Nowhere Left to Hide (The Royal Trilogy Book 3)

by Kat Mizera

  “Do you have proof?” I asked General Sarrano. “Or just your word?”

  He gave me a sad smile. “I’ve been a military man my entire career. Do you think I would do the things I’ve done without proof? I have everything. Every phone conversation, every encrypted message, and even the fucking video of my daughter being executed. Believe me, I can bury him.”

  “Why haven’t you spoken out before now?” Dad demanded, throwing up his hands. “We had the resources to protect your son and grandchildren.”

  “I didn’t know the princes were still alive. It was only last year that I reconnected with Prince Daniil and began to think about ways to make this right. If I had but known Prince Erik was alive…”

  “That’s water under the bridge,” I said abruptly. “We need to arrange a press conference. Immediately.”

  “The CIA will verify the authenticity of the video,” Liz said. “I think we need to do the press conference in Monte Carlo, at the Charleston. We have friends and allies there, it will be much harder for Anwar to intimidate anyone from there, and we have complete control over security.”

  “I agree,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

  “General, are you able to make the trip to Monte Carlo with us?” Dad asked him.

  “If you can bring my grandchildren, yes, I will find the strength to go anywhere you need me to go.”

  “I’m on it,” Ace said, grabbing his phone.

  33

  Casey

  Everything happened quickly and I watched in fascination as everyone made plans around me. Since we were in Turkey and on our way to Monte Carlo, I used the Wi-Fi on Uncle Ben’s plane to call Sasha. I felt like a terrible mother for neglecting my children, despite circumstances that had been out of my control, but I felt a little better now because we had proof of what Anwar had done, Monte Carlo was a relatively safe place for us, and if Anwar was going to be overthrown, there might actually be a happy ending in all of this for us.

  “Mom!” Sasha sounded like she’d been crying and I switched into mom mode without blinking an eye.

  “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

  “Where have you been?” she whispered. “I’ve been so worried and Luke is freaking out and Liz left and Anton and I broke up and—”

  “Okay, hey, slow down.” I took a breath. “I’m fine. It’s a long story, but I’m okay and I’ll tell you everything when I see you. It’s too much to talk about on the phone.”

  “It has to do with Grandpa Ben and that press conference? I saw Uncle Loco—you never told me he was Prince Sandor.”

  “It was safer if no one knew.”

  “You promise you’re okay?”

  “I swear. Tell me about Luke.”

  “He’s been a mess. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but Skye said he hasn’t been himself and he’s really worried about you.”

  “He probably saw Sandor on TV,” I said absently. Luke probably knew a lot more than he’d been letting on, but this wasn’t the time to get into it with Sasha. “What happened with Anton?” That was a much safer subject.

  She sighed. “Mom…it’s so hard.”

  “I thought things were going really well?”

  “They were. He asked me to marry him.”

  “What?” I was genuinely shocked at this. “It’s been like three months!”

  “I know but…things are so good between us. I can’t explain how much I love him.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “He wants to drop out of college and go right to the pros, so we can get married, but his dad was pissed about it. And the thing is, his dad is right. He’s not ready. He needs a little more time to mature, hockey-wise. If he comes to the Sidewinders now, he might get sent down to the minors and honestly, it could ruin his career. It might be okay, but the minor league team is in Reno, which means we’d be apart. And anyway, even if everything turned out okay with hockey… Mom, I don’t want to be married yet. I mean, I love him, and I want to be together, but I still want to go to college and have fun with my friends and…I broke up with him. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  Now I really felt like a horrible mom. Sasha had needed me and I hadn’t been there for her. Granted, getting kidnapped wasn’t my fault, but I should have gone home and instead I was here. Shit, I didn’t even have any sage advice for her because this was a tough one.

  “Did you tell him you’re not ready for marriage yet?”

  “Yes, but he was so hurt he just walked out. I mean, he had a ring and everything.”

  “Oh no.”

