by S. E. Rose
“Good, the more eyes we have on this, the better,” my father replies. “I’d like everyone to remain here until we obtain further information.”
Everyone nods.
“For how long?” Auggie prods. I almost want to laugh because it’s so typical of him to poke the beast.
“For as long as your father, the King of Norddale, declares it,” my father says to him in a voice that says he will not be entertaining further conversation on the issue.
Auggie doesn’t respond other than a slight nod.
“Now, if you all don’t mind, I have work to do. If there is an update, I will call for you,” he says to us all, essentially dismissing us.
Everyone files out of the room, but I remain. For the first time ever, I consider telling my father. I hesitate because he will be angry, so very angry with me. I decide to wait, to go back to my computer and to gather more intel before I tell him.
“What is it, Anna?” he says to me. I look up to find him watching me.
“Nothing, Daddy,” I say slowly. I rise to leave but he grips my arm. I turn to him.
“There is nothing that you can’t tell me, my love. I am king, but first and foremost, I am your father,” he says. I lean down and kiss his cheek, touching it gently with my hand before pulling away. It’s bristly, as though he hasn’t shaved yet today, which is unusual for him.
“I know, Daddy,” I say to him. My throat tightens as I look away, ashamed that I can’t bring myself to say the words.
I leave his study and head straight up to my secret hiding place and pull my computer from the drawer. I begin searching for answers. I’m afraid of what I’ll find but I’m now more determined than ever to find out who is trying to kill Logan Winters.
Chapter 22
It’s the buzz of my phone that pulls me from my search several hours later. I glance down. It’s Auggie.
Auggie: The Room—Now
I sigh. “The Room” is Auggie’s code for the billiard room. He’s bored in other words and wants a playmate. I smirk remembering when Paolo was sent as his secretary instead of the young, blonde-haired woman he had wanted, who my father deemed not fit for the position. Her name escapes me but her attempts to push the royal dress code boundaries do not.
Auggie has a penchant for women and fast cars. The fact that he is unable to play with either is probably killing him right now.
Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure Chris is using this lockdown as an excuse to spend inordinate amounts of time with Mia. I sigh again and lock in my latest search before hiding my computer in the cabinet to work while I go play babysitter.
I decide I need backup, so I knock on Logan’s door. I don’t hear anything, so I slowly open the door.
“Logan?” I call out. His room is dark. I frown. I walk down to the kitchen to ask Tessa to bring Auggie and me snacks.
“These are amazing, Tessa,” I hear Logan’s voice, and I smile.
I open the door and find him sitting on a stool, eating more of Tessa’s cookies.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you are indeed a cookie monster,” I say to him.
He grins as he chews. “These are hands down the best cookies that I’ve ever had,” he declares. I look over and see a glass of milk.
“Milk, huh?” I say to him.
He nods. “I needed it. It’s the perfect pairing for these chocolate chip cookies. I can’t decide if the oatmeal raisin or these are my favorite,” he says.
“Well, I for one love the oatmeal best,” I say to him as I walk over and remove one from the cookie jar. “Tessa, can we get a snack plate for the billiard room?” I ask.
She turns and wipes her hands on her apron. “Of course, sweetie pie. I’ll have someone bring it over shortly,” she says as she eyes up a staff member on the far side of the kitchen. I feel a little bad, as there are a few new hires since I’ve been here last. I walk over to the young woman.
“Hello,” I say.
She turns and shyly smiles at me, curtsying.
“Oh, no need for formalities. I’m Anna,” I say.
“Liza,” she replies.
“Nice to meet you, Liza,” I say to her. She nods and quickly scurries off like a nervous rabbit.
“Thanks,” I say to Tessa as I kiss her cheek and grab another cookie for the road. “You coming?” I ask Logan as I waltz toward the door.
“Sure, if I eat any more of these, I’ll need two plane seats for the way home,” he says. He gives Tessa a wink.
Logan follows me down a corridor and then another. I hear the distinct sound of the balls clicking against the billiard table as Auggie must have started playing on his own.
I walk into the room, and he stops.
“Hey, I found a straggler,” I say to him.
“You play?” Auggie asks Logan.
“I’ve been known to play a bit,” Logan says. I can tell by his voice that he’s trying to be cool about the fact that he must play regularly.
“Chalk it up, then,” Auggie says with a smirk.
“Seriously?” I say to them. “Is there room for me in this testosterone-filled party?” I ask them.
They both turn to me with sheepish looks. I roll my eyes but see an out to continue my research. “Why don’t I leave you two to play and I’ll come back down in a bit to join you?” I say to them.
“Why, what are you doing?” Auggie asks, his voice laced with suspicion.
“I just want to check my grades; they should be posted by now,” I say to him innocently.
He gives me the “I know you are up to something” look. I smile and sneak out of the room and back to my laptop.
I pull it from its resting place.
I scan the search and my eyes narrow on two things. One, M has arrived in my country. I see one of his aliases in the passport entry records that I’ve hacked. His arrival is timestamped as 3:46 p.m., yesterday. I also find an interesting message buried in a chat room in a part of the dark web that even mildly bad criminals would not want to be caught in.
