Fortune Favors The Bold

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: AT DAGGER’S DAWNS

Adonis was so enraged and disillusioned that he was on the verge on reacting like he always did during a fight, he longed to retract from it. When he felt that it was no longer worthy to waste his time with someone who’d greatly disappointed him, he just walked away.

It just wasn’t in his nature to confront, like Alaya had guessed, he preferred work in the background rather than being in the front. He was the main designer behind the Fortune jewels, but very few people were aware of that fact.

Despite the appearances. What the world knew about him was just a façade which he cultivated carefully, and so far no one had ever been able to get under that veneer of sophistication that he so naturally portrayed. No one, until now.

With Alaya, things were somehow different, more tempestuous, and real. So, he growled at her fiercely, his nostrils flaring in anger instead of walking away. “How dare you? How dare you insult my mother and my sheer existence?”

To her credit, she seemed properly chastised by his outburst. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you. Or your family,” she apologized hastily, raising up a hand in utter resignation. “I was just puzzled by the fact that you would cover for your uncle despite him being the culprit.”

She shrugged uncomfortably, and Adonis was sorely tempted to let her stew in her own steam. What did it matter what she thought about him? What should it bother him that she thought he was a bastard? That his father was Elijah Fortune instead of Mason Fortune?

Then, defeated as the fight was more with himself than with her, he sighed loudly. “Uncle Elijah is innocent. I don’t know what Kenneth said, but I’ve known my uncle since childhood. He would never hurt a mosquito.”

Alaya didn’t bat an eye, but instead c****d her head to gaze at him in compassion and gentleness. The steely note in which she poke belied her tender-hearted stance.

“Have I ever told about the Solanksy case? Ma Solanksy was so convinced that her son could never be a murderer, she even lied under oath to protect him. Turned out he wasn’t only a serial killer, but a pervert misogynist who blended perfectly well among the normal people.”

Adonis opened his mouth to protest, she was of course seeing things from her perspective. Uncle Elijah was no way a mentally disturbed person, no matter how much in love he was with Nora Fortune, he would never hurt his own brother.

“My point is that when it’s a question of your family, you tend to lose your objectivity. There’s no way that your uncle will get totally absolved after this. At least not if he has a solid alibi but running away from the situation will only aggravate his case.”

Adonis c****d his eyebrows arrogantly. “I am not stopping you from arresting him or interrogating him.”

“Is that why you hid your precious uncle without giving him the opportunity to have his say? Where the hell is he?” she hollered vehemently. “How are you helping him by make him a fugitive?”

“I cannot help you here, Alaya. I am not handing my uncle over to you on a golden platter. You can either look for him, or continue to waste you time here with me,” he drawled in his superlative annoying voice which he knew would put her off.

And it did. She huffed out a loud breath, which blew her hair from her face, and her hands placed on her hips, she threatened with seething rage. “If I have the information that you had anything to do with the disappearance of Elijah Fortune, you’re going in for questioning as well.”

Adonis took her threat at face value, but he didn’t react to it like she expected to, and she made another loud sigh before leaving the premises. It was what Adonis had been waiting for.

Right before going to the headquarters, he’d asked Benjamin to arrange for their penthouse in Vashon Island. There at least he would have control over who was boarding the island or not since the authorities worked with him.

“Ben?” he barked in the phone as he glanced down the window to watch the persky detective walk down the alley to get back into her S.U.V. He breathed a sigh of relief, praying that she wouldn’t find out soon enough about his uncle. “Is everything within control?”

“Just like we organized, boss. We’re already boarding the yacht to the penthouse. Only one thing is that your uncle is having second thoughts, no make that fifth thoughts, and he wants to surrender himself to the police. I’ve convinced him with great difficulty, but I’m not sure until when can I keep him under control.”

“Take away his mobile phone. I don’t want him to contact anyone under any circumstances, do you hear me?”

“But Adonis, he’s hardly a child. I am hardly going to confiscate the mobile of a fifty-year-old man!”

“Ben, find something but don’t let him communicate to anyone. If he’s busted, he’s going to be drilled by the police, and knowing him he won’t be able to defend himself, let alone stand up to them. This is why it is so important to keep him underground for the moment. I’ll let you when it’s safe to come out, but please I’m counting on you to keep him safe.”

“Okay, boss. I will throw his phone in the water by accident. And Adonis, you know you can always trust me, I won’t let you down.”

Adonis found it strange that Benjamin had to stress on that point, it was more than obvious to him. If he hadn’t trusted Benjamin, he would never have sent him together with his uncle. All he knew was that until things settled, there was no way he would allow them to take Uncle Elijah in custody.

