Chapter 91

Helena finally understood why she was being tortured. It wasn’t because she went against the Duke’s

orders and used poison. It was because the Duke, for some reason, thought that the poison she ordered

got into a person he cared about. The Duke had feelings for the woman who was with the King!

Greg scoffed, which brought Tanner out of her thoughts. His eyes bore into hers as he said, “And you

thought she was an accessory. Goddess, Tanner. You’re a bigger idiot than I thought you were.”

“I didn’t kill her. I didn’t. I never sent anyone after her.” She repeated in dismay.

“Who did you send Brown to kill? Be specific this time.”

“T-The instructions I gave w-was to g-get t-to one of th-their children. A toddler.”

Greg’s features hardened again. He would be the first to admit that he was a horrible person but he

would never go after a minor. Tanner’s children were way past eighteen so they were technically within

his reach. “You sent him after a child?” He asked in disbelief, and she nodded while averting her gaze

from his.

He started thinking again, recalling the scene at the hospital. He did see a toddler next to that now -

infertile Duchess. He thought that his distant cousin had adopted a son. But now that he thought about it,

he wondered if that boy was the one Brown was after. He faced Tanner again and asked,” How was the

child supposed to be eliminated?”

“O-Oleander.”

“How much?”

“I-I don’t know. B-But he said that it would be m-more than e-enough.”

Greg shook his head in disgust as he uttered demeaningly, “What a coward you are, Tanner. Lost the

adults and now after their minor. An easier target, I suppose.”

She kept insisting, “I didn’t do that to the Queen. I didn’t. It wasn’t my contract. Brown was probably

acting on another client’s instructions.”

“No, he wasn’t.” Greg said. “It was your instructions but it was a kill gone wrong.”.

Tanner’s red and teary eyes widened in surprise. Greg scoffed darkly again as he spoke patronizingly,

“You don’t really know anything, do you, Tanner? You don’t know how to take precautions. You can’t

cover your tracks. You don’t know how to avoid using poison. F*ck, you don’t even know who to hire as a

proper assassin.”

He pinned her neck to the wall and said menacingly, “The child you wanted to kill is alive. You know

why? Because the Queen saved him. The Queen took that Oleander knife you ordered for the child. She

saved the kid, and she was rendered…” Greg took a heavy breath and his eyes glistened i nanger before

he finished his sentence with the word, “…unconscious.”

Tanner’s eyes got wider and wider as she processed what Greg said. She then muttered to herself,”

No. No. No.”

Greg then said, “Tell me you weren’t stupid enough to leave a cocky note for the intended victim.” When

he saw her trying to avert her guilty-looking eyes even further than they already were, he sighed in

frustration as he remarked, “Hopeless.”

“Please. Spare my family. They don’t know about this. They’re innocent. Please.”

Greg tightened his grip around her neck and said, “Shut up. Here’s what you’re going to do the moment I

release you. Listen very carefully and do as I say this time. Am I clear?”

She nodded without hesitation, and Greg continued, “You will go to the police and confess that you hired

Brown. You will tell them that you ordered a child to be killed. And you WILL insist on the highest form of

punishment from them. Not death. That’s not the highest. Torture. Whipping. Bone-breaking.

Electrocution until you pass out. Those kinds of things. And no one can know that I was here. No one

can know that I’m asking you to do what I’m sure you will do. If you disobey me, your sons are at my

disposal, as is your mate. Do I make myself clear?”

Her face was turning paler by the second, especially when Greg listed the types of punishments that he

wanted her to ask for. But when she thought about her family, she could only nod with tears streaming

down her face. Greg threw her body on the ground one last time and left with his men. When they exited

the compound, Greg asked his men, “Are the disabled CCTVs back on?”

“Yes, your Grace.”

“The missing part from when we were there?”

“Replaced with the copy from the previous night.”

“Good. We‘re done for the night. I’ll get your boss to disburse the funds.”

