Frederik rushed on, agitated and eager to brag. “You remember your stupid friend coming to visit, don’t you? The ridiculous artist?”
She nodded sharply.
“I could never stand her,” Frederik said. “Useless woman in a useless field. Believed such brainless things. Crystals and spirits. Every time I was forced to endure her intolerable presence, I detested her more. That is not the point, however. Your mother, she left your room, and I hid from her as she passed. I was coming to see you. I had come to confront you about you denying me my rightful credit with the Carrington Award. I wanted an explanation for why you had cheated me, though I realized, deep down, you could never defend such a despicable action.”
He pointed a finger at Amara. “You had a secret. Of course, your stupid friend did not close the door to your room completely. It was a trivial matter to listen in to her incessant prattling. I could smell that noxious gift she brought, hear every word. Then … mmm. You came clean with her. Not only were you planning to give your child away, you had made an unholy arrangement with this man.” A quick point toward Quint. “Oh, I can’t begin to tell you how sweet that moment was. I already knew this man was dead. Unlike you, I wasn’t caught with my dirty feet in the stirrups when the plane crash happened. I’ll never be able to describe what I felt at that moment. I was so angry with you for having lied to everyone, but I was overjoyed that the man was dead. I wanted to rush into your room right then and shout the news of his death. To watch you crumble. But I thought then to move with more care. More planning.”
Amara shuddered. Frederik was becoming increasingly manic, and with that, more and more unpredictable and dangerous.
He raved on. “I decided then that I would wait, bide my time for the proper moment to right your many wrongs and take back what was mine. I made plans, threw them out, and made new plans. I waited and waited, because I am strong, and nature favors the strong.”
“Ha-ha!” Frederik’s laughter had a hollow sound. “So, then your rich lover survived the crash after all. I learned as the rest of the world did, and I knew it was time to move ahead with a new plan. And then you unjustly got me fired from my post at the university. At first I wanted to do away with you, Amara, and leave your child motherless, but then it all became clear in a shining moment. I knew what had to be done, and how to do it. Whether I realized it or not, I had been waiting for exactly that contingency. The time was ripe to extract my revenge on the both of you.”
Quint squeezed Amara’s waist gently before he spoke in a low whisper that went entirely unnoticed by the ranting Frederik. “Let him talk. He’ll run out of steam soon, and then we’ll go. Don’t worry.”
“I followed you from your home,” Frederik continued. “I watched you leave the child at your mother’s house. When the time was right, I knocked on her door. It was so easy to take her down. I told her of your crimes against me, bound her, and left with the child. It was all so easy. Almost insultingly so. I knew that Forbes would be coming to claim the child before long, so I had to leave immediately. What better place to go than the place I know best? The place where I have so many who trust me implicitly, who love me? Of course, I came home to Montevideo. Beautiful Montevideo.”
He turned on his heel briefly, outstretching his arms as if to embrace the city before turning back to them. “And now, I have my revenge. It is only right that it be here.”
Amara nodded almost eagerly. “Yes, you have. You wrecked everything for me, Frederik. I’m so sorry for what I did to you.” Her stomach churned at the forced apology, but she put everything she had into what she hoped would be a convincing performance of contrition and remorse. “I was wrong. You deserve the money Quint’s paid you. Please, give me my son, and you’ll never have to see our faces again. I’ll even tell everyone at the university that I lied. Everyone will know you were a good man wronged by a bitter woman. Where is Hampton? Is he in the grove over there?”
Frederik broke into an unrestrained, almost maniacal laugh. “Oh … oh, no. You are as naive as ever, but I am no fool. Why would I bring him here with me? Your unholy lover is a man of great means. Forbes could just as easily have hired a sniper or have someone waiting nearby to assassinate me. If not some sort of professional killer, the police. No, your mewling bastard is not here.”
Quint took a quick step forward, but found the barrel of the gun trained on him immediately.
“Ah-ah. Stay right … where … you are.” Frederik’s toothy smile seemed to bisect his face, lips pulled tight.
Panic rushed through Amara in a growing wave. “What do you mean Hampton isn’t here? That wasn’t the deal!”
Frederik leaned down, keeping the weapon aimed as he grabbed the bag. “You thought wrong about the deal, I think!”
He gripped the bag’s strap, and in a swift, unnervingly graceful move, twirled it around once, twice, before letting it sail into the air, up and over the side of the cliff.
Chapter Thirty Four
A FEW SCREAMING, SURPRISED VOICES drifted up from below, and an instant’s darkening of the smoke and the rising embers made it clear where the bag had landed — no doubt by Frederik’s design.
Amara and Quint stared at him, speechless.
Frederik was beyond smug with his explanation. “I’m destroying what you hold most dear, of course, Forbes! All that money, it’s gone, now. Gone. You can never retrieve it. It will sit for the rest of your lifetime in an account that no one can access!”
Quint’s brow rose in confusion and concern. If Frederik wasn’t after the money, the situation was turning sour, and quickly. Amara understood this as well and quaked inside.
“Why would you do that?” Quint asked.
“I’m getting my revenge! Don’t you see?” Frederik held his arms out at his sides, his tone raising quickly. “There’s no way forward, now. I’ve known this for a long while. Federico told me. He said I’m not supposed to be the one outside. He’s calling the shots. He knows what to do.”
Again, Amara didn’t understand. Federico? Wasn’t that the name his sister used for him?
Frederik railed on. “He told me — all that’s left for me now is justice, and I’ll have it from you. Both of you!” Another cackling, unrestrained laugh. “I will take what is most important to you, just as you’ve done to me. Federico has shown me how this will end.”
My God, Amara thought, he was even more insane than they knew.
She took a half-step forward. “Frederik, put the gun down. Try to relax. Like I said, I’m going to tell everyone that I lied. I’ll tell them that you were right, that you were never at fault for anything. Things can go back to the way they were.”
Frederik took a quick step back. “It’s too late for that. I don’t want it! No, this is it. I’m taking …” A few hard, jagged breaths as he let the weapon fall from his grasp. “I’m taking from you what can never, ever, be replaced. I’m going now. Yes, Federico. I’m going. I … ha-ha …. You two will never, ever, find your son. He is lost to you — as am I.” His gun fell from his fingers and hit the ground with hardly a sound.
The moment Frederik dropped the gun, Quint broke away from Amara and lunged toward him. “No!”