NALEDI’S POV
I woke up in my bedroom, underneath my covers, and in my robe.
My memories jogged up and within a second, I was on my feet, looking around for any signs of the intruder.
Everything was spot-clean and the previous crashes from our fight before just disappeared. It was like I had dreamed up the entire scene except for the fact that I could still feel a slight pain in my wrist.
Shocked, I rotated my right wrist – the supposed broken wrist – and it was as good as new. My eyes nearly bogged out of their sockets when I found my PSS gun lying on the floor, right where I’d kicked it during the fight.
Which meant I hadn’t dreamed the entire fiasco. It was real. Just like my PSS gun lying on the floor. I quickly put on some clothes and headed downstairs in search of Korah and Marcus.
As I descended the stairs, I heard them speak over themselves, only to meet them fighting over the darned remote. Which was odd as fuck. Did they not hear the entire fiasco a while ago?
Didn’t they see the intruder?
“My lady, did you have a beauty sleep?” Korah spoke first, getting out of her entanglement with Marcus. “I came to wake you up, but you seemed like you needed the rest, so I told the Alpha. Should I call him back and tell him you are available to speak?”
I blinked in confusion. “What are you talking about? When did you come to my room?”
Korah’s brows raised. “Some minutes ago.” She answered, and I could feel Marcus’s gaze on me.
“What did I say?” I asked, desperate to make sense of everything. “When you came to wake me, what were my exact words?”
“You didn’t want to be disturbed and you were sleeping.” Marcus answered this time, “Is there a problem, miss?”
I shook my head. Was there a problem? I’m fucking losing my mind!
“What about Luka? Have you checked in on him today?” I asked, looking at Marcus who seemed like I’d grown a second head.
“I took him out, and made rid of his body.”
My eyes were the size of saucers. “Are you fucking kidding me? Why the hell would you do that?!” I was full-on shouting.
Marcus got on his feet. “Because you killed him and told me to cut him to tiny little pieces and feed him to the fishes of the Mediterranean Sea.”
My heart pounded against their ribcage, “I told you to w-what?” My tone reeked in disbelief.
“To cut him to tiny little pieces and feed his remains to the-”
“I freaking heard you the first time, Marcus!” I bellowed, “I am asking why the fuck I would tell you to do that when he was not freaking dead! I didn’t fucking kill him! I couldn’t have! I left him freaking unconscious, not dead!”
Now they looked at me like I was going nuts. Was I going nuts?
“Can someone fucking talk to me?!” I yelled again, losing my wits.
“He’s dead. I took him out this morning. As we speak, he is probably fish food.” Marcus said, and I felt raw unadulterated rage.
“I did not KILL him! I am not a KILLER!”
“What the fuck is going on there?”
Caellum’s voice drifted into my ears and at that moment I wanted to kill him for interrupting. I turned to the TV where he was, seated in his office.
“You tell me, Caellum. I go to bed and wake up this morning with terrific news of Luka’s death. Care to explain?” My tone dripped with sarcasm, one that Caellum did not appreciate.
“I was planning on asking you the same question.” He started, not the least bit ruffled. “Why the hell did I watch a video of you sledgehammering Luka to death? I knew you were brutal but what happened to enjoying your toys before you break them?”
It was my turn to look at him like he was nuts. My eyes went around and I realized with shock that they truly believed I did it. They actually thought I murdered Luka freaking Donatello.
What in the world was going on here?
“I hammered him to unconsciousness. I didn’t freaking kill him.” I turned to Marcus. “You were there, you saw me come out after the entire thing, you know I didn’t kill him.” My voice broke, “I couldn’t have.”
A frightening cold voice whispered my greatest fear. ‘You are a killer, of course you killed him. It’s just another body down by Naledi Rogers.’
I shook my head from the dark thoughts. No. I wasn’t going to let them pin this on me. Something was terribly wrong.
“Marcus, where is his body?” Caellum spoke while I battled with my mini panic attack.
“His pieces are currently floating in the Mediterranean Sea. Awaiting the hungry fishes.” Marcus chorused like a mantra stuck in his head.
“On whose orders did you do that?”
“The lady.”
I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t. If I killed Luka, I’d know. I’d feel it. I was a feeler. There was no way I did what they so believed I did. One look at Caellum and the way he gauged me, I thought he shared the same thoughts with me.
If I didn’t kill Luka, nor ordered for his body to be sliced and spread for the fishes to eat, then who the fuck did it?
“When did she ask it and what were her exact words?”
“A few minutes after she killed him with a sledgehammer, she returned and told me to slice his pieces and spread it across the sea before the day breaks.” Marcus’ answer was innocent, but that was all it took for me to finally understand what was going on.
There was no way I was the one who ordered that. It was impossible to do that when you were soaked up in your bathtub, trying to keep the demons at bay.
I never returned downstairs after my little session with Luka. And if Marcus was convinced that I did, then it meant he saw something that wasn’t me.
Understanding dawned on me and I felt the knots in my stomach straighten. I didn’t kill him. Someone else did. Someone who was able to easily infiltrate the mansion and take me to God knows where at will.
Someone who faked his own death, and was willing to pin a death on me to cover his bloody track. Someone who was desperate to secure a deal with me with witches at his disposal.
That someone was Nicolai Smirnov. And boy was I looking forward to our next meeting.