Althena Book 2

110. The Truth

Conner cuddles with me and covers the last cut in cream. "After she was taken, we were so happy to get her back. I didn't see anything weird. I was just happy she was ok."

"Yea." Mike looks around. "Do we not have coffee here?"

Chris shakes his head. "Blame Monte. It's like the one thing he didn't buy."

"Fine. But yea. We didn't see anything. We were so damn happy to have her back, we were blind to everything else. Even the boat seemed fine."

Drogon sits back. "We took it to the advisors. We got the intelligence they had on Edwardo. It wasn't much. He had been friends with Thena's dad for years. They donated to each other's stuff. Nothing was exceptionally weird. Then the donations came in. That was a red flag for me. I didn't want to owe someone something later. I had the advisors figure out the credit card number and monitor it. Months later, there was enough to..."

We watch the housekeeper come in and hand Mike a cup. "Coffee."

"Thank you."

"Welcome." She leaves.

"Months later, there were enough uses on the card that we could see the patterns. Every charge seemed to revolve around Thena somehow. Even the donation to Mystical Moon. She always goes there. The fact that the money was donated before the website was advertised was really f****d up."

Clayton looks at Monte. "Then she went to the jewelry store. I knew you got her out of there too quickly. And there was no fight from her. I told them it wasn't right."

Drogon smirks. "Didn't take you long to buy everything she wanted at that store. At that point, I was convinced you were Edwardo. But before that, after the bombing on the dock. I had them check everything. I told them I didn't care if it had my signature on it, they are to check it. Well, Thena's signature was found with Edwardo's. At that point, we knew she was either in business with him, or he stole her signature somehow."

"We had to figure out which." Mike takes another drink. "This is good coffee. But, we were still trying to figure out who Edwardo was too. We told Thena we were watching the credit card numbers. We knew she would tell Monte right away. And she did. But the credit card wasn't used right away."

Drogon nods. "I figured you would use it right then. Buy random s**t and send it somewhere else. Charges that wouldn't have anything to do with Thena. But you waited. So, then I couldn't figure out if you were Edwardo or if you were giving him intelligence. Because the random s**t I knew you would buy, came in later that night. We were watching you. Trying to figure out who Edwardo was. I knew we were close. I decided to put the pressure on Thena. I told her we were moving on someone we believed to be Edwardo. I told her it was Monte. She told me I was absolutely ridiculous. Her dad wouldn't have been friends with Monte 15 years ago. She was right. But his dad would have been. Monte's dad would have known Aurel and Deriston. I sent for Mike and Cyrus. Told them I was ready to take Edwardo down."

Chris smiles. "You put a little too much pressure on her Drogon. And right after Katen told her about the bad drugs getting in again. That's when we left to go to Akley."

He nods. "That night. I couldn't find her. She was gone. We couldn't track her. The last time I saw her was at 10 in the morning. It was 8 at night. Nearly 12 hours. I couldn't text her. They weren't going through. I was scared to death. By the time Mike and Cyrus landed, we knew Chris was gone too. Wherever you were, you were together. Nobody realized it was Katen's car in the driveway until the phone was alerted to a missing child. Then we knew Katen was with her too. None of you could be tracked."

Mike finishes his coffee. "The next 24 hours were hell. We had everyone looking for you. Then we were notified Monte stole a helicopter and left Darkburn. We couldn't call him or bother to care what the f**k he was doing. We just wanted Thena back. Then we got the text message with the address. You said you had her. We got on a plane right away. Then the pilot gave me car keys when we landed. That was different."

I snuggle Conner. "Same thing happened to Monte. But this is where my dad would have his boys' weekends with Edwardo. I guess the pilot was used to it."

The housekeeper comes in and refills Mike's coffee. Then leaves again.

Clayton looks at me. "So, is this house yours?"

"Yes. Well, it's in Edwardo's name. Dad would come here a lot. Monte said there's a boat somewhere for the lake."

"I searched it already. Nothing but fishing gear on it. It's a fishing boat. Not like the yacht she was sent."

"I want a yacht."

"That's fine. Design yourself one. I'll send you a note with it saying I'm sorry about your father. Edwardo sends his condolences."