What Alaya failed to understand, and what he hadn’t bothered to explain was that Uncle Elijah was as much family to him as his own father. The DNA tests had shown that he was indeed the biological son of Mason Apollo Fortune, a great relief for him. Otherwise, his very existence would have been a bane.

How pathetic of him to have been caught in that love triangle. Well, he wasn’t sure whether Mason and Nora had ever loved each other to be honest. It would have been very early in the days, but the love quickly died when Mason reverted back to his philandering ways. Elijah who had always been second best to Mason had butted in and had involuntarily saved his mother.

What Adonis still wondered about was whether his father had discovered the deceit, or had he died clueless of the betrayal of the two closest persons to him? He would never know. Regrets burned through him as he’d always been on the verge of telling his father the truth but had somehow allowed himself to be convinced by either his mother, or his own conscience.

Damn that unfortunate affair. Adonis realized the hypocrisy behind his family traditions and rejected every one of them. Had they never existed, his mother would have been married to her love, and Mason would have slept with the whole population of Seattle.

Growing up in that household hadn’t been a piece of case, therefore the reason why it was so important for them to be bound. A closely-knit family. No matter what dirty linens they would wash in private, the world was not supposed to know about the ghosts in their closet. That had always been an unspoken pact.

That was why he grabbed his car keys with absolute rage and drove to Kenneth’s house. When his cousin saw him arrive, all the blood leeched from the latter’s face.

“Kenneth!” he shouted angrily as the coward raced inside to avoid him. “Kenneth Benedict Fortune, will you come out please?” he roared losing his control.

“Adonis, it’s not what you think,” his cousin shouted and was about to close the door in his face, but Adonis blocked him by butting in his leg to prevent it from closing. With full force, he pulled the door open and hovered over Kenneth like a bad omen.

“You don’t want to know what I think right now!” he unleashed and grabbed Kenneth’s collar with a tight fist. “Why did you do it? Why?” he asked desperately. “You could have come to me. We would have found a solution. Instead you went behind my back and renounce your own uncle.”

“Look, Adonis why don’t you calm down?” Kenneth said rationally. “I had no bad intentions. After I confronted Uncle Eli, he made me believe that he was the culprit, and I didn’t want to overthink before doing the right thing. I want the murderer to be caught more than protect him!”

Adonis relaxed his grip, but he still pinned him against the wall.

“Why were you so angry to discover that I was the heir. I thought you always wanted me to be the one in control. You always said that Uncle Maddox was too old-fashioned, and Uncle Victor over-ambitious. So, why were you so surprised?”

Kenneth sighed heavily. “I wasn’t surprised. Of course I was expecting it to be you, but I just didn’t have any idea it would be so soon. The timing sucked as I was preparing my wedding, and Sara is expecting me to host an enormously fancy wedding reception.”

Adonis growled. “You could have asked me for the money.”

“It would have taken too much time for you to become officially the head and sanction my request. I was helpless. So, I panicked, and had too much to drink. That was when Uncle Elijah caught me. But Adonis, I’m telling you. There’s something fundamentally wrong with Uncle Elijah. You should have seen him that night. He lost it. he completely lost it. I’ve never seen him like that!”

A frown marred his forehead as Adonis analyzed the new information. “What are you saying?”

“Look, all I’m telling you is that you shouldn’t write off the fact that he’s guilty. I had a temporary blackout, but now the picture is clear in my head. And especially when I confronted him he flew off the handle again and I was sure of his crime. Ad, what if Uncle Elijah killed Uncle Mace? What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know!” Adonis lashed out harshly, completely releasing Kenneth from his grip. “I seriously have no idea how to deal with this situation. All I know is that I could never trade between Dad and Uncle Eli. Not when they were both alive, and definitely not now!”

“Do you want a drink?” Kenneth asked, arranging his collar. “I could use one.”

“A glass of Macallan if you have any please. I’m starting to have a serious headache.”

While Kenneth was pouring the alcohol, an uncanny thought gripped him. What if he was sharing a drink with his father’s killer right now? What if Kenneth had seized Uncle Elijah’s elapse and used the opportunity to murder his father? Kenneth was pretty adamant on implicating Uncle Elijah; did that mean that he was keen on incriminating someone else in his place?

His sudden remembrance and confessions were too convenient, it looked too much like a set-up than anything. Everything seemed staged.

A cold feeling settled over him, and Adonis gulped down the amber liquid in one swallow. The problem was why would Kenneth kill his father? What motive would he have in killing the acting CEO of the company?

This was what Adonis was going to find out.