25. Ariella
Getting sequestered in the panic room is not my idea of a good time, but if it keeps Alex safe, I’ll stay here as long as I have to—even if it’s forever. At first, I was grateful that Patrick had given me a communication device so I could listen in on what was happening upstairs. But after hearing that an EMP had been deployed and knowing what my protectors were up against, I couldn’t bring myself to keep the thing in my ear. My nerves were already shot, and getting an audible play-by-play wasn’t helping matters. I thought watching the security cameras would be better. Not so much.
Most of the window blocks on the screen are dark because the camera circuits had been fried, all of them except the ones surrounding the house. Unfortunately, I lose sight of Patrick, Jessie, and Jerry once they reach the tree line. I don’t know how to use the equipment to change which feeds are up on the screen, so all I can do is sit there and pray.
“Mommy, is Daddy going to be okay?” Alex asks tiredly.
“He’s Superman. You know that no one can beat Superman.”
“What if the bad guys have Kryptonite? Then they can make him weak.” When Alex asks me that, I know that my Superman does indeed have a weakness. It isn’t some green rock from another planet, though; it’s Alex and me.
“He’ll be all right, Baby. But let’s get you tucked into bed and say our prayers. That’s the best way we can help him right now.”
“Okay.”
Alex slides his tiny hand into mine, and we head for one of the small bedrooms. We get on our knees, placing our elbows on the bed. I’m about to start praying, but Alex beats me to it.
“Dear God. It’s me. Alex. Can you please keep Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Jessie, Jerry, and Savannah safe? I love them lots. You’re the best! Amen.”
His prayer is short, simple, and to the point. I love it. I tuck him in and kiss him on his forehead, praying silently that God will keep us safe, too.
When I return to the office area where all the monitors are, I barely register the visual on the center of the screen. The last person I expected to see here is walking around Don’s man cave, searching for something or someone. I suspect that’s me.
I press the intercom button. “How did you get in here?”
“The door was wide open.” There are only two ways I can think of how that could have happened. Either the security system reset after the EMP and the locks disengaged, or there was a device used to break the code. If it’s the latter, then I could be in real trouble.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, trying to determine if I’m talking to a friend or foe right now.
“I came here as soon as I had learned that Jordain was after you. When Patrick saw me, he sent me to get you. It’s not safe for you here anymore. Where are you, Ariella? I need to get you and Alex out of here.”
I look at the screen to see the shadows of four men wearing all black engaged in a firefight with Don and Charlie upstairs. It’s too dark to make out much of anything else. I don’t hear anything other than the muffled sound of gunfire, and I’m not sure if that’s because the walls are soundproofed or if they’re using suppressors. Not knowing enough about guns, I couldn’t tell the difference.
“They’ve made it inside the house, Ariella. We need to leave now!” The person on the screen looks scared and has taken cover behind the bar. “Where are you hiding? It’s not safe for me out here.”
Just as panicked now as they seem to be, I do the one thing I know I shouldn’t do. I hit the yellow button, exposing the stairwell that leads directly to us.
Slowly creeping down the stairs and looking around, she asks timidly, “Are you down here?”
I don’t say anything, waiting for her to arrive at the panic room door. I hit the red button, allowing her entry, along with a button marked “speaker” next to it. Her eyes widen when she sees she’s now trapped down here with me. When the door shuts behind her, only two words leave my mouth.
“Hello, Mother.”
She schools her features into a cold mask of indifference. I should have known that her fear wasn’t real; rather all for show. One thing Gabriella Caras has never done was cower. But she’s my mother, and if she was in trouble, I wasn’t about to see her get hurt. My mistake, and now it could cost me.
“Ariella,” she says coolly, now poised and composed. The scared look is gone from her eyes, replaced with indignation.
“Why are you really here?” I ask. I expected Julietta, not her.
“You and Alex need to come with me. It’s time for you to come home and marry Kiernan, this time for real. Brachha and Cothena need to be united on every front,” she says, venom lacing her tone.
“You knew that Kiernan and I weren’t married? For how long?”
“Only for the last few months. Had I known earlier, I would have ensured you fulfilled your obligations to your country. You’ve been raising that child out of wedlock, and I will not have our family name disgraced!”
“Is that why you tried to kill me and Alex?” I can’t believe my mother would do something like that.
“Don’t be so dramatic. You and Alex were never in any real danger. The bomb was remotely detonated once you and he were far enough away.”
My body begins to tremble with rage, knowing it was my own mother who risked my son’s life.
“Tell that to the guard who went to the hospital!”
“He’s fine! If he had stayed close to you like he was supposed to, he wouldn’t have been injured at all. It’s his ineptitude that hurt him, not the bomb!” she shouts.
