Page 160 of In the Pursuit of Haven
“I think I hit him too hard.” I stared at the lifeless man at my feet. The horror of what I’d done freezing me in place. “Haven? Haven… I think he’s dead.” My cousin was trying to put out the flames. She’d somehow doused the ones on the boat, but the fire had leaped over the side and now consumed the island’s lush vegetation. She cried out in dismay.
“My aunt and Robert were covering up for Felicity,” I said.
Robert eased me away from Drake’s inert form. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. Our baby kicked at him. “No one’s to blame for this but Drake,” Robert’s reassurance ended in a snarl.
“I—I didn’t mean to hit him so hard!” I breathed out.
“He got what was coming to him.” Stepping away from me, Robert dragged up the man’s body and tossed him overboard.
My eyes lifted to Luther’s. “And later, your brother tried to get my grandfather to work with him by threatening to take down Felicity. That’s what Walt was doing when he cornered Robert at the bar…” And then remembering that Zak was Luther’s nephew, I threw in another speculation: “The same bar your other brother ran.”
I could just imagine my grandfather’s horror when Walt tried to blackmail him in front of his friend:
“Robert! Robert!” Pete stared at me. “What’s Walt saying? Do you know who killed my brother?”
“Never mind that,” I growled. My eyes went to Walt, who stood smirking over at us. He’d followed us into his brother’s pub with his threats and innuendos over what happened that night—I wasn’t sure how Walt knew so much, only that Luther was good friends with Haven. Had she confided in him? If so, she’d put her cousin in danger.
Our baby was due any day. Felicity was already crying and unable to sleep. She didn’t need the kind of trouble this would bring.
“And Matthew?” Pete stood, shoving his drink far from him. “You were with him in the end too. He died and you survived.” The misery in Pete’s eyes punctured me through. I’d been trying to help the guy recover from losing both his brothers within two weeks of the other. “Were you behind Matthew’s death too?” he asked.
“No!” I sputtered.
I understood Walt was trying to threaten Felicity, but to Pete, I looked like the guilty one. I’d keep it that way if it kept Felicity and my baby safe.
I lowered my voice so that only Pete could hear me. “I know it looks bad, but no one meant for Drake to die.”
Pete’s hands were shaking from all the drinks he’d consumed. They landed on either side of the table and he shoved the hard wood into my stomach. I fell back and he let me have it. His punches landed into my side. I tried to block them, feeling Walt drag me back from him while his brother, the barkeeper, grappled with Pete.
Walt’s laughter echoed in my ear. “That went better than I thought,” he whispered. “Now let’s see what he does when I tell him Felicity was the one behind Drake’s death.”
“That’s why Robert snapped and killed your brother,” I said. “He didn’t want anything bad to happen to the woman he loved.”
Luther’s hands shook, though he tried to keep them still. “And look how she repaid her faithful defender,” he said.
Jessie let out a breath as the man who’d blackmailed him with those letters had essentially admitted to knowing Haven was innocent all along.
“She let your grandfather rot in jail and abandoned her child with Haven,” Luther shot back. “Shenevercame back to see your mother.”
“You were more than happy to use her fear to your advantage,” I cried.
“Oh, he used us all,” Jessie snarled. The Crabbs had essentially lost all three of their sons in that tragedy—Peter had spiraled into mind-numbing addictions to escape the anger that would never let him go. His children feared and despised him. Abby had turned to these criminals to find escape.
Jessie’s eyes blazed as he glared down the once friendly museum director. “Do you even care what you did to us?”
“That was all on Drake,” Luther returned evenly.So no, he’d absolved himself of all guilt.“He came to the Bahamas in a foul temper as soon as he found out that Matthew married Haven. He didn’t think Matthew had any right to give her that locket.”
Drake never would’ve known if Luther hadn’t told him, and I was sure that he’d done it to create friction between the brothers.
“Luther!”No, they called him, Leon back then, didn’t they?“Leon!” Drake turned to me. “Thanks for having my back.”
I nodded. The boy was, as a rule, stupid and greedy. I knew if I poked the entitled jerk that it didn’t take much to make him angry. “I just couldn’t stand around and say nothing,” I said.
“I owe you a lot, man,” Drake said in a rush of gratitude.
He didn’t know the half of it. “Well, it just wasn’t right,” I said. “Matthew’s planning on giving all the treasure to Haven.” My heart pounded as the sound of her name left my lips. Her saucy, seductive eyes had seared my soul. I still couldn’t believe she’d chosen Matthew over me. Forget her! I’d make them both sorry. “Can you believe he’d give it all to some girl? “ I asked Drake, “… after your family worked so hard to find it after all these years? He’ll rob you all blind, and your mother, too. What did she do to deserve that? All for some greedy, scheming woman.”
Drake’s face got redder, just how I liked it.
