Althena Book 2

109. Drug Smugglers

Someone beating on the door wakes me up.

Monte opens the door. "What?"

Katen says, "They're in the sitting room."

"Damn. It's been 10 hours."

"We were exhausted. I'll try to get the housekeeper to cook again."

"Good luck." Monte shuts the door, then picks me up. "Your arms look a little better."

They have so many razor marks on them. Some of them almost look like burns. My skin is shredded in spots. I go to the closet and pick out a dress. It's got spaghetti straps, so I find a cardigan to go over it. That'll have to work. The dress part goes to my knees. It's not bad. My cuts are covered.

I sit at the mirror, and it looks like I haven't slept in 6 months. I think I aged 30 years overnight.

Monte combs my hair and puts it in a ponytail. "You're ok. I want you to tell them everything. I will not let them hurt you."

"I deserve it."

"No, you don't." He grabs the laptop and walks me to the living room.

Cyrus, Mike, Conner, Drogon, Chris, and Clayton are sitting on chairs and couches.

Monte waves his hand so they stay seated. I sit with him on a love seat and stare at the ground. I can't even look at my boys.

"We're going to tell you the truth now." Monte opens the laptop. "From the beginning. When Thena was taken from school, Akley was at the airport waiting for her. He had her the entire time. Now you go."

"Him and my dad were friends."

"Bullshit."

Mike turns so quickly. "Clayton, shut up and listen or go outside."

"The recording he sent you was... his voice was edited. And it was a bullshit story to throw you off. We got to his house and I had a room. I played with Carl and Jake. I talked to Akley. He said my dad was smuggling drugs into Darkburn. He did it because they were safer than the other drugs. Fewer people were dying. He made it look like he was fixing the drug problem. More people loved him. He showed me the money that was my dad's. Billions of dollars. Casinos. House. The boat. It was all mine if I would sign the deal in my name. I figured my dad knew what he was doing. He was a good king. Everyone loved him. I signed the papers. I am Edwardo Nordin."

"How?"

Monte hands them a box. "Edwardo was originally her father's alias. She took over the alias and all of his accounts when she signed the deal."

"So, your dad is Edwardo?"

"I am Edwardo."

"What happened then?"

"Monte was there when the boat was delivered. He never believed that I was taken. Found by Atley, then a boat like that showed up. He knew it was wrong. I hid the fact that I was smuggling drugs. I told him we had to move my father's money out of the account. I never told him more was being deposited."

"Then?"

"The pictures on the boat. My father doing drugs with whores. Women that looked like my mother. He was not right. Monte went after the credit card. He came here when I sent the plane for mud."

"That had to be nerve-wrecking."

"It was." Monte adjusts himself. "There were more pictures here. A small amount of drugs. I burned everything again. There is a thumb drive in the office. Deriston left a message for Clayton and Mary on it. I wasn't here long enough to search the whole place. There could be more."

"Where was it?"

"Safe. Combination is her mothers birthday."

"Ok. Continue."

I finally look up. Conner is crying. The rest of them look like they're on the verge of tears. "We spent money. A lot of it."

Monte nods. "We haven't even made a dent in the total yet. But, I set up the drawings at the casino. We bought tickets with Edwardo's card. Then I blocked those numbers out so they couldn't be chosen as the winner. I did the same thing this time around."

Clayton crosses his arms. "You're washing money at the casino?"

"No. The money is already clean."

"It's being washed at my other casino. We went to it before. I have another in Eldervale somewhere. It's not used for washing. It makes good money by itself."

"Why 2?"

"If the police start watching one, we can use the other."

Mike nods. "Keep going."

"You wouldn't stop searching for Edwardo. That's me. I knew I was in trouble. Then people were dying because of Sark again. I wanted out. I went to Akley again. I asked him if I could get out."

"Edwardo." The housekeeper puts an envelope in my hands.

"Thank you."

"Welcome."

Katen smiles at her. "Food?"

"Welcome." She leaves.

I pull a little box out of the envelope. It's a man's watch. Monte takes it and puts it on his wrist. "Thank you. I forgot mine." I give him a dirty look, and he pulls another little box out. This one is a bracelet.

"Thank you. It's so sparkly."

He hooks it on my wrist. "Yea, I knew you'd like it."

Mike shakes his head. "What did Akley say when you told him you wanted out?"

"He knows I have multiple mates. I'm now smuggling drugs into 3 cities. If I try to abdicate, he's going to kill Clayton."

"What?"

"Thanks to Katen, we actually have the entire conversation recorded." Monte plays it.

"My dad made sark?"

"That's what they said." I shrug my shoulders. "Not sure why the lawyer would lie. And dad was pretty f****d up."

Cyrus nods. "That is a direct threat to Clayton's life. And a very easy way to smuggle drugs into cities."

"I'm the biggest drug smuggler in the world."

Drogon jumps up. "IT IS NOT f*****g FUNNY. YOU DON'T JOKE ABOUT THIS. PEOPLE ARE DYING BECAUSE OF YOU."

