Three Rings (The Fairytail Saga) (45 page)

‘I know a place,’ he said quickly. ‘Lux has one in New Zealand we could use. No one would ever think to look for us there.’

‘I’m still not ready to deal with Lux.’ Ivyanne said, twisting the ring he’d given her on her finger and pouting.

‘She won’t be there.’ Ardhi said, trying to ignore the pang of guilt in his chest. ‘Just you and I.’

Ivyanne smiled crookedly. ‘Oh come on Ardhi, it’s a pipe dream. Anywhere we go, we’d be traced.’

He straightened. ‘No we won’t-I can get us the papers-some fake ones. I’ll order tickets online
tonight
if you want.’

Ivyanne’s smile faded. ‘Really?’

He nodded. ‘Just say the word.’

She looked down again. ‘I can’t.’

‘Not yet.’ He whispered. ‘But you will.’ He leaned back, noticing that her breathing had grown heavier. When she looked up at him, her expression was dazzled.

‘I think you might be right.’ But then her eyes darted over his shoulder. ‘Hey, Pintang’s here, we better...’

‘Drop the subject. Until Monday.’ He said quietly.

‘Monday.’ She repeated.

Ardhi turned around to see his sister, looking stunning in a flouncy pink satin dress, step into the room. She’d cut her hair shorter, and re-dyed the ends hot pink once more. Seeing her looking so grown-up filled Ardhi with an unusual bout of sentimentality. She’d been strange with him since she’d returned, and he was anxious to get things back to normal again, in case he had to go again.

‘I’ll go greet her,’ Ardhi squeezed Ivyanne’s hand. ‘I love you, Ivyanne. I’ll wait.’

‘I love you too,’ Ivyanne whispered, before turning to the bar. ‘And now I need a drink…’

Ardhi grinned and approached his sister, opening his arms wide, unable to keep the broad smile off his face.

‘Sis!’ he cried, enfolding her in a hug, feeling Ivyanne’s eyes on his back. Ardhi’s heart was set to burst with joy. He didn’t have her yet-but he was close.

And then suddenly, Adele stepped into the room, a golden blur, eyes roaming until they landed on his.And she smiled.

⁓

Ivyanne waited until she had locked herself into the privacy of a stall in the ladies bathroom before she tugged Ardhi’s cheap blue wallet out of the folds of her dress. Her heart was still hammering from the fear of getting caught, but Ardhi had been too busy leering down her blouse to have noticed her slight of hand. She’d dressed as she had simply because she knew it would throw him off balance. She couldn’t believe how well it had worked-men were too predictable-even mermen.

Ivyanne opened the wallet, not sure what she was expecting to find, but hoping that there was something that could explain what he’d been up to in his absence. He’d claimed to have been out of his mind, and that was the first thing she needed to disprove. After all, wasn’t his temporary leave of sanity and severe distress the only reason why
anyone
had welcomed him home with open arms?

Ivyanne’s instinct was screaming that he had lied about everything. Ardhi hadn’t been shivering in some cave in New Guinea-he’d been up to something much more sinister than that something involving New Zealand-a country that was becoming a theme in her day to day life. Sherri, Lux’s cottage, her Paua ring? They had to be connected, she just knew it.

Ivyanne examined the contents of the wallet, frowning, but there were no cards, no I.D’s...just three hundred dollars in crisp yellow notes. She closed the wallet, and frowned at it, noticing for the first time, that it had a little picture of the Hawaiian Islands on the front of it with the words ‘Aloha’ stenciled above it.

‘Hawaii?’ she whispered to herself, trying to remember the last time that Ardhi had been overseas. Ivyanne opened the wallet again, and examined it more carefully. She pulled out the notes, mouth falling open when she saw the wrinkled one dollar bill- U.S money-shoved towards the back. She pursed her lips and dug her fingers into the coin section, feeling an unfamiliar one lodged in the hem. She pulled it out.

‘A nickel?’ Ivyanne turned the shiny coin over. When she read the date stamped onto the back, her stomach hit the floor. ‘2012?!’

