Lucio recalled various FBI scenarios where the crime was committed by someone you trusted. Nobody could ever truly be trusted. "Blackmail gets to anyone, even good people. Remember Renee’s maid Anise who helped her brother, though reluctant."
Antonio gestured to the pictures of the men. "Babik is handling security at all doors. We'll tell our parents to stay out of sight and keep Babik close while we gather the rest of the evidence."
Marco glanced at the door. "We should go."
Lucio scowled, knowing he wasn't the only one worried though Antonio never said—as elder brother he had to consider all actions while he and Marco could move. Lucio turned to leave the meeting now that they’d narrowed in on the six suspects. The best thing he could do was keep Amy at his side. "You're right. I promised Amy we'd have the night alone, before Mother takes her for wedding details all day tomorrow."
Antonio chuckled as the three of them walked into the hallway. "Mother did that to all of us. Good luck and I hope your Amy stays sane. She seems nice."
Nice was too tame a word for Amy. She was better than simply nice, but he couldn't quite figure out the word he'd use to describe her. "She's better than I imagined. Please thank your IT department, Antonio."
"I'll offer an extra bonus for all the good work." Antonio gently slapped him on his back.
The three of them walked up to the family suite of rooms, but Kristin and Renee's laughter echoed in the hall. Both men stopped and Lucio shrugged, "Sounds like your wife is in the library with Marco's."
"Later, Lucio." Marco opened the door.
Lucio continued down the hall though he heard his family's laughter in the distance. Despite all the drama, it was good that everyone could still laugh, especially now that Kristin and Renee joined their ranks. Amy’s under her breath witty comments would only add more joy in his own life. Once he found Amy, he'd settle in and relax for the evening, knowing security had everything under control. He opened their bedroom door and walked in. However, their suite had no lights on. "Amy? Where are you?"
Silence greeted his ears and apprehension chilled him. He sensed that she wasn't here, but he checked the balcony, bathroom and closet to be sure. Every second he spent searching his rooms, his pulse began to race, but she was nowhere.
He returned to the main hall and heard the laughter. He sucked in his breath, popped his head into the library but saw no sign of Amy. His sisters-in-law had his mother holding her stomach while she laughed. He asked, "Sorry to bother—have you seen Amy?"
"No," Kristin answered. "Is she missing?"
Until he knew for sure, he'd not alarm his family. She might have spent more time with her sister though the tingling in his spine warned it was more. He avoided a direct answer to his sister-in-law. "I'm going to see Evie."
His brothers both looked concerned, but neither said anything—they’d let him deal with the situation yet they’d also be ready to act. He closed the door and walked faster than he normally did down the flight to the guest suites.
If Amy had kicked her sister out of the castle because of those pictures, security would have helped her. Even if to him what she did wasn’t a big deal, though Amy obviously had angst in half of the poses, none of it should matter. He stifled the urge to call Babik. Logic dictated he check with her family. He knocked and her sister answered the door. She blinked and stared at him. "Lucio. I'm surprised to see you here."
"Is Amy here?" He gazed over her head into the yellow bedroom reserved for special guests. Her parents were with her and her fiancé. They all seemed happy and at ease together. Lucio glanced at Michael, who had dirty blond hair and was about six inches shorter, but Evie smiled at him as if he were a king.
Evie brought her gaze back to Lucio and opened the door wider. "She left to find you a while go."
Again, his spine pricked and he felt something was wrong. His shoulders went rigid. "She's not in our room."
"I'll help you look." Evie took a step into the hall dressed in a simple peasant skirt and a shawl.
"No." Lucio answered fast. If something happened to Amy, he'd find her and not put her family in danger. Instead he deflected, "You and Michael stay put in case she comes back. I'm getting the guards and the security tape. She's around somewhere."
Evie shrugged but stayed still, which was different than when he knew her years ago. The Evie he remembered exploded at the slightest provocation. "Okay. Let me and my parents know she's all right when you find her."
