Burning Your Lies (King and Queen Duet #2)

49

Huxley

I watch from afar as the police arrest Cam for the murder of Mia and Jordan. He resists against the handcuffs and goes down screaming that he’s innocent. But the police were handed a perfect trail to his guilt. I curated fake threatening messages between him and them, with the last message being a location to meet. I would feel remorseful, but while he hasn’t taken their lives, he has taken others and ruined more than I can count. And at least, Mia's and Jordan’s bodies can be given back to their families and they can be laid to rest.

I only look away when my phone lights up with a message that only reads an address. With Cam in the back of a police car, I reverse out of the road and drive straight to Rowan’s open trap.

When I get there, I am alone. I was expecting at least two of his men stationed at the front, but the abandoned building is barren and cold. My footsteps echo as I walk deeper into his trap.

“I know you’re here. You can stop with the theatrics,”

I call out.

“Would you rather I just put this bullet in the back of your head?”

I look towards the voice.

“If you’re going to kill me, at least have the guts to do it while looking at me.”

Rowan laughs and tucks the gun back into his waistband.

“Huxley Ray. I never thought it would be so easy to kill you.”

I unbutton my suit jacket and toss it to the ground. My fingers work quickly to undo my tie before I pop open the top button of my shirt and the cuffs.

“Let’s see if you’ve got what it takes.”

He stands there with an arrogant smirk plastered on his face.

“You won’t even blink before a bullet is between your eyes.”

My chuckle echoes in the space.

“Only a coward murders using a gun. Come and fight me like a real man.”

Copying me, he unbuttons his suit and chucks it to the side before doing the same with his gun.

“I don’t like getting my hands dirty, but this will be worth it.”

He stalks towards me.

“I’ll let you throw the first punch,”

I goad.

“After all, I stole a quarter of your fortune.”

Rowan takes my offer and his fist lands on my cheek.

“You did more than that.”

I laugh at him.

“Still crying over a woman who used you?”

His lips curl into a snarl.

“You turned her against me.”

He lunges for me again, but I’m quick to lock him into a headlock.

With a firm grip, my bicep encircles his neck, causing his breathing to become laboured.

“I did more than that. She really was just a slapper who would give it up for anyone. There she was, stealing from you, running away with your brother, and still she gave it up for me.”

The impact of his head against my nose makes me release him.

“You’re fucking lying.”

I grit my teeth as the sharp pain radiates across my skull.

“I thought that heart-shaped birthmark on the inside of her thigh was really adorable.”

His eyes narrow into fiery slits, his jaw clenches tightly, as he visualises me and her tangled in the sheets. And then his fists lay into me and he knocks me to the ground. I can feel the sting of his assault as he delivers one punch after another to my face.

“You’re a fucking liar.”

“She asked if she could fuck us both.”

I push him off me and stand up. Dragging him up with me, I knee him in his stomach.

“She couldn’t handle the both of us.”

Grabbing his collar, I throw my first punch and find peace in the sharp cracking of his bone. I don’t stop there. My fists lay one punch after another and when he almost falls to the ground, I pick him up, throw him across the room before starting the cycle again. I don’t register the skin splitting on my knuckles. I can barely feel the brunt of his assaults in my frenzied attack.

I have to remind myself to not kill him. He still has one purpose to fulfil. And my call back to reality comes when the cold metal is pressed against the back of my head.

“Get off him.”

She cocks the gun.

“Don’t make me shoot.”

I close my eyes and let go of Rowan. Climbing off him, I hold my hands up and back away. I stare at Brynn.

“What are you doing here?”

Where is Savannah?

Rowan lies on the floor, laughing through his spluttering.

“She never told you the deal she made with me?”

It takes everything in me to not kill her.

“Her life for Savannah’s.”

“That was the original plan.”

He falls into a coughing fit.

“He kills you. Then I lead him to Savannah.”

Everything they would need to escape Xavier can only be accessed by Savannah. It was done that way to ensure Brynn didn’t double cross us. She needs Savannah to release the money we stole from Rowan. Once she has that, Savannah becomes disposable at Rowan’s hands, and Brynn gets the sweet escape she’s been playing for.

“You’re a fool,” I laugh.

“The only fool is you.”

“He’s going to kill you. The second he’s done with us, he’s going to turn that gun and shoot it straight into your heart.”

She helps Rowan up.

“We have a deal.”

“We had a deal!”

Rowan spits a mouthful of blood onto the floor. He snatches the gun from Brynn and walks towards me.

“I’m going to find your mother, father, brother, sister, fucking dog; everybody you have ever known, and I’m going to execute them one by one.”

He smacks the side of the gun against my cheek, filling my mouth with blood.

“Don’t you want to know how I did it? How did I beat the best hitman in the game?”

I turn to Brynn.