Ivyanne shoved the coin back into the wallet, her mind reeling. The evidence definitely suggested that Ardhi had been in Hawaii, and not long before. After all, they were only just over a month into the year. There was no other way that coin would be in his possession, unless he’d procured it
himself
.

Ivyanne leaned against the stall wall and inhaled deeply, commanding her brain to think straight. It seemed like there were millions of little clues, and they’d all just add up if she was able to focus. Lux’s place in New Zealand, internet flight booking experience, Hawaiian wallet, new American Money, blonde girls on Norfolk....Hawaii. But
why Hawaii
? Bane and his family wouldn’t have offered Ardhi sanctuary-as their alliance was with the boy he had stabbed. And the only other thing that came to Ivyanne’s mind when she thought of Hawaii in recent times was...

‘Tristan.’ She whispered his name, feeling herself go cold as a violent tremor coursed through her. At that exact moment, her phone rang.

⁓

‘You could have
told
me you were back.’ Ardhi said quietly, meeting Adele halfway across the floor. He’d spied Lincoln taking notice of her entrance, and his rival now kept glancing at her with a combination of shock, irritation and fascination from the other side of the room. Ardhi guessed he had two minutes with her before Lincoln came over to find out why his ex was there. Ardhi had to decide how to play it before then.

Adele held up her hands. ‘You asked me to come-so I came.’ She glanced around, like a lioness seeking antelope as Ardhi steered her towards the bar, and out of earshot. ‘So am I going after Lincoln, or what?’

‘I don’t know yet,’ Ardhi said, noticing Sherri approach them from behind the bar, her pretty features looking perplexed. ‘I need until Monday to figure out my next step now.’

‘Why
Monday
?’

‘Because Ivyanne’s thrown him a crumb.’ Sherri said helpfully, smiling. ‘You might not be needed at all.’

‘Really?’ Adele frowned at him. ‘She’s
into
you?’

‘Don’t look so surprised,’ Ardhi drawled.

Adele glanced out at the room. ‘Well, regardless, you still need to explain my tail to this lot.’

‘
After
Monday,’ Ardhi said. ‘Things are too dicey at the moment for me to have to confess to siring you and hiding that from them. For now, just be a party crasher, okay? We’ll keep things vague until I know for sure what Ivyanne’s going to do. If she chooses me without the fuss-well-there are plenty of full blood men, looking for a turned wife. You’ll have your pick, and Sherri can pursue Lincoln.’

‘I like that idea very much,’ Sherri said, leaning over him to catch Adele’s eye. ‘So back off.’

Adele’s eyebrows lifted. ‘
Well
, if you’re going to make it a challenge...’

‘Girls,’ Ardhi said quickly, getting a headache, just as he had in Norfolk when they’d constantly been at each other’s throats. ‘You’re not supposed to know each other, remember?’

‘So? Everyone here who knows me thinks I’m a bitch anyway.Why
wouldn’t
I give the girl who replaced me hell?’ She rubbed her hands together, eyes dancing. ‘I Can’t wait to stir Ivyanne a bit as well!’

‘Not
too
much,’ Ardhi cautioned her. ‘Remember that she’ll be your queen soon.’

‘So?’ Adele smiled knowingly. ‘The
king
will always have my back, yeah?’

Ardhi loved the sound of that. ‘Yeah. I guess so.’

At that moment, Lincoln began to stalk across the room to them.

‘Ardhi,’ he said with a polite nod. ‘And Adele....’ his brows creased. ‘What’s going on? I don’t hear from you for a
month
and then you show up at my
engagement
party?’

‘I was just asking that very same question.’ Ardhi lied. ‘I know how you want the night to be perfect.’

Lincoln raised an eyebrow at him, momentarily derailed.

Adele shrugged. ‘I came to offer you congratulations, hoping it would stop you from posting those embarrassing :
‘Don’t kill yourself’
notes on my face book wall.’

Lincoln didn’t look happy. ‘I was just trying to make sure that you were okay.’

Adele placed a hand on her hip, her eyes flashing. ‘Actually, I’m as okay as
you
are.’ She sighed melodramatically. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go say hi to Ilsa and then get some of the free hooch.’ She winked at Lincoln. ‘See you later,
Mrs
Court.’

