Imperfect Princess (Modern Princess Collection Book 1)

by Sonya Jesus

  Corbin looks between me and Kai. “How do you know that? We have no intel that they are in Florida.”

  “Because she told me it was the person Del Rio was running from.”

  “Shit. Stay here.”

  “We are coming too.” If the DEA gets the book, then I still have Del Rio on my back. This is a disaster. Who knows what he’ll do if he gets angry or thinks I betrayed him. My gaze flickers over to Kai, and Ledger pops into my head. And Vanessa. And the Kingstons. I don’t want to be responsible for anyone’s death. Not even Del Rio’s.

  Corbin quickly picks up on my hesitation. “Is there more?”

  “No,” I lie and shoot Kai an unapologetic look. Telling people Del Rio is alive would put him in danger, and I owe the man my life, in a way. “Then take that left tunnel all the way down to the end and make a right. It’ll take you to the stables. If she went this way, she’s probably heading down the one for Jumping Joe’s.”

  “You’re going down there alone?”

  “I called it in before coming.”

  We both nod and watch as Corbin disappears down the short hallway. “You lied to him,” Kai whispers as he slips his hand in mine, and with his other swipes away the cobwebs at the entrance.

  I cough into my hand and muffle the sound with his body. We have to be quiet.

  “What are you going to do about Del Rio?”

  Good question. I keep my death woes to myself. “I don’t know… Tell him the truth about what happened when I see him again? Maybe he won’t stick around. I still have all of Meryl’s money, I can offer it to him.”

  “Guys like him have money stashed. I don’t think he’s after that.” We head down and make a right. Down here the halls are narrower, so we squeeze in tighter.

  Something gets in my shoe: a pebble, or a spider, or something disgusting. I shiver at the thought. The more we keep going, the mustier it smells. If not for Kai’s cologne, I think I’d gag on the heavy air. “I don’t see anything, Kai. He said a right would take us to the stables, right?”

  He holds me close to him and drops a kiss to the side of my forehead. “We just have to keep going. I don’t see any exits yet.”

  “They aren’t going to have flashing red signs.” I grunt as I smooth the dress down to keep my hands busy.

  “We haven’t come to a stop yet.”

  “Maybe we passed it. We should turn back.”

  “No, he said all the way down.” Kai checks his phone. “We don’t have reception down here.”

  I didn’t think we would.

  We finally come upon a fork in the road. Taking the right, we walk until we hit another fork. Noise stops us from going forward, and Kai puts a hand over his phone to cover the light before turning it off. In the pitch black and with backs pressed against the wall, we inch forward until we make out the noise.

  Shit. It’s a woman’s voice. Vanessa.

  “Here’s your stupid book,” she shouts.

  “Did you find out if he knows anything about the girl?”

  “What girl? She died!” They are talking about me. “Now let my father go.”

  Kai mumbles something under his breath and shifts forward, but I put my hand on his arm, holding him back. At some point, the tunnels must have connected. Or maybe we got lost in the maze. I don’t remember there being two rights in Corbin’s instructions.

  “I never had your father,” a heavily accented voice booms much louder than Vanessa’s, and my body stiffens against the wall as a string of curses explodes in my thoughts. “Neither does my boss.”

  Vanessa squeals in frustration. “You lied to me!”

  “Technically, I saved your boyfriend.”

  “He’s not my damn boyfriend anymore thanks to what happened in the Bahamas!”

  “I didn’t force your hand!”

  “I didn’t know you were a drug lord!” Vanessa shouts again, which gets a laugh from the guy talking to her.

  Kai leans in to whisper in my left ear. “He must be the guy from the photos I saw. How did he know I had the book? And about you?”

  Del Rio said if the DEA knows, then the cartel knows. “That’s what I’m worried about.”

  “Yet, you enjoyed all the drugs I supplied. Where did you think they were coming from?”

  She shrieks. “You targeted me!”

  “I did, but I didn’t hurt you.” He throws that last part out like a threat.

  “You ruined my life.”

  “Be happy you still have a life.” Even I shiver at the sound of the man’s voice. “I was told to kill you.”

  Kai leaves my side. Probably fearing for Vanessa’s safety.

  “But you aren’t, right?” Vanessa asks.

  “What are you doing?” I whisper to Kai as my hands stretch out in front of me, searching for his body. I can hear him shifting around before his shoulder presses against me again. Dread subdues as I point out, “Going over there will get the both of you killed.”

  Lips are at my ear again, but at a distance.

  A whiff hits my nose. Not Kai. My heart thrashes in my ears as I remain perfectly still with eyes squeezed shut.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this, my little Grimm Keeper. Be happy with him.”

  Del Rio. Just like that the space is vacated, and my heart plummets to the soles of my feet. What did he do to Kai?

  “Kai?” I say a little too loudly as I rush forward.

  “Shh!” he commands, and I feel his chest in my hands. His rapid heart pumps harshly under the layers of clothes.

  My hands fly up to feel his face, and he nips at my fingertips with his lips. “Keep quiet, Thorn.” He pulls me into his arms as we hear the accented man say, “No, I’m not. I have what I came for. Now walk away.”

