by Brown, Tara
“You don’t like me?” I giggled, he was digging a hole.
“No!” he said again, making me laugh more, though I tried to keep it down. “I like that you know everything, my whole history, that I don’t have to hide my mess or act like I’m okay. But that means you also know I’m not okay. Not even a little.” And with that, it was back. The despair reentered the room. His humor was lost.
“But we will be okay,” I whispered, cupping his face. “One day.” I soothed him, cradling him in my arms for a change.
I didn’t know if it was a lie or not.
But it was how we fell asleep, twisted in each other.
We woke to the sunlight and the sound of angry voices. “Shhhh,” I said as I shoved Lucas off the bed as he was waking. “Someone’s here.”
He tucked himself under the bed. I got up quickly and grabbed his clothes, tossing them over to where he was.
The door flung open as I grabbed my blanket and covered myself. “Get out!” I screamed.
“Where is he?” Claudius Jacobi stared down on me with disgust in his eyes.
Thinking of a solution but not thinking it through, I jumped up, naked and bold. I stepped into his face, sneering up at him. “Didn’t my mother mention I was crazy?” I jerked forward, making him flinch. “Get the fuck out!” I shoved him as he recoiled, catching him off guard. I slammed the door and locked it.
“As you can see she’s not well,” my brother covered for me.
“If you see him, Laertes, you know how this works. Family first.” There was a threat in Claudius’ tone. The suite doors slammed as they left.
I stumbled back, shaking and wrapping myself in my blankets. Lucas jumped up, somehow dressed. “Are you all right?”
At the same time, Laertes burst into the room. “What the hell was that?”
“It was something a girl told me in an institute. Instead of being scared, channel crazy.”
“That was Claudius Jacobi. He could have shot you.”
“He wouldn’t.” Lucas stepped forward. “He couldn’t murder my dad—poison is a woman’s weapon.”
Laertes shook his head. “I don’t like this. He knows you’re here. He’s going to be watching us.”
“Bring in the guards,” I said. “Three of the ones you trust the most. One of them has to be close to Lucas’ build. He can dress as a guard and leave here.”
“That’s actually smart,” Laertes agreed. “We split up from here. O, you go to the safe house Horatio took you guys to. Stay there.”
“But I want to help—”
“Stay there!” Laertes snapped, pointing a finger at me.
I didn’t acknowledge his plan. He was right, I knew he was right, and I didn’t want to be the bratty little sister who got everyone killed. But I wanted to help.
“Lucas, what if you went to Fortinbras, got his help? Asked him to kill Claudius and then work out the deal that benefits both New York and New Denmark? Your father wanted it.”
“No,” Lucas disagreed. “I want to do this on my own. I have a plan.”
“What if I spoke to him on your—”
“No, Laertes, I have a plan. I’m not asking Fortinbras for help,” he retorted.
“Fine!” Laertes lifted his hands, defeated. “I’m going to work, pretending this is just another normal day at the office. I’ll finalize the paperwork for our parents’ deaths and begin setting up trusts and accounts so neither of us is stuck if this shit goes wrong.”
“I’m going to set up my little experiment.” Lucas’ eyes narrowed.
“You can’t mean to go back to your house?” The idea of that made my stomach burn.
“I have some help.” He was confident but I wasn’t. Why didn’t he listen to Laertes and seek out Fortinbras?
“You’ll be needing this,” Laertes said as he walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He pulled out a cigar in a plastic baggie. It looked like every other cigar my father ever smoked.
“Thanks.” Lucas hurried over and took it, slipping it into his jacket pocket.
“All right. O, you take one guard with you. Lucas, you and the other guards will come with me. In the basement you will hide behind a vehicle and I will take the guards in the SUV to work. Claudius’ men will follow me and O. Lucas, you take that opportunity to escape and get this last thing done. We reconvene at the safe house tonight at midnight. If you’re being followed, lose them before arriving at the safe house.” Laertes made it sound simple. “From there, if the plan has gone tits up, we flee. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Lucas said, nodding. I was the only one left scowling, but they disregarded my response.
