58. Vaughn
Vaughn
Dawn came and went as I set up the Throne Room into my new War Room. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. All I knew was that Penelope was out there, and I wasn’t resting until she was found.
Coffee and secret planned attacks from my connections kept me going.
Elec and Bram helping me strategize kept me going.
Waiting for Luke and Everleigh to discover footage kept me going.
Even Theodore’s connections with criminals kept me moving forward.
What wasn’t helping me was the visions that slipped in when I dropped my guard. I couldn’t think about worst case scenarios. I couldn’t stomach the thought of him touching her. Hurting her. I wouldn’t think of that now.
Penelope needed me.
She was being held against her will by a fucking psychotic madman, and there was nothing I could do. Nothing but stay rational and plan.
I took in the multiple screens now mounted to stone wall. Table upon table was full of weapons. I had maps of the city and surrounding areas laid out, and pictures of men who I’d discovered were high in Lawrence’s guard that might be with him.
We were currently waiting on word for who was still at the palace and who was missing.
Luke and Everleigh were already tracking Lawrence’s phone. Not that they could get a read on it. But they would when he turned it on. We just needed a break. One thing to help steer us in a direction so I could find Penelope. I had to find her. And fast.
“So, these are the properties The Sultan has given me for King L—” Bram stopped, lifting his eyes to me. “I mean, Lawrence. We can start here. I say we don’t waste our time driving to any that don’t stand out as occupied. He’ll have guards with him, and they’ll be patrolling. We won’t miss them.”
My head shook.
“How do we not have any footage from him leaving the palace? There has to be something. His car didn’t just disappear and reappear to where he had her taken. I know we have no video from the palace itself, but what about just out of their range? Stores, restaurants, something?”
Bram shook his head. “Whatever he left in wasn’t one of their vehicles. He got out secretly. He planned this. We still have people looking through every car that goes by, but there’s nothing so far.”
The rage inside me was intense. It was hard to control. Somehow, I managed.
“What is The Council doing? Mr. Prescott said he was heading into a meeting with those in the city, yet here you are. Why are you not at this meeting?”
Bram hit one of the touchscreen monitors on the wall, zooming out of London.
“They know where I stand. I’m here. They don’t need me present for my vote. They already have it.”
I took him in for a long moment, nodding. Emotions hit hard, scattering through my shattered mind. I headed forward to the monitor he stood at, taking in the towns and areas in the city.
“Thank you.” I cleared my throat. “You said there was no movement at the airport. So, he’s close. Maybe not too close, but close enough. He wouldn’t stay somewhere expected. It might not even be his residence. He’d have to be careful.”
Elec stepped forward.
“What about her residences? She relinquished her title. They’d technically be his again. Do we have a list of those?”
My eyes widened as I turned, heading to the table where I now had my computer.
“I believe he sent Penelope a list when she was still active at Rosemoor. She’d have it in her email.”
I hit the mail icon, clicking on her name. I scrolled down, reading through the subject headings. The number of messages he’d sent her was alarming. A lot had come through since she’d cut connections with him. A large number weren’t even opened.
Scrolling down, I clicked randomly, not seeing the list but getting immersed in his obsessive need to communicate with her.
And not about anything in particular. He asked for her opinions on things.
Her views. Sometimes, he’d just go on and on about his day, as if she were his own personal diary.
Anger would flare at how openly he confessed his feelings towards her.
Then, fear, because I knew Penelope wouldn’t have understood his deep connection to her any more than I did.
The way he talked, it was as if he couldn’t live without her. As if… he already had her.
Penelope,
I do love your name. I’ve said that before. It just feels right.
I’ve been thinking, do you ever want to settle somewhere more private? The palace can be great but intimidating for someone who wasn’t raised here. I think that was your aversion when you first came. It’s why you didn’t stay when you were sick. It was too much.
I can understand that. I think about those first times we met a lot lately.
When we marry, I think it would be good for us to spend time away from the palace. At least until you can feel comfortable there. You’ve been traumatized. Isolated. You need something more private. Maybe even confined. It will help ground you again.
I can’t wait until we’re finally together so I can show you that.
This will work. I just know it because I know myself.
I won’t stop until you’re better. Until you see that you’ve always loved me.
It’s there behind Vaughn’s conditioning.
I could see it in your eyes when you looked at me.
You want this as much as I do. We just have to uncover it so you can remember. You have to remember.
Yours,
Lawrence
I looked at the date. Nine days before she was taken. Nine days.
I continued to scroll, seeing much more of the same.
To Lawrence, Penelope was meant to be his queen.
He spoke of their love. Of regret for waiting to make her his.
He even talked about his temper for feeling rejection when she’d betrayed him in college.
He stated he was over the pain she caused him, but I wasn’t sure what to believe.