The last thing he needed was civilians in the way if he had to use his FBI training to rescue her. Again, his pulse raced but it also had a chill. Instincts shouldn't be ignored. He bowed politely. "I will, Evie."
He turned to go to his office, but he stopped at the next bedroom. Her American friend—Suzie. Amy had said she'd not seen her since her arrival at the palace. Perhaps she’d stopped to visit after he sent her on the tour? While he hadn’t met her, Babik had said she was settled in her room. He knocked and a moment later, a brown-haired woman in flannel pajama pants and long t-shirt came to the door. She looked nothing like the smiling woman at the bar in the picture Amy had shown him. "Just checking in with you. Did Amy come in here?"
She stared at him as if assessing him. "So, you're Lucio, Amy's prince?"
"Yes. Is she here?" He peered through the opening of the door.
Suzie's face went white. "No. I've not seen her since I arrived. Is she missing?"
He brushed her cold hands to offer assurance. "Don't worry about it. I'll find her."
She crossed her arms at her stomach. "It's a big castle. If you need help, let me know."
Amy's friend shouldn't be cold in the palace, but he kept the thought to himself. Perhaps she’d just eaten ice cream before going to bed early. There had been a bowl on her side table.
Once he said goodbye, he rushed down the stairs to his office in the lowest level, near the old dungeon. On his way down, he texted security, so when he walked into the room, he met the brown-eyed gaze of his most trusted general. "Babik, Amy is missing."
Babik's expression was unreadable, as always, but he said, "I'll get the security tapes. In two minutes, we'll follow the video feed."
"Good, thanks." Lucio's heart pounded. He should have thought of that already, but then he never should have let Amy go anywhere alone in this castle. It wasn't safe here. He knew there was a threat and he hadn’t protected her nearly enough.
The general found the files on his computer and Lucio pulled his chair closer to the monitor. "Babik, we left my suite together over an hour ago. She went to see her sister, and Evie confirmed they’d talked."
"Let's start there then." Babik rewound on screen to an hour ago on the timestamp and opened the file for the guest wing.
Lucio pressed his fist into his knee as he watched as Amy knocked on her sister's door. No one answered, so she went inside. Babik switched the camera to inside, but once Evie walked toward her, the conversation seemed polite. They fast forwarded the scene. Babik said, "Nothing exciting so far."
Amy turned and left Evie’s room, so they slowed down the tape. Lucio said, "She should have been heading back to our room."
On the tape, Amy walked down the hall and Lucio bit back a groan of frustration. Babik's gaze narrowed and he hit stop. "Wait. Loop back."
"What?" Lucio hadn't seen anything. She’d walked down the hall.
Babik watched the scene and the tape made a slight jump. "The tape is altered."
His stomach dropped. All his instincts had been right. He jumped out of his chair and let it screech on the hardwood floor. Lucio checked the time stamp and calculated it down to the second of when Amy had been taken. "Fifteen minutes ago, she was smuggled out of the palace." The five men he and his brothers had been tracking for the past few hours were checked into a hotel nearby. He went to his desk, and found his hand gun and holster. "Get the guards ready and secure Edvard. No one is taking her from me."
His brothers walked into the office and both went to their desks to g
et their supplies. "We came to help."
"Amy's been kidnapped."
What he couldn't say was that if he lost her, he lost his reason for living. He'd prefer banishment from his family than ever marry another. Amy was his and his alone now. He had to get her back. He had no other option.
17
Amy roused to consciousness when the frigid ice truck doors opened and two men grabbed her arms and forced her out of the ice and into the heat of a kitchen. Her chapped lips burned and she was colder than she’d ever been.
Before she could scream for help, they dragged her up the backstairs and into a small hall. The numbers on the door made her assume this was a hotel, and the two men who manhandled her threw her into room 312.
Her vision blurred in her icy face, but she realized another two men were in the hotel room, slightly older than the twenty-somethings who’d driven her here. She stared at one who reminded her a little of the older man she met in London with the same calculating blue eyes. She massaged her arms, lifted her chin and met his gaze. "It was freezing in there."
