“Tough!” Peyton snaps. “You will do as I say, or I will take back that island.”
Khales submits, like the little bitch that she is and ducks away. When the crunching of stones disappears into the distance, the camera turns back around onto Peyton’s ugly face.
“Sorry, Hec. Change of plans. See, your son and his friends killed my lover. They killed him. Does Tillie know how much it hurts to lose the only person she has ever loved? I don’t think my piece of shit sister does and let me tell you.” She chuckles maniacally, her eyes coming to the lens. I can see her looking right at me. “As much as she loves Nate, I know she will never love anyone as much as she does Micaela. So no can do. I won’t be stealing her baby like you asked me to do. I’ll be killing it instead. Peyton fucking Stuprum over and out.”
Nate stands, picking up the coffee table and throwing it against the TV. “Why the fuck did you trust her!”
Hector doesn’t move.
I sit in silence, tears pouring over my face. “What does this mean?”
“Where is she?” Nate’s enmity is reaching new heights, and I don’t want to be the person he takes down with him when he falls.
“Do we understand each other?” Hector throws back, looking at us both.
“Question.” I turn to face Hector. “Why? Why were you going to steal Micaela?”
Hector watches me closely. “I don’t think you’re ready for that answer. Not yet.”
“Enough with the fucking half-truths!” I yell, frustration pouring out of me. “Just tell me!”
Hector shakes his head, placing his glass back on the table and bringing his dead eyes back to me. “I don’t answer to you, Stuprum. I’ll see you on Perdita. She still defied my orders, and that’s punishable, but I am a patient man.” He stands, winking. “I hope you’re not queasy at the sight of blood.”
He exits the room, leaving me and Nate standing in a bubble of mess.
“Nate.” I blink, and he drops down beside me.
“What?”
“What do we do now? Why does he have an infuriating way of not answering questions.”
He chuckles. “What we do for every fucking war. We pile up the jet and fly to fucking Perdita.”
I don’t ask why Perdita. I agree and let him take me back outside.
Bishop is outside, leaning against his car.
Nate flies forward, his fist clenched around his collar. “You knew?”
Bishop doesn’t flinch, and he doesn’t fight Nate off. “Not until after. I overheard him ordering people to find Peyton and the rest of what she did. I was going to tell you. I didn’t find the time to do so. Peyton went ghost and he only just found her.”
“What the fuck do you mean you didn’t have the fucking time?” Nate roars in his face.
“When!” Bishop yells, his hands going up. “When you were both so fucking broken that you had to bury your daughter, or when Tillie was seeing fucking dead people? I didn’t want to fucking open new scars until I fucking had to, Nate!”
“Madison knew…”
Bishop flinched. “She knew when I knew, because she heard too. I kept her quiet. She started to hate me for it. She couldn’t han—Listen! It’s a fucking long story. What we need right now is to get the fuck to Perdita.”
“Why Perdita?” I ask, sick of the fucking fighting. I trust Bishop. I know Nate does too.
“Benny will meet us there,” he says, his eyes going straight to Nate.
Nate laughs, shoving Bishop away. “That’s why Benny was sniffing around? Because you were utilizing him?”
Bishop shrugs. “Of fucking course. But you know Benny doesn’t do anything for anyone. You know that there’s no cost to what he does. He hacks, seduces, and lures in people because he fucking wants to, not for money… he fucking liked Tillie. I mean, shit, it took him the second time seeing her to realize he was going to do it, but he did it, nonetheless.”
“What is going on!” I scream at the two of them. “What has Benny got to do with all of this?!”
Nate’s jaw is working. “Get in the car. Both of you. We will talk on the way to the airport.”
“Good,” Bishop says. “Because the rest of The Kings are meeting us there.”
I slip into the backseat of Bishop’s Maserati and he pulls out of the driveway with Gabe following behind us.
When I can’t take the silence any longer, I start. “Okay. Talk please. What does Benny do?”
“Benny is the fucking cloud in the sky. He’s one of the most notorious hackers in the twenty-first century. He is part of the reason why The Kings are so untouchable, and before him, was his dad and so on…”
“But he’s a Vitiosis?” I question as Bishop drives us toward the airport.
“Yes,” Bishop murmurs. “Brantley’s cousin. Bailey’s brother…”
“This is so messed up,” I mutter, leaning my head back. “Tell me more.”
“Have you ever heard of the seductress?” Nate asks.
“Yes.”
“Well, Benny is that in male form. He can make every woman fall to their knees from his charm, and men too, which he does. Often. But everything is calculated with him. He’s like The Riddler and The Joker all in one. He has no heart, a big cock, and the scent of sex to lure people in. He’s an assassin, but of the highest caliber. He can find anyone within seconds, kill someone without being present, and do so without batting an eye.”
“Sounds deeply disturbed…”
Nate scoffs. “You have no fucking idea.”
“I wanted him to get Peyton because no one could find her. He wouldn’t do it at first. Said he didn’t want to fuck with a Stuprum. He had a lover who was a Lost Boy and your mother killed him. Long story short? He hated Stuprums. I said you were different. You had depth and heart. He still didn’t believe me, so I brought him to the ball. He was taken with you instantly, but said he recognized something within you that
