Page 29 of The Queen (Masterpiece Duet 2)
And that means we have a location. We know where to go.
Chapter Nineteen
Water runs over my skin, hot and cleansing. This is the rush that I long for, the one that keeps me up late at night, the one I get every time I solve a problem. The more difficult the proof, the bigger the high. I’m actually jittery with relief, unable to keep my hands still.
Part of me knows there’s more work to do—that we still have to track down the IP address and then follow the location. Part of me knows all that might not even lead to Avery, but this was my part to do. This was my personal mountain to climb, and I made it to the top.
For that I deserve to be clean, at least.
I let the hot spray from multiple nozzles drench me again and again.
A boom is my only warning before the bathroom door slams open.
Damon marches into the large bathroom, his wrath licking at my skin like flames, making the water turn to steam. I shriek as he reaches for the glass door and slides it open.
“What are you doing?” I demand, trying to cover myself with my hands.
He’s been angry before, in that devilish way, the one with smooth words and biting wit. That’s not the man breathing hard in front of me. He looks more animal than person. “Why the fuck did you call Gabriel?”
“I called Nina,” I say before I can think through my story. Before I even realize I need a story. “She left her phone number and told me to call her if I found anything.”
A sound more like a snarl than a laugh bounces off the tiles. “Yes, I’m sure she did say that. What I want to know is what on earth possessed you to actually do it.”
Water streams into my eyes, and they feel like tears. I hate that this man can make me cry, even fake shower tears. “She cares about finding Avery.”
“She cares about running Gabriel’s little fucking kingdom while he’s busy handling his hard-on.”
I don’t know enough about the dynamics to argue the point, and I’m struck with a sudden panic that I’ve made a terrible mistake. This is my problem. It’s always my problem.
No matter how well I understand numbers, people remain a complete and utter mystery. They’re black boxes. Unknowns. I don’t understand what happens inside them. I don’t understand what’s happening inside Damon as he stares at me, frustration rolling off him in freezing waves.
My throat feels tight. “She knew about computers. About programming. And the number—it wasn’t a code. It was an IP address. I confirmed the pattern matches someplace in the United States, but not more than that. I thought she could find it.”
“She found it,” he says grimly.
“Did she find Avery?”
A hoarse laugh. “I very much doubt it. Unless Avery has been checked into a high-security mental hospital. Because that’s where the IP address came from.”
I blink through the hot sting. “Why?”
“You asked me why I don’t consider Gabriel Miller my friend. This is why. Because that mental hospital? That’s where my father lives.”
A flash of terror, the water rising, blackness closing in. “I thought he was dead.”
“Of course you did. You would put down an animal like that when you have the chance, right? That’s the logical thing to do. No cure for rabies. No cure for being a psychopath either.”
I blink through the hot sting. “I don’t understand. Is Gabriel working with him?”
“That’s one way of putting it, though he wouldn’t agree. No, Avery was touched to realize her father was still alive. Despite what he did to her. What he did to you. And she thought it was some kind of noble act to leave him alive.”
I shake my head, horrified by the idea. That sounds like something Avery would care about—nobility. Honor. She will always be the heiress to the Tanglewood fortune, no matter what happened to her father’s money. It’s in her upbringing. Her very blood.
For me it’s always been different—not a question of nobility but survival.
“Why didn’t you—” My voice breaks.
“Kill him anyway? What a great idea. One I’ve considered many times. Except that Gabriel made it clear that the man—my fucking father—was under his protection now.”
I suck in a sharp breath, stunned by the betrayal. Gabriel may have had noble intentions in letting Jonathan Scott live, but protect him from Damon? That went too far. Damon is the person most hurt by his father. The person with the scars to prove it.
“And you valued your friendship too much to make a move against him.”
I don’t need to see the bitter agreement in his eyes to know the truth. Damon may pretend he doesn’t give a damn. He’ll laugh at the sky as it sends lightning down around him. But he does care.