  “He left and went to Dallas to stay with his mom.” Anton’s parents had never been married and his mother lived in Dallas.

  “Are you still working for Toli and Tessa?”

  “Yes. That’s why Anton left. He said he couldn’t be here while I was living and working here, and Toli actually told him he should go. It was a whole ordeal, with lots of arguing and everything. And then Anton proposed and I felt like saying ‘no’ was the right thing to do, Mom.”

  “It probably was.”

  “Then why does it feel so awful?”

  How the hell could I answer that? I’d lived a similar nightmare for eleven years, where Erik and I had essentially given each other up for a greater good.

  “Sometimes the right things feel bad for a while,” I said slowly. “I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you while you’ve been going through this, but I’m on my way to Monte Carlo and I’m going to need you to be with the kids because I’m going to be on the news and… Well, it’s a long story but I need you to trust me and hang in there, okay?”

  “Mom?”

  “I…” I glanced over at Erik, who was working on a speech on his laptop. There was no way to prepare Sasha for what was coming, but I had to try because she was going to need to try to explain it to the twins.

  “Does this have to do with Uncle Loco and Grandpa Ben?”

  “Yes. You see, Sandor isn’t the only prince that’s still alive, from the royal family.”

  “Oh. My. God.” Sasha wasn’t stupid. I could practically hear the wheels turning. “Your prince. Tariq or Erik or whatever his name was… He’s still alive and you’re with him!” She let out a little squeal.

  “Yes, but you can’t talk about that. Promise me. Until the press conference.”

  “You’re killing me, Mom. For real? I mean, are you okay?”

  “I’m actually wonderful. And as soon as we get through this press conference, either I’m coming home or I’ll fly you guys out here to be with us.”

  “He’s really alive?”

  “He is, but I have to go. I have to call Luke and the twins. You just hang in there and I’ll tell you everything in a few days.”

  “I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you too, kiddo.” I disconnected and closed my eyes. So much was happening and the kids were going to be hit with a lot of information all at once. It was overwhelming to me, so I could only imagine how the kids would react. For the first time in days, I thought about Jayson and wondered how he was doing and what was going on. I glanced over at Liz and she met my gaze questioningly.

  “Have you talked to Jay?” I asked her.

  She got up and moved to the seat beside mine. “Yes. He’s at home with the twins, Luke, Joe and Chains. Leni is alternating between hanging with Skye and her girls and spending time with Jay and the twins. I told him he didn’t need an extra little one around while he’s healing, but his mom has been staying at the house helping out some, and Marisol is there more often than not.”

  “Okay, good.” I met her eyes. “So… I guess it’s time for us to bury the hatchet. I’m sorry I’ve been so bitchy, but you really hurt me.”

  “I know.” Liz dropped her eyes. “I’m sorry, Casey. It wasn’t intentional. We just kind of started talking because I was worried about his gambling. Initially, I was looking out for you, making sure he wasn’t doing anything stupid because that one night in Monte Carlo, he was down more than h
alf a million. But before I could get involved, he won it all back and walked out fifty grand richer.”

  “I wish you’d told me.” I rested my chin in my palm. “Maybe I could have gotten involved before it got too bad, you know?”

  “I know. I felt funny about telling you what your husband was up to. It felt weird.”

  “I get it.”

  “I love him, Casey, but I never would have acted on it if you were happy. And obviously, you and I talk enough for me to know you weren’t. Then when he and I started talking, I got the whole story and…it just happened. It doesn’t make it right, but it wasn’t meant to hurt you.”

  “I know that now.”

  “And I’m sure Erik told you our marriage wasn’t…real.”

  I smiled. “Yeah. He did.”

  “And now you have him back.”

  Our eyes met. “Thank you for that. And for helping us find the proof we needed to make things right again.”

  “I never stopped looking, and once we found out about Daniil’s high school buddy, and Daniil, for that matter, I started digging into my assets in eastern Europe. One of them panned out with some good intel and the rest is history.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  We were quiet for a few minutes. “You need to be careful, though. When is the baby due?”