“We’ll leave you to get dressed.” Laertes left the room with Lucas on his heels to close the door.
My heart was thumping in my chest from Claudius as I sat on the bed and contemplated the stupid plan Lucas was about to follow through with. The fork in the road Madame Esmeralda had discussed was starting to present itself to me.
I could be selfish and go to the safe house and hide. I could sit there, alone and waiting at the window, waiting forever. Lucas would die doing this moronic plan and never come back. That was how I would survive this, by myself.
I didn’t even have clothes on when I made the choice of how I would spend this evening, maybe my last evening. Selfishness wasn’t an option for me.
Chapter 22
Clinging to every bit of strength I had, I made my way through the store and out the door onto Fifty-eighth. It hadn’t been difficult to ditch the guard from the changing room at Bergdorf’s in New York. She was tired from days of protection detail, and I was accustomed to sneaking away from bodyguards and watchful eyes.
When I reached the sidewalk, I waved down a taxi and climbed in just as the guard came bursting from the door. She stood alone as we drove off.
“Where to, miss?” the driver asked.
“The Palace Hotel, please.”
“Right,” he said and turned left onto Maddison. My only saving grace was that the guard would call Laertes and he would assume I’d gone after Lucas. They would go to Elsinore looking for me.
My nails dug into my palms as we approached the Palace Hotel, the place I would either find success or death.
He parked out front as a valet got the door. I handed money to the cabbie and climbed out, hurrying through the massive front entrance as doormen in top hats got it for me.
As I made my way across the marble foyer, two women approached, undercover guards.
“Can we help you, Miss Agard?” one of them asked.
“I need to see the prince,” I said with authority in my tone.
“He’s delighted you have come and has asked that you make your way into the parlor to join him for a drink.” The thoroughness of Prince Fortinbras made me uneasy. I had expected to wait some time, not see him right away.
“It’s ten in the morning, could I have a smoothie instead?”
“Whatever you like, miss.” She turned and walked to the right. I followed as the other guards stayed behind me.
The hotel was built as it was named, like a palace. The stronghold of the New York crime families. The parlor was done with a French Renaissance theme and reminded me of Elsinore. I sat and a green smoothie, the same as Deborah made, was delivered before I could take in the entire room. The ladies who pretended not to be guards stood at the entrance, watching me. I took a drink from the straw and sighed, closing my eyes for a moment. It transported me back to the kitchen with Deborah and Laertes.
“Am I interrupting?” a man’s voice cut off the image.
I opened my eyes to the Prince of New York. I stood, offering a hand. “I’m Ophelia. I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting.”
He took my hand in his, shocking me with the warmth of it, as he lowered his head and placed an intimate kiss on my skin. I fought and lost the battle against the deep shiver his lips forced. “If we had met before now, you would not have suffered thus,” he spoke as though he knew me
. Which was not surprising. I grew up as family to his rivals.
“May I join you?” he asked, not releasing my hand. He brushed his thumb over the back, sending more chills up my spine. I tried not to notice how handsome he was.
“Please, I’m here to see you,” I gently pulled back my hand and held it out at the seat across from me.
“Does it taste right?” He eyed my green concoction.
“It’s alarmingly perfect.”
“That’s good.” He smiled and sat, his calm demeanor was a vast contrast to Laertes or Lucas. He was more laid-back, as Horatio had been. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m not here for me.” I didn’t bother lying. If he knew how I liked breakfast in my own home, he knew everything else. “I want you to help Lucas Jacobi and my brother, Laertes, by killing Claudius.”
His eyes sparkled with humor. “Why would I ever do that?”
“Didn’t King Hamlet come to you, asking you to join forces and bury the hatchet? Didn’t he want peace and unity?”
“How do you know this?”
