24. Helen #2
When you spent as much money on clothes as I did, you did everything to keep them clean and pristine. Why else would I oversee torture when I knew how to handle the weapons with my own hands? I wasn’t risking my manicure.
That only gave me another wave of anger toward the man stumbling down my hallway after me.
He’d been one of the worst of the bullies at St. Henry’s.
Mocking my clothes, my looks, my reading habits.
And I knew he’d only started because of Drake, but I’d moved past all that.
Did my incessant need for luxurious clothes and elegance stem from the bullying?
Sure, and I’d had enough therapy during university to realize that.
Julian had also apologized amidst his teasing flirting at the wedding, I recalled. He’d brought me close, knowing Drake was watching, only to whisper in my ear how truly sorry he was about the ways he’d treated me in school. He acknowledged it wasn’t right of them to act that way.
The usually suave and charismatic Italian had even blushed when I accepted his apology and kissed his cheek. A twinge of guilt in my stomach carried regret for ever assuming he was behind anything so nefarious.
Douglas hadn’t danced with me at the wedding, even though he’d been one of the groomsmen.
He hadn’t apologized. In fact, I vaguely remembered his grimace throughout the event, though he hadn’t been important enough to pay attention to that night.
As one might imagine, I had larger concerns at the time.
Little moments popped into my mind as I was chased through my house.
The fact that Douglas would know where Drake lived and when he returned from a mission to prompt a spontaneous attack.
He would have had insider information about my parents’ office and the security in the parking garage.
And he was on the phone with Drake and Julian the night we returned to my house, which he’d had ambushed once before.
All the little things added up as I did mental arithmetic in my head to solve the equation.
Douglas Miller’s position with the Graham family, more specifically his friendship with Drake, would have given him insider information on the crime families and where to strike them.
When to attack and what to steal. His years of working with Drake and feigning admiration for Willian Graham put him in the shadows where he prowled for secrets and planned his betrayal.
When Douglas cornered me in my office, I fought with all my strength.
With blood streaming from his nose and madness in his eyes, he lunged for me.
I hit him in the eye with a bookend from the shelf.
He grabbed my wrist, and I twisted free, using his weight to send him to the ground.
A satisfying crunch met my fist when I punched him in the nose.
That close to him, I noticed the color of his hair and it had transported me to the night with Brooke when a man had followed me in the dark.
I would have sworn I had seen hair that exact color under the streetlight.
It had been Douglas that night I knew without a doubt. He’d been the one behind it all.
No matter how desperately I fought against him, nothing could have prepared me for being outnumbered. Maybe if it had remained one on one, I might have outmaneuvered Douglas. But his masked thugs had overwhelmed my security team and swarmed my house.
A manic laugh of triumph had belted from me, slung over a masked man’s shoulder as Douglas stumbled down my stairs after us.
As grotesque as it was to see him swiping at his bloodied face and smearing it on my walls, I positively delighted in his pain.
He hadn’t liked that, hearing me laugh despite being carted from my house like a sack of potatoes.
I should have seen it coming when he had someone knock me unconscious before being shoved into the back of the car, but let’s just add it to my list of mistakes for the night, shall we?
“And I was supposed to just be grateful that they decided to take pity on me and my mother?” His nearly shrill tone brought me out of the memory.
I wanted to say ‘Yes, our families usually leave orphans and widows behind with nothing at all,’ but it really wasn't the time for my snark. Drake would have found it funny.
“Taken under the Grahams’ wing, sent to that fucking unhinged school in London, surrounded by the children of liars, murderers, thugs. Future villains in the making and that school was less of a neutral location for higher education and more of a training ground for thieves and killers.”
“You were one of the worst of my bullies, you hypocrite!” I spat before I could bite my tongue.
Douglas whirled on me, nose scrunched up with distaste, as if I were the grotesque one. “I did what I had to do to fit in!”
“And you’ve profited from it, haven’t you?
You have a cushy job that pays you an insane amount of money.
You could have gotten away with anything because you had the Graham family protection.
” I scoffed at him. “What do you do instead? Hire second rate thugs and would-be gangsters to put on stupid masks and try to undermine the top five families.”
“I did what I had to do to get my revenge!” Douglas bellowed, arms flailing with his frenzy.
Then he stopped pacing, pointing at me. “But you couldn’t figure it out.
The Brilliant and Wonderful Helen Montgomery wasn’t smart enough to realize what was under her nose all along.
” His barking laughter made me jolt despite myself.
“Admit it! I bested you! I bested the Great Helen Montgomery!”
Sickness curdled in my stomach, knowing he was right. For all intents and purposes, he had gotten the best of me, of Drake, of everyone trying to track him down.
“Probably because everyone thinks you’re too stupid to pull off something like this.”
The second slap was expected. I spit blood from my pulsing split lip onto the floor between us, disappointed that I’d missed his shoes. His voice broke through the ringing in my ears.
“You got close, I’ll admit. I had to take out one of my own men in front of Drake and Julian.
Now, seeing The Dragon of New York pissed at you really is a sight to behold.
But they underestimated me, my motivations, my abilities.
It gave me all the excuses I needed to walk away with them, none the wiser. ”
One hand slipped free from the rope, but I needed both hands to attempt an escape. Keeping him distracted was working so far. In for a penny, as they said…
“But you were spending too much hiring every new thug because Drake kept killing them,” I said.