Page 150 of Long Live the King

39.

Bellamy

I wake with a screaming headache. My entire head throbs and my brain feels like it’s being suffocated by the walls of my skull. Groaning at the pain, I try bringing my fingers up to massage my temples, but can’t seem to move my arms.

There’s rope around my wrists, keeping me pinned to the spot.

Why am I tied to a chair?

The sudden realization that I am in fact tied up and not hallucinating this entire experience is a jolt to my system. I’m immediately awake.

God, my head is really pounding.

I try turning it get some relief, but my movements are limited by a hand clutching my hair. Looking up, I freeze when I see Rogue staring down the barrel of a gun pointed at his chest. My eyes follow the gun, up a pair of hands and arms until they fall on a familiar face.

Robert Royal.

Fear trickles down my spine and into my veins as the silent standoff unfolds before me. Darting quick looks around, I realize we’re in Rogue's guest house.

I try to focus on the exchange, catching only the last of their conversation. “I overheard your call with the private investigator. Müller was it?”

What’s going on?

The last thing I remember is leaving RCA and heading home. There’s a flash of pain and then nothing. Rogue's father kidnapped me, but why? What did he overhear in this conversation with Müller?

The flash of silver I’d seen must have been the gun. Being pistol whipped explains the throbbing headache.

Rogue's eyes flick down to meet mine. They’re carefully devoid of any overt expression, but I see the unsaid question in his gaze.

Are you alright?

I nod discreetly, my head barely moving. Rogue's eyes snap back up to his father’s, rage swirling with hate in his blown pupils.

“Then you know it’s over for you. You’re not getting away with it.”

Getting away with what?I want to scream.

But I know one thing for sure right now – whatever I do, I don’t want to bring Robert’s attention back to me. He’s clearly unhinged and the last thing I want is to find myself face to face with his gun.

“I’m not going to prison.”

“What’s your plan then? Why did you take her and bring me here?”

Robert laughs maniacally in response, as if Rogue said something funny. “I need you to sign your trust over to me. Since I didn’t think you’d do that willingly, I brought Bellamy here as…incentive.”

“I won’t have access to my trust for months and you know that.”

“My funds will last until then. You’ll make me trustee of your inheritance and I’ll work with my lawyers to turn it over to me.”

“You think I’m going to give you money to help fund your escape? You’re even more fucked in the head than I thought and that’s saying something. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you rot in prison for the rest of your life for killing my mother.” Rogue snaps back at him. The sound is vicious and broken, the emotion clear in his voice.

A shocked cry falls from my lips, one that I couldn’t have stopped it even if I wanted to.

“He killed her?” The question is directed at Rogue, the incredulity clear in my voice.

Rogue's father killed his mother.

My heart breaks for him. No matter how much he hates his father, learning that he was behind the murder of his mother and that he hid it and got away with it for so long must be destroying him. He’d never explicitly told me the reason he’d been trying to find her, whether he was hoping for a happy reunion or to get closure, but either way the pain must be excruciating for him. I wish I could hold him and tell him how sorry I am.

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