“I overheard my father speaking on it. Lucas confirmed it.”
“You’re betraying their confidence in you by coming here to tell me this?” He leaned back as if he could hear the soft footsteps of the server arriving with his breakfast and coffee.
The server placed it down gently and cracked pepper as Fortinbras and I stared at one another. Bowing, she left as quickly as she had come.
“I couldn’t bear to make you eat alone,” he changed the subject.
“Thank you.” I swallowed the lump in my throat that had replaced my appetite. “I grew up with Lucas. I might know him better than anyone. And he’s always said he doesn’t want the Jacobi family business. He’s not like you. He’s smart and funny and gentle. He’s kind. He likes to read and studies philosophy for fun. I think his father knew this and that was part of the reason he sought an alliance.”
“How do you think he would feel about you being here, unmanning him before me?” He scoffed as he cut his steak and eggs and took a bite.
“I’m not unmanning him. I’m outing him for being a different type of man, a good one.” It was my turn to lean back confidently. “Make no mistake, he will rise to the occasion. He will become the man he needs to be to run his empire. And all the soft and kind parts of him will die.”
“The parts you love the most?” he asked.
“Exactly. But if there is peace, he will rule alongside you. Two leaders benefitting from the deal.”
“My help wouldn’t be free.” He took another large bite.
“You would have an ally in New Denmark with no fight from the Jacobis. Isn’t that payment enough?” My insides were twisting into knots, but I prayed my face was as calm as a frozen lake. “Peace for your people and expanded borders. No more stupid wars over turf.”
“No,” he said flatly, lifting his coffee and taking a sip. He licked his lips and I had a bad feeling. “The Jacobi family is weak. Claudius is not his brother and without your mother there to run him like the little puppet he is, I could have that kingdom with very little effort. I could kill Lucas and force your brother to my side without breaking a sweat. And I would be stronger for it. My people would respect the force I used to break New Denmark. And take it all. No peace treaty. This deal, worked out over green smoothies and eggs, with a girl who would dare to disrespect the man she allegedly loves by brokering a deal with his land, makes me appear as soft as your heart.”
The comment seized me. I was the frozen lake, completely still.
My plan had backfired.
“You will do two things for me in exchange for this favor,” he said the word coldly. “One, you stay here with me. You will smile and love it and live like the queen you will be. You will love me the way you love Lucas Jacobi.”
I tensed, forcing my eyes to remain on his and not seek out the escape plan I was forming. “Why would you want that?” I could barely breathe.
“If you can’t work that out for yourself, this will be an easy marriage where I will always have the upper hand. Is that what you want? To be nothing more than a trophy? Or do you want to make this a little more exciting by trying to outwit me?” He lifted his eyebrows, feigning sincerity but he was mocking me.
“And the second thing?”
“You will never set foot in New Denmark again.” His requests were absurd. Beyond that. “You know, had you come to me I would have killed your mother. Paige and Horatio would both be alive. As would Hamlet. I could have prevented so much hardship.”
“King Hamlet did come to you.”
“Ah, but that’s where this offer and his differ. I asked for you as my bargaining chip. The only request I made. He turned me down, said his son loved you and he couldn’t do that. He would give me anything else that I wanted. But he didn’t want anything else worthy.”
“So you let him die?” I asked as the tarot cards with the trickster and the bountiful lady began to make sense. So much sense it burned like I’d swallowed acid.
“I helped your vile mother kill him. Where do you think she got the idea for the cigar? She was evil but no genius.” Fortinbras sounded satisfied.
I contemplated how to escape this before I decided to attempt honesty. “No.” I folded my arms. “I won’t do either of those things. Firstly, I would never trust you. A life without trust is no life at all.”
His eyes narrowed with anger.
“Secondly, once I’m here, what would stop you from going back on your word?”
