by Diana Ames
Captain Hicks and Anton prepared to leave, and the other guards and the doctor would remain in the apartment. If things went wrong, Anton needed to be sure that his family had some protection with them.
“Anton,” Mellissandra said.
“I’ll be back before you know it, Mel,” he said with a sad smile. He hoped he was telling her the truth.
“Brother,” Damian said, approaching Anton. “You don’t have to do this. She’s going to come out of that room eventually.”
“But if I don’t, Alondra might not,” Anton told him.
“A year ago, you would have called her collateral damage,” Damian said.
“I’ve changed,” Anton replied.
“It’s more than that.” Damian met Anton’s eyes. “You’re in love with her.”
“I haven’t ever been in love before,” Anton said, “so I don’t know how it’s supposed to feel. But every time I look at her, I feel like my chest is about to explode. When we argue, I’m torn between screaming at her and dragging her into my arms and kissing her until we can’t remember what we were fighting about. When I’m not with her, she’s there in my mind.”
“Sounds exactly like how I feel about Sandra,” Damian said with a smile. “This is going to work, brother. You’re going to get her back and be in love. She’s going to love you, and everything is going to be amazing.”
“I hope you’re right, brother,” Anton said sadly. “But not everyone deserves or is destined to have a happily ever after. I’ll settle for her being safe and healthy. That will be enough.”
The two men embraced and fought the tears filling their eyes. They were both aware that this could be the last moment they had together, and nothing else mattered. All the fights, the problems, and the jealousy—it was all insignificant compared to the brotherly love they shared.
Anton was the first to pull away. “I won’t say good-bye,” he told Damian.
“I’ll see you soon,” Damian replied.
***
“We haven’t seen any movements in the connecting corridors,” Captain Hicks told Anton.
He had two teams in place, one in either hallway connecting to the unused corridor directly outside the room where Gilly was reported to be holding Alondra.
“There are no locks on these doors, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t barricaded it somehow.”
“She has no reason to believe anyone knows she’s here,” Anton said. “That door is wide open. I’m sure of it.”
“Your equipment has been checked, and I’m in contact with the other team as well as the security office. You will be monitored at all times.” The captain met Anton’s eyes. “Be careful what you say.”
“Someone once told me that secrets have a way of coming back to bite you on the ass,” Anton said wryly. “I should have listened to her.”
“If things go wrong…” The captain hesitated a moment. “If things go wrong and I don’t have just cause to send the teams in…I’ll back you up personally.”
“You’re still fired,” Anton told the captain with a grin.
Both men knew that Anton hadn’t meant it when he threatened to terminate the captain earlier, but the joke had helped to ease the tension between them.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Captain Hicks said. “Seriously though, go quietly. Don’t give her any warning that someone is coming. Surprise might be your only advantage.”
Anton nodded. He took a deep breath and moved silently into the corridor. The moment of truth was upon him, and he knew it was time to deal with the consequences of his misspent life. He approached the door that the doctor had identified earlier. Anton listened intently as he got closer, but he heard nothing, except for his own heavy breaths and footsteps.
With one final deep breath, he put his hand on the doorknob, turned it, and shoved the door open all in one motion. When he entered the room, Gilly’s head popped up, and he saw Alondra strapped down to a gurney with an IV line running into her arm.
“Anton!” Gilly shouted with a glad cry. “You came to me. I knew you would!”
“What have you done?” Anton asked as he stared at Alondra’s pale face.
“I came back to you, Anton,” she said. “I forgive you for everything in the past. I know you were just confused, and Damian was poisoning you against me, but we can be together now. We can be a family—just you, me, and our son.”
“What have you done to Alondra, Gilly?” Anton asked.
“What do you care, Anton? She’s no one. She’s not important.”
Anton took two more steps, bringing him within an arm’s length of Gilly. His eyes shot once again to Alondra. She appeared to be unconscious but breathing. He looked back at Gilly, and he was horrified at just how unkempt she looked. He’d never seen her so disheveled. Even when she’d attacked him, she hadn’t had that insane look in her eyes.
Thinking quickly, he changed tactics. “I’ve missed you,” he told Gilly. “I didn’t realize how much you meant to me until you weren’t here.”
“Oh, I knew it would be this way,” she said to him. “We’re meant to be together, and you don’t even have to feel guilty about it any longer because we’re not really related. The tests prove it.”
“That’s all that was keeping us apart.” He prayed he was convincing. “But we need to let her go,” he said, motioning to Alondra.
“What?” Gilly said, her eyes turning hard. “She’s nothing!”
“The tests prove that she’s royal,” Anton said soothingly. “If she dies, it’s a death sentence. We can finally be together. We can’t have that hanging over our heads.”
“Don’t feed me that,” Gilly said to him with malice in her voice. “I know you fucked her. You betrayed me with her! I can forgive you for that. After all, you have needs. But she has to die for it! You didn’t even hurt her!”
