Destroyed Destiny (Crowne Point #4) - Mary Catherine Gebhard Page 0,119

side of my bed, I trailed my fingers along the cold floor.

Back and forth—my hand slammed into something hard, beneath my bed. I rustled around until I could get a grip, bringing it up.

A book?

Made of worn leather and pressed paper.

I have searched under every poem at Crowne Hall. There is no coin here, at least, not buried under any famous poem. I tell my dad there is still hope…but I think she is the key. It keeps me up at night, why did he want her to go to Scotland?

My blood went cold. Not a book, a fucking journal. West’s journal.

When the fuck did he put this here?

The cobblestone walls of Scotland are marked with Story’s poetry. When she slept, I went down to where the songbirds gather to search. When they spotted me, they started to sing. There it was, buried in the cobblestone wall, beneath the inscription: Put my heart in a cage and treat it like a songbird.

I slammed the journal shut at the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, sliding it under my pillow. Every day, my grandfather visited me in my wing, trying to win me back to his side. Every morning, I stared out at the ocean, wishing I had some word of Story.

I think no word was good, though.

If my grandfather didn’t know, then that meant she was somewhere out of his reach.

“Are you ready to stop moping?” My grandfather leaned against the railing. “Aren’t you even the slightest bit curious what I’m using these on?”

I slowly trailed my gaze to his.

He held the coins out, glimmering gold in the light.

I was morbidly curious what my grandfather had planned with his coins. He was now the most powerful man on the planet.

I know it had something to do with the du Lacs, with a revenge plan he’d spent decades concocting.

But the longer I didn’t give him what he wanted, the longer he wouldn’t use them.

“I’m more curious how the fuck you knew I had them,” I said.

He laughed. “How long did you really think you could keep it a secret? I have eyes and ears everywhere. I’ve dedicated my entire life to finding them. But…It was a year ago, when I missed the Swan Swell to punish your sister Abigail, and I overheard Arthur du Lac yelling…as he always did…” My grandfather trailed off, annoyed. “His son had thrown away a coin. Given it to a Crowne.” He narrowed on me. “For years, I had no idea where any of them were, but now I knew for certain where one was.”

He made his way up the rest of the steps, talking as he did. “I always suspected Josephine had the other three, but she was watched for years and nothing showed up. Then Christmas provided some much needed clarity.”

“When you murdered Josephine,” I said.

“When she had a tragic accident,” he corrected, stopping beside my bed. He leaned against the floor-to-ceiling window, one leg crossed casually. “I knew Charles had stolen them, but what happened after was always fuzzy. Then I overheard Josephine talking…” His clay eyes found mine. “All these years I never would have thought to look at you.”

“You killed my father over fucking coins.”

He exhaled. “Another tragic accident.”

“You could have taken them at Christmas, then. Why did you leave?”

He adjusted the silver bar on his tie, like we were discussing the weather. “Everything in its due time. You know Arthur was following me everywhere I went. He thought he was so clever.” He shook his head. “Idiot.”

“If this is all for your revenge on the du Lacs, you could have just fucking taken the du Lac company when Lottie violated the prenup.”

He wrinkled his nose like he’d smelled something foul. “That is so…uninspired. I’m not using these coins to take a company—that company was given to me.”

That’s when I sat up, sitting off the bed to see him clearer. “Given to you?”

“Oh, did I finally get your attention? Yes, Grayson, given to me.”

“Arthur du Lac wouldn’t just give you his company—”

“Arthur du Lac didn’t make it back from Switzerland. His private plane went down somewhere in the Alps. Sad about West, too. No surviving heirs. In exchange for the du Lac empire, I simply had to promise Lynette a few things.”

I scoffed, bitter, finally starting to see all the puzzle pieces. “Like a dead husband, maybe?”

He grinned. “Do you have any idea the power these have?” He rolled the coins in his hands. “You could raze a country. Become