Nadine Book 7

15. Sudden Life Change

The next morning, we're in Dipak's office. The place is a mess. Everyone picks up where they were.

Frode stands up with a book. "This is correct documentation. The ledger for the castle states 202 bars of gold were added on a specific date. With no other information. But if you go through Nikolas's records around that time, we can see where the gold came from and how they got it."

"Why would the dad want it all erased?"

"Because what they had to do to get it, didn't matter. They owned it then. No reason to bother with anything else."

Coral stares at the paintings. "I wonder how many mates he had over the years."

"There are no records of any except the one he was with now. She seems to have been with him about 50 years."

Omar nods. "And the boys' mom. Nikolas didn't let her get erased."

"Why would he do that?"

"He was bonding with people who weren't his soulmate, so he could kill them when he got bored with them."

Omar rubs his eyes. "You have to remember, he couldn't love. He couldn't feel love. So he would want a strong, ruthless b***h by his side. Someone who didn't care what he did to other women or people. Someone who would help him infiltrate castles and take everything or kill everyone. That's what he wanted. Someone to help him hurt people."

"It's hard to see Bella like that."

"Bella was as good at manipulating as he was. And the difference between her and the boys was that she wanted to help. She wanted to be there. She liked the power of being queen."

I rub my eyes. "What are we going to do with this... Everything?"

"Amy to see the table."

"Send her in."

Thora scratches her head. "Well, the paintings can go to the boys."

"Good morning everyone."

"Morning Amy. How can we help you?"

"I need to send more therapists over to the boys. All of them. They are putting things together about their father now and talking so well. They are coming up with plans to move forward together. How they are going to do things and make money in honest ways. They are showing excitement. This is what we want."

"They are excited?"

"That's what we want and expect. Grieving is a process. Some days are going to be better than others, of course. But they are making progress. And we are thrilled to see some amount of happiness. They are trying. To be raised by a monster and shown no love is horrifying."

Dipak nods and stands up. Then he sits down and looks at Marcus. Then he stands up and sits back down.

Amy looks at him. "Are you ok?"

"I'm thinking."

"Perhaps try that with other people. You have your whole table here."

He nods and stands up. He looks at me and opens his mouth. Then sits back down and rubs his eyes.

At this point, everyone is staring at him.

"Love."

"Yes, sweetheart."

"It seems like there's something you want to say."

He nods.

I smile. "You can say it."

"Nikolas isn't dead. He's in the dungeon."

I blink a couple of times. "I didn't think you were going to say that. Maybe tell me I can't keep the businesses or something. But I didn't expect that."

Thora nods. "Are you mad?"

"Yea a little."

"Why?"

"Because usually when the queen orders someone dead for high treason, THAT PERSON DIES. SOMEONE TALK."

Tre jumps up. "We were so busy watching his castle at the start of this, he walked into ours. We didn't even see him coming. He came in here and gave us a sob story. We didn't know what the hell to believe. So we beat the hell out of him and threw him in the dungeon until we could get more information."

Dracul nods. "We've got a lot of information, now we need to go through it."

Omar looks at me. "Everything up until now, points to him being an abused kid. Doing whatever he had to do to survive and protect his brothers. We will keep looking. But he should get the therapy. We can always kill him later." My eye twitches and I shake.

Elek jumps up. "YOU ARE ALL f*****g CRAZY. HE PUT HER AT THE TABLE WITH A SERIAL KILLER PSYCHOPATH. HE MADE THAT DECISION. NOT ONLY THAT HE ALWAYS PLANNED TO KILL HER. WHAT THE f**k IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?"

"And what would you do to protect your brothers? Have you never put an innocent person at risk to protect them? Have you never hurt anyone to protect them? Also, I know you think he knew about Nadine early. But I guarantee he didn't know when they started planning it. To him, it was another castle."

Elek throws himself in his chair.

"Nadine, you are not deciding anything but whether to let him go to therapy with his brothers or not. Should he be allowed to go home and do that?"

"I can't make decisions about anything. The jackass sitting at the desk makes that very clear."

Dipak rubs his eyes.

Thora shrugs her shoulders. "Actually we were all here. We're all the jackasses at the desk. But he came here on his own will. Knowing he would die. He told us he tried to save everyone. He destructed the brains so we would be alerted. He didn't give up the vault. He tried to make his dad leave. He tried to keep his brothers here. He told us all kinds of stuff. Some of it made sense. So we put him in the dungeon, so we could think. He was such a good liar. We wanted some proof. We were done with lies. We needed proof."

Coral takes my hand. "Then the more we searched, the scarier it got. We keep finding more and more. His dad really was the monster, and he was trying to save everyone. He had no idea how to do that. We wanted the truth before we killed him. We know he hurt you. We didn't want to cause you any more pain. So we left him there and kept going with research. If it turned out that he was the monster, they would kill him, and you never would have known it was a few days late."

She really thinks he was trying to save everyone. I stare at the table in front of me and think about that. I don't know if I believe that.

"My princess."

"Yes daddy."

"You're deciding whether to let him go home to his brothers or not. Should he be allowed to do that? Do not think about anything else. You will not see him."

