Page 161 of In the Pursuit of Haven
“He told me you’re all so stupid you won’t even notice,” I added. Maybe that was a little much.
A knock sounded at the door. We both turned as it opened hesitantly. Matthew was behind it. “Leon, we need to talk.” Matthew stepped back when he saw his brother. “Drake. What are you doing here?”
Luther shrugged. “That wasn’t my fault. The two got into an argument that night about Haven, and I walked away to give them some space… and I guess that proved their undoing.”
After Luther threw gasoline onto the fire, he’d walked away, I was sure.
My eyes traveled over the pistol I’d tucked into Drake’s eager hands earlier. “You know he married her, don’t you?” I told the fiery boy. “Without saying a thing to you. Why would he do something like that?”
“Leon!” Matthew barked irritably at me. “What are you doing? You’re only making things worse.” He turned to his younger brother, who glared at him. “I was going to tell you.”
“When?” I cut in.
Matthew’s head shot up at that. “Get out of here, Leon!”
“What?” I asked. “You don’t want him to know how you planned to cut him out from the treasure?”
Luther had manipulated this volatile family around like puppets. He’d done the same to us! And he’d probably “reluctantly” helped Drake dump his brother’s body into the ocean, all the while talking about how much trouble his new protégé would get into if he didn’t turn to Luther for help.
“People are just pawns for you to move around on a chessboard,” I said. “Aren’t they?”
Luther gave me a slow smile that looked almost demonic in the firelight around us. “You always did have a way with words, Roxy. And if you play nice, the rest of you might actually survive this game… you, and Jessie, andAbby…”
The unspoken threat lingered between us. Luther was doing what he did best—blackmail. It had caused the dearest people in my life—my mother and my aunt Haven—unbearable pain, not to mention the heartache to Jessie and his family. Jessie watched him in stunned silence.
Luther patted both our arms in his conciliatory fashion. “You behave and I’ll share this treasure. You deserve it after all your hard work.”
So that we’d be his accomplices and he could blackmail us with that too. I frowned, feeling angry—no, enraged. My helplessness tingled through me like a bad flu. Jessie’s jaw was tighter than a sculpture done by Michelangelo as he wrestled with the same anger.
Above us, Hunter’s men shouted out, giddily.Oh, whoop-de-doo! They found the stupid treasure.
We cleared the cobbled steps. My heart fell at the heaps of gold coins overflowing from the seamen’s chests. The deadly riches glittered against the fires on either side of us like we were caught in the belly of Hades, where the dead dropped off their earthly valuables because it had no meaning in the next life.
Sculptures, vases, rugs, paintings and other historical masterpieces lay untouched by human hands for centuries. There was such an abundance of wealth that the deck had run out of space and so more valuables were stacked against and on top of the railings, the wheelhouse, the rigging—anywhere that was open.
Phips, Crabb, perhaps even Newton meant for this treasure to defend the interests of this country against invaders… there was no way they’d let us take it without proving that we were with them.
Hunter leaned down to stare at the coins. “They’re Spanish,” he said, “from the sixteenth century. This treasure is from La Concepcion; no doubt about it.”
His biggest man let out a bellow of excitement and reached down. His fingers grazed a treasure chest.
“Stop!” I shouted. “Watch for trouble. This is too easy.”
“Yeah, that’s how I like it.” The man’s muscular arms bulged as they wrapped around the sturdy case.
“Don’t touch that.” Brecker cleared the steps after us and threw out his hand to stop him. “You don’t want…”
But it was too late. The man heaved up the box in his brawny grip. A strange hissing sound followed his movements the instant the weight left the ground. We all scrambled back from him. The ship shook and ripped open beneath him. The guy fell through the planks, mid-smirk.
His treasure went with him.
“Gideon!” Hunter’s dismayed shouts might have more to do with wasting so much gold than losing the biggest muscle on his team. His forehead wrinkled with annoyance.
“Nobody touch anything!” Brecker shouted again. He inched forward to investigate and, I hoped, to ascertain if the man could be saved. “Don’t grab any of the treasure!” Brecker warned… needlessly.
Everyone had frozen.
Divine had even thrown her hands up in an attempt to show these unseen guardians she meant no harm.