Monte knocks him back into his chair so hard he flips over backwards. "CALM THE f**k DOWN."

Drogon glares at him. "Why the f**k do you smell like my mate?"

"Because I can't leave her alone. Now, sit the f**k down."

"I will not sit the f**k down. She is killing innocent people. She's the biggest drug smuggler in Darkburn. What the f**k am I supposed to do about this?"

Monte pushes him down into the chair again. "You can start by shutting the f**k up."

The rest of the boys jump up and push Monte away.

Mike rubs his face. "Back off. She needs to think about what she's done. This is not something she can easily get out of. Her ass is in trouble."

Monte smirks. "You think she doesn't know that. I'm here to protect her from you assholes. She thinks you're going to kill her."

"What?" Tears fall out of Cyrus's eyes.

Monte stands me up and pulls my sweater off. The boys drop back into their seats. "She knows she f****d up. She knows her dad wasn't the good guy she thought he was. She knows Akley f****d with her head. She knows people are dying because of a decision she made."

I plop down on the seat. "I'm sorry I'm so stupid. I saw the money. It's a lot. I wanted it. I thought if my dad did it, it wasn't bad. Now, I can't get out. I can't even abdicate, he'll kill Clayton." I hang my head and sob.

Conner puts his head in my lap. Then he picks me up and holds me. "It's ok, babygirl. We'll be drug smugglers for a while."

Mike rolls his eyes and Drogon yells, "WHAT THE HELL?"

"I don't care what you assholes do. I'll side with my mate every time. She made a mistake and Akley f****d with her head. I know he did. Now she's all messed up. We'll be drug smugglers until I can sort it out and get us out of it."

Monte nods. "Yea, pretty much."

"Why did you call us in now?"

"I was going to try to talk her back to Darkburn, but she was so messed up last night. Cuts all over her. I knew we needed you sooner rather than later."

"You all knew?"

Chris nods. "She wanted to tell Cyrus before she married him, but she didn't get to see him. I told her we still had time before she's an adult. We could figure something out. But with the bad batch of drugs getting in and Drogon closing in on Edwardo, we had to move rather suddenly."

Conner gets some cream from Monte and rubs it on my cuts.

Clayton stands up. "I want to see this message from my dad."

"Alright." Monte goes and gets it. Then he hooks the flash drive to the TV.

We watch my dad on the screen. "Clayton, if you found this then you know everything. I lost my soulmate. I destroyed every chance I had with her. It broke me losing her. Aurel. I still love her. When you get your soulmate, you hold on as tight as you can. I don't care if she's a homeless druggie. You hold on to that bond. It will destroy you to lose it. I've done some stupid things. I lost myself so many times. I tried to be there for you and your mom. It's hard when your heart is shattered and your soul is lost. Mary is an amazing woman. The perfect queen. I couldn't ask for a better mother for you. If I hadn't destroyed my mate first, I know I could have loved her better. Been the king and husband she deserved. I did what I could, when I could for her. I know it wasn't enough, but somehow, she made it work. We made it seem like we were together for years. But she couldn't be in a real relationship with me. It was completely my fault. None of the fault lies with her. She was a damn angel. She was the only reason I didn't get destroyed a few times. The reason I was able to keep the throne as long as I did. She dealt with anything that needed covered up. She made excuses for me. She held me together as best as she could. I do love her. I respect her so much. She may have been the king more than I have these last few years. She is unbelievably strong." He sighs and takes a drink. "I love you both. You are everything that I have. I'm so glad that you are half Mary. She is so good. You're good too. You got that from her. I love you." He walks over and gets something out of a cupboard. He's in an office. Then he comes back and tries to sit. I think the chair breaks though.

Clayton and I burst out laughing. He wipes tears away. "I know what we got from him."

"Yep."

"Anyway." Dad gets up and rolls his eyes. "I need a new chair. But this is the key for the laptop. You saw where I got it. I love you more than anything in the world. And I love your mom. Don't ever think I don't." The screen goes black.

Monte flips around another laptop. "I left the key. It doesn't do anything to this laptop. I have no idea what it's for or what it goes too. This is Edwardo's bank account. Deposits are from 2 casinos."

Clayton stares at it. "Holy shit."

"Yea. And we know now, Deriston was a creator of sark. He was smuggling it into Darkburn from the beginning." He shrugs his shoulders. "He made a lot of money."

Chris nods. "Yea, he did. And his kids inherited a drug cartel. I'm with Conner. Let's be drug smugglers for a while. That's a lot of money."

Cyrus rolls his eyes this time. "Who has access to see that account?"

"Me and Monte." I shrug my shoulders. "The lawyers."

"Lawyers?"

"Edwardo and Akley share lawyers. Cody is who I talk to. But there's another one. I don't remember his name. They're sending me a new card since those numbers are being watched. They told me to destroy it when I get the new one."

Monte nods. "That's who she was talking to before Akley in the recording. And now I can't think of anything else to tell you, so it's your turn. What the hell happened on your side?"