Burning Your Lies (King and Queen Duet #2)

44

Huxley

The moment the door slams shut, my rage-filled stare lands on Savannah, who is still scowling in the direction Xavier stood. Her eye twitches and her fingers curl into fists. She shows no guilt for executing an innocent man. She couldn’t spare the life of a man who had already lost so much. And all for what?

“Why?”

The question comes out with a tremble. My fingers tingle with the urge to punch something.

She peers at me from the corner of her eyes.

“It had to be done,”

she states as a matter of fact. As if her crown might drop, she walks away with her head held high.

But I wasn’t about to let it go so easily. I follow behind her.

“Is there no part of you that feels guilt? He did nothing to us.”

Savannah finally shows courage to look at me.

“He had nothing left to live for.”

“That wasn’t for you to decide! He was a father! He has children that deserve to have him alive and present!”

“Xavier already took that from him! You heard it with your own ears. What kind of life was he living?”

I step closer.

“It wasn’t your choice! You do not get to decide who lives and dies!”

Staring directly at my eyes, she bursts into a fit of laughter.

“That is exactly what I said when you murdered my father.”

“That was different.”

“How? He too was a father.”

“Don’t stand there and pretend you cared about that man. They were not the same. He was a rapist. He was a deadbeat who had no wish to be there for his children. Henry was hoping that one day…”

I shake my head, unable to believe how heartless she has become.

Her eyes narrow and her lips curl into disgust.

“I did what needed to be done in order to protect Elise. The police needed an actual reason to look into him. A woman that went missing fifteen years ago isn’t going to be enough!”

No words come out of my mouth despite how loud the screaming is inside my head. A part, deep inside me, breaks the longer I stare at her.

“In your desperate attempt to hold him accountable, you have become him.”

I hold my hand up to silence her when she opens her mouth to dispute my statement.

“There were a million other ways to do this without murder. How many people have died for the sake of this game you and Xavier started?”

Unable to tolerate the truth, she walks out of the room.

“I don’t need this lecture from you, of all people.”

“Emery.”

I follow behind her.

“Elliot. Henry. Mia. Jordan.”

Grabbing her arm, I stop her from running away and force her to face the consequences of their actions.

“Their lives are not a game. You don’t get to reset the table and shuffle all the cards back into the deck. They are dead.”

Savannah pushes me away from her.

“I know that! But that video wouldn’t have been enough, and you know it. For every second we sit around, he is out there covering his tracks! So yeah, I paid for the cost of one life in order for so many others to find closure. It’s not just Caitlyn that deserves to find peace, but her family too. A family that has been waiting for answers while he paraded the fucking world on his high horse.”

I close my eyes and step away from her. Despite already knowing the answer, I ask anyway.

“Who did you pay?”

“Rowan.”

Her answer instils confidence back in her.

Desperation chokes me.

“How did you pay him?”

Please say with money.

I know Rowan; he has no need for her money. Rowan takes payment in the form of information, and he knows Savannah is the easiest vessel to extract that from me. My chest tightens as I recall spilling details about Chase’s escape to Savannah in my most vulnerable state.

When I speak again, even I can hear the waver in my throat.

“Savannah? How did you pay him?”

Tears gather in the brim of her eyes. Her chest rises and falls. We stand in the middle of this hallway in silence. And the silence says it all.

“Hux.”

Her tears burn me.

Betrayal stings in my blood. “Don’t.”

She steps closer when I back away.

“I had no choice.”

“I trusted you. I told you that when I was at my weakest. And you used that as leverage?”

She shakes her head.

“No! I took the money to pay him. But he didn’t want it. He said all I had to do was find out where…”

She wipes her tears.

“He said if I didn’t, he would kill Elise.”

“What were you expecting when you signed a contract with a hitman?”

Unable to bite the urge, my fist slams into the wall.

Savannah’s eyes are frozen with surprise. “Hitman?”

Somehow, despite the reality before me, I laugh.

“What did you think he was, Savannah? A fucking business man?”

I rub my hands up and down my face.

“I have done everything to protect you from him. And you walked straight into his fucking arms because you were so desperate for Xavier’s attention.”

She brushes past me and stops me from walking out of the house.

“Okay. So he knows where you smuggled them out to. It wasn’t you that killed them.”

My chuckle spills past my lips.

“You’re so fucking blind. I’m not protecting myself. I’m protecting the one who did murder them.”

I tilt my head and wait for the realisation to catch up to her.

Her mouth covers the cry that slips out. “Brynn?”

I slowly clap my hands.

“Congratulations, Savannah. You just burned the only card that was your protection.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had an agreement with Brynn. She protects you for as long as I protect her from Rowan. You just forced my hand and broke my end of the deal.”

She shakes her head. Her cries grow more desperate as the consequences of her decision come pouring down on her.

“He won’t know that it was her.”

“Yes, he will. Because you gave him the location of their murder.”

She grips my shirt.

“But you’re Huxley Ray. You’re the best. You specialise in making people disappear.”

“And what was the first rule of my game? You do not change more than you need to. I had no reason to wipe her entrance into Bosnia because I knew for certain that he would never know. But you handed it to him on a silver platter.”

“Then let’s hack into whatever we need and wipe her existence.”

I hold her face and wipe her tears. Then I step back.

“Rowan already knows. He knew the second you called on his bet.”

I need to warn Brynn. It’s crucial that she sees this plan through.

Rowan must have figured out that Chase and Eliana are dead. He has probably made all the arrangements to exact his revenge. I know what the easiest option out of this is, but that won’t save Savannah.

And you need to tell her first.

That isn’t an option. Not without showing my entire hand. I rub my temples, trying to figure out an escape plan. I inhale deeply and proceed towards the door.

“Where are you going?”

she calls out after me.

“To raise the bet once more.”

Brynn takes the seat next to me on the empty bench. Like me, she sits facing forward.

“What do you need?”

I keep my voice controlled.

“He knows.”

She peeks at me from the corner of her eyes.

“Savannah?”

“Yes.”

“What are you going to do?”

“He’s probably already got eyes on us. He could take the both of us out right here.”

She crosses one leg over the other.

“Yet, he hasn’t.”

“Did you love him?”

“Perhaps in my own way.”

I hum under my breath.

“Sociopaths cannot feel.”

“But we know what belongs to us. And we are very possessive of what we believe is ours. If somebody threatens that, we are not afraid to let chaos loose.”

The threat is apparent in her voice.

Brynn is alive for one reason only.

“You already made a deal.”

“My life is mine, Huxley. It is not for anyone to take.”

If she convinced Rowan not to kill her, it’s because she offered him a bigger prize. Rowan’s anger is at me because, without me, Eliana would never have been able to escape his clutches. I took his queen, so the only fitting punishment is for him to take mine.

I turn my head and look at her.

“Me in exchange for her.”

Her icy eyes meet mine. Her eyebrows raise and she smiles.

“How very noble.”

“He’s going to kill you, too.”

“Brynn Jones is ready to die. She has lived her life.”

I nod my head.

“You make sure she wins. You uphold your end of the deal.”

“You would die for her?”

My eyes linger on my wedding band.

“Till death do us part.”

I stand up.

“The path to redemption and new beginnings is one we prepare for, but do not take. Why do you think that is?”

She stands.

“Because we lose who we are.”

I smile. “Indeed.”