Page 40 of Palace of Betrayal

His cousin turned to her, seemingly understanding who the real threat was as Leo tried to get his shock and confusion under control.

“I just wanted to talk, and this was the only way I could think to get you to come to me.”

“Are you fucking with me? You didn’t think to just call and say, Hey, Leo, guess what. I didn’t die in a fiery inferno?”

Leo paced away, knowing without a doubt that Bebe had his six as he wrangled his emotions into place.

“Listen, I know you have a lot of questions but I don’t have a lot of time.”

“Start talking then.” Bebe cocked her hip as if getting bored, but he could see the controlled tension she was hiding.

Alain sighed and he tried to find any signs of the lazy, spoilt rich kid he’d grown up with. He realised he’d greatly misjudged his cousin because this man was anything but those things. He just didn’t know what he was.

“About a year ago I got arrested for drunk driving after I hit a girl with my Porsche and almost killed her.”

“Jesus, Alain.”

Alain held up a hand, dropping his head. “I know, I know. I get it. I was lucky she pulled through but in exchange for escaping jail, I was asked to go undercover at the palace and just give this person what at the time seemed inconsequential information that could most likely be found on the internet. So, I agreed.”

Leo cast a look at Bebe and saw the same look of disgust on her face as he was probably wearing. He went to take a step forward and pound his cousin in the face, but she gave a slight shake of her head, which had him stilling.

“Listen, Leo, I know what you must be thinking, and you’re right. I’m a fuck up, but I didn’t betray this family like you think I did.”

“Explain it to me then, because from where I’m standing it looks like you did.”

“About six months after I started, the man began to ask for more detailed information about you and the King and the details around the gems in the vault room. I told him I wanted out and wasn’t going to help any longer. Then five days ago I was summoned to my father’s place in the country. Albin Wojcik was there and he was eating lunch with my father.”

“Wojcik is the man who helped you?”

“No, the man who helped me initially was American. But I never met him, just spoke to him over the phone. It seems Wojcik works for him and has been sent in to keep me on track. I thought at first that he’d threatened my father, but boy, was I wrong.”

Leo could feel the tension building like a bomb was about to drop, and it would be worse than the knowledge his cousin was alive.

“Father is working with Wojcik and asked me to find a way to get access to The Grace.”

“Why?”

Both men looked at Bebe. “They wanted me to fake my death and steal the Tanzanite Tears for them.”

“That makes no sense. You’d have more chance of stealing it if you were alive. Nobody would question you going inside the room.”

“Look, can you point the gun away?”

Bebe looked to him at Alain’s question and he nodded. She dropped the gun to her side but stayed vigilant, she obviously didn’t trust Alain any more than he did right now.

“All I know is that I headed to the yacht with Atticus and Chelsea and was to meet a few others at the marina. I was planning on ditching Atticus and Chelsea. I’ve made mistakes, but I had no intention of getting my friends involved. But I didn’t have to because Atticus got his ass out of joint and accused me of flirting with Chelsea, which I wasn’t, and they stormed off. I didn’t argue because I was relieved. Then Wojcik arrived at the marina and said there was a change of plan, and I was to go with him. I thought they were going to call it off but when I got to my father’s house, I heard the yacht had exploded. My father was going to identify my body along with Atticus and Chelsea.”

“Atticus and Chelsea are alive too.”

Leo could see this piece of news had surprised his cousin.

“That doesn’t make sense. Why would my father let them live but identify the bodies?”

“Because he isn’t pulling the strings, and whoever is wants him to go down for it.”

Leo glanced at Bebe at her comment, her clear brown eyes on him. “Go on.”

“Whoever is behind this is setting your father up. He thinks he’s getting something from this obviously, but by you faking your death and your father identifying the bodies of people who are alive, he looks guilty. And by faking your death and stealing the gem, it all comes back to you. Whoever Wojcik is working for will most likely have you both killed when he gets what he needs.”