It reads, “Finish it now.”
I pull up the encrypted message file details. It was posted fifteen seconds ago. I quickly begin typing, running a trace as fast as I can. I have a very, very limited window if this individual is anything like I think they are, they will have this erased and the server untraceable in a matter of seconds. M must have a search running that gives him this information immediately, so he doesn’t miss it. I push the thoughts of what hacker is working with both M and my mystery person as I zone in on the numbers and symbols flying across my screen.
Then, I see it, the location is coming into focus for me. In my head, it’s like a giant map of the world, and I’m slowly zoning in on the area. Europe and then France and then Saint Tropez. And then a section of town, and I’m almost to an exact block of a street when the connection dies.
“Damn it,” I mutter. I pull up the location on a map. There are only six large homes back in the area that I’ve locked into. I see pools in the satellite imagery. I stare at it, puzzled as memories flood my mind.
“Again!” I cry out.
“One more time, and then Uncle Eddie and I need to go,” my dad says from the edge of the pool.
I squeal in delight and swim back to my Uncle Eddie. He launches me across the pool, and I swim up to the surface again, giggling and spurting out water.
“One more time?” I ask.
“Anna,” my father warns.
I pout and Uncle Eddie laughs.
“Maybe Sten can launch you a few more times,” he says as he looks toward his brother who is reading a book on a lounge chair.
“In a little while, Princess,” Sten says with a wink. I grin at him.
“Practice your breaststroke,” my father suggests. I nod and swim to the edge, grabbing my goggles and putting them on.
“Holy fuck,” I mutter.
I go back through the data, not believing what I’m seeing. My mind doesn’t want to believe what I’m seeing. Uncle Eddie wo
uld never hurt us, unless…
I back up the data on my secret server and then erase any history of my work from the current one. I double secret server everything I do. I know now, that I need to talk to my father, I just don’t know what I will tell him.
I walk out of the room and down the hall. I hear voices in the distance, noises in the garden through the open windows, but I’m in a fog. My mind is spinning a million miles a minute. Every event of the last ten days is on autopilot in my brain.
It’s not until I physically cannot go farther, that I realize Logan is blocking my path.
“Anna?” he asks, and I have the distinct feeling this is not the first time he’s said my name in the past minute. “Anna, are you alright? You’re as white as a ghost.”
I shake my head. No, I’m definitely not alright.
He doesn’t press me, but instead scoops me up in his arms and carries me to my chamber. I don’t even have the wherewithal to tell him to set me down. There’s a security guard down at the end of the hall but he doesn’t turn toward us. I grip on to Logan’s shoulders as though he were the last raft in a vast ocean.
He doesn’t release me when we reach my room. Instead, he sits down on a sofa with me in his arms.
I finally look up into his worried eyes. “Why aren’t you playing with Auggie?” I ask.
“You didn’t come back, so Auggie and I split up and went looking for you when you didn’t respond to our texts,” Logan says. “We were worried.”
I close my eyes and muster my courage. “I…found something,” I stammer.
“What?” he asks, confusion twisting his facial features.
I clear my throat and sit up slightly. “I was running a search to see if M followed us. He did. He’s been here since yesterday. I just happened to be online when someone tried to message him. I was able to trace the message to a street of houses,” I say to him.
“And?” he pries.
I look down, my eyes fill with tears.
“Anna?” he asks, pushing my chin up so that I’ll look him in the eyes.
“Y-your father,” I whisper.
“What?” he asks.
“The only house I recognize on that street belongs to the royal family of Montelandia,” I say.
“How did you…” He trails off.
“I recognized the pool. I ran a quick check, and it’s the house. The other few are owned by some movie stars,” I explain.
“But why would my father want to kill you?” he asks.
“I don’t know,” I say slowly. “It doesn’t make any sense. Uncle Eddie loves us.”
“Uncle Eddie?” he asks.
“He and my father are very close. They both became kings when their fathers passed away only a few years apart from various ailments. So naturally, they remain close. Since Edvard had no children, well no known children, he spent a great deal of time with us,” I explain.
“He never remarried?” Logan asks.
I shake my head, frowning.
“Don’t you know about him at all?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I don’t spend much time reading about royals,” he answers dryly.
“Oh,” I say softly. “I…shouldn’t have assumed…I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, Anna. What are we going to do?” he asks.
“Tell my father,” I answer resolutely.
“Tell him what exactly?” he asks.
I sigh. “Everything,” I whisper.
His phone pings and he looks down and responds to a text.
“Auggie,” he says.
I nod and a minute later Auggie walks into my room. I don’t even care that I’m still on Logan’s lap.
“What’s wrong?” he asks immediately upon seeing me.
“My father is apparently trying to kill you,” Logan says bitterly.
“What?!” Auggie yells.
“Shhhh,” I say to him.
“Jesus, Anna, how’d you figure that out,” he says.
“Augs, grab Chris, I only have the strength to tell this once, and we need to bring Dad in on my secret,” I say to him. His eyes widen.
