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She shook her head. She needed to focus on the traitor first, then the mystery heartthrob.
"Come on, pretty boy! We won't hurt you...much." Jezebeth cackled.
All heads seemed to turn in the direction that Jered was, so Mykie followed their gazes until she found him sitting in one of the corner tables.
"Boys, I never thought we would see such a blatant display of treachery until tonight," she said loudly to the crowd that surrounded her. "The fact that one of our own would betray us and sit inside our walls where we are supposed to feel safe angers me."
"Mykie. What's the problem?" Chance asked, coming out of his office.
"Jered Andrews has been conspiring against you and the Cantil. He tipped Vultures off to your location today and put the entire restaurant and myself in danger," Mykie explained.
"Is this true, Andrews?" Chance bit out.
"Well...I—"
"I asked you a question. Answer it!" He yelled.
"All you do is show favoritism! You're running the Cantil all wrong and we need a proper leader. Someone who knows the old ways, and not just out to earn money," Jered explained, standing up from his table. The longer he talked, the more confident he seemed to grow.
"Who would you suggest fits that role?" Chance asked, barely keeping his temper under wraps.
"Someone like Adam Young. Everyone knows he's better suited to be the Snake King. Everything goes smoothly when he's in charge while you're gone," Jered said smugly.
"No. Adam just doesn't correct your behavior and lets you get away with everything," Mykie snapped.
"Just like Chance does with you!" Jered yelled, balling his fists.
"Mykie, I've got this," Chance stated, holding his hand up to her before she could come up with a retort. He looked back at Jered and raised his voice so everyone could hear him. "So, you admit that you betrayed the Cantil? That you risked your family for selfish reasons?"
"I did what was right," Jered answered.
Chance nodded. "Very well."
He gestured to two men who had moved closer to Jered as he had talked. They grabbed onto Jered on either side and dragged him off towards a door the opposite of the one that led outside. Jered kicked and screamed the entire way.
Once Jered was gone behind the door, Chance searched out Adam. They found him standing a little way away from Chance's office, his eyes locked on the door Jered was dragged to.
"Did you know about that, Adam?" Chance asked quietly.
"Of course not! Why would I encourage a kid to betray the Cantil?" Adam questioned.
"You've always been after my position. Are you denying that you would happily step up into my position, that you thought was rightfully yours, if something happened to me?"
"It's my duty as your second to take over for you if something was to happen to you," Adam explained dutifully. “I wouldn’t leave a child in charge of taking you down, if I wanted you gone.”
If anyone else was listening, they’d assume he was loyal. However, the people who knew him knew that he admitted that he would do what he was being accused of, whenever he had the chance. Everyone in the room knew it, but only his daughter was surprised.
"Dad! How could you?!" she yelled. "I thought you respected Chance."
"Don't be stupid, Elizabeth," he sneered at his daughter, using the name Jezebeth had been trying to erase from her past for years. "You should have been living the life Vesper was given. You should have been feared like her! I'm supposed to be the rightful Snake King and you all know it!"
Mykie wanted to take a step back. He would do that for power? Kill Chance, the only family she had left beyond her friends, just to have a title? He made her sick. If the position was flipped, Chance wouldn’t do the same. That was why he was named the Snake King, and Adam wasn’t.
"I tried to trust you, Adam. As much as a leader could trust his successor, but you've broken my trust. You know the rules," Chance said sadly.
"So do you. We'll put it to a vote," he said gruffly. "The winner gets the right to be the Snake King, and the loser will never wear the Cantil name again."
"All those in favor of Adam Young, raise your drinks and say 'I'!" Someone cried out from the crowd. Quite a few people raised their drinks—more than Mykie was expecting—and she felt a spike of fear that she might lose another father.