  “He just let her go?” I whisper, as Kai crushes me against the wall.

  Footsteps are heard until they disappear. “Come on, walk fast!” Kai pushes me down the hall we came in, retracing our steps. “Hold your hand out against that wall, and I’ll hold mine out. No lights.”

  We feel our way down the tunnel, coating our hands with dust and gross things I can’t think about right now. Because I’m listening and waiting for something to pop, or blast, or scream, but nothing ever comes.

  It took us three hours to find our way out of that stupid tunnel. The tunnels are intricate and purposely designed to keep intruders out. That much I deduced. We walked so much my feet ached from the heels, and the slit in my dress had torn from a couple of stumbles.

  I expected to find a dead body at some point—the burned body of a twenty-year-old ghost story, or of the accented man I suspected Del Rio of killing and stashing somewhere down there. The maze was a perfect place to hide a body.

  We walked in squares, or circles, or triangles, until we realized the main halls that lead to the different locations were wider. To get out, we had to follow one until we hit a dead end.

  The dead ends were the problem. We must have come across one at least ten times, but not all of them could be opened from the inside. We tried looking for secret latches, but never found anything. Until we hit the one for the basement of the church and stumbled into the less stale air.

  “My lungs feel like they are covered in soot,” I say after heaving.

  “Wait here,” Kai secures me against a wall before inspecting the room for a way out.

  While he did that, I leaned against the cinderblock, aching feet and all. Down in the tunnels, I thought a lot about the people down there. About how I never suspected Corbin of being involved with the DEA. A little weird maybe, but my weird meter is off.

  And about Vanessa. The whole reason we were trapped in those stupid tunnels in the first place. As much as I want to hate her, though, I don’t. In a way, I kind of understood why she stole the book. She had been used as a pawn, just like me. And she could have said I looked just like her and put me in the cartel’s way, but at the risk of sounding optimistic, I think she ripped the picture to keep people from finding it. Not for m
e, but to protect Kai. She thought she was saving her dad and Kai, and for that, I guess I’m grateful.

  And Del Rio, who could have killed us both. But he didn’t. I choose to believe he gave me his blessing to be with Kai. More than likely, he has his book by now, and ghosts can’t be tried for crimes. As messed up as it sounds, I’m happy for him. Maybe not for the things he’s done, but that he got away.

  Kai comes back. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here.”

  I wince at the ache when I move forward.

  “You okay?” Kai asks once we reach the upstairs. He’s still on alert and checking between the first few rows of pews, but I highly doubt he’ll find anything. Del Rio and the cartel are long gone by now.

  He checks his phone for reception. “I have like thirty missed calls from Vanessa.” He straightens. “I hope she got out okay.”

  “Call her back,” I encourage him as I limp to the pew and remove my shoes. My feet ache so bad I wince at the touch. “I’m never wearing heels again.”

  “All girls say that.” He pops a kiss to my forehead and continues to check between the pews. “Corbin sent me a message. I’m texting him back to let him know we’re here.”

  “He’s probably going to have the whole DEA looking for us.”

  His phone lights up with an incoming message. “He’s with Vanessa now. She’s fine but refuses to talk about what she was doing down there. And he says someone is flying in to debrief us.”

  “She’s scared,” I offer, knowing there was more to Vanessa’s story, but I was too tired to care right now. “The DEA sucks, but they’ll know what to do.”

  “It’s not like we did anything wrong.”

  “You can’t tell them about anything, especially ghosts from the past.” I wrap my hands around the ball of my foot and slowly massage the dip in the center. “Ouch…” I squirm silently as the beginning of the massage does little to soothe.

  “Let me help you,” Kai says. He’s naked from the waist up and his white shirt is curled up in his hands and damp.

  “Oh, my God. Did you dip that in the baptismal fountain or something? That’s sacrilegious!”

  “Yes,” he says with a straight face, but at my gasp comes clean. “Nah, I’m just kidding. There’s a water fountain at the entrance if you’re thirsty.”

  I am, but my feet hurt too much to walk over. “I’m okay.”

  “Hold this.” He hands me the damp shirt, which I use to wipe my hands, and then slides in beside me, rolling up his tux jacket into a ball. “Here, use this as a pillow to lie back.”

  We trade off garments, and he scoops my legs up onto his lap, running the shirt with the Armani tag on it over my dirty, sore feet, wiping the majority of the grime off them. I tuck the soft material behind my neck and stretch out on the hard, wooden bench.

  We stay there in silence for a while, exhaustion taking over. We didn’t get much sleep last night for delicious reasons I should not be thinking of in a church. When adrenaline wears out, so does energy. If it weren’t for the aches, him massaging my feet would put me to sleep. Instead, I content myself at admiring the guy beside me and hoping we never have to be apart again.

  In a matter of minutes, he’s almost sleeping, so I flip around to lay my head on his lap, stirring back to alertness.

  “Today sucked, huh?” he mumbles groggily as the tips of his fingers run down my arm before they meet mine and intertwine.

