Royal Line

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  She smoothed her hand over my cheek, her thumb caressing my cheekbone. “You’ll never have to find out. I’ll take care of this, okay?”

  When she left, I turned around and leaned against the door. “I cannot do this. I’m not getting married. Not to some random duke. I want love. I deserve that.”

  Roman sighed. “Relax, I’m not going to let it happen.”

  “Okay, then who’s it going to be who’s popping out an heir? It’s not you, Roman, for obvious reasons.”

  Breck pepped up. “Listen, I don’t even have anyone on the horizon to marry. Can you imagine me married?”

  I rolled my eyes in disgust. There were stories about how Breck lived up to his reputation constantly. So many rumors in fact that I shuddered just thinking of one.

  “Roman, I can’t.”

  “And you don’t have to. I’m not going to let it happen.”

  Breck stepped forward. “All right, so she obviously can’t get married to some random duke. What are we going to do?”

  Roman scrubbed his hand over his face. “Well, for starters, she’s going to get the hell out of Dodge.”

  My mouth fell open. “Roman, Mr. Follow the Rules, what are you going to do, squirrel me out of here? Didn’t you just forbid me from living my life not thirty minutes ago?”

  “If I didn’t, you would just go on your own, right?”

  “Do you have a point?”

  Breck clapped his hands together. “All right, someone hand me my laptop. I can mess with the cameras to make it look like she’s in her room, at least through the morning. I’ll buy her some time. You’ll need cash and documents.”

  “We’ll find you a safe house. There are many on the council who are loyal to us. They were loyal to Mom and Dad. They’ll help. They’ll stall the vote until we can find a loophole.”

  I blinked at my brothers. “You’re serious? You’re going to help me?”

  Roman’s brow furrowed. “Did you think that we wouldn’t?”

  I lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. You like being a king.”

  “Like is the wrong word for it. But no way in hell will I allow Barkley to take this throne. Or anyone else for that matter. I care about the people more than I care about being king. But right now, my personal interests are in line with the common good, so come on. I’ll figure out a way to get you the hell out of here.”

  Roman went to the safe behind the massive painting of our parents. “Before they died, Mom and Dad were clear that we all should always have multiple passports. Yours are in here.”

  “How is this my life right now?”

  “Better you do it with help than on your own.”

  Wilder nodded. “I have a list of safe houses we can send her to. America. Hell, let’s go farther. Australia. Ooh, we have Tonga.”

  Roman shook his head. “No, she can’t be anywhere that the lords would know because they would summon her right back.”

  “Oh wait,” I offered. “Remember my friend, Rian? She lives in Paris. I can stay with her. We’ve been friends since boarding school. No one knows her.”

  Wilder stroked his jaw, rubbing at his stubble. “That might work, actually. Does she have security?”

  “I— I don’t know.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t worry. Breck, see if you can find her security company and tap into their systems. See if she’s got any security.”

  “Well, she’s an actress, so she probably does, in order to protect herself,” I said.

  Roman stiffened at that. “Wait, that Rian?”

  “Yes. You met her once when you came to pick me up at school.”

  He swallowed hard then. What was wrong with him?

  Breck nodded. “She has a decent security system in her country flat. It’s basic but a little more upgraded. Panic room and everything. It’s a good place to hide out until we figure this out.”

  Roman handed me the passports. “You’ve got a couple of options there. One is American, which is great because it’s from when you went to boarding school, and you can pull off the accent.” He handed the little portfolios to me, and I stared down at them. Next, he handed me cash.

  Wilder rolled his eyes and stepped into the safe and pulled out a bag. It was a cross-body situation that looked sturdy but slightly fashionable. “Here, use this.”

  I shoved the passports into it. The money was harder.

  Wilder said, “This backpack should do. We’ll pack you a few sets of clothes, but you’re going to have to borrow. You want to travel as light as possible right now.”

  Breck tapped away on his laptop. “I’ve already got her on a charter flight to Paris using the name on the passport.”