Lincoln watched her go, looking truly off balance, and Ardhi understood. It was all Ardhi could do not to reach out for a glass of champagne to calm his own nerves.

Ivyanne fumbled for her phone in her handbag, heart pounding. ‘Hello?’

‘Hello. Is this Ivyanne Court?’

‘It is,’ Ivyanne didn’t recognize the thick American accent. ‘Whom am I speaking to?’

‘Mark Schorer, president of Absalom Industries, California. You left a message for me I believe?’ The man spoke briskly, sounding faintly annoyed that he had to explain himself.

‘Oh! Hey, yes I did. I was calling in regards to my uh, business partner you had a meeting with?’ Ivyanne paused, still staring down at the wallet, thinking that this was the worst time to try and sound professional. ‘Tristan Loveridge?’

‘Who?’

His confused tone stopped Ivyanne’s movements cold. ‘Tristan Loveridge….of
LoveSun
Corporation?’ she repeated, this time more slowly. ‘You had a meeting arranged with him for Saturday the 28th of February?’

There was a pause. ‘I’m sorry miss,’ the man finally said. ‘I know
of
Tristan Loveridge, but I hadn’t yet contacted him. I was planning to, as he’s been highly recommended to me, but I hadn’t gotten around to it.’ He paused. ‘This might sound like a strange question, but I was under the impression that Mr Loveridge had passed away recently?’

Ivyanne’s heart hit the floor. ‘So you
did
hear?’

‘Well, yes I did. From the same person who recommended him to me last year....and then I saw the report in the paper. He and that basketball star, both missing and presumed dead. It’s tragic.’

‘It truly is,’ Ivyanne said quietly, feeling the gears in her brain groan in protest as her mind tried to compute what she was hearing. ‘So, you really didn’t schedule a meeting with him?’ Ivyanne asked softly. ‘You didn’t organize his flight?’

The man drew in his breath. ‘I’m sorry miss, no. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I had. To think that-’

Ivyanne ended the call, too shocked to continue her interrogation. She sat down on the closed toilet seat lid, trembling like a leaf, staring at the wallet in her hands. Mark Schorer hadn’t called Tristan overseas. There had been no free, first class flight, courtesy of
Absalom
. And still,
Tristan had ended up reluctantly boarding a plane to Los Angeles, too tempted by the lucrative offer to even consider turning it down. A flight that had killed him-a flight that neither Tristan or
LoveSun
, had paid for. So who
had
?

Ivyanne’s fist clenched around the wallet, letting the most horrible thought force its way into her mind. Had it all been a set-up? Had Ardhi masterminded the whole thing? Was he actually capable of bringing down a
flight
? Surely he was, if the plane was low enough, and the weather he generated fierce enough-which was what
had
brought the plane down. A sudden, un-anticipated storm which had dissipated without shedding a drop of rain.

Ivyanne braced herself against the door, feeling tears fill her eyes. It was all too dark and twisted to contemplate. But she’d asked herself, what her childhood friend could be capable of, and suddenly, she had a good idea. Her theory, however far-fetched it was, would explain why out of all of the people who had survived, her ultra-strong merman had been one of the
few
to perish. In a random crash on water, Tristan would have been the
only
survivor, if anything.

But if it had been a personal attack, then perhaps someone had gone one step further to ensure that his rival was dead, knowing the world would see it as an accident. Tristan had been seen knocked out-he would have been utterly defenseless if someone had purposefully been seeking him within the wrecked plane.

That’s why there’s no body,
Ivyanne realized suddenly.
And why Leah couldn’t find his soul in a dolphin. He was murdered, not lost. Someone took him somewhere else, and disposed of the evidence! It’s improbable, but that note left for Lux-

Ivyanne sank back against the wall. The idea of Ardhi dragging Tristan’s unconscious form to land and killing him so he had a human body to bury repulsed her almost as much as the actual crash did.  She wanted to fall apart but knew it wasn’t the time. After all, if Ardhi had been willing to do that to Tristan for the crime of having slept with her-what did he have planned for the man who was about to
marry
her?