  “Maybe the tunnel part, but everything else I kind of enjoyed.”

  He snorts a laugh. “Tunnels aren’t your kink?”

  “I never want to go down there again.” I crinkle my nose at the word kink. “Is that a deal breaker?”

  He sucks air in through his chest and pretends to weigh the idea around in his head until I lightly tap his chest with my free hand. He traps it there, just near his heart, and shifts his gaze to my lips. “I never want anything to break us, Thorn.”

  Out of habit, I glance around. The DEA and Del Rio know I’ve revealed my identity to Kai, but until the RICO case is over, I have to remain a secret. I have a feeling my time at CamU will be cut short.

  “The church is locked,” he announces. “I think we’re alone.”

  My thoughts revert back to the tunnel. I had thought we were alone then too.

  “If Corbin’s cover is blown, I may not be allowed to stay on campus.” I don’t want to leave him again.

  “Wherever you go, I go,” he affirms.

  “What about Ledger?”

  “He’ll understand.” I highly doubt leaving him behind will be an easy task.

  “Down in the tunnels,” I whisper. I don’t want to mention Del Rio’s name so I teeter around the subject. “Corbin says the tunnels are haunted. Did you hear anything down there?”

  He glances down at me, and a wide, knowing smile crosses his lips. Kai nods his head, confirming my suspicion: he knows Del Rio was there.

  I bolt upright. “What did you hear?”

  “Eternity.”

  “What?”

  He presses a kiss to my lips and tucks the strand of messy hair behind my ear. “I love you, Thorn. I always have.”

  “I love you too.”

  It’s not weird to say it after a few days because our hearts connected a very long time ago. We had fallen in love in the age of innocence, before the glass broke and flawed reality. Life wanted us apart, testing us with time, death, and distance.

  Though we had strayed, we never forgot. Both of us grew up but never apart.

  Kai was trapped by the Internet’s ice queen, coping with my death by trying to forget. And I had been plucked away from his side and forced to cope with him moving on while I could never let go.

  Before resting my head on Kai’s shoulder, I glance back at the Window of Sorrow—at the glass with the heart in the cross that kept cracking.

  I understand it now. The sorrow love causes two people.

  Sometimes, it made us angry. Sometimes, it made us smile.

  Most of the time it hurt—a dull ache in a hollow that could never be filled by a replacement—but it all stemmed from love. From longing for someone who existed inside a heart that kept breaking.

  Love isn’t smooth or perfect or seamless.

  It’s weird and scarred and imperfect.

  It doesn’t forget, or grow old, or thin out. It may change a bit—adapt—but once love exists, it exists for eternity.

  I swivel my head around and curl into Kai. Had Del Rio really whispered that word or did Kai finally understand what it means?

  “Kai, what did he really whisper to you?”

  Kai nestles his cheek against my head, pondering for a moment before repeating, “He loved the Thorn before the Rose bloomed.”

  My sigh turns into a soft smile. For the first time in a long time, I feel secure. At home. Like I belong.

  The End

  Read the next book in the series! Innocent Princess

  Modern Princess Collection

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  Ꮇσԃɛʀռ ᎮᏒᎥɳƈɛss ƈօʅʅɛƈƚισɳ

  ╚══༻❈༺═❤═༻❈༺══╝

  ᴏɴᴄᴇ ᴜᴘᴏɴ ᴀ ᴋɪss, ᴀ ᴍᴏᴅᴇʀɴ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴀ ꜰᴀɪʀʏᴛᴀʟᴇ.

  Blurb.

  The prestigious ᴄᴀᴍᴇʟᴏᴛ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀSɪᴛʏ comes fully equipped with elitist guys, a castle, and a Glass Ball, but these self-proclaimed princesses don’t need crowns to prove their worth. They’ve taken love and life into their own hands and written their own fairytale.

  The ladies of Cam U are a dangerous combination of cute and badass, full of attitude and imperfections, and coming of age secrets. Follow seven of your favorite fairytale heroines as they find their happily ever after, in these standalone, contemporary romance novels.

  T̳h̳e̳ ̳C̳o̳l̳l̳e̳c̳t̳i̳o̳n̳ ̳i̳n̳c̳l̳u̳d̳e̳s̳:̳

  Sonya Jesus’s emotional, contemporary romance about an imperfect girl and her sc
ars will chill you in this modern version of "The Snow Queen." More info.

  Lauren Helms’s straight-laced girl meets a bad boy in this "Rapunzel" retelling, full of innocent first love, music, and just a little illegal hacking. More info.

  Autumn Archer’s modern "Princess and the Pea" retelling follows Ada in her search for the right guy. More info.

  Lynn Steven’s version of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” combines military romance, sweet love, and a rebel heart. More info.

  Clare Lesbirel’s bookish Roma princess is torn between the perfect guy and the boxer in this contemporary "Beauty and the Beast" retelling. More info.

  Tasha Lewis’s story, based on the history of Pocahontas, revolves around an ousted outdoors girl, in love with her best friend. More info.

  Cam Johns’s suspenseful, modern version of "Cinderella "has twists at midnight and love on every page. More info.