"Yea that's fine. Send him home. Dump him with his brothers. Do they know he's alive?"

"No. Everyone not in this room thinks he's dead. Even the guards were ordered out of the area."

Dipak and Marcus get in the elevator with Amy.

They come back after a half hour, and we're still in the same spots.

"He's home. Corbin tried to give him the crown. He refused and wants Corbin to stay as king. So we'll see how that goes."

We go back to going through records.

"Tobias to see the table."

Tye and Elek crack up laughing.

"What's funny?"

Tye rubs his eyes. "Check the signatures on the letters to the whore."

"Have him wait."

"He was sleeping with Nikolas's girlfriend?"

Everyone cracks up laughing.

Marcus takes it. "Is that really his signature?"

Tye shakes his head. "We have no idea. We thought it was hilarious."

Tre jumps up and runs for the door. "I have his signature in my office."

Dipak stands up. "Let's make a trip over to Blayze castle with some of this s**t. At least get the paintings out of here. I don't want anyone seeing them and recognizing her or that we know something."

"I'll go get her ring."

"There's a ring?"

I get the ring and read the note. It all makes me sad.

The second I get back Thora runs over. "Let me see it."

We compare it to the painting.

Frode nods. "I would say that is the same ring or a very good replica."

I hand it to Dipak.

"You can break for lunch. Come back for the afternoon meeting and we'll do paperwork."

"Tobias is still in the waiting area."

"Was he the 1 that wrote her the letter?"

"Signature didn't match."

"It was still funny."

Tye stands up. "I'll eat with Tobias and keep him out of here. I'll figure out what he wants."

Dipak nods. "Take Elek or Tre with you. We still don't know why he's being so nice. I don't want him to catch any of us alone."

Coral looks around. "I am finally going to listen to everyone and remove Elek from the mate watch. Apparently, I am the only 1 who thought it's possible, and I won't force it anymore. I'm sorry."

I laugh so damn hard.

Johen stands up. "I'm putting Elek back on the mate watch."

Elek loses it.

Dipak collects the paintings. "Elek, I hope you enjoyed your 2 seconds off the mate watch. While we were all here watching you."

"Yes, it was a very enjoyable 2 seconds. Thank you for the break. I nearly had a breakdown. I didn't know what to do with myself for those 2 seconds. I feel much better now."

Omar nods. "You have been on that thing a long time and sudden life changes can be brutal. Regardless of how short they are."

Dipak loses it.

Dracul rolls his eyes. "He was taken off the mate watch for 2 seconds. It wasn't a sudden life change."

"It was for those 2 seconds."

"No it wasn't. He sat there and was watched the entire time."

Marcus loses it. "ALL 2 SECONDS OF IT. I'm going with Dipak. Who else is going?"

Tre stands up.

"Alright. Everyone meet back for the afternoon meeting."

I go to the morning room and get lunch delivered. I can't help but wonder what's going on over there. "Can you red room wherever Dipak is?"

"Of course."

Dipak, Marcus, and Tre are going to Corbins' office.

Corbin, Nikolas, and Victor come into view with them.

Nikolas jumps up. "ARE THOSE?"

"The paintings of your mom."

Victor grabs 1 and cries. "I've never seen her."

"Thank you." Corbin wipes tears off his face.

"How did you find them? I had them hidden."

"You can't hide anything from her."

Marcus smirks. "Pointless to try. The woman is a ninja spy or something."

They're not wrong.

Dipak hands Nikolas the ring.

"This was my moms. I was going to give it to Nadine. I couldn't tell her whose it was. I wanted her to have it anyway."

Tre nods. "After you killed her?"

Marcus shakes his head. "Have her buried with it."

Tre crosses his arms. "Yea, that's a great plan."

Dipak looks at him. "The ninja spy found the ring. And then found the painting with your mom wearing the ring. So she knew it was your moms. That's why you're getting it back. She's not going to take 1 of the only things you have left of her. However, since we said you were dead. She, as your rightful mate, took control of your property."

"And money."

"And the f*****g files. You really don't have to keep them that long."

"I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea how to deal with owning businesses. I got some now that seem to be making decent money. I got a castle."

Marcus shakes his head. "No. The queen has a new castle. You don't own shit."

"Will you give her the ring back?"

"Why the f**k would we do that?"

"Because she's my soulmate. Even if she hates me forever, she's still that. I want her to have it. She never has to see me again. But to know she would have my mom's ring. That's all I want."

Tre stands up. "No. We're not giving her the ring. Maybe someday you'll mate with someone. Or hell, even take the potion. Give the ring to that woman. You already gave Nadine a broken heart and that is enough from you. That's what she'll remember you by. Not a ring. You don't get that." Tre punches him in the face with dragon strength and blood goes everywhere.

Nikolas hits the ground and cries.

Tre starts beating the hell out of him.

Victor jumps up. "STOP. Do you think he doesn't have a broken heart? He loves her."

Tre laughs an evil laugh that gives me chills. "Yea, he shows it well." He cracks his knuckles then punches him again and kicks him.

Marcus pulls him back.

Dipak makes a door. "We're just dropping those off."

Marcus throws Tre in.

"Brains keep the lasers on this room."