Chris smiles. "We could all have matching yachts. We're going to need to do something. That is a lot of money to spend. And we have to use it. It's in the bank. If we don't use it, they eventually claim it back. We might as well do some good with it too. Invest in some drug rehab centers or something."

"I wanted to do the toy thing for kids."

Monte smiles. "And we have made donations to the places you guys advertise."

"We know." Drogon rubs his eyes. "This is a lot to deal with."

Conner kisses my hand. "Blame her father. He got us into this."

"Oh, I f*****g know he did. He made Edwardo. He was friends with Akley. He helped make the drug. He smuggled it in. He was doing drugs with random women. He had a girlfriend. That man gives me still gives me the biggest f*****g migraine." Drogon crosses his arms. "How the hell did he do all this behind the advisors backs? They never caught on to any of it."

"It's easy to hide the evidence when you're the one leading the search." Conner reaches for coffee that isn't there. "COFFEE."

"How much of this house did you search, Monte?"

"I was here for 8 hours. I searched as much as I could during that time. So, barely any. If it was sitting in plain sight, I found it. The drive was in this safe. Her mom's birthday is the code for everything. His bedroom was the last in the hallway. I did search that a little better. I found some things there and made sure they were destroyed. I tried to ask the housekeeper about hidden items. You can imagine how that went."

The housekeeper comes in and gives everyone a cup of coffee. "Thank you."

"Welcome." She leaves.

Mike stands up. "We need to search this place. Top to bottom. Clayton, do not be alone, and if any of us tell you to back off, do it."

"Yea, I'm not going to argue with that. I want to see the key though."

"Office. I'll show you." Monte leads him away.

Mike picks me up. I can't help it. I wrap around him and cuddle. I don't care what he does to me. I need his touch. "Me and this little one are going to walk around the yard. You can help them search, Conner." He carries me to the back porch. It is absolutely stunning. Fountains and statues are all over the manicured yard. A nice pool sits off to the side. Monte wasn't wrong, this is rich rich. Makes my other house look like a cardboard box.

He sits at a table and rubs my back. "I love you, babygirl."

"I love you too. I'm sorry."

"I know." We sit for a long time before he talks again. "I'm really not happy you lied to me. You went with Akley's story at the beginning. You didn't tell us the truth."

I cry into his chest. "There's nothing I can even say."

"I know you were confused. Doing what your dad did. Everyone said how good your dad was. That was before we knew anything. But you cannot lie to me, babygirl. I don't care how much money is involved. Or how much of a good decision you believe you're making. I have to know the truth."

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are, babygirl. The stress of this whole thing broke you. I'm sorry I didn't realize what you were going through. I should have noticed something. For you to be this bad and me not to notice, I'm not doing a good job."

"You are. I promise you are. I love you so much."

"I love you too. This was about you breaking down right in front of me and me not noticing. None of us did."

Cyrus sits down with us.

"I think the breaking down part was kind of sudden."

"No it wasn't. I noticed things before. I should have pushed to get the answers. I will push going forward."

"I promise not to lie or agree with anyone else's made-up stories again. I wish I would have never done that. I believed if my dad did it, it was a good decision. Then I kept it a secret because it was drugs. It would be better if nobody else knew. And it was just a signature."

"I know."

Cyrus winks at me. "Do not lie to us again. And never run from us. I don't care what is going on, you run to us. Never away from us. We will figure it out together, and we're never going to hurt you."

I shake my head. "Drogon still might. He's really mad."

"I figured Conner would be more pissed."

Mike chuckles. "If it was anyone else, he'd rip their head off. But with her, he'll fold and become a drug dealer in 3 seconds. Whatever she wants is perfectly fine."

"Noticed that." Cyrus smiles. "Drogon isn't going to hurt you either. He's just pissed he didn't get to arrest anyone."

I snuggle Mike. I don't know about that. He gets really mad.

Mike hugs me. "Do you promise, no more lies, and you never run from us again?"

"Yes. I promise."

"That's my girl." Cyrus picks me up and looks at Mike. "Come on, Edwardo. We need to design Edwardo's new yacht and design some military helicopters that can blow drug smuggling ships out of the ocean from a mile away."

Mike laughs and stands up. "Fine. But I'm sending Edwardo to get lunch. He can pay for it too."