18. Von
A pollo didn’t seem at all bothered by my threat, in fact, he appeared rather delighted.
“I was wondering how long it would take before you started your inquisition,” Apollo commented with a pleased smile. “Where would you like to start?”
Lifting my fingers to my mouth, I let out a shrill whistle. A minute or so later, Bear appeared from below with Erik right on his heels. “Have a seat, you two, because you’re both witnesses to what Polly has to share with us.”
Bear grunted and sat opposite us on the U-shaped couch where he proceeded to glare at Apollo.
“One sec,” Erik called as he dashed back below deck.
Unsure what he was up to, I decided to wait and see. Erik didn’t take long to return with a bottle of spiced rum and four glasses. He poured a glass and handed it to me first before filling the remaining three.
“We can’t play pirates out on the open waters without drinking some rum,” Erik explained as he took his seat.
“ Who the fuck said we were playing pirates? ” Bear questioned.
Erik shrugged and reached for the glass. “Fine, I’ll take back the rum since you don’t want to play along.”
Bear swiped the glass and snarled at Erik, who tossed up his hands in surrender. “All right, keep the rum, no need to get your leathers in a twist.”
I laughed silently as I sipped the rum and enjoyed its spiced flavor. Rum wasn’t something I drank often, but when the mood hit, this was my go-to choice. Allowing myself one more sip, I returned my focus to Apollo, weighing my options. Did I ask what I wanted to know most, or would that take all the fun out of this game?
“What is your middle name?” I inquired and was pleased with the flicker of surprise I saw in his gaze.
Taking a moment, Apollo crossed one leg over the other attempting to look relaxed. “I honestly don’t know if I even have a middle name. None was written on the birth certificate, but my mother could have chosen one and never told us.”
“Are you sure what you saw was your real birth certificate?” I challenged.
“Clever and deadly, two of the sexiest traits in a woman,” Apollo said with a sultry grin. “I know for certain the copy I have is legit. My mother kept them locked away in a safety deposit box deep in the Accardi Family vault.”
Erik scoffed, leaning back to rest his arm on the top of the couch. “Right, and you expect us to believe you snuck into the vault and knew exactly what box to open? I hardly think they’d have an itemized list of what they kept in there.”
“Red, what kind of con artist and thief would I be if something so trivial could foil my plans?” Apollo said dramatically, placing a hand on his chest. “I’ll have you know there is a rather detailed inventory of what the vault holds. They did so about ten years ago when a mysterious fire set off the sprinklers within the vault. It was rather devastating since a few priceless works of art were damaged. Furthermore, there was no way for them to know if anything had been completely destroyed since no one really knew what was kept in there.”
I tossed back my head and laughed picturing the chaos the fire had caused. One thing I knew about the Accardi Family as a whole, was they hated to lose face in front of anyone. It would only make sense they had an insurance company apprise what was tucked away in the vault. Not only to recoup any losses, but to show off their wealth in a subtle way.
“Let me guess, you broke into and stole the list from the insurance company then used it to figure out if what you needed was inside,” I said, then tossed back the rest of the rum in my glass and slammed it down. “All right, you’ve proved it was your original birth certificate. Now tell me what they’re doing to my mother.”
The calm, relaxed air around us shifted to something far more serious. Apollo dropped his foot to the floor and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. “From what I’ve been able to figure out, one of your mother’s doctors pushed for her to enter a new drug trial.”
“Liar,” I snapped. “My mother made Father swear he wouldn’t make her go through another drug trial. Every time she does nothing helps and only makes it worse.”
Apollo stood and closed the distance between us, causing me to stiffen, preparing for what he might do next. Slowly, he raised his hand ensuring I could see his intentions. Apollo cupped my cheek and let his thumb stroke my skin tenderly.
“My treasure, as you know, there is a price we must pay for everything in this life,” Apollo murmured. “I will always answer your questions with information I’ve personally discovered, not just hearsay. There is a possibility I might have stumbled on bad intel from time to time, but not about this. Since this was about your family, I triple-checked everything. Trust me, if you were a lesser woman who needed her feelings spared, I’d do it in a heartbeat to spare you. However, my treasure, you are extraordinary, and I would never disrespect you by sugarcoating the truth.”
“Then stop stalling,” I ordered.
Apollo took a half step back and drew in a deep breath. “Your father made a back room deal with the doctor running the trial. One of his nurses would take over treating your mother and switch out one of her medications for this experimental one. What your father doesn’t realize is the doctor has recently found himself under Serena’s thumb. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they were giving your mother the real drug to start with, then switched it for something that is killing her slowly.”
“ Aaargh ,” I screamed, hurling my glass into the ocean. “How could that bastard have betrayed her? He knows how hard this has been on my mother. She’s so fucking tired of fighting a disease which has no cure. For fuck’s sake, it’s cruel to push a person to continue living because you’ll be sad when it forces them to live trapped inside their own personal hell.”
No one spoke as I paced the small deck, trying to reel in my anger. Things with my father were tense on a good day, if I came out swinging the second I stepped foot in the house, nothing would get done. I might hate my father for what he did to me since I never would have left home if only he’d understood the person I was. Had I never run away I might have been spared becoming my Master’s pet and all the shit which came with it.