The glare became an evil grin as he sighed and sat comfortably in the chair again. “Ahhh, but you are here, aren’t you?” He didn’t look at any of the guards as he spoke to them, “Escort her upstairs.”
I shot up from the chair, scanning the room as guards entered. “Help me!” I shouted but no one came.
“Don’t fight this, Ophelia. I’ll uphold my end of the bargain.” Fortinbras laughed.
I’d walked into a trap.
And the worst part was I had been warned by Madame Esmeralda. I just didn’t read the forewarning correctly.
My life as the bountiful lady, who was rich but silently miserable, was never with Lucas. The black-and-white card was a future I hadn’t yet chosen but would if I got the chance.
Except now I wasn’t going to get the chance. The trickster had me. I had foolishly reached for the flower.
“Maybe give me a moment to enjoy my spoils.” Fortinbras strolled around the table as the guards walked me to him. They held my arms so he could cup my face and force his lips on mine. His hands pulled me into him. The guards let go and Fortinbras waved them off. “Leave us.”
They all walked away, standing with their backs to the vast doors of the parlor. Fortinbras grinned, running his hands down my face, neck, chest, thumbing my nipples, and enclosing around my waist to pull me tight to him.
“I’ve thought about this for a long time. How it would feel to take away the one thing Lucas Jacobi wanted.” He licked his lips like a cat staring at a canary. “Took me a while to figure out that he had a weakness.”
“Please don’t do this,” I pleaded.
“I’ll do what I want.” He grabbed my arm roughly, kissing me again brutally.
He released me and growled, staring at me hungrily. “Coming home tonight is already more exciting than it’s ever been.” He dragged me to the doors and flung me at the guards. “Upstairs. Show her to her room.”
He walked away as I was escorted off and dread sunk further into my belly.
Chapter 23
The penthouse was exactly how I imagined it might be, luxurious and cold. I paced the large bedroom where the guards had put me, locking me in. I peeped under the door, seeing their feet. Fortinbras hadn’t come back yet. I had no news. My phone was gone, his guards had taken it. Even the burner Horatio had given me was gone. The sun was about to set, and my anxiety was through the roof. I’d been here for hours. Precious hours.
Pacing was making me crazy s
o I turned on the TV, hoping for word about Claudius’ death.
I clicked to a news channel, the one Laertes always watched and turned the volume up.
“We’re live now from a scene that is still unfolding!” a reporter shouted over the breeze into a microphone. He was on the beach in New Denmark, the harbor to be exact. My father’s yacht was in the background.
My insides churned seeing it.
“Here, in usually quiet New Denmark, a story like no other has begun, and is still developing. And as always, we have the exclusive!” The newsman walked along the pier, so the boats were in the background. “Behind me you can see the harbor where the elite wealthy in our society keep their boats. Yachts worth more than most of us will make in a lifetime. This is where our story starts. Right after this commercial break.” He was dragging it out, creating suspense.
Growling, I walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows, opening the sliding door and stepping out into the warm air coming up from the city below.
I searched the balcony for ways off it but there was nothing. The next balcony was so far away, I would be leaping to my death, even if I wasn’t nervous with heights.
Above me was a wall of windows, the second story of the penthouse that I hadn’t seen yet. A voice drew my attention back to the room. The TV reporter was on again. This time he faced the harbor and behind him was the parking lot. It was busy with lights and emergency response. I hurried back in front of it, rubbing my sweaty palms together.
“At three in the afternoon today, a call was made to the police by a distressed woman panicking, saying there were two dead men in this parking lot.”
The word “dead” made me hold my breath.
“We have no identification, but as you can see, the police and paramedics have the scene cordoned off.”
My breath shot from my lips, coming out as heaves. A noise behind the door caught my attention. Smashing and thumping. I hurried to the closet and hid, listening as some sort of attack happened in the rest of the penthouse.
It felt like it went on forever. I closed my eyes, feeling the vibration of the assault in the walls. Opening them when the door to the bedroom unlocked.