  I glanced around at my brothers. “Oh my God, you guys are insane, but I love you.”

  Roman pulled me in for a tight hug, and I almost didn’t know what to do. He never touched people, but slowly my arms wrapped around him. He felt solid and warm, like home. He smelled so familiar, just like Dad always had. I could have nestled there all day. But too soon, he was shrugging back, pushing me away, and erecting the walls again. “We have to get you out of here.”

  Wilder nodded. “I’ve got a way out. There’s a tunnel right outside the offices. It’ll lead her down to the back exit. I’ll drive her to the airport myself.”

  So this was happening? “I didn’t even get my cake.”

  Roman chuckled. “Eat cake in Paris. Right now, your safety and your freedom are more important than anything.”

  “You obviously don’t know how important a cake is to me.”

  Breck gave me a tight squeeze and picked me up off the floor. “Look, we’ll figure this out. This is just a mini vacation in Paris. How bad could it be?”

  His smile was light, but I could see it in his eyes; he was worried.

  Roman, gave me another quick squeeze and then stepped back. Wilder put out his hand. “Come on, little sis. Let’s get you in the car. Looks like you’re getting that adventure you’ve always wanted after all.”

  Chapter 3

  Kannon

  How did it come to this?

  * * *

  A client, was a client, was a client, was a client.

  I didn’t care what kind of clients we had at Kannon Security. All I cared about was that we had them. And business had been good over the last three years. We’d weathered the rocky storms and growing pains of building a solid security business.

  But if I had to rank our clients in a hierarchy of worst to best, my current assignment, Lilith Montague, was the worst kind.

  First, she was the daughter of a diplomat. That meant she’d spent most of her life learning how to appear to be one thing while being something else entirely. She’d spent her whole life smiling for the cameras, shaking hands, being the perfect daughter, while behind the scenes, being allowed to get away with murder. Although, I hoped that wasn’t literal in this case.

  I loathed diplomats’ kids because they were the ones most likely to thwart the rules. They threw themselves into finding trouble and not bothering to find their way out of it. And despite access to the finest education, they did their best to squander every single opportunity placed in front of them and pull out that dumbass card every chance they got.

  And Lilith Montague was no different. If she heard there was a squander-your-life event, she’d be first in line for that shit. She was your typical Kardashian-living, influencer-aspiring, refuse-to-do-anything-with-the-brain-God-gave-her kind of girl. Which was a shame, because I had a great deal of respect for her father.

  Drake Montague had given me my first job. Right after I opened Kannon Security, he’d picked our no-name security firm to do a job for him at an event. I’d asked him why he’d chosen us, and he said because he’d been like me once. Unlike most diplomats, he’d served in the military, and he’d honestly wanted to make the world better.

  Thanks to his endorsement, we’d gotten bigger and better contracts. I would always be grateful to him. Especially given the shitstorm o
f my life before I opened Kannon Security.

  When Drake Montague called looking for a favor, I didn’t say no.

  My other least favorite kind of job was the bodyguard gigs to concerts. The kind of shows that made Burning Man look like a stuffy event. First and foremost, there were drugs everywhere. Too many exits and entrances, and they were always packed to the gills. Not to mention my team basically telegraphed that they were bodyguards. We worked best in casual attire; dressed up, we stood out like sore thumbs. We were the only ones not taking any drugs. It didn’t help that everything was brightly lit with flashing lights suffusing the area. It was easy to miss what you needed to see, and far too easy to see something that wasn’t there at all.

  Sparrow tapped into her coms. “Boss, can you check your south exit? Something looks off.”

  I frowned at that. “Copy.” I headed that way, holding back a growl.

  Sparrow made her way to the women’s restroom. Her sightline was on Lilith at the bar. And my other guys, Max and Aidan, were basically beating the men off of her. Sparrow at least looked undercover. She looked like she could be one of Lilith’s friends. Which certainly helped.

