Page 59 of Wanted

“Weston, please. Get out of whatever’s going on inside of your head,” Aris urged me.

I didn’t know what he was talking about. Nothing was going on inside of my head. There was an eerie blank, begging to be filled with color.

“I’ve accomplished nothing. I’m a nobody,” I blurted out. “My… Aram is right. Travis is right. I don’t deserve Mandy. She doesn’t want me anymore, anyway. I’m a puppet in the kingdom’s games, nothing more.”

Valentina rolled her eyes. “Stop buying into what Aram says. He knows exactly which buttons to push. I say ignore his stupid words and focus on what you can improve about your situation.”

“She’s right,” Aris agreed. “Without us, he wouldn’t have happy citizens. We provide opium for the people, brother. Aram needs us. He’s a mean piece of shit that only got the throne because he impregnated mom. Katantia has faced multiple bankruptcies because of him. Things weren’t going well in the nineties and noughties. People were leaving Katantia, Weston. We’ve made them stay. Kamila has a whole cult out there, praying to their shrines of her. They love her. They want her back.”

“I doubt she’s ever coming back,” I replied, defeated.

Aris asked, “And that makes you sad?”

“No, obviously not.”

“Kamila has somehow managed to get friends with money. Hopefully, she can get over what we found out…” Then he remembered that his wife was sitting right next to him.

I took a deep breath. “I’ve made a decision.”

“And?” Aris wondered.

“I need you to tell me to stop. That I shouldn’t do it.”

“If you want to drag us to a Hole Store, then, yes. We’re not joining you. Aris is on house arrest until the baby pops out. And even then. No more Hole Stores for the foreseeable future…” Valentina mumbled.

“It’s not that,” I interrupted her. I exhaled. It was time to tell them. “I’ve withdrawn some of my money, and I’ve hidden it in safe places across Katantia.”

Valentina widened her eyes. “Why would you do that?”

“Aram threatened that he would take it all away. I made that money. I get to keep it.” I inhaled sharply. “I’m going to find Mandy and bring her back.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Aris replied dryly. “It’s not your job to take care of Mandy. For all we know, she’s somewhere sipping Tequila Sunrise. You shouldn’t mess with Spencer.”

“Just admit it,” Valentina commented nonchalantly. “My best friend’s pussy got you all worked up. You want to put a ring on her finger. Just admit it. We won’t judge.”

Aris looked at me. I looked at him. We shared a wordless moment. There wasn’t anything to say in front of Valentina. I respected Aris’s will enough not to cross the line and tell Valentina shit she didn’t need to know.

“Brother, she’s not from around here. That gesture you’re thinking of won’t leave her all buttered up. She’ll be mad at you for ages,” Aris warned me. The intense look in his eyes told me to lay low. “You can’t fly her over here when she just left voluntarily.”

“She left four months ago,” Valentina corrected. Unabashed, she went on. “I’d swoon.”

“You grew up here, babe. You’re a different breed,” Aris told her, tickling her toes. She jumped at the touch, letting out a burst of wholehearted laughter.

“I have a bad feeling about Mandy’s radio silence,” I revealed. “She’s vanished, and I want to know what the fuck’s going on.”

“You’ll regret it,” Aris commented. “Don’t turn her into Mom 2.0.”

I knew. Fuck if I knew.

♥♠♥

I’ll admit that my following course of action was a bigfuck offto my father and, consequently, my uncle. Perhaps my sister, too.

I wanted the illusion of control. It had been taken from me, and I took it back.

When I told Travis that I intended to bring Mandy back to Katantia, he finally opened his mouth. He let me know Mandy had been in her father’scarefor three months until one of his associates took her away. He told me that Mandy was sick, dangerously so. Travis warned me that it was a matter of life or death.

I was supposed to leave her alone.