Unveiling the Truth

Chapter 34 Unveiling the truth 'Thank you Priscilla, that would be all," I said. She smiled warmly at me and exited from the house. I sank into the couch in the living room and sighed. I was tired but the fatigue had nothing to do with the long flight I had. Rather it was from the endless list of questions I had on my mind. Throughout the flight,Royce played the role of a perfect lover, he was all over me , especially since my assistant had sent the money to him. ‘A million pounds, for what exactly?' After the call I made to Christian to find out what exactly Royce was up to. He had called and informed me that there wasn't anything out of ordinary going on. If I didn't know Christian enough, I'd have thought he probably didn't do his findings well. But I know how thorough he is with such info. That evening as Royce and I ate, I could still feel a negative aura coming from him and then he got that call. I intentionally behaved as if I didn't hear all that he said in Italian. I had learnt quite a couple of languages over the years but I decided to make him believe I had no idea what he was talking about. ‘Find my shipment and if anyone gets in the way, sort him out,' those words had sent chills down my spine but I had learnt better than to allow my emotions get the better of me. As if that wasn't enough, he had to ask for such ridiculous amount for his side hustle.Those two incidents led me to believe that Royce was keeping something and know who exactly to give me the answers I needed I took my bag and searched through it, looking for my phone,I found it finally and contemplated calling Percy. He is the only one who knows better than Christian and knows more about Royce. I checked the time on my wrist watch and saw that it was quite late in the night. Percy might probably be sleeping but I don't think I can hold it till tomorrow morning. My mind won't be at peace until I get those answers. Curiosity got the better of me and I finally dialed Percy's number. It took him a while to pick up and when he finally did, I knew I had woken him up from sleep. 'Sorry I woke you up Percy but these couldn't wait, I need answers to them right now and you are the only one who came to mind," I said with no pleasantries. 'It's about Royce," I added almost immediately. 'What do you wanna know?" he asked bluntly, his voice still husky. 'He's been acting funny and recently I heard him dishing out instructions to someone over the phone, it sounded serious, like one who wouldn't mind killing. Thereafter, he asked me for some amount of money for this side business that he was doing.Funny thing is, I told Christian about it but, he didn't find anything. Do you happen to know anything about this side hustle?" I asked. He didn't reply me and I almost thought that the called had ended but he was still on the call 'Is there something I should know?" I asked again 'I purposely told Christian to withhold the information right from the beginning. If you find this out now, it only means one thing: you are really doing well," he said. The tone of his voice was enough to tell me that whatever info he has, it was something serious. ‘Well,I think it's high time you know that Royce is a Mafia lord," he deadpanned. 'I mean one who is at the top of the ladder, he controls basically everything in New York." 'What!?" I exclaimed in shock. 'You heard me right, Myra. He might look like a businessman to the outside world but the side hustle he talked about is drug, smuggling, laundering and anything you could think of. The hotel business is just so no one takes a look at his dealings," he said. The phone in my hand almost dropped from my hand. All my life I had vowed to never have anything to do with drugs. Dad used to be one until he stopped and since then, we've both steered clear of it. Does this mean that in all those years that we were together,he was already doing it and I never found out? To think that we basically did things together and slept in the same bed for years and yet I never caught a whiff of it. 'This is unbelievable Percy," I said when I managed to find my voice again. 'The earlier you believe it the better. Royce had always been like that, it's you who didn't notice," he said and I frowned as I remembered how dad had stood against our relationship then. He's not who you think he is Bella. He's nothing but a disaster, those were the exact words that dad had said and I got angry. Dad knew because he had been in the streets too and knew how things were. I had dismissed his worries then and had threatened to ok kill myself. 'How come I didn't know? How's that even possible?" I asked 'That's because he didn't want you to see it. You were his perfect cover, an innocent wife and a daughter of a once drug dealer." Percy said and it made perfect sense to me, he knew dad would never rat him out, I was more like a hostage. 'You are saying the money I lend him is going into the drug business?" I asked. 'Ofcourse, it's blood money and now you are tied to it too, " he said and my heart sank. I didn't know this when I asked for my percentage in the deal. How could I have been rash? Asking for a part of a deal I had no idea about what it meant! I thought, feeling a rush of bile rose in my throat 'But how did you know this?" I asked. I knew they were friends and were business partners, so why keep quiet if he knew all along? 'I've known from the beginning,well at least,till he took everything from me, " he said. 'You were in the business too?" I asked incredulously. 'No, I wasn't, " he disclosed and I felt a bit better. 'We were friends, remember? I started the hotel business with an inn that I got from my grandparents. In order to renovate it to what was in vogue, I needed Investors. I talked to him and he agreed to help me out as long as we become business partners. I knew he had shady business but I didn't mind, I needed the money and he had plenty of it. The business began to bloom and I moved from an innkeeper to owning a better building. All of a sudden, things changed, he began to give me suspicious deals. To cut it short, he got a better part of the company's share and oust me. Not only that,he framed me for one of his dealings and got me arrested," he said with regrets. 'But why wait till now before explaining this deeply?" I asked in frustration. 'You'd have opted out, I knew how hard you hated those things. There was no way I could come close to Royce if you are no longer in the game," he said. 'I wanted you to figure out the truth yourself. So now that you know, what's your take, are you still in or you are no longer interested?" he asked. I didn't say anything to his question but I knew I could never back out. There's no way I'd let Royce go scot free. As a matter of fact,this new info has added to the fuel of revenge in me. I'm going to make Royce pay for doing what he did, holding me as hostage. 'I promised you Percy and I'm going to keep the deal" I said calmly even though my thoughts were in turbulence.