The man bowed like she was royalty. "The ice truck was all we could get, Your Highness."
She dropped her hands to her side, warmth stinging her fingertips. "I'm not a royal."
"You're marrying one." He shrugged.
She took a step backwards. Her heart raced, but all she had as a weapon was making herself as human to them as possible. She let out a sigh. "Well that's good to hear. I thought you were going to stop the wedding."
The man with blue eyes crossed his arms. "Ms. Fields, we cannot let you marry the prince. You must understand that."
Her heart raced. If these men were connected to her report then she understood they were here to cause problems. She swallowed and lowered her gaze, to appear weaker. "Are you following my analysis? If so, we need to discuss some of your tactics, including my kidnapping. There is no way stopping my wedding would somehow bring the Aussas down."
He took a step toward her. "I disagree, ma'am."
Ma'am wasn't her name. She wasn't a person with that, and in self-defense class they stressed that any potential victim needed to humanize themselves as much as possible if they wanted to get away. She hugged her waist and decided she'd play on their sympathies. "You shouldn't. Lucio's only marrying me because my sister in unavailable. He doesn't truly care about me. He can marry someone else tomorrow and nothing you do to me will matter."
The second man in the room said, "You actually believe that?"
She turned and met his green eyes which seemed the rarest color of emeralds and noticed his thin blonde goatee, committing it to memory for Lucio. "Absolutely. Tell you what. Let me explain my analysis to you and help you gain real insight into causing the most damage."
Both men looked at each other and then headed toward the connecting door. "Let us discuss this, alone. Wait here."
The space was small but clean, probably a three and half star hotel room, with a full bed and a small window. She refused to move and hoped she could figure out an escape. "Do I have a choice?"
"No." The man with blue eyes slammed the door, leaving her alone.
"I didn't think so," Amy muttered to herself. She raced to the window and unhooked the locks as she stared at the fire escape, which led down to the alley. She tried to lift the frame, but it wouldn’t budge. She used all her might, wondering if it had been screwed shut to keep her prisoner. The blue roof of the palace seemed so close. When would Lucio realize she was gone? She pushed the frame up with the heels of her palms but it wouldn’t move. She folded her hands at her waist.
The door behind her opened and the two men came back in. Mr. Blue eyes crossed his arms again. "What are you doing?"
"Looking at the castle." She backed away from the window.
They walked toward her and it felt like her heart fell into her stomach. "Plotting an escape?"
She had to humanize herself so they wouldn’t kill her. Amy wiped nonexistent tears from her face. "And where would I go? I can’t marry a man who wishes I was my sister. It might be better if you end my life than send me to that torture."
The man who would fit into any coffee shop scene said, "You're not what we expected."
"You paid me to analyze Avce." She dared to gaze at both of them. They had to see her as a victim if she had any chance to get out of this. Her skin no longer felt frozen to the bone from the ice truck, but she felt an electric storm in the air that was probably just her nerves.
The blue-eyed man said, "My father just confirmed that information."
She'd been right. There was a connection. Thank heavens. "Your father was who I met in London? What a cold, rainy day. I offered him a cup of tea, but he’d been in a hurry for the report. I don’t want to return to the palace. Is there any way you can help me return to England?"
The blue-eyed man motioned with his head for the second to follow him. "We have to discuss this further."
She reached for her pearl necklace that wasn't there but lowered her head to appear meek. "I'll be here, waiting."
When the men went to the hall, their voices in muffled whispers, Amy slipped the chain on the interior lock on the door. The men heard what she’d done and started to shout and pound on the thin wood.
Amy picked up the lamp on the nearby nightstand and slammed the heavy base into the window glass itself—there was always more than one way to get around a problem. Taking care not to impale herself on the broken glass, she crawled through to the black metal escape and used both hands to get down as fast as possible.
Wood splintered and she imagined the men breaking down the door but she couldn't stop.
