastard, remember? But I asked what you knew because I wanted to know if you trust me. But you didn't trust me then, and you don't trust me now. You've lied to me then, and you've held the truth from me now! And now, now you want to break up with me?"
I scream when Drew whips my bottom again.
"I've risked my life for you! I've done everything to be the best man I can be for you! So, why can't I be enough, May? Why can't our relationship ever be enough? Does it mean nothing to you? Do I mean nothing to you?"
"No, Drew," I whimper. I don't need to see Drew's expression to know how much I've hurt him. I can hear it in his voice, and it pains me more than his whipping does. "You mean everything to me."
"Then why can't you let me in? Why do you have to do everything on your own? Why can't I be an exception and love you the way you deserve?"
"Because everyone who's ever loved me has been taken from me," I sob. "My parents, Brendan—my child. Even you look like you're going to be taken from me too. You've already had a close call at the beach, and now you've sacrificed your business trip and risked your life again in this boat. I'm a curse, Drew, and you shouldn't love me. There's no happiness down that path. Just let me go. If I die, then it's for the best. At least I'll no longer be responsible for another person's death."
Drew yanks me off the couch and pulls me into his arms again. I try to push him away, but he won't let me. He only holds me—protects me—as I cry, and cry, and cry.
"You're not a curse, May," Drew whispers. "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me."
"You won't be saying that if you die."
"Has it ever occurred to you that people die for you because you give them the kind of love worth dying for?"
I cry harder, and Drew kisses my hair.
"I'll help you get your revenge, love. All I ask in return is that you let me protect you. That's all I want, May. My life—my sanity—depends on it."
"But I'll hurt you, Drew."
"Only if you leave me."
I finally hug Drew back, and this time, we comfort each other.
