Billionaire Protector

by Kyanna Skye

  “When this is over,” Kiefer said, taking another turn. “I’m going to write up an offer for you, and I want you to think about it. And there’s absolutely no pressure.”

  “Well since you brought it up,” McConnell said. “How much do you make protecting a Princess?”

  ***

  Jesse and Erika drove up to Malibu, where the limousine driver dropped them off in a restaurant parking lot. They picked up another car at the corner, a non-descript white sedan. Once they were back on the road, Jesse took a look in the rearview.

  “Are they following us?”

  “Not amateur enough to be obvious,” he replied. “But we’ve got a tail a few cars back.”

  “Good. How long before we’re there?” Erika asked.

  “About a good hour in this traffic,” he sighed. He glanced over at her. “I swear I’ve almost called you Amira twice.”

  “If I can almost fool you, I can trick anybody,” she said. “You are closer to her than anyone.”

  “Oh, so Alec’s been running his mouth has he?”

  “Come on. He wouldn’t have to say anything, you and Amira make an adorable couple.”

  Jesse groaned. “Well. I um. I really do like Amira a lot.”

  “Are you blushing, Jesse?” Erika asked.

  He cleared his throat. He could feel the heat rushing up his face and along his ears. He had never really been good about such things but Amira could reduce him to a teenager again.

  “This whole thing with whoever is after her,” Erika said softly. “How have you been dealing with it?”

  “Other than protecting her, grilling her for information, and retracing every step and morsel of information I have about her? I’m working the situation but I don’t know how I’m really handling it.”

  This was a more honest reply than he had meant to give her but once it was said there was no taking it back.

  “I understand,” she replied. “It’s got to be the same for her.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “The obvious reason,” Erika said. “While you’re worried about her, she has to be hoping that she’s not going to be responsible for you getting shot or something.”

  “I can take care of myself…”

  “Of course you can,” Erika interrupted. “From what I hear she can take care of herself too. Doesn’t mean that as the woman in your life, she’s not going to worry about you.”

  ***

  Alec was in another location with Amira; a safe house Edgewater owned in a house on the beach. Amira liked it. The home was tranquil. Of all the places she had stayed during her chaotic time in California, this house was the one she wouldn’t have minded living in. She took a seat in the living room and watched the tide rolling in on the beach below, trying to keep her calm.

  “You sure I can’t get you anything?” Alec asked.

  He stood in the doorway between the living and dining room, looking at her with a concerned expression. “We’re not going to know one way or another for a while.”

  “I’d really like to talk to Jesse,” she said. “Which is obviously the one thing I can’t do right now.”

  “The worst part of this kind of operations is sitting tight,” Alec agreed. “By the way, I brought your things up,” he said, laying the duffel bag on the couch beside her. She was beginning to hate the thing. Amira never minded living out of bags and suitcases until she no longer had a choice in the matter. Traveling always felt like an adventure before. Now it was just a game of shifting from one location to another, hoping that she or those she cares for didn’t get hurt.

  Amira excused herself and went to the washroom, taking the bag with her. Sitting down on the edge of the tub, she fished out the tablet and logged in. The online signal was weak but it was enough to get into the account she needed to. After her last outgoing message, there was only one reply to her plea.

  No.

  Amira cursed in her native tongue and put the tablet away. When this began, she’d hoped that she could bargain her way out of trouble. Diplomacy had always worked for her before. After the shooting at the hotel, it was clear to her that she had underestimated this man’s ruthlessness. The fact that her brother had been threatened also brought a new difficulty to the whole issue. She could only think that this had been the real goal in pursuing a relationship with her in the first place. Omar had managed to worm his way into her life, and when she refused to take things further, he decided to push back.

  Marrying her would have meant an alliance between their countries; and in a way, it could have worked for him as a bloodless coup, given the right circumstances. But since he wasn’t able to accomplish that goal, getting rid of her was just as good.

  Amira sighed. She wanted to write him back but she knew it was really no use. She was far past the point of being able to reason with him. She feared that if she was the one to engage again, he would probably start threatening her again. He said that just because he hadn’t found her before didn’t mean that he wouldn’t.

  ***

  Amira’s relationship with Omar had never been much of a romance. Despite public perception and the way they presented themselves as a couple, Amira never imagined herself as a potential wife to him. Dating back home was considered a step towards engagement; you didn’t just date without having a serious intent of building a future with that person.

