The Girl Who Would Be King(146)

I’d love to say I return to my lair full of hope and conquering hero crap, but while the henchmen are definitely happy, I’m just not feeling it.

The penthouse is a mess of broken glass and shredded high-end wallpaper, which I guess means I was literally tearing into the walls before my little adventure with Adrian. I should thank him for shocking me out of my drunken suicidal stupor, but I’m feeling something different now. Something lonelier, something sadder, something deeper. When my New York team finally returns to the nest I’m grateful for the distraction. I’m sitting on my throne, examining my hands, when they step out of the elevator. Before they even get into the room I know they have my stone – it’s calling to me, almost cooing. Singing a sweet and delicious song about power. And it fills me up inside a little bit, getting into the hollow nooks and crannies. I look at Liz’s ear sitting on the smaller throne I call the ‘Queen’s Throne.’ “Do you hear that?” I ask, pausing for her answer. “How can you miss it?! It sounds like what a sugar and diamonds milkshake would sound like!” I say, clapping my hands, almost giddy. The ear says nothing. “Pft,” I say. “You can’t hear for shit.”

Lou comes in first, followed by Gordo and Bud. Two of them are missing, but I don’t remember their names. Maybe Bonnie killed them. Nah, that doesn’t sound right. Gordo is dragging some guy I’ve never seen before around by his neck. I really don’t care who he is, I just want my goddamn stone.

“You have it?” I ask Lou before he can speak. His eyes drift unconsciously to Liz’s ear sitting next to me on her throne. “Yeah, it’s Liz’s ear, it’s all that’s left, you wanna make something of it?!” I yell.

Lou looks away from the ear, down at his shoes. “’Course not, boss.”

“Where’s my stone?” I demand again. Lou takes it out of his pocket and steps forward, reaching it out to me, unsure. I snatch it from his hand and the power pours into me, filling me up with everything I’ve been missing. Maybe not the same things I’ve been missing, but at least it fills me up with something. It’s different now though, even more powerful and intoxicating. I look down at it in my hand and realize it’s whole. So that’s why the power is so intense, almost tangible. I feel like throwing everyone out and stripping naked and bathing in it. “Wow,” I finally say, breathless.

“We uh…we did good?” Lou says uncertainly.

“Yeah, Lou. You did good.” But that perfect happiness can’t last for long and I’m not done questioning them. “So what happened, and what took you so long?”

“Well, um,” he begins looking around at his cohorts, “We did what you said, boss. We looked for the stone in the Hudson but we didn’t find anything, and then we looked all over the city, all the diamond districts and museums, and underground, but we found nothing. So then we did what you said and Rocco went into this diner to rob it or something, and sure enough boss, she showed up. He, uh, didn’t find the stone on her before she woke up, but we managed to get a trace on her and we followed her around. One a the places she went was her boyfriend’s apartment, so, we, uh, kidnapped him or whatever, and Gordo stayed behind in case she came back. But because of our prisoner or whatever, we had to drive back instead of fly, plus, well, LAX, Burbank, and Long Beach are all shut down anyway. Then when we got to the borders, well you didn’t exactly make it easy to get back inside, boss. It’s like world war three out there y’know,” he trails off, hoping for a chuckle for his lame joke before starting up again, but nobody is in the mood. “Anyway, by the time we figured out how to get back in Gordo here was calling us to tell us he was on a flight to Vegas with the stone. So we waited for him to show, and then when you pulled that stunt with the jets we figured it was the perfect time to get back inside, and, well, here we are,” he says, smiling proudly but tentatively.

“Boyfriend?” I ask, not even looking up from my stone. Lou motions to Gordo who pushes the stranger forward. He stumbles and falls to one knee, which is awesome cause it looks like he’s bowing to me, as it should be. “Who’s this?” I say, barely acknowledging him.

“He belongs to Bonnie,” Lou says proudly, at which my head snaps up.

“So she is alive,” I seethe.

“Not anymore,” Lou says straightening out his suit cuff. “Gordo put about a thousand bullets in her back – she went down hard, and she had the stone on her that time, so he took it,” he smiles. I cut him one of my most dangerous looks.