Page 42 of Deadliest Throne

Dead. Who’s dead?

Quietly, I take Andrew over to his swing and place him in it. Once he’s strapped in, I sit on the couch and turn the TV on, clicking on the first news station I can find.

“Billionaire business tycoon Tyrone Roberts has passed away.” My heart does something funny as my belly swoops and I break out into a sweat. My eyes slowly widen, lips parting as I continue to listen to what the news anchor has to say.

She goes on to say that he's been battling cancer for the past year, and that he disappeared from the spotlight so he could battle his illness in the privacy of his own home.

“Unfortunately, as of a few days ago, Tyrone lost his fight with cancer. A small service will be held with his close family and friends...”

I don’t hear the rest as I stand up and make my way over to the kitchen. “He’s dead?” I ask and all five of their heads turn to me.

Link sighs heavily. “That’s the word.”

“You don’t believe it?”

“No, Little Bird, I don’t. Not until Freddy gets back to me with confirmation that he’s ten feet under the ground.”

“Why would it be all over the news if it wasn’t true?” Hunter asks.

"Do you believe everything you fucking see on TV?" Link snaps. "I'm sorry, but it can't be that easy. A year of looking over our shoulder, of watching our every step, every move, all for nothing? You mean to tell me the whole time the reason why no one could find out anything about where he was and what he was doing was because he was held up somewhere fighting cancer?"

“High society people have done it before,” Quinton says. “It’s a way to keep things out of the news. To just disappear until they know themselves what they are dealing with. He was already slowing down with work, taking himself slowly out of the spotlight even before he became a threat to Raven. If his cancer got worse, it put him in a vulnerable situation. A powerful man like him wouldn’t sit there and be an easy target. He would hide where little to no one knew where he was. He lost his battle, so what's the point in hiding now?”

“Why go through all that trouble to hide, just so his people can expose it to the world?” Link shakes his head. “I don’t buy it.

“Maybe he’s been dead for a while now and it took time to figure out what would be said to the public?” Hunter asks.

“I’m not going to believe shit-all until Freddy shows me proof the man is dead.” Link looks at me and takes the few steps across the kitchen, stopping toe to toe. “Don’t celebrate yet, Little Bird,” he murmurs. “I need to know you're safe. They're safe.” He looks over my shoulder to where Andrew happily babbles away, oblivious to the dangers of our world.

"I know," I whisper, his gaze drifting down to where my hand is placed on my belly and then up to my eyes. His are swimming with uncertainty, and I don't blame him for being skeptical. In this world, you need hard-core proof and even then it might not be enough.

A FEW DAYS GO BY AND every second of not knowing makes me more and more antsy. I’m eight months pregnant now. My hormones are all over the place, my feet hurt, my back aches, and I’m just annoyed.

So when Link steps into the house, eyes finding mine with this intense look I know he has something.

The guys file in after him, their energy upbeat and vibrant. “Did you hear anything?”

“Oh yeah, baby,” Hunter cheers, hopping over the back of the couch. He plops down next to me and grabs my face for a rough kiss.

I blink back in shock as he lets go and lets out a laugh. “I’m going to guess it’s good news?”

“The best fucking news. Ding, dong, the witch is mother-fucking dead.”

I look up to Link for confirmation, trying not to get my hopes up. “Is he?”

“My connections have confirmed it. Seen his body and everything. The pathologist is one of Freddy’s men. He was the one who did the autopsy.” I have no idea who this Freddy guy is, and I don’t ask. “Guess the whole time, the fucker really was dying and didn’t want the world to know about it.”

“You don’t seem too convinced,” I say, but he just shrugs.

“I don’t let my guard down, Little Bird, you know that. Even if I saw the man dead with my own eyes, I’d never feel free. I killed my own father, yet I still think he’s going to pop out of the shadows at any moment.”

My heart breaks. No matter what, Link will never feel like we’re safe. And he’s right, we never truly will be. Not in their line of work. There will always be someone after them, us. If it’s not my father or his, it’s someone else.

“So, we’re free?” I ask him, not allowing myself to feel anything until I hear it from his own mouth.

“Free? We’re never free, Little Bird. But from him? Yeah, it looks like it.”

Closing my eyes, I take a few slow, deep breaths. I heard the words, I know what they mean but still, I myself don’t believe it. Not after all this time of living in fear of when he will attack or make his next move.

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