Chapter Twenty-Two
S lade
I paced the floor of my office, casually glancing at the journal on the desk, debating whether or not I should open it. I knew I needed to read it. There were so many missing pieces to the puzzle. I needed to get under Lars’s skin, figure out a way to crack the code so I could take him down, for good. Then there was the other issue, dealing with his dumbass little minion.
I rubbed a hand over my face. Why was this so hard? Why couldn’t I just open it up and read it? Deep down I knew why. I couldn’t open it up because it would make me feel all kinds of things towards Raven. Knowing what she suffered was bound to leave me a fucked up mess.
There was a barrier that I had put up around my heart to protect myself from her talons. I couldn’t let that down. After I had put a hole in the floor, I eventually said fuck it and sat down with the journal. I flipped to the first page and started reading.
Page one...Training. Otherwise known as Hell on Earth. “Pull the trigger, Raven.” The gun rattled in my shaky hands. Tears streamed down my cheeks, slowly falling to my plain white t-shirt. “I don’t want to, Daddy!”
My lips trembled as my gaze roamed to the man who tried to kidnap me. I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know his name, how old he was, or if he had a family. This whole scene was too orchestrated. He was an unwilling sacrifice in the twisted games Father liked to play. He was handcuffed to the chair, slouched over, barely breathing. His head rolled from side to side, until finally, his blue eyes met mine. They were pleading for another chance that Father no longer wanted to give.
The gun fell to my side, and I closed my eyes when the whip connected with his skin again. My stomach churned when the connection with his skin made a harsh cracking sound. A shudder went through my body. I couldn’t imagine being whipped. It was a cruel punishment, and being in the same room as this was happening made me want to throw up. His screams pierced through the walls, awakening every prisoner Father had rotting in the dungeon, awaiting their doomed destiny. A sob escaped my throat when my eyes opened. His pale flesh was sliced open from the repeated action, with blood threatening to pour out of the wounds. A metallic smell invaded my nostrils and made me gag. How is this man my father? How could he do this to another human being?
I took a few hesitant steps forward until I was standing directly in front of him and swallowed the lump in my throat. I can’t do this... I’m gonna be sick. My trembling hands raised the gun and pointed it at his head, my pointer finger taking its place on the trigger. Maybe I should just put him out of his misery. Isn’t that what they did with poor animals who weren’t doing well? The thought made me sick. Taking a deep breath, I licked the salt from my lips and met his gaze once more.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered and squeezed my eyes shut. Anything to make this nightmare disappear. My finger pulled the trigger. Bang! Bang! The noise was so loud and unwelcome that it was overwhelming to my ears. The gun dropped from my hand to the concrete and I fell back. My butt landed with a thud on the ground and my vibrating hands wrapped around my knees as I rocked back and forth. A cough escaped my lips as the smell of powder wafted into my nose, making me choke on the stench. I just took someone’s life. Oh my God... I just took someone’s life.
I flipped the book over and put my head in my hands. She was twelve when she was forced to murder someone. I grabbed the bottle of whiskey from my drawer as well as a small glass, and took the top off. I poured the liquid until it filled to the brim, then poured it down my throat. I did it again until I started to feel some of its loosening effects. This journal was going to be harder to read than I thought. I needed all the liquid courage I could get to shut down my emotions.
She was twelve. Her father was so cruel and cold fucking hearted that he made her murder someone in cold blood. I didn’t think the King had it in him to be so demented, but he really was the devil’s advocate. When this was all over, he could rot in Hell for all I cared.
I turned the journal back over and just read. I read for hours and hours and drank so much whiskey that I wanted to puke. The things she had been through, the abuse she had taken. I started thinking back to the day she found me. If I hadn’t helped her escape, she would’ve still been in the dungeon, suffering.
After reading what I had read, I wasn’t sure the King was ever planning to let her out. It sounded to me that he wasn’t preparing her to be a Queen. He was preparing her to be sold off to the highest bidder, so he wouldn’t have to worry about her anymore.
There was one part in the journal, the part that got to me the most, was the rape. How that mother fucker put his hands on her, how he threatened her and my daughter. My hands curled into fists— I was going to kill him. How could Lars be so cruel? Cruel enough that he was letting a rapist marry his daughter? I already didn’t like the guy, but after reading about what he did to Raven, I didn’t want him anywhere near her.
More and more, I was putting the pieces together. Her journal was helping me piece together some holes that were missing. It was no wonder why she was so fucking broken. She had been through hell and back literally, and was still living through it every goddamn day.
I knew that once I opened the journal, there would be no going back. It detailed everything; her training, the feelings about us finally being together, our daughter being born, me being taken away by the cops, her fights with her father, all leading up to the rape. Then there were several empty pages, some with entries from just a few days ago.
I went back to the pages detailing what happened when I was taken away by the cops and reread what was there.
I sat there for what seemed like hours after Slade was taken away. I could hear Julianna’s cries for me in the distance, but I was too catatonic to move. I remembered Lewis coming by, shaking me, trying to get me to move. I saw him walk out with Julianna, probably to take her to Anna.
There was a pain in my heart watching her being taken away, but I knew she would be okay. The only thing I could focus on was that they took the love of my life away from me.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. How could he think...how could he think that I would do something so horrible to him? I’d suffered so much in my lifetime. Slade was my savior. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.
My stomach twisted, and I wanted to puke. There had to be a way out of this. I would get him out of this. My brain started piecing things together. Who would frame him? Did someone hate him so much? Hate me?
Then I started thinking back through everything. My training, the way Father disliked Slade and I being together. He had always said he wanted someone who was “fit” for the crown to be by my side, and that made me wonder if he had something to do with this.