  My gaze narrowed, and I frowned when I locked onto what Sparrow had seen at the exit.

  “Blue baseball hat, ripped tank, eyes glued on Lilith?”

  “Yup, that’s the one. He’s been keeping a little too close from behind as we’ve made our rounds. I keep seeing him on my radar.”

  “Copy. I’ll go talk to him.”

  Normally, with a job like this, I’d send Sparrow with Olly or Marcus. Nikolai worked better on his own. But because this was Drake’s daughter, the whole team came along for the ride. Fantastic. Not like Drake wasn’t paying us handsomely, but still, a babysitting gig. And all said, with all of us here, we were billing at thousands an hour. As if we had no other active pressing cases.

  Easy. Drake gave you a shot when you were about to spiral into the depths of hell. So cut the kid some slack.

  I had to remind myself of that. Without Drake’s support, things would have been much, much worse for me. I could put up with his daughter for a night…at a Paris Fashion Week party.

  Suddenly, there was a long beat of silence that sent my arm hairs standing at attention. It was the calm before the storm. Then there was a bass drop accompanied by a loud bullhorn alarm. The kind they played in clubs. Some DJ came on with a mic and said, “We’re going to kick it old school, ladies and gents, taking us back and dropping you into a little foam.”

  I frowned. “Did he just say foam?”

  On the other end of the coms, Sparrow made a gagging sound. “Yes, he did. And for the record, I’d like to note that it’s disgusting.”

  Olly laughed. “He is really trying to nail that old-school vibe and kiss the designer’s ass. 1999 is the theme of the Blink & Marc fashion show. Weren’t any of you paying attention? Sparrow, you of all people.”

  Sparrow snorted. “Um, no. I don’t do the whole fashion thing. I just naturally look fabulous. Besides, check your patriarchy at the door, handsome. It is possible for me to have tits and not like fashion.”

  “Are you two done yet?” I frowned as I searched the crowd. Luckily, I towered over most of the party guests. “Nikolai, Blue Cap has vanished from sight. I repeat, he’s vanished from sight.”

  I made my way to the door, hoping to catch the guy, but I couldn’t find him in the crowd. And then the foam started. Kids at the center of the dance floor started hopping around and slipping. The designers had thrown this little after-party to celebrate the booming success of their line. Frankly, I didn’t understand how bright colors and baggy jeans were somehow now back in style.

  Suddenly, Sparrow’s frantic voice came back through the coms with a hint of tension. “Lilith is gone. I can’t find her. Vanished in the crowd.”

  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? “Repeat?” This couldn’t be happening. No. No. No. No.

  “I repeat, Lilith has gone missing.”

  “Fan out. Olly and Marcus, put yourselves at the exits. Max and Aiden, east and west stairs. No one walks in or out of here. Sparrow, you start down the north side, work your way to the center, I will follow up from the south.” Jesus fucking Christ. “Nikolai, you start in the middle.”

  This was not happening. I had not lost Drake Montague’s daughter, for the love of Christ.

  As my team searched frantically, I kept the coms open. My eyes fervently searched the crowd. Every pencil-necked, needle-headed prick who thought he was God’s gift to women and used the opportunity with the foam to bump and grind on the girls made it difficult, if not impossible, to see in the crowd.

  Lilith had been wearing all white. Some midriff-baring thing with fringe on the bottom of it, and barely-there shorts. Unfortunately, she looked like every other model in here.

  We hunted through the crowd, person by person, and I was ready to make the call to shut down the entire after-party when I finally caught sight of a blue cap in the periphery of my vision, heading into the bathroom—or at least into the private VIP bathroom area.

  The party was so exclusive that those who were personal friends to the designers got their own VIP area, which meant there were no webcams.

  I made my way over there, and an attendant tried to stop me, but I held up my badge. The whole team had gotten them for complete VIP access.

  Thanks to years of rigorous training, I’d managed to keep the bulk of my adrenaline at bay. But this woman was slowing down my progress, and I was about to forget to be a gentleman. But luckily, she didn’t have to see my grumpy side.