  She was considered of marriageable age back home but there were too many things in life for her to think about such a serious commitment. Omar was handsome, educated, and well-traveled. He was the kind of man who knew all about tradition and what he needed to do within polite society but he didn’t mind breaking a rule now and again. She liked that about him. They’d went on a few bona fide dates which had nothing to do with work. They enjoyed fine cuisine in in private clubs, they even went dancing a few times. She let him know early on that she didn’t believe it would lead to anything more. And when he told her that was fine with him as long as they kept up a united front in public. She agreed with him because, at the time, her parents had already started asking questions and dropping hints that an alliance between their families would be highly desirable. It was more than wanting to let them down easily. She literally didn’t know how to tell them she had no intentions of marrying him or anyone else yet. Matters of state came before personal needs—she knew they would be disappointed in her if she even hinted otherwise. Their anger at Tarik for abdicating the thrown translated into a need to make her follow the expected norms of a royal heir more closely. And with her extensive travel schedule, the way she worked for charities outside the usual choices of the royal family, and her general penchant for being outspoken, her parents felt they were flexible enough.

  As the months went on, she expected that Omar would take up with someone else and that an appropriate announcement would be made to the press. Something that didn’t disparage either one of them but made it appear that they were friends who had both moved on to meet other people. That day never came. Every time she did speak with him she brought it up and the only answer he would give her was that it would be done in due time.

  Finally, she told him that if he didn’t she would have to break with tradition and be the one to announce that she was not seeing him anymore. She remembered how he held his breath for a moment before laughing in her ear.

  “And if you do that, I will make sure you’re absolutely destroyed in the press. I’ll make everyone think you’re a whore. I have the pictures to do it…”

  “Pictures? What are you talking about?” Amira demanded. “I haven’t so much as touched you, you disgusting pig!”

  “Amazing things can be done with images these days. But you know what? How many people in your home country do you think would actually take your word for it? How humiliated would your parents be? Do you think there would be a way to ever repair your reputation? Because that’s really all a woman has.”

  He’d hung up on her before she could have said more, which probably worked out better
for him. In the following weeks, she kept watch over the news but saw nothing relating to either of them or her relationship. She decided that he was bluffing. She had never been in a compromising position with him, hadn’t done more than shared a few chaste kisses. But she also knew the power of perception, and how genuinely angry her countrymen would be that the Princess would find herself in the position where she could be compromised. She couldn’t even think about the weight of embarrassment on her father. No matter how salacious the whole thing was made out to be, she was aware that no one would look down on Omar, which made the whole thing worse.

  Then, just before her plane landed in Los Angeles, she received a text from him asking for her to reconsider marrying him. When she said no, he said she could expect an unpleasant surprise.

  She hadn’t been able to get him to confess anything online but she knew he was the one behind the shooting. Accusing him of anything without proof was enough to start an international incident of its own. Though she was beginning to regret not telling Jesse and his men, up until the shooting she had still held out hope that she could somehow influence his decisions. When he did speak to her she still tried to reason with him even though she knew it was futile.

  And she had let things gone too long and too far with Jesse. Her fear was that once he knew she didn’t tell him everything, it would destroy what they had. How could she rebuild trust in a relationship which was so new, when she had been holding back from him from the very beginning?

  Amira looked down at her tablet. Omar’s words left her with a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach:

  I’m not stopping until you come back to me. Maybe you’re not worried about your own life but there are others close to you I can reach.

  Amira almost dropped it on the bathroom floor when the next picture came up: a picture of her brother Omar eating with his wife and son at café eating breakfast. She checked the time stamp and did the math in her head. It would be morning in Stockholm. Someone was watching her brother and his family at that moment. They were blissfully unaware: Omar laughed at something his wife Hannah said, while their son, Travis, drank from a sippy cup.

  It took a few moments for her hands to stop shaking long enough to type an answer.

  What do you want me to do? Where do you want me to go? Amira asked.

  He gave her instructions on where she should go. Omar wanted her to surrender. Whatever happened she couldn’t allow him to hurt her brother or her nephew. They had to come before anyone else. He sent her instructions. She was to come alone, by herself. And if she alerted anyone to where she was going there would be consequences.

  Amira grabbed her handbag. Alec was downstairs, and she had already told him she would go to bed for the night. There was no way she could get past him and out the front door. But there might be a chance she could get past him if she climbed out the second story window…

  ***

  Chapter Nine

  Jesse walked behind Erika, looking around as they made their way into the house. It was a cottage just off of Pacific Coast Highway, a home they’d rented for this particular assignment. There was a wooded area nearby, and though the neighborhood was fairly exclusive, there was access for anyone bold enough to hop fences and go through backyards. It kept things interesting because, for all intents and purposes, they were looking to make things difficult but not impossible for an assailant to reach them.

  Once they were inside, they made sure all doors and windows were secured. Erika was savvy as he was when it came to security and weapons, so she helped him do a sweep. Not that either were expecting to be encountered as soon as they entered, but in their business, it was wise not to take extra risks.