Would he be that much of an asshole to take away his daughter’s happiness? To take away his granddaughter’s father?
The words were cut off shortly after that. My eyes blinked, and I tried to process what I had just read. I rubbed the nape of my neck. I was wrong...I had blamed her when she wasn’t the one to frame me. Reading her point of view made that more clear. She was just as confused and hurt as I was. How could I blame her for that? How could I break up with her like that, knowing we had a daughter to raise together?
Guilt swarmed through me. How would I make this up to her? How would I make this up to Julianna? There was still anger within me. I was still angry with Raven that she didn’t try hard enough to get me out, but the anger dimmed with this new information.
I was so fucking screwed.
I flipped back through the journal, looking to see what else I missed and see if I could find what I was looking for. I needed to know more about her mother’s murder. If she remembered anything from that day, who the guy looked like, what was happening around them.
It would’ve been easier to just ask her, but when it came to this, she wouldn’t say a word. She was so tightlipped about her mother’s murder. Even when we were younger and it was fresh on her mind, she couldn’t get the courage to talk about it. It was more traumatic to her than all the stuff she suffered through as a kid.
There was one thing in particular I was looking for that I hadn’t seen yet. There were only a few pages left in the journal and as I flipped to the last ones, I sucked in a breath.
Mother’s murder....
“Please, don’t do this!”
Wait...that was Mother’s voice.
My walk turned into a run. Once I reached the den door, there were two figures. One was Mother whose eyes were wide and her body was still, and the other was a man with his back to me. That man was holding a gun pointed straight at her.
“I’m sorry. You know the world we live in. This has to happen.” I tried to make out the man’s voice but couldn't, and when I moved forward, my presence became known. Mother glanced at me quickly and gave me a silent warning to stay put. Fuck that, I never did what I was told.
Everything happened in slow motion. A sharp breath escaped my lips when a pop pop sound rang through my ears. My heart dropped to my stomach as I watched her fall to the ground. When the man placed the gun in his pocket, he made a move to turn. I quickly rushed back out of the den and into the dark hallway. I hid behind one of Father’s many statues, this one a soldier who was holding a rifle over his shoulder. My body trembled as I covered my mouth with my hands so he wouldn’t hear my panting.
He strode down the hall, taking his time, not caring that he just hurt Mother or that we were under a tornado warning. The wind howled outside, and then time stopped. His phone rang right in front of the statue I was hiding behind. He stopped walking and answered. My heart was pounding so fast I was afraid he could hear it. I bit my lip and stood stock still.
“Yeah,” he barked through the phone. “It’s done. I’m getting the fuck out of here.” I couldn’t hear the person on the other end of the line, but the man’s foot was tapping on the ground and I could tell he was getting more agitated the longer he was on the phone. “Her body is in the library. It’s about to be wiped away by a tornado, anyway. No one will know she was murdered. It’ll be marked down as the cause of the tornado.”
My hands clenched into fists. While I had previously feared he would catch me, something sparked behind the pain I felt when he shot Mother. I wanted him to know I saw his face. I wanted him to know he wouldn’t get off scot free. He would pay, and even though physically I couldn’t outman him, I knew Father could.
Sucking in a breath, I revealed myself from behind the statue. The man’s brown eyes, that were so dark they were almost black, widened. The momentary shock vanished in an instant. The man’s features darkened and matched his midnight long hair. Everything about him screamed evil.
He took a step forward, and I took several steps back. The pain of watching Mother die before my eyes was crushing my chest, but I couldn’t focus on that currently. Instead, I had to find a way to make the man pay for his crimes, and if that meant leading him out into the middle of a chaotic tornado, so be it.
I blinked. I remembered that day. The storm was terrible, the whole Kingdom was on lockdown and there she was running out into the middle of the storm to escape a murderer. She would never say it herself, but Raven was stronger than anyone I’d ever met. She was brave, and she always fought for the truth. That’s why she would’ve made an excellent Queen, if her father would loosen the reins.
The words from the journal were running together, but reading this clarified what I was finally starting to process. The Queen’s murder was a hit, and it was carried out by none other than her King. There were numerous news reports and articles of how husbands and wives would hire hit men to off their partner so they wouldn’t have to deal with them.
Then there were the questions. The King seemed like he loved the Queen. It looked like he was in love with her, not just a surface love. So if that was the case, then why did he want to get rid of her?
Unless she found out something he didn’t want her to know. Maybe she found out about a trafficking ring? Her daughter’s tragic time in the dungeon? Or maybe...she found out the truth from my parents.
That Raven wasn’t the heir to the throne like she or her mother had originally thought.
I was starting to think that Zeke was a part of the King’s mafia ties. After all, I was sure it was the main reason Lars wanted to be King in the first place. If you were a royal, people hardly asked questions. Including the police. They knew to back down, and most of the time, they would take orders from a royal. He was the Mafia King. I’d discovered his ties to them shortly after my parents were murdered. I was slowly starting to uncover the truth.
Trafficking.
I wondered if that was Lars’s plan after all . To get Raven married to Zeke and have him take her away, to never be or heard from again.
My stomach dropped. What if that was the plan this whole time? He wasn’t grooming Raven to be Queen, he was grooming her to become a part of this nasty trade.
I was in way over my head. I needed help and the one person I knew wanted to see Lars destroyed more than myself was also the same person I was trying to avoid. It was time to bring her on board, no matter how much I wanted to keep her at a distance. I couldn’t tell her everything though, not yet.
The King’s game was dangerous and he had everyone fooled, including myself.
It was time to bring the Queen’s piece to the chessboard.