Chapter 91
“But, Lorenzo, hear me out!” I shouted from across the study. “You know it would be a smart choice than to wait any longer.”
Lorenzo planted a firm hand on his hip and gave me a stern, disapproving look. “Eleanor, for Christ’s sake, be reasonable. Please.”
Ever since he and I discovered the hidden flash drive in the ring box my father had left for me, I’d been trying to convince him to take it to the Lycan Luna. However, Lorenzo’s been adamantly hesitant.
“But why?” I asked demandingly.
“Because our bonding ceremony is just a few days away and I would like us to have some real time to ourselves before hell finally erupts,” he stated.
Okay, he had a point there. Our ceremony was literally no more than three days away. Both we and the staff had been working nonstop to make sure everything was in order and well prepared.
I let my shoulders drop in defeat. “I know,” I spoke softly. “It’s just...I don’t want to waste any more time.”
I was deeply nervous that if we waited any longer to address the matter, we would end up running the risk of letting the flash drive potentially fall into the wrong hands. There was little to no doubt in my mind that word would somehow get back to Sterling about us having the flash drive.
Knowing that he was a conniving bastard, I didn’t put the idea past him to potentially find a way to steal the damn thing back.
“Let’s at least show her the list,” I told him. “Let her know that we have the evidence and that this case is as good as solid. Blue Moon has no chance for another potential cover-up now.”
Lorenzo pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh.
“Alright,” he agreed. “We’ll stop by there today and show her the list. But no more. We are not presenting the case in its entirety until after the ceremony.”
I instantly perked up and rushed across the room to close the distance between us. I threw my arms around his shoulders and planted a firm kiss on his lips. When I pulled back, I noticed Lorenzo smirking.
“I swear, we’re not even officially bonded and already you’ve got me wrapped around your finger,” he mused.
...
To say that the Lycan Luna was surprised to see Lorenzo and me again so soon was, indeed, an understatement. Nonetheless, she graciously brought us to our usual drawing room and Lorenzo once again took out his laptop.
The expression on the Luna’s face was a tad bit hesitant. I couldn’t blame her considering the last time we presented her with any sort of evidence it had left her speechless and utterly disturbed.
“Your Majesty,” I started. “Lorenzo and I came across this flash drive when we were called to retrieve something from the bank just recently. Apparently, my father had kept a safety deposit box and inside of it were my parents’ rings.”
“But hidden inside of the box was this flash drive,” Lorenzo went on to explain. “We didn't know what it was or why Eleanor’s father would want to hide something like this.”
He plugged the USB into the laptop and soon the Lycan Luna was able to see all the insane, heart-breaking, head-pounding lists of all the poor girls whose lives had been stolen.
The Luna was stunned beyond words and deeply mortified.
“All this time...All this time I have been in this position, upholding the law and instilling the thought of security and protection of this city only to find out that something awful as this has been going on.”
Lorenzo and I shared a knowing glance with one another. What we were about to tell her next was not going to be easy. But it had to be done.
Gently, I reached out to rest my hand over the Luna’s. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, Your Majesty,” I said. “But the Royal Family is far from innocent in all of this.”
Her brows pulled together in question. Lorenzo went on to pull up Lucy Grant’s file and proceeded to point to the Royal Prince’s name and title among the other gruesome characters.
All the blood had drained from her face. The woman sucked in a harsh breath through her teeth and let out a series of low, inaudible curses.
The corners of her eyes creased with anger and disbelief.
“Now, I know why he’s been acting so strange the last few times he was here,” she mentioned. “All those pictures made him pale and nervous. I thought it was just because he was sensitive to this sort of thing, but...Never did I think that he could be involved in something so evil.”
Out of the corners of our eyes, Lorenzo and I turned to see a figure rushing past the doorway. He held out a hand, telling me to stay where I was while he went ahead to investigate.
[Lorenzo’s POV]
When Lorenzo made it out of the drawing room he was nearly struck dumb when he saw who it was that tried to go unnoticed. It was the Prince himself.
The corner of his mouth pulled back into an unsavory sneer. “What the hell are you doing here?” the prince snarled.
Lorenzo couldn’t keep track of all the emotions flying through him. He narrowed his eyes and suppressed a venomous growl. “I could ask you the same thing,” he said bitterly. “Last I was told, you were supposed to be somewhere out in the countryside—preferably far, far away.”
The prince turned to stand his ground. “It’s not as though I was exiled,” he snapped.
“You should be,” Lorenzo stated coldly. “Don’t worry, I’m sure the time for that will come soon enough.”
The prince scoffed. “You’ve got nothing on me—”
“Oh, quite the contrary...We have more on you than most of the other hundreds of high-ranking officials whose names are ‘branded’ on that priceless list. The very list that Cruz Sterling has marked you on.”
“He won’t let anything happen to me.”
Lorenzo let out a deep, unfeeling chuckle. “Oh, yes he will. You watch how quickly he’ll drop you the second he realizes that his whole world is about to come to a crashing halt. He doesn’t care about you, your reputation—nothing. All that you are to him is leverage. Blackmail.”