  She smiled. “January.”

  “Have you and Jay talked about what you want to do?”

  “It’s really impossible for us to make any plans until you guys make decisions about the band. From what he said, there’s a lot of money on the line.”

  “There is.” I nodded. “Depending on what happens with Erik and how Jay’s feeling, we really can’t get out of recording one more album. We have to make up all the dates we missed or that’s a shit ton of money we’ll have to refund, and I’m sure the record company will want us to promote the new album. My thought, in a perfect world, would be to record the album in the near future. Then go back and finish the last tour while they’re finishing production and getting the new stuff ready to release. We can add on some dates to make it one full tour, but less than a year on the road. At that point, we’ll reassess what we need to do.”

  “Is Erik on board for you doing another tour?”

  “Erik is on board for anything Casey wants or needs to do,” he called out, grinning at us.

  I blew him a kiss and turned to Liz. “What about the Charleston? Will you stay in Monte Carlo if Jay’s on the road?”

  “By late fall, I’m assuming I’m going to slow down a bit with my pregnancy progressing, and I’m not going to want to be anywhere but home in the beginning. I don’t know where home is going to be, though. Leni starts school in another few weeks and we have to think about her too.”

  “We’re going to talk about all of that,” Erik said, joining our conversation again. “Once this is all over. We have to find a solution that doesn’t impact the kids any more than necessary—all of them.”

  “Agreed,” Liz said, nodding. “I can’t think about any of that today, though. This press conference is going to be huge and we need to be prepared for anything. I don’t think Anwar is going down without a fight and we have to keep General Sarrano safe at all costs.”

  “We’re on top of that,” Erik said quietly.

  We chatted amiably the rest of the way to Monte Carlo and for the first time in weeks, I actually relaxed. I was nervous about the press conference, but that was tomorrow’s problem, not today’s. And today, I didn’t really have any problems. I had Erik back and we were still as in love as ever. I’d made up with Liz, my children were safe, and there was a tentative plan for the band. I didn’t like to assume anything, because fate had a way of fucking with me, but for the first time in a very long time, I was happy. And I really, really wanted it to last.

  34

  Erik

  Casey and I settled into one of the suites reserved for VIPs that night. It would have felt weird sleeping with Casey in the bed I’d shared with Liz for the last decade, even though we’d never had sex in it. Still, it was our home, and where we’d raised Leni, so Liz slept in our bed and Casey and I took the smaller of the two VIP suites. My father and Sandor had the other one, Ace was staying in a regular suite with General Sarrano, and we had the hotel’s security lock down elevator access to our floors. Xander and Ace were facilitating guard schedules to watch the stairwells and all entrances, so there was a lot going on, but as Casey and I settled into our suite, the pressure I’d been feeling all day melted away.

  I’d arranged to have clothes sent up from some of the boutiques in the hotel. Since everyone knew me as Scott Baxter, head of security, there was no issue in them sending up a metric ton of things for her to try on. We could return what she didn’t want, but I knew she was over the T-shirt and khakis she’d been wearing for the last week and I wanted to surprise her.

  “Shower first,” she said when she saw the rolling clothes rack that arrived. “Then I’ll try everything on.”

  “Want some company?”

  “Oh, god, yes.” She held out her hand and led me into the bathroom.

  My hands moved to her face of their own volition and brought her close for a deep, lingering kiss that left us both breathless. Slowly, she pulled away, her beautiful blue eyes smoldering with desire. I lifted the T-shirt she wore and gently tugged it free of her body. The utilitarian white sports bra she wore covered her gorgeous breasts and I helped her get it off since her shoulder was still stiff. She undid the top button of her pants and they slowly slid down around her hips. She wiggled out of them, along with her panties, and for the first time in what felt like ages, she stood naked in front of me. We’d had sex since we’d been back together, but only once this past week because we hadn’t gotten much sleep or time alone.