“You cannot be serious, Mother. Why would you do that? What purpose did it serve?”
“Ariella, Dear. I needed to get Kiernan in line. When I learned that you both had been lying to everyone, I confronted him. I told him that he needed to marry you, but he refused. The bombing was merely a warning to show him that there are consequences for that decision.”
“Mother, he didn’t marry me because I’m already married!”
Her eyes narrow. “I know, and it’s shameful! A wedding in the Bahamas doesn’t count according to Cothena laws, and you know it! Going through that farce of a marriage so you two could consummate was so ridiculous that I don’t even know where to begin. How many times have I told you that ‘love at first sight’ doesn’t exist, Ariella? And to think that he loved you so much that he didn’t have the decency to come after you. It won’t matter much anyway. My men will be taking care of him shortly if they haven’t done so already.” The maniacal laugh that follows makes my skin crawl.
I’m shocked by how much information she knows, but it doesn’t matter now. It doesn’t change things, but I need to understand why she’s doing this. “Where is Julietta? Is she here with you? She’s the one I ultimately thought was behind this.”
“No, Dear. She’s in a drug-induced coma back at the palace. She’ll recover, but only when her attending physician gets my signal.”
“And what signal would that be?” I cannot believe the depths of depravity of which my mother is capable of committing. What has happened to her to make her like this?
She scoffs. “When you marry Kiernan, of course. I couldn’t very well have Julietta sign Aaron’s decree abolishing arranged marriages. I highly doubt she’ll do it even when she awakens since she will have learned her lesson for defying me. I don’t know what it is with the two of you thinking that love is the most important part of a marriage.”
The monitors to my left flicker with movement, and for the next few minutes, I watch in silence as a group of men exit the woods, dragging bodies behind them. At first, I think that the men lying on the ground are dead, but their hands and feet are bound, which wouldn’t be necessary if that were the case. I search for Patrick and sigh in relief when I see him emerge with his weapon pointed at the guards, like he’s herding cattle. I recognize another face in the crowd, even though he is standing a few feet from Patrick. I gasp in surprise. From the looks of things, he’s helping the Shining Knights, which I had not anticipated.
My mother’s attention is also wholly focused on the screen, watching the scene unfold and getting angrier by the second. When an SUV pulls up to the men, it’s my father and Kiernan who exit the vehicle. They briefly converse with my protectors before everyone starts running toward the house.
“It looks like you’re too late, Mother,” I say, still staring at the screen with a small smile. It quickly disappears when I hear the sound of a hammer cocking.
Click.
When I face my mother, it’s the end of a gun I see rather than her face. “Grab Alex and open the door, Ariella. We’ve wasted too much time, and we’re leaving!” she yells, coming unhinged.
There is no way I’m exposing Alex to this madwoman. Needing to divert her attention from the video feeds, I walk toward the living room instead of the bedroom and sit on the couch. I lean back, doing my best to look relaxed, even though I’m sure the tremble in my body is visible.
“Not until I finish getting answers. You can’t kill me or my son because then you can’t escape. Right now, I’m your only chance of getting out of here in one piece,” I tell her far more calmly than I feel. We sit there in silence for several minutes, giving Patrick the time he needs.
Unable to take the quiet any longer, she sighs. With the hand that’s not aiming a gun at me, she gestures for me to ask my question. “You said that love isn’t the most important part of a marriage, but I know it is. I love Patrick, and that’s why I will not be marrying Kiernan. Why is it so important to you that I do? Aaron’s marriage to Julietta already unites Brachha and Cothena.”
“I’ve been grooming both you and Julietta to be queens and in positions of power to fulfill a debt that needs to be repaid. I was unable to do it while I was queen because your father is strong-willed and unwilling to bend on certain matters,” she says.
“How am I to be queen by marrying Kiernan? He may be next in line for the throne, but he is not the king, and Jordain is in good health.”
“Not for long,” she says cryptically. It takes me a few seconds before I understand the meaning of her words. She plans to remove him from the throne, probably in a more permanent way than she did Julietta.
“Is Kiernan in on this with you? Is that why you paid off his gambling debt?” I hope I’m wrong and he’s not involved in this mess. He’s become my best friend and confidant over the years. A betrayal from him would devastate me.
“No. I paid off his debt without his knowledge so that I could use it to blackmail him into marrying you when we return to Cothena. Although it didn’t stop the casino’s men from showing him what it means to be late on a payment.”
We’re finally getting somewhere. “Earlier, you mentioned a debt that needs to be repaid. Does it have anything to do with the export of raw opium to Brachha?”
Before she can answer, the door to the panic room opens and Patrick, my father, Kiernan, and King Jordain enter the room. Their weapons are aimed at my mother, who still has hers pointed at me.
Jordain steps forward, “I can explain that.”