“Anna, are you sure? We could make up something. I know how important it was that you had that freedom,” he says to me, taking steps forward so he’s hovering over me.
“It was, but the safety of all of us is much more important than my freedom,” I answer.
He squeezes my shoulder. “You’re little, but you’re fierce, Anna,” he says.
I smile at his rephrasing of the Shakespeare quote.
“Get Chris, meet me in Father’s study in ten minutes,” I say to him.
“Will do,” he says. He pauses at the door and turns. “Are we telling Father, everything?”
He looks from Logan to me, and I turn red with embarrassment.
“Well, maybe not everything,” I say.
He grins. “And for the record, Logan, if you hurt her, you won’t need to worry about your father, because I’ll kill you myself,” Auggie says as he exits the room.
“Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that Auggie is speaking the truth?” Logan asks.
“Because he is,” I say with a small smile.
Logan sets me on my feet and grasps my shoulders, staring down into my eyes. “He’s right you know. You are incredibly brave. Stupid at times, but brave as hell,” he says. I roll my eyes.
“Thank you?” I answer.
But instead of responding, he crashes his lips down to mine and kisses me hard. I let him take control from me. He gives me power with his kiss as though he’s handing over all his strength to bolster my own. I find solace there in his arms, his lips against mine.
“Better?” he asks when he finally pulls away.
“A little,” I admit.
“Good. I’m going to be right next to you, Anna. We’re doing this together,” he says as he takes my hand, and we walk down the hall and the stairs. When we reach my father’s study, we pause. I look up at him.
“Let me do the talking,” I say to him.
He nods and knocks on the door.
Chapter 23
As my hand raises to knock on the door, I suddenly feel foolish. Why I thought whisking Logan away would protect him is beyond me. I realize I’ve been playing a game and not well. I should have alerted my father immediately. We should have contacted Interpol. I swallow my pride and my guilt as my hand makes contact with the door.
“Enter,” my father’s voice calls out. His solitude again taking me by surprise.
I cautiously open the door.
“Father?” I ask. He’s back in the chair, staring out the window.
“Come in—” He starts but stops when he turns to see Logan next to me.
“What’s wrong, Anna?” he asks.
I walk across the room and drop to my knees at my father’s side. I take his hands in mine and look up at him, hoping his love for me is enough to forgive me for what I have to tell him. I sense my brothers at the door, but my father’s eyes stay fixed on me.
“I need to tell you something,” I whisper, my voice straining to break free from my body.
It’s then that my father looks beyond me to Chris, who’s shutting the door, Auggie, and Logan.
“I take it these three already know what you’re about to tell me,” he states.
I nod. I take a deep breath and sit down in the chair opposite him. My brothers move in and flank me on either side, offering me silent support. Logan stands behind me. For a moment, I almost laugh at the picture of me surrounded by big, powerful men, like my own little security force.
I launch into the tale that I told my brothers just several days ago. I skip some parts, glossing over why I became obsessed with hacking, and some of the crimes I may have informed on over the years. I speak for minutes, uninterrupted. My father’s face remains neutral, not giving away a single thought. It’s as unnerving as telling him is.
When I finish, he looks at all four of us one by one.
“I knew Loga
n was Eddie’s son,” my father admits. I’m fairly certain all of us have our mouths hanging open in shock now.
“W-what?” I stammer. “How?”
My father clears his throat and stands. He begins to pace in front of his desk. Something he’s known to do when deep in thought.
“I met Leah, once. Eddie confided in me that she was pregnant. I didn’t know they had secretly wed. He told me he had been forced to send them away, that it wasn’t safe, and no one could ever know about his son,” my father says. “I always assumed it was in regards to the political unrest in his country at the time. It may still be linked to that. Some of those rebels that were part of the anti-monarchist group are still around. Although it’s mostly in the form of greedy businessmen and politicians now. But why they would hire an assassin to kill Logan makes no sense to me. Logan didn’t know he was a prince. He wasn’t searching for his father. I don’t believe for a minute Eddie or the royals have anything to do with it.”
“Dad,” I pause. “That doesn’t explain why the last message to M was sent from Uncle Eddie’s house in Saint Tropez.”
My father stops pacing. “What did you just say?” he asks me.
I shudder. “I just tracked the last message to Uncle Eddie’s house. The one we used to visit with the pool,” I restate.
“It’s not him,” my father says firmly.
“Daddy—”
“Susanna, stop! I’m telling you, Edvard is not trying to kill his son,” my father yells. “I know because he has provided security detail to keep tabs on Logan since he was born.”
The room goes deathly silent.
“What?!” Logan says, breaking the silence.
My father walks around his desk and sits in the imposingly large leather chair behind it. He runs his hands through his thinning hair and looks back at us.
“Everyone sit down, please,” he says. Just then, Paolo, Mia, Shannon, Pete, and Marcus emerge from the hallway. “You might as well come in too,” he adds to them, pointing at the sofas along the wall of the study. They scurry in and take seats.
He places his elbows on the desk and folds his hands together. He’s silent for a long moment and then glances down at his phone as it pings.