“Have you told him how you murdered them? It was quite a nasty scene when I got there.”

“He’s stalling,”

Brynn laughs.

“Just kill him.”

“Chase died quickly. She slit his throat. But Eliana…”

I laugh.

“No. She took her time with her. I couldn’t even pick her corpse up without bits of her falling off.”

“He’s lying!”

she screams.

“That is not true.”

Rowan’s nostrils flare. The veins in his neck bulge at the vivid image.

“Where is her body?”

He turns his gun on Brynn.

“What did you do to her?”

I can’t tell if the look of terror on Brynn’s face is real or not. Her eyes dart to me before diverting back to Rowan.

“I shot her in the heart.”

I didn’t think it was possible, but his rage heightens. His face contorts to a picture of lethal anger.

“Let’s see how you like it.”

He points the gun at her chest.

“Where is her body?”

She frantically shakes her head.

“I don’t know! He got rid of them.”

“You killed her and then left her body to be bagged and dashed like she was a piece of filth?”

In the dimmed light, with blood oozing out of his wounds, Rowan hesitates for a moment. He doesn’t know who he wants to kill more, but the way his finger is pressing down on the trigger, Brynn is about to meet her death. My laugh stops him from firing the gun.

“What’s so funny?”

“I just remembered something,”

I say with a shrug.

Rowan turns his back to her and steps towards me.

“Where is her body?”

“You’ll never find her,”

I mock.

“I’m just too good at what I do.”

Another step closer.

“Tell me where her body is and maybe I’ll give you the chance to save your wife.”

My smile unsettles him.

“A gun is your weapon of choice. You never miss a shot, but you can’t have always been such a pro.”

I nod my head towards Brynn.

“Do you know how easy it is to miss shooting someone in the heart by a small margin?”

She’s putting the truth together faster than him.

“That’s not possible,”

she whispers.

“There was no saving Chase. He bled out before I could even move. But Eliana…”

Rowan stops moving. I can’t even tell if he’s still breathing. “What?”

“You can shoot someone just a millimetre away from their heart and they will survive.”

I look away from Brynn to him.

“You’ve been asking me the wrong question, Rowan.”

His eyes harden and there’s almost an angry cry in his question.

“She’s alive?”

I close the distance between us.

“And I’m the only one who knows where she is. Kill me and she dies, too.”

His gun presses against my chin.

“I’ll just torture it out of you.”

“How long will that take? I pressed the trigger when you sent that message. I’d say she’s got about three minutes before she goes kaboom.”

His desperation turns to Brynn.

“Did you know about this?”

She vehemently shakes her head.

“No! He told me she was dead.”

Picking up my tie, I hang it around my neck before pulling my suit jacket on.

“I bluffed. I knew I could not trust you with the truth. I knew when the chance came, you would sell me out. So, I lied.”

“Prove it,”

Rowan demands.

“I want to see her.”

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the polaroid I took of Eliana holding this morning’s newspaper. I toss it at him.

“She’s been right under your nose. I knew you would look everywhere except here in London. You’ve probably walked past her hideout. How unfortunate. Did you never wonder why I killed Kane’s friend the second you called my name? Poor Eliana thought Chase’s oldest friend would help her, so she called Kane and told him about a man named Huxley who saved her twice; once from each Ashford brother.”

“She didn’t need saving from me!”

he roars. “I…”

His voice falters and he stares past me.

For a moment, I pity the man.

“You love her,”

I finish for him.

“She learned that too late. But do you still love the woman who betrayed you?”

He’s trying to hold on to his anger, but the pain is rolling off him in waves.

“I should ask you the same question.”

“Then we both know the answer. I will give you her location once Savannah and I are free. Do you understand?”

“You’re going to give it to me right now—”

“You’re not the one calling the shots anymore, Rowan. You’ve been sitting at my table, playing with my cards. You saw whatever I wanted you to see. You can call yourself Basileus, but only one of us is walking out of here a victor. And it’s not you. You touch a hair on Savannah or my family, and I will decapitate the woman you love and personally hand-deliver her head on a gold platter to you.”

In his state of desperation, Rowan looks pathetic. The power that he normally exudes has vanished at the mere thought of losing her again.

“If you escape with her again—”

“After you do one last thing for me, I have no purpose for her.”

“What thing?”

I head for the exit.

“I’ll be in touch.”

“You have five days,”

he calls out behind me.

“Five days before I tear this city apart until I find her. Do you hear me?”

I stop and turn to face him.

“You’re asking the wrong question again, Rowan. You should be asking if she wants you to find her.”

The look that overcomes him is harrowing and determined. It is a look of a man so dangerously in love, nothing will stop him.

“It doesn’t matter, because I will find her. And this time I’ll make certain she doesn’t ever leave.”