The messages were hard for me to wrap my head around. In moments, he spoke to her as a man obsessively in love—as I would have. Other times, I didn’t relate or recognize him at all. And the more I read, the more I became worried.
Theodore came back into the room.
The men emailed and made calls.
Time passed.
It wasn’t until almost two hours went by that I felt myself sit up straighter.
“Wait. Here. I think this might be it.”
All three men headed over as I clicked on an attachment. A list of properties appeared, and Bram was already leaning in, taking a picture of them with his phone.
“I’m going to send this to Luke and Everleigh while we do what we can here.
We’ve managed to get a list of a large chunk of Lawrence’s properties, but not all.
Let’s add these new ones in and see if they’re occupied.
We won’t have access everywhere, but Luke does well in this area. He usually can find something.
I nodded. “Sounds great to me. I’m going to plug the addresses onto the map so we can see what we’re working with. I can change the color of the pin when it’s not the place we’re looking for. That will give us a good visual of where they might be versus where they’re not.”
“Great idea.”
I was already at work as Elec and Theodore started talking.
I let myself fade again, going back to the emails I’d read over.
Falling deep into trying to grasp Lawrence’s mindset.
To let myself face the facts was more terrifying than I could handle.
I felt the tears come. I felt physically ill at what he could be doing to her.
I couldn’t bear the thought of her suffering for another moment.
Had she not been through enough? Now this?
Ringing cut through the room, pulling me from suffocating possibilities. Theodore answered his phone, walking a good amount away as he began to pace. I barely noticed as I plugged in addresses and watched them populate on the map. White pins to begin. I’d turn them red when the address was cleared.
Work.
Work.
I had to work.
Otherwise… I’d start burning the city down. I wanted to. I wanted to go house by house until I found her. She was somewhere. And she was with him…
Footsteps sounded, and I looked up watching Theodore approach.
“This could be nothing—”
I was already standing.
“What is it, Theo?”
He paused, watching as Bram and Elec stepped in closer. Even the guards shifted deeper in the room as they listened in.
“I have a few informants I work with. Most are harmless, but there’s one.
Luan. He tells me a man came to him. He needed guns, uniforms. All unmarked.
And he needed them fast. He had money. He was willing to pay.
I sent him pictures of one of the dead guards and the gun he had.
Plus, a picture of the man who led them.
He just confirmed that’s what they sold… to George.”
“George? He said that?”
“He did. I never said that name to him.”
“Fucking… shit.”
I turned to Bram, barely able to stop the shaking. “Is it enough yet? How much more does The Council want? Lawrence is behind this. There’s no decision left for them to make. He’s guilty, and I am king.”
Bram turned to Theodore.
“Is there any way Luan would confirm this to The Council? They’ll want to hear it for themselves.”
Theo’s brow drew in. “They can hear. There’s a lot more he said, and I have it. I’m a barrister. I record every conversation. I can send it to whatever number you want me to.”
“Perfect.”
“Theodore, did George mention the king to him at all? Do you know if he got the impression that the guns or weapons might be for Lawrence?”
Theodore hit button’s putting his phone on speaker. Their voices immediately echoed through the room.
“I showed my brothers the pictures you sent, and yeah, that’s the uniforms and guns we sold George. That was him too, you know. In that picture.”
“George?”
“That’s the name he calls himself. Generic fucking name, if you ask me, but maybe he was telling the truth.”
“And that was him amongst the other guards? You’re sure of it?
“Right in the middle. I’d know that face anywhere. Babyface. Dead eyes.”
Theodore paused. “Did anything else stand out to you or your brothers about this man? Did he happen to say what he needed the uniforms or guns for?”
“Nah. We didn’t ask. We don’t care. The king does what he wants. So long as he doesn’t fuck with us, it’s not our problem.”
“The king? You’re positive?”
“Do you think we’d sell to George if we weren’t? This isn’t his first time here.”
“Thank you, Luan.”
“Hey, Theo. I didn’t tell you shit.”
“You never do. Talk to you soon.”
The recording stopped, and I was nearly panting through the fury and emotion.
Bram pointed to Theodore’s phone. “That’s what we needed. Yeah… send that to me. I’ll get it right to The Council.”
I stood, locking my arms around Theodore, only to lean back and slap his shoulder.
Thank you wasn’t good enough. We weren’t closer to finding Penelope, but Lawrence was fucked either way.
He’d attacked The Order. The penalty for that was death.
There was no escaping what was coming for him.
If I didn’t manage to find him first, The Council would have no choice but to end his life.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Lawrence would become The Order’s ultimate sacrifice, and I’d take anyone out who tried to stop me. I was the true king, and only the blood of my enemy would begin to right the wrong of the ancestral trauma I’d been plagued with.
It was time to close the book on the past.
I was making my own story now.
It would begin with the fall of a king.