  As I studied her, she was the skinniest I ever remembered seeing her, and I took a moment to trace lines with my finger around her protruding hip bones, the new bump where her collarbone was healing, and finally her perfectly round breasts. She was still so beautiful and I marveled at the fact that she was mine after all this time.

  We stepped under the warm spray and she moved against me, resting the side of her face on my chest.

  “How are your ribs?” I asked softly.

  “Everything is healed. I’m not a hundred percent yet, but we’re not in danger of hurting anything. You planning on attacking me in the shower?”

  “Absolutely.” I bent my head and kissed her again, letting her guide the pace as she ran her hands across my chest and shoulders.

  “Sounds heavenly.” She seemed to be rediscovering my body as well, touching every part of me with slow, gentle movements. Our lovemaking had always been passionate, but there was something wistful about the way she was touching me now, her eyes not meeting mine and focused completely on my torso.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, lifting her chin.

  “Nothing.” She smiled tremulously, licking her lips as she looked at me. “I just can’t believe we’re here, together, like no time has passed at all. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

  “There are no other shoes,” I said softly. “We’ve got the proof we need to get Anwar out of power. If Parliament won’t vote me in as King, it’ll go to Daniil because Sandor doesn’t want it and that’s fine with me. Daniil made a few mistakes in trying to get me involved again, but nothing he did was malicious, and I think he’ll learn the ins and outs quickly.”

  “Daniil doesn’t want it either.”

  “I know, but I’m not worried about that right now.” I leaned down and kissed her, and this time she pressed herself against me, fingers digging into my ass as my erection grew. She wrapped her hand around it and stroked me with purpose, her lips glued to mine. Pleasure rocked through me and I shuddered; she knew exactly how to please me. We’d spent many hours learning each other’s bodies inside and out once upon a time, and we’d picked up right where we left off now that we were together a
gain.

  When I absolutely couldn’t stand it anymore, I pushed her against the wall, kissing her until she whimpered my name. She was so sweetly responsive, and when I lifted her, she instantly wrapped her legs around me. I pushed into her with one hard thrust that made her catch her breath.

  “You okay?” I asked against her mouth.

  “I’m fucking perfect,” she whispered back.

  Then our bodies took over and everything in my field of vision went white with pleasure. It was a cliché but so fucking accurate. I couldn’t think when we were together like this and I didn’t want to. All I had to do was feel. Her body, her mouth, her soul, wrapping around mine as closely and tightly as humanly possible.

  “Do we have to stop?” she asked, her head falling back against the tiled shower. “Nothing can come between us when we’re like this.”

  “We have to stop at some point, but nothing is ever going to come between us again, baby.”

  “I love you so much, Erik… Say you love me too.”

  “I fucking worship you, my sweet pink dragon.”

  She let out a shaky little giggle. “Are you going to call me that from now on?”

  “If you want.” I nipped at her lower lip, tugging on it until she cried out. And then her sweet pussy convulsed around me and we shattered into a billion flashing lights of love.

  Casey slept well that night, never moving from my arms, but I lay awake for a long time, staring at the ceiling, the clock and my phone. Tomorrow—well, it was probably today already—was going to be one of the most important days of my life and though I should have rested, my brain refused to turn off. There was so much to do, so many details to iron out, and now that the moment I’d been waiting for was here, I wasn’t sure exactly what to say.

  I knew what my heart wanted to say, but it would be difficult to explain my absence, the fact that I’d faked my death, where I’d been all this time, and my life as Scott Baxter, head of security for the Charleston Hotel, Monte Carlo. People in Monte Carlo knew me, some quite well, so explanations would be necessary. Not to mention my daughter, who’d been temporarily abandoned by both her parents. Liz said she was fine, not questioning the story that there had been urgent matters at the hotel for us to attend to, but I still felt bad. She was having fun, though, with all the grandparents, aunts, and cousins she missed out on with our solitary life in Monte Carlo, so I might have been rationalizing, but I didn’t think I was too far off.