Chapter Nine 113

Chapter Nine

The Thames

The Hellenic Coast Guard was called out Sunday morning to a distress call from the Brilliance, a 175 ft superyacht owned by the Variance Corporation. The yacht was hosting the wedding of Yiannis Porchecyzk and his fiancé Lauren Vanderhaagen.

Socialite Vivienne Wallace Berringer was reported missing after the event by her son, Webber Wallace. Vivienne is the widow of Louis Berringer, who rose to fame after his start-up horse racing betting app, GATE, sold for fifty-six million in early 2009.

Multiple crews were on scene at 1017. Bystanders report Webber Wallace was sedated on scene, removed from the yacht, and hospitalized.

La Stanza

The search for Vivienne Wallace Berringer continues after being called off for inclement weather Tuesday afternoon at 1600 hrs. Webber Wallace held a press conference, offering a half-million-dollar reward for any news that leads to the successful relocation of his mother. Mr. Webber reports his mother had recently been diagnosed with diabetes and needs daily insulin shots .

Inside sources of the Hellenic Police report to La Stanza that nothing suspicious has been found on the Brilliance. Eyewitnesses report Mrs. Wallace Berringer had been drinking heavily.

The Kathimerini

The search for Vivienne Wallace Berringer has been officially called off. The investigation revealed that Mrs. Wallace Berringer’s latest refill of insulin was in her bags, sealed, leading to the conclusion that it was unlikely Mrs. Wallace Berringer had been taking her medication. Her son, Webber Wallace, has been interviewed. Her daughter, Cleome Wallace, was not in the country at the time of Mrs. Wallace Berringer’s disappearance. Household staff report Ms. Wallace had left for an extended vacation approximately one month before the tragic disappearance of her mother.

Investigations into Mrs. Berringer Wallace’s finances have begun. The family of her fifth husband, Wyland Sheridan, an American rancher known for his Circle W Ranch and Brindle Beef Company, have requested Mr. Sheridan’s body be exhumed and an independent autopsy be performed. The Sheridans have been vocal in the past about their suspicions that Mr. Sheridan did not die of natural causes. The discord between Mr. Sheridan’s four sons and his widow, Vivienne Wallace Berringer, was well known after Mr. Sheridan’s granddaughter rose to social media fame for her video series accusing Mrs. Wallace Berringer of murdering her grandfather.

***

Waves lap gently against the hull of Arryn’s boat. The brilliant azure coast of Mykonos, along with the radiant heat of the sun and the ocean air, are a happy pill I can’t stop swallowing. My legs curl underneath me as I lay my head on Webber’s shoulder. His arm is around my shoulder. Anyone using a telephoto lens would see two heartbroken siblings, mourning the loss of their beloved mother.

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep my hands off you,” he whispers, dropping a chaste kiss to my forehead.

“I don’t know why we are bothering with this. I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks.” I shift restlessly. Webber’s shoulders seem to be the same size they were before when I wrap my hands around his shoulders and lay my face on his chest, but when I squeeze him, I’m afraid to hurt him. There’s an air of brittle fragility, an emptiness born of grieving our mother that, secretly, I find hard to forgive.

Today is the first day Webber has come out from his room since boarding five days ago.

Vivienne is not missing. She’s locked in a cell in Mexico. Arryn’s staff keep her fed. He’s in no hurry to end her life, but that time is coming. He wants to give Webber and I time to work through things.

I’m helping Webber with his grief. He’s admitted now that he refused to see how she treated me. That when his brain finally broke from losing me, he took it out on Mother.

I’ll never tell him she played along. How easy it was to beat her at her own game. He doesn’t know she didn’t fall over that railing. Webber is busy navigating his loss and falling in love with Arryn.

“Want something to drink?” Webber taps the end of my nose before getting up and wandering over to the small bar across the deck.

“Sure,” I answer absently. I love him. He’s my other half. But I’m also in love with Arryn. Webber couldn’t let go of Mother, couldn’t see past her web of lies. As much as he loves me, he couldn’t force himself to see the insidious things she did to me. She whored us both out, using me as the filter to screen her next victim. I’ll help him grieve, even if I am not. Staying together is the only way for the two of us to heal the wounds Mother inflicted.

I accept the glass of juice Webber hands me. I’ve given up drinking alcohol. I dislike anything that dulls my senses. My gaze wanders over the top deck, past the masts, to where Arryn steers the boat. He’s got dark sunglasses on, but I don’t need to see his eyes to feel the promise in them.

Arryn will keep my secrets. Loving Webber has opened Arryn up to how necessary it is to protect him. Loving both of us has begun to alter Arryn’s end game. Sure, he still wants his revenge, no man of Arryn’s caliber could spend twenty-four years on one mission and not see it through to completion, but Arryn no longer finds killing Vivienne with his own hands as enticing as he once did.

One of the reasons I’ve come to find the idea of forgiving Webber palatable is because he’s shared his voyeurism with Arryn. Arryn has become obsessed with watching. And that’s worked out well for all three of us.

Because he thinks he’ll take more pleasure in watching when it comes to Vivienne’s demise. And I couldn’t agree more.

The End