I knew my father loved mother, I could see it written all over his face when he looked at her. Yes, he took a mistress, Katarina, but they never had kids, and he doesn’t ever take her to important functions. Those things were reserved for the wife of the Zuccaro Family leader, and Katarina respected that without question. The three of them somehow managed to create a space where they all got something they needed out of the relationship. Hell, Mother and Katarina were good friends before anything happened with my father. However, the only way for this plan to have worked was if Katarina wasn’t my mother’s nurse anymore, and they’d hired someone new.
“We need to get back to land,” I announced. “The sooner we stop whoever is drugging my mother, the better.”
Erik and Apollo nodded in agreement as Bear watched me intently like he was waiting for me to fly off the handle or something. I’m sure if I’d found out about this anywhere but in the middle of the ocean, I might have lost my cool. Bear didn’t need to know I was holding onto my anger, saving it for when I faced off with the person responsible for tormenting my mother.
I pulled the USB drive out of my pocket and inserted it into the navigation hub. Every boat created in Nepreea had a tracking system built into the boat's system. This meant a computer somewhere in our country was tracking the movements of every single boat with the engine turned on. Since I didn’t want to risk exposing our secret smuggling cave, which was located on the cliffside by my family’s home, I found a way to scramble the tracking program. As long as this was plugged in before I started the engine, we became a ghost on the water.
“Just you wait until I’m done dealing with this, Serena. I’ll be coming for you and putting an end to this fucking cat and mouse game,” I muttered to myself as I slammed the throttle down, opening the engines full bore. “Hang on to something because I’m not stopping if any of you fall overboard,” I yelled over my shoulder.
The need to get my hands bloody and release some of this anger building up inside me was almost too much. It was moments like this I knew how badly my Master fucked me up. Who else would fantasize about dragging a prisoner out of their cell, stringing them up like a punching bag, and seeing how long it would take me to break all their ribs? It had been too long since my last real fight, and my wolf wanted to be let free.
Maybe I could test the new recruits my brothers had left and see if I could find the mole as they begged for mercy I wasn’t going to give them. But what if the mole wasn’t new blood?
I shook the thought out of my head and focused on getting to the house. As much as I hated to play it safe, this situation called for a more calculated approach. If I showed up and went after the nurse right away, it would tip off any other double agent there’d been a leak. Normally, I wouldn’t mind the hunt, but right now the last thing I wanted to do was play whack-a-mole.
At the speed we were going, it only took an hour and a half to reach the Zuccaro Family residence, instead of two hours. I could see the slightly worried expression on Erik’s face as I aimed right for the cliffs. You could only see the cave's entrance if you knew what you were looking for. Most of the time I’d come in this way, it had been night, so arriving in the late afternoon sunshine was a treat.
“ Vooon ,” Erik called, his tone full of panic as he braced himself.
When we didn’t crash as he expected, Erik shot to his feet to get a better look at the cave of wonders. My idiot brothers came up with the name as kids since they loved to play pirates searching for buried treasure.
The cave was massive, there was no other way to describe it. Far above us where the ceiling had been eroded away were holes that let in streams of light. Stalactites dangled above us as if they were teeth ready to eat us alive if we lingered there. Floating piers were attached to one side of the cave, designed to rise and lower with the tides. A switchback staircase was carved into the rock leading out of the water up to a second level one of my great grandfathers had built out of wood and steel.
“My my, isn’t this impressive,” Apollo said as he took everything in. “Can I ask, how do you get the goods onto the boat with such a distance between here and the upper level?”
“There's a winch system so we can drop the goods right onto the boat,” I shared as I cut the engine and leaped off the boat onto the pier. “One of you, toss me the rope secured to the bow.”
Erik and Apollo darted forward, but Apollo managed to get to the rope first. He tossed it to me and, with swift, practiced movements, I secured the front. Erik was waiting for me at the rear of the boat, rope in hand ready to toss it to me. With my girl firmly anchored, I waved for the guys to follow as I headed for the stone steps. Bear would be the last one off since he hated how unstable the pier felt under his feet. The last thing I wanted to deal with right now was the other two spouting off until Bear clocked one or both of them.
At the top of the stone steps, there was a ledge that had been carved out, allowing us to walk from the steps to the area we’d built. Empty crates were stacked along one wall with fishing supplies spilling out of one of them. Rule number one to having a villains’ lair, don’t make it look fucking obvious. So it was decided ages ago this place was used for deep water fishermen to store emergency supplies since the closest marina was hours away.
On the far side of the deck was a metal door that looked like it had been stolen from a submarine. The large wheel on the outside was rather intimidating and ensured no one could wander in by accident. Of course, we also had the ability to lock the wheel from the other side, so even if you entered the correct passcode, the door wouldn’t budge. This was what my brothers forgot to turn off, making it impossible for me to enter unseen. I had to go further down the coastline to the neighbor’s pier and walk my ass to the front door. Thankfully, this time they hadn’t left me holding my dick in my hand.