“Gilly…” Anton reached a hand out to her. He was disturbed by how much she knew about his activities, but he pushed that aside for the time being. He knew he had to focus. “It was nothing. It was just a biological need, that’s all.”
Gilly took his hand and allowed herself to be pulled into his arms but only for a second. She jerked away from him and gave him a horrified look.
“You’ve always taken care of your body,” she said with narrowed eyes, “but I don’t think you’ve bulked up that much, Anton.” She grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked it open to expose the Kevlar vest protecting him. “You’re lying to me, saying what I want to hear!”
“Gilly,” he pleaded, reaching for her again.
“Don’t touch me!” She darted for the other side of the bed. “You came here for her, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”
Anton didn’t respond. He just warily watched her. Her motions were becoming more erratic, and he could see the tremors running through her body.
“You aren’t going to have her, Anton,” she told him, suddenly calm. “She’s my sister, you know. You shouldn’t mess with sisters. It’s just wrong.” With a hysterical laugh, she grabbed an instrument from the table beside her. “If I can’t have you, you can’t have her!” She shoved the surgical knife into Alondra’s abdomen.
“No!” Anton screamed and dived over the bed to tackle Gilly to the ground.
He had superior strength, but she had adrenaline and insanity on her side. He struggled to hold her to the ground, but she kneed him hard between his legs. He fought the pain and held on to her. They rolled around on the floor, each trying to get control of the other. In the end, it was his desire not to injure her that allowed her to get away from him.
Gilly took off out of the room, and Anton prayed the security teams were prepared to stop her. He wasn’t going to leave Alondra alone to chase after Gilly. When he got to his feet, Captain Hicks was already in the room, calling for a medical team.
***
Four hours of waiting was driving Anton mad. He was sitting in an uncomfortable chair outside of the surgery center, waiting for word on Alondra. He was weak from
donating two pints of blood earlier, and he was sick of nurses trying to push food at him. He’d thought he was frightened before, but seeing Alondra bleeding profusely from a gaping hole in her stomach had shown him what true fear really was.
“She’s dead,” Captain Hicks said, taking a seat beside him.
“What?” Anton said, sitting straight up in alarm. “How did you find out? I’ve been waiting here for hours.”
“Gillian,” the captain clarified. “Gillian is dead.” When Anton looked confused, he continued, “When she ran out of the room, one of the security officers fired on her. She kept running, but she left a trail of blood. They chased her until they found tire tracks leading out of castle grounds. She apparently drove up to the cliffs.” He paused. “We don’t know if she lost control of the car or if it was deliberate, but she drove right over the edge. The car was in pieces in the water. There’s no way she could have survived.”
“Her body?” Anton asked.
“We’re still searching,” Captain Hicks replied. “But with the rocks and the breakers, it’s too dangerous to search after dark. For all we know, she might have already been dragged out to the ocean. We’ve had boats recovering pieces of the car, and some were found several miles out.”
“Prince Anton?” a voice said, snagging Anton’s attention away from the captain. A nurse came through the double doors that led to the operating room.
“Yes?” Anton jumped to his feet. He swayed slightly from feeling light-headed.
“Ms. Burkheart is out of surgery,” she said. “We had some complications, but she’ll live. She’s in the recovery room right now.”
“Can I see her?” Anton asked.
“I can take you to her room,” the nurse said. “You can rest in the extra bed there until she’s out of recovery.”
“But—” Anton began.
“You look like you’re about to fall over,” the nurse said sternly. “I don’t want another patient. You can be in her room, and we’ll wake you when we bring her in.”
“Go rest, Anton,” Captain Hicks told him. “You won’t be able to declare your undying love if you fall over dead.”
Anton grinned at the man. “You might be fired after all,” he said.
***
Captain Hicks watched Prince Anton follow the nurse down the corridor. Even though he swayed on his feet, the prince had a slight spring in his step that had been missing his entire life.
Hicks thought back thirty years to the one and only time he’d held his son in his arms, back when he’d been too young to deal with the consequences of his affair with the beautiful young queen. Only a few years older than he, Seraphina had been the frightened child bride of a man who portrayed virtue while personifying evil. He’d told himself that it was better for everyone to believe that the baby belonged to the king, but even at fifteen-years-old he knew better.
He lived with the guilt of Anton’s childhood and depravity every day of his life—until this moment. His son, a man who had experienced trauma and pain beyond imagine, was finally going to have happiness.
EPILOGUE
Six Months Later
Alondra couldn’t stop staring at the rings on her hand. She and Anton had been married for nearly three months, and she was as awestruck as the day when he’d proposed.
“This is a fabulous meal,” Alondra told Anton. “I had no idea there were places like this in here.”
“We might be small and stuck in the past,” Anton replied, “but we like to eat.”
Alondra took another bite of her smoked halibut and groaned at the flavor bursting in her mouth. Since she’d gotten out of the hospital, Anton had been lavishing her with attention and affection. She had to admit that she’d loved every second.