  With a grumble, she let me pass. My gaze swept the area over and over, cataloguing and then dismissing everyone in the section.

  When I didn’t see Lilith or Blue Cap, that left only one place they could be. I pressed my com unit at my shoulder. “Sparrow, stand by for confirmation. I might have located Lilith Montague.”

  Unlike the main area, the VIP bathrooms were far less crowded. There were only two women waiting, and I caught the eye of the curvy brunette. “Excuse me, have you seen a man about medium height and weight, dark hair, blue baseball cap?”

  Her gaze swept over me. “Just when I thought my night was looking up, you go and ask me where another guy went? Bummer. You would have really made my night.”

  My cheeks heated, but I kept my stern face on. “I promise, I’m not that much fun. Now have you seen him or not?”

  With a shrug, she lifted her head toward the bathroom door. “In there with some debutante.”

  I tested the door to the bathroom, only to find it locked. The same woman who had hit on me told me there were stalls, so why the fuck had Lilith locked the door?

  I knelt in front of the knob, pulled out my lock pick set, and had the doorknob turning in seconds.

  When I stood and shifted to the side, I found Blue Cap. It turned out, there had been a reason he’d been watching Lilith.

  Lilith was perched on top of the counter, her legs wrapped around Blue Cap’s waist, grinding her body on his as she snorted white powder off his shoulder.

  I tapped my com. “Stand down. I located her.”

  What I wanted to do was rip her away and warn her that her father was looking for her, but I didn’t bother. Instead, I marched back out, closed the bathroom door behind me, and stood watch, wondering how the hell this had become my life.

  Her father’s directive had been clear. Keep an eye on her. Be discrete. And only intervene if her life was in imminent danger. Apparently, those were the terms Lilith had negotiated with her father, so my hands were tied—no matter how much I wanted to toss Blue Cap out on his ass. I had to stand where I was and hope…and wait.

  You know how this happened.

  Ordinarily, I refused to let the memories come back. But apparently, I didn’t have a choice tonight. With Phoebe gone, I’d had to pick up the pieces. And unfortunately, the price of putting my life back together meant jobs like this.

  Sparrow’s voice was clear. “You got
her, boss?”

  “I have her.”

  “I presume she’s alive?”

  “Yes. Perfectly fine. She’s got a coke habit, but other than that, she’s peachy.”

  “Jesus Christ,” she muttered. “Who even does coke anymore?”

  “I know. Aren’t we the lucky ones?” I muttered.

  “All right, where are you? I’ll relieve you and take her home.”

  “No. I’ve got this. You watch the exits with Olly.”

  I didn’t care who I owed favors to, but I was done with these things from now on. No more babysitting. At least, no more babysitting debutantes. There had to be more to life than this. There just had to.

  Chapter 4

  Kannon

  That was unexpected.

  * * *

  My skin still hummed with adrenaline. When I deposited Little Miss Debutante at the car, Sparrow came over and checked in. “You all right, boss?”

  “Fine. Considering that I had been all systems go before realizing the emergency alarms in my brain were nothing more than a debutante meeting her dealer for a requisite line of coke at an event.”

  She laughed. “Let this be a lesson to you. Debutantes aren’t our thing. Women hiding from their husbands, that’s our lane.”

  “Well, all of it is part of our job. Besides, the longer we’re around, the larger the favors are that get called in.”

  She cocked her head and gave me a saucy smile. “Then stop giving out IOUs. Just because someone saves your life once or helps you walk across the street after a long day doesn’t mean they should command any of your time in the future. Pay them back in kind. With something small. Not like, ‘Sure I’ll watch your daughter at a big event and make sure no one tries to kill or kidnap her. Oh, and it’s okay to neglect to mention that your child is a handful with a coke fiend boyfriend.’”

  “Right,” I grumbled. “And she was such a sweet kid.”