Chapter 62

Tyler remained by Hugh’s side, staring at the man he figured to be the one calling the shots. In his mind, he chuckled at the pun. He hoped whoever he was wouldn’t actually call for shots. Dying in an ancient chamber somewhere in Thailand wasn’t what he had planned for this mission. He and Mary had a plan to go to the Maldives on their honeymoon after another wedding; dying here was unnerving. He hasn't even proposed to her yet.

Hugh gave a nod, and a firm hand grasped Tyler’s by the shirt and hauled him up, propping him on his knees.

The smartass in him couldn’t be held back any longer. Tyler turned his head and looked at Hugh, who’d picked him up. "Hey! Come on, you have to improve your trash. Let that be a lesson to you. Don’t shove people unless you’re going to help them up after."

Hugh raised a brow; he appeared shocked by the statement but mumbled nothing, taking a step back and pointing his gun at Tyler’s head. "Talk, and I will kill you!”

"Good to see your sense of humour is still on point, Tyler," Elizabeth said in a cool tone, but it wasn’t the sound of her voice that frightened Tyler. It was the idea that she knew their mission here. He realised that she had been on their trail from the very start, and Eddie was feeding her information.

Elizabeth stepped forward, her hands folded behind her back. From Tyler’s vantage point, it was difficult to tell any exit point. Her silky fake blond hair was pulled back into a tight bun. She wore matching black glasses, though they could have been just for appearances. She looked rather professional, not the whore he once dated.

She stopped three feet away from him, looked down, and slapped Mary’s face. "That's for fucking my Tyler.”

Mary growled, “He is never yours, bitch!”

Another slap!

Tyler exclaimed, “Enough, she is bleeding. Stop hurting her!”

“Oh, what a romantic duo! I will kill her first, and I'll watch you cry.”

“Bitch!”

Dave was watching from the other side of the room. Tyler stole a glance at him, then at Mary. None of them appeared to have been tortured—not yet, at least, but Mary looked exhausted. Her face’s red from the slap.

That would happen again, which meant he needed to find a way out of this mess. Elizabeth’s men weren’t the kind to make mistakes.

Mary looked at him, knowing that he was thinking about any exit, as she looked at the goons and Elizabeth. She loathed the bitch so much that it hurt. The painful memory of losing her child never left her. Her anger rushed through her. Anger from the very depths of her heart overpowered her. She wanted nothing but to kill Elizabeth.

"If only you listened to me before, Tyler, but anyway, look at you and your stupid wife? You are at my mercy." She smiled seductively and waved a hand around in a twirl before placing it back with the other behind her waist. "But of course, I need the treasure more than anything else."

"For what?!" Tyler shouted. "Look around you! This chamber is empty! There is nothing here."

"Oh, really? Is that what you think?"

"There are no such things as crazy questions, Elizabeth," Dave intruded with a wink to Tyler. "Stupid people who ask questions, sure, but no crazy questions."

Tyler groaned a laugh. "Yeah, he’s right. My bad."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, and Tyler could tell the woman was tempted to slap him again.

Tyler always dealt with life-or-death situations like this one in the only way he knew how: with laughter. That old saying about having to laugh so you won't cry has been a valuable tool throughout the years.

"Shut up, you two!" She grumbled, clearly annoyed, coherently, and with more than enough menace in her tone to get the point across that she wasn’t amused. “I'm going to kill the three of you after I get my treasure, and a lot of people will die."

Eddie, from behind Dave and Mary, smirked and nodded to Elizabeth as if telling her to continue to let the world know about their diabolical plan.

"What do you mean, die?" Mary muttered, clearly interested in knowing more.

"Ah, the bitch is interested, but well, I know, there is no harm if I tell you everything," she said and began pacing. "Whatever was inside the golden Buddha was nothing but a formula, the last ingredients for some ancient explosive weapon that could kill millions in one day, a sort of bomb." She smirked, amused by their reaction. “And poison the air for years and years.”

The captives gasped in unison.

"Ah, what?!" Mary asked, clearly confused. "I thought Sir Anthony was looking for a treasure."

"And that—" Elizabeth's laughter echoed in the chamber. "But it's not all about the treasure. Stupid of you to believe him, of course, it was about that knowledge. Well, the ancients called it the perfect formula for the death of millions, so maybe the old man wasn’t that far from the truth."

"Oh, God!" Mary murmured.

"Oh, hell indeed," she paused and looked at Hugh, who nodded, "but let me tell you something: I am one of the last keepers, and Grant was the true keeper of the Buddha. Back a long time ago, Grant trusted the Johnson family so much that they shared his secret with them, but look what it got them? It was claimed by Johnson. My ancestor was betrayed. Johnson ruined our calling. They perfected a plan to hide the Golden Buddha and then stole the treasure. Everything. They created a perfect thief, a perfect lure, and a perfect story to convince everyone that the chamber was in Europe. They hired Lek-Mraphi and even the Thai government convinced them that the Johnsons were the keepers, but it was all a big lie! A colossal betrayal," Elizabeth inhaled deeply and turned to face Tyler. Hugh nodded as if telling her to continue.

"Your grandfather was aware of it, Tyler. He knew. He was well-informed, which is why the old man despised my family so much. But, of course, he thought I was just a whore, foolish, and only interested in your money, so he let me into your life to amuse himself. He didn't even expect Hugh to be there with your supposed to be secretary, he was perfectly placed in Mary's apartment because she works for you. He gathered data from her, interfered with her phone, and even installed a camera in her room to listen on everything about your company, but you, of course, You, being as naive and innocent from Anthony's deception, But Hugh never got anything and concluded that you didn't know anything about your grandfather's past," she paused and pointed to Mary. "But everything changed when you married Mary. Then Anthony died, and our plan was restarted, so we arranged everything."

"You, bitch! You murdered my child!" Mary screamed as rage overtook her. “I’m going to—”

"Oh, dear, I did you a favour; at least your kiddo won't suffer from the poisonous gas in the air when I bomb Europe. I made the best decision for your child.” She smirked. “So, welcome!"

"You're evil!"

"Me? Oh, so as Anthony, may his soul rot in hell."

Dave intruded, "What do you want with us? Why were your men following us? If you know where the Buddha is?"

"That, Dave, is a question best answered by someone else."

Mary scrunched her forehead, caught off guard by the answer. Did that mean she and Hugh weren't the ones in charge of this little operation?

Then a door opened directly in front of Tyler, and another figure marched in. The woman didn’t have her hands tied, though she was clearly a prisoner like the rest of them. "Doctor Lanna?" Mary spoke quickly. She was the woman who helped them in Scotland. She took them when they were running from Javier’s men. “Are you okay?” Her voice was full of both relief and concern. "What are you doing here?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes, I'm okay," she turned to Mary. "Hello, my dear." There was sadness in her voice.

"What is going on?" Mary demanded and turned to Elizabeth. "Why did you take her?"

Elizabeth snorted with an evil laugh. "We didn’t take her. She came to us."