She made it to the bottom step and jumped out into the middle of the alley, then ran around to the main street.
Footsteps landed in a thump behind her. Adrenaline kicked into gear. She'd have to find help—there was no way she could run all the way back to the palace.
Like something from a movie, a silver sedan slowed at the corner, the passenger window rolled down and her friend's voice called out, "Get in."
Her chance at freedom. She jumped into the passenger's seat as she heard the male feet thundering toward her. She locked the door and said, "Suzie! I'm so happy you're here. Whose car is this?"
"It's a rental." Suzie jammed her foot down on the gas pedal, locking all the doors.
Amy pointed behind them. "The palace is that way."
"We can't go there." Suzie answered fast and turned a corner away from the hotel.
She stared out the window at the four men who chased her. They stood on the corner she'd left, but stared in all directions. At least the men had no idea where she was. Her heart thundered in her chest. Safe—Suzie had saved her again. "Why not?"
Suzie's soothing voice held a melancholy note. "Your sister has been in Lucio's room for over an hour when I left the palace. We should head back to London."
Lucio and Evie? She flashed back to the library, and her heartache. But no, Lucio had picked her to be his bride when he could have gone back to Evie. She didn’t believe it—it didn’t make sense.
She shrieked when her friend almost hit a man crossing the street. She grabbed hold of the passenger seat and closed her eyes. "Suzie, slow down. You're going awfully fast."
Suzie said, "You need to be safe."
No. Her skin prickled with alarm. The street might be safer than here. "Pull over and let me out."
Suzie held onto the steering wheel and didn't even glance at her as they made their way out of town. "I can't, Amy. You shouldn't be here. Trust me."
There had to be something she could do, but behind her she heard helicopters and what sounded like storm troopers. She unhooked her seatbelt and looked in the rear view mirror. The royal army had descended on the hotel. Lucio had to have sent them for her. "Wait. It sounds like the army is storming into the hotel we just left."
Suzie swerved onto a narrow side street. "Hold onto your seat."
Amy unlocked her door. This was too much. Luci
o was there to save her. She screamed at her friend, "Stop. Suzie. I want to get out."
Suzie glanced at her. "Amy, when I told you to marry a rich man, I didn't mean Lucio Aussa."
"Why?" Amy's stomach was in knots. She had a feeling Suzie was knee-deep in trying to ruin her wedding. Was her best friend jealous?
Suzie heaved a sigh, her grip tight on the wheel. "Because I paid for the report."
Amy sat back in her seat while the scene outside turned more pasture and less city. She stared at the profile of her best friend—a woman it seemed she didn’t know at all. "But you flew here for my wedding."
Suzie reached out and brushed her hand against hers. "Look, Amy, we were friends. I genuinely liked going out to the bars with you in London, but friendship only goes so far."
Amy jerked her hand back. If she stayed in this car, she'd be in more trouble. "What do you get out of all this?"
"Money. I like money." Suzie answered fast.
The answer made little sense. Suzie had always said she free-lanced for her living expenses. Amy inched toward her door, fingers on the handle, out of Suzie’s sight. "Who’s paying you? Anarchists generally don't have cash."
Suzie shook her head. "Now that is true. You're too smart for your own good."
Amy opened the door and saw the road under the tires and how fast they were going. "Not smart enough, obviously, or I’d have seen right through you."
"Don’t be stupid now—you will hurt yourself. Close the door," Suzie ordered, swerving on the road.
She had to jump. Hopefully the dirt was soft because the tarred road wouldn't be. Amy said a little prayer and launched toward the side of the country road.
"You're crazy." Suzie's voice carried in the air.
The dirt was hard. Her shoulder felt like she was on fire the second she thumped into the packed gravel. Her head spun.
Suzie's car sped down the road, away from her. How could she have been so wrong about Suzie? The woman she thought was better than her sister had turned out to be even worse.
And no one else was here to get help from.
Forbidden Royal Page 10
