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Chapter 22
Presley
My husband is dead.
I have known for a few days now, but this is the first day I feel like I believe it. And I am angry. I am angry because looking over the news again and again I still do not get any clarity from it. It claims that he died peacefully in his sleep. They speculate it has to do with drugs or alcohol, but not only can that damn man hold his alcohol, but no way in the seven circles of hell is he going to ever go quietly into the night like that.
I stare at the house I used to live in with ire. I never wanted to be back here. The longer I was gone the more I knew it was never home, not really. But I don’t come to make amends or move back in, anyway. I have come to accuse my father of being the one who took Dalca down, possibly in a bid to get the company back. Because all his assets; every company and property every penny, it will all be mine. And my father has betrayed us so well, I don’t put it past him to put a hit out on Stefan, not in the least.
I march up to the door, and I don’t knock. I have a key that I slipped from Nathan’s things at our last company meeting; the day I found out my husband was dead. Even if I was in a fog about it all, I guess I knew it would lead to this.
Inside, I find my mother in the kitchen and my father nowhere in sight. “Is he in his office?” I ask her, and she just stares at me a moment before nodding fervently. I am sure she can see I am upset but likely doesn’t know whether this is a good or bad kind.
I knock on the office door and get several grunts and murmurs, my father wanting me to go away. He may not even know it’s me outside the door, and I cringe, unsure of how my mother can stand to be in the same house with him now after all he has done.
I jiggle the handle and find it unlocked, pushing the door open. He sits up, startled, closing browser windows on his laptop that I would rather not know what they were for. They could have contained any number of seedy things, but it doesn’t matter.
“Presley, I wondered when I would be seeing you. I assume you’re here to talk about the death of Mr. Dalca.” He sets down his reading glasses, and I can see how he has visibly aged over the last couple of months. The stress is getting to him.
I laugh at his words, not recognizing the sound of my own insane cackle in my ears. “Mr. Dalca? You mean my husband, right? The one that you killed. How did you do it? Did you hire a hit man or something?” I ask curiously as if it is nothing but a casual conversation.
“Are you out of your mind, Presley? Not only is what you’re accusing me of illegal, but it is murder. Why would you think I had anything to do with it? They said he died in his sleep, right?”
“Men like him don’t die in his sleep,Dad,and you have the most to gain from him no longer being here. I have news for you, no matter what I get out of this, you’re not getting a penny. In fact, Nathan is going to be fired too. I don’t want any of you a part of the company anymore, or my life!”
I stand up, but my father comes after me, his hand on me. I yank it away, feeling slimy where he has touched me knowing all the things he has done with those hands, like exchange dirty money and cheat on my mother. She may be just as fake as him, but she has loved him for years. She didn’t deserve that. “Presley, I don’t know what this is about, but let us help you. Just move back in, and we will sort it all out. You’re free now.”
I roll my eyes, and I realize I am not going to get anything out of him. I look him up and down and accept that he is a coward. He has hidden something about himself, a key feature of his very being, his entire life because he is too scared of what others think. I believe him now. He isn’t brave enough to go up against Stefan. But that means that the person who hired Heather is out there, causing trouble again. And I am carrying a child now. I can’t put this baby at risk by not knowing who is after us and taking them out. I am going to have to do this Stefan’s way, and hopefully no one tries to get in my way, or they may end up just as dead as he is.
I get in my car and order my phone to dial Mariana Petran. I am not friends with her by any means, but important numbers like that were put in my phone by Stefan the day he got it for me, just in case I ever needed to get a hold of other Clan leaders. From what I knew of her, she would be taking this seriously, and she would help me get the info I need assuming she doesn’t have it already.
Of course, she doesn’t answer the line herself, but as soon as I say who I am and that it’s a Clans emergency, I am put right through to her.
“Mrs. Dalca?” she asks into the receiver, and she sounds genuinely surprised to hear from me. As I am driving back to my place, I get a strange feeling in my stomach – either my intuition or my morning sickness kicking in. I am not sure which just yet. “I am being told there is an emergency. How can we help you?”
“So, I left Stefan and went back to the states about a month ago. It’s a long story, but now the news has come out, and I don’t believe it. Something is off here, and I need to investigate. I went to my father, but he knows nothing. The next logical step was to come to you and see if you knew anything.”
“Slow down, what news?” she asks, and I am stunned, getting a loud honk as I blow right past a stop sign without so much as a tap on my breaks.
“Now I am even more concerned if you haven’t heard – Stefan is dead. The papers say he died peacefully in his sleep, but I don’t buy that for a moment,” I explain, pulling into my apartment and parking in my designated spot.
There is a pause on the other end, and then she says, “Stefan is dead? Why has no one told us this?” She pauses again, but I hear her talking with someone else in the background in another language – Rumanian? It is probably either her husband, Ion, or some of her henchmen. Either way, I hope they will know what to do. “Where are you now?” she finally asks.
“I am still in Texas, but I am going to see if I can get a flight out tonight.”
“Wait until morning, and let me send some of the clan members’ men with you. I don’t know anything, and that is all I need to know in order to say this is dangerous. If Stefan is dead, you are the heir to the Dalca throne, and we can’t lose you.”
My hand goes to my abdomen, and I wonder if I should tell her. I wasn’t planning on telling anyone for a while, but this changes things. They need to know who they are protecting. “It’s more than just me who needs protecting,” I blurt out before I can convince myself otherwise.
“Oh? Who else needs to be protected?”
“Stefan’s child. I just found out a few days ago I am pregnant.”
“Fuck, okay, well, I am going to get men out to you now then. Anyone with a private jet I will send. Stay in your house until then and do not leave. Keep everything locked, and keep a gun with you at all times, do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
I practically run into my house, and I am shaking as I begin to lock everything down and then push chairs and desks in front of entrances before going into my bedroom and locking myself inside, breathing deeply and trying to meditate. I look down at my phone and see that it is not even seven yet. It is going to be a long night with no sleep because I am scared to death now that someone is coming after me to finish off the rest of the clan, including my unborn child.