  He wouldn’t admit it but Jesse was concerned about Amira. He knew that she was in safe hands with Alec but this was the first time he had been separated from her during the brief time they had known each other. His own reaction surprised him.

  “You’re actually hungry right now?” Jesse asked. His stomach churned uncomfortably at the thought of food, even though he hadn’t eaten anything since the previous day. When he was working he often forgot to eat but he knew he’d pay for it later.

  “Well yes. We’re having company anyway, right? I don’t want to have to kick this guy’s ass on an empty stomach.” Erika grinned.

  ***

  David was alone back at the office of Edgewater Agency. It was going to be a long night, waiting for word back from his colleagues. The trap was already set for the person who was chasing Amira. All that was left was to sit back and…catch.

  It really felt altogether too easy. Operations never tended to go so smoothly. There was always something unexpected, no matter what contingencies were planned for or how things were supposed to work. So even though he could have gone to bed, or at least taken a nap before checking back in, David stayed awake. He sat in front of his bank of computers, playing a video game on one, while three others ran searches and information strings through databases.

  He’d gotten comfortable, and was dozing when the ding of one of the programs woke him.

  David looked up, frowning at the screen. The words running across were not in English. He had to type in a string of code to bring up a translator. He already knew the source. He’d only been able to hack into Omar’s laptop over the last few hours. It hadn’t been easy work but he was within Amira’s circle, and David figured anyone close to her was worth keeping an eye on. If there had been an office pool, he’d have bet on the whole thing is either her father or her boyfriend’s doing.

  The translator took a few minutes before it brought up the script in English, and he had to go back to the beginning of the conversation before he could figure out what was going on. The person Omar was conversing with had the initials, AS. Amira Sabine?

  David grabbed his phone. It rang three times on the other end before someone picked up. Alec’s voice came over the line.

  “What’s up?”

  “Where’s Amira?” he asked.

  “In her room, sleeping by now probably,” he replied. “What…”

  “Go look. Go in there right now!”

  Alec burst through the door of Amira’s room. Not only was the room empty but the window stood open, a faint breeze lifting the curtains. Looking out into the yard, he didn’t see any sign of where she had gone. He ran downstairs and got in his car. He couldn’t imagine she had gotten far on foot.

  He was still clutching his phone in one hand but didn’t pay any attention until he realized David was on the other end of the line yelling at him.

  “I’ve got to look for her, I don’t know where she’s gone or why” Alec said.

  “Listen, I might be able to help you, if she still has the computer she was on earlier, I should be able to track her. Get in your car and I’ll tell you where to go. She doesn’t have a vehicle, hopefully, she didn’t get too far from the house.

  “Jesse will kill me,” Alec groaned. He could imagine how he would feel if the situation were reversed and something happened to Erika. He would rightfully want someone’s head. With all the allowances made for security, it hadn’t occurred to him that he needed to worry about Amira escaping. What reason would she have to leave when someone was out to kill her?

  ***

  Kiefer and Detective McConnell were outside the safe house across town, where Erika and Jesse waited for Amira’s stalker. From their vantage point on the hill above the property, they could see anyone approaching from the street below or from further above. They sat tight in their SUV. Kiefer scanned the area below every few minutes. If there was one thing they were both familiar with it was the boredom that came with stakeouts.

  “If I did work for you,” McConnell said. “How much would I be making on this stakeout?”

  Kiefer rolled his eyes at him. “Seriously? You want to negotiate price right now?”

  “When I send you my resume, you’ll see that one of my best qualities is my ability to multi-task,” he grinned.

  “Uh hu
h,” Kiefer replied, taking a sip of water from a bottle. “We’ll see.”

  McConnell took out his phone and checked. No messages, or nothing pertaining to the case anyway. He was pretty sure wasn’t needed elsewhere, but he felt better knowing for sure.

  “The Princess is a different kind of case,” Kiefer said.

  “Well, yes,” McConnell agreed. “Wait. See that?” he nudged Kiefer.

  They both looked down. A figure emerges on the road, walking on foot, weaving in and out of the shadows. Dressed in black, the form almost melted into the night. He moved quickly, footfalls silent against the soft soil at the road’s edge.

  “Ah, here we go,” Kiefer sighed. “Son of a bitch.”

  ***

  “Well damn, I was hoping to get a chance at him myself,” Erika said cheerfully.

  She stood in the kitchen, arms crossed, and watched as Kiefer and McConnell dragged in their suspect; hands tied behind his back, his feet bound, the two men pulled him to the kitchen table and forced him into a chair and tied him to it. Once the ski mask was