She’d been hesitant at first due to the newfound knowledge that, should she decide to challenge Anton’s claim, she was actually the next in line for the throne of Colania. She didn’t want to rule a country, and she wouldn’t know how to even if she wanted to. She’d expressed that to Anton. He’d made it clear to her that, if she so desired it, she could have it without a fight. He had officially added her to the royal family tree, even above himself. That action had allowed her to relax and enjoy his efforts to romance her.
“Alondra,” Anton said softly, “I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I feel like we’ve been together for a lifetime already, and still, I yearn for more.”
She gasped as he got out of his chair and fell to one knee.
“Will you make me the happiest man on the face of the earth? Will you be my wife and rule this country by my side, kicking my ass when I’m stupid and holding me up when I falter?”
“Anton, I…” Tears filled her eyes, and she couldn’t get the words out.
“I know it’s fast,” he rushed to say. “But you’ve made me feel like I’ve never felt before. Emotions that I didn’t know existed fill me up when I look at you. You’re always on my mind, guiding my decisions. You make me a better person.”
“Anton…” she started again, the tears overflowing now. She fell to her knees with him and threw her arms around his neck. “I love you so much.” She sobbed.
“Is that a yes?” he asked hopefully.
She pulled back and looked at him seriously. “You know I can’t have children,” she said. “When Gillian stabbed me—”
“It doesn’t matter, my darling.” He kissed her lightly. “Dominic has been acknowledged as the next heir to the throne. If you desire a child of your own to raise, we can adopt. I know there are children who need a good home. All that matters is that you are with me for the rest of our lives.”
“Then, yes, yes, yes!” Alondra shouted, aware of the looks they were getting from the other restaurant patrons and not giving a damn.
“Daydreaming again?” Anton asked, coming up behind Alondra and wrapping his arms around her.
“Just thinking about your proposal,” she said, blushing.
He planted a soft kiss on her neck. “The only time I was more afraid was when I thought you were going to die.”
“Do you think she’s really dead?” Alondra asked.
All that had been found of Gillian was a single shoe floating close to the shoreline.
“She’s gone,” Anton confirmed. “There’s no way she survived that crash. If she had, the ocean would have gotten her.” He turned Alondra around in his arms and gave her a quick hard kiss. “Now, no more of this,” he told her. “It’s a happy day, and we have a first birthday party to attend.”
“Do you ever regret it—letting Damian and Mel keep Dominic?” Alondra asked him.
“He’ll know someday that he’s my son,” Anton said. “For now, how could I rip him away from the parents who have loved and nurtured him since birth? I think that would be the bigger wrong.”
“You’re a good man,” Alondra whispered. Then, she stood on her tiptoes and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “I’m so glad you’re all mine.”
“You’re a good woman,” Anton responded. “I’m so glad it was you who tamed my beast once and for all.”
ROYALLY TWISTED
This excerpt is unedited and subject to change.
PROLOGUE
Arabella Bellaro was tired and ready to go home. And if she’d been a normal twenty-year-old girl that would have been no problem. But she was a royal princess of Colania and nearly one thousand miles from her home at the moment.
Gathering her books, she left the classroom and headed for her mentor’s office. Ms. Smith was the only one who understood just how homesick she was, the only one who understood why she was so angry with her parents for forcing her to leave home and attend college.
The door was open when Arabella arrived so she just tapped lightly to get Ms. Smith’s attention. When the older woman looked up a smile lit up her face at the sight of Arabella.
“Come in, my dear,” she told the young woman. “I wasn’t sure you were coming today.” She stood and ushered Arabella inside the office,
closing the door to give them privacy. “Have you thought about what we discussed the last time you were in?”
“It’s all I’ve thought about,” Arabella said. “And I really want to call them and tell them I want to come home, but—”
“Do you really think if they knew how unhappy you are here that they’d force you to stay?”
“They knew I didn’t want to come in the first place,” Arabella whined. “But they said it’s my responsibility to get an education and give back to our country. Especially since mom is the driving force behind the education program.”
“But they didn’t force your brother to leave home,” Ms. Smith told her. “Perhaps they felt you would adjust and be happy once you were here.”
“Dom’s responsibility is learning how to run the country,” Arabella said miserably. “He hates that as much as I hate this. But at least he’s at home where everything is familiar and he doesn’t have to worry about setting some great example for everyone else. I feel like I can’t make even the slightest mistake.”
“Perhaps going home isn’t the best thing for you,” Ms. Smith said softly. “No one should feel like they’re under so much scrutiny that they can’t be free to express themselves or make the mistakes of youth that we need to learn and grow.”
“I need my brother, though,” Arabella whispered. “We’re twins, you know.”
“I wasn’t aware of that,” Ms. Smith said. “I understand that twins have a bond deeper than that of regular siblings, but have you spoken to him about this. If he is not content at home as well, perhaps the two of you should embark on a new endeavor together.”
“Oh Dom would never leave home,” Arabella said. “Even though he doesn’t want to take over the country, he gets a lot of perks by being him,” she said rolling her eyes.