Greg only took two steps before one of them said, “Your Grace, we still have the Oleander dosage you

asked for. Do you want to hold onto it or…”

“Return it to your department. If they offer a refund, you two split it. Treat it as a tip for a job well done

tonight.”

“T-Thank you, your Grace. That’s very generous of you. We’ll take our leave now.” Oleander was

expensive because it’s illegal and because of the tedious process to make it. So, a tip from the return of

that poison was almost the amount the men were being paid for the job they were doing for Greg that

night.

Greg checked his watch, and pondered on what he wanted to do next. His cousins had the real audits.

Maybe not all of it but even the most recent ones can get him and the people he colluded with into a

whole lot of trouble with the law. And those two are real sticklers when it came to the law so much so that

they were almost blind to all the pathetically-conspicuous holes in the system.

But something seemed off. If they had the numbers, what were they waiting for? Why were his cronies

still free and had no clue what was going on? Trying to see how his cousins would think got him

nowhere. He knew them. They didn’t think very far. They could spell the word ‘strategy but they didn’t

know what that word entailed. And his two cousins were very panicky. They’d acto

n the first piece of evidence that they got. If they got the audits, they wouldn’t have waited.

Greg then pictured Lucianne, and he sighed in bliss. How would she think? She was smart, and his two

cousins listened to her. Hell! Even he listened to her. What could she have said to get them to wait?

What was she waiting for? Out of nowhere, he muttered, “Lucianne, how are you thinking

about this?”

He knew that he had to leave soon. They were about to get caught, and he was not going to stick around

to wait for that to happen. It wasn’t just the audits. The police will no doubt question Tanner’s willingness

to confess. And if Lucianne got his cousin to use his King’s Authority now, his cousin would obey like a

good little pup and use it. And whatever happened this whole night would be exposed.

The only thing he would miss after leaving was stealing those glimpses of the Queen. When she smiles,

laughs, shouts. Hmph. Greg chuckled at how pitiful he sounded when it came to Lucianne. Who knew

there’d come a day when he would fall for someone. His heart was never stolen but he had willingly

given it to her, a wolf. She wasn’t even a Lycan and he didn’t care. He didn’t see the point in challenging

his cousin to claim her. The way she looked at Greg himself was clear. She wouldn’t be happy with him.

And he didn’t want her to be unhappy.

Greg’s sights somehow went to the moon, which was a mere crescent tonight shining brightly in the dark

sky. He then said, “You did this on purpose, didn’t you? This is my punishment. You made me fall in love

with someone I can never have, bonding her to the person I hate the most. You’re lucky I want her to be

happy. Otherwise, I would’ve killed that cousin of mine who you are giving EVERYTHING to.” 1

He sighed and took out his phone to call the hospital. After one ring, someone picked up and Greg said,

“I’d like to know the Queen’s status.”

“We’re only allowed to release that information to authorized family members. May I know who this is?”

Greg bit his lip before he said, “Christian Blackfur. The Duke. I was with the King during the blood

transfusion to get the Oleander out.”

Greg mentioned the blood transfusion and the poison to indicate that he was on the hospital floor with

the rest of the party, and prayed that the nurse on the line wouldn’t ask for further identification details

because he only vaguely remembered his distant cousin’s identification number. If he told her who he

really was, there was a chance that the nurse was not ‘authorized to

give him information on Lucianne, and he was not taking that chance. He had to know how she

was.

“Oh, Your Grace.” The nurse believed him. No journalist got word that the Queen was poisoned by

Oleander yet so that detail convinced the nurse that Greg was really Christian.

She seemed more polite and friendly when she said, “Well, everything’s good with her so far. So, u h,

you already know she’s breathing on her own and her vitals have returned to normal now. A doctor

checked her fifteen minutes ago, he said everything is fine. She’s still asleep. Would you like me to tell

the King you called, your Gra—”

“No. That won’t be necessary. Thank you. Have a good night.” Greg said and hung up. Before he fled the

city and disappeared without a trace, there was one more thing he had to do. So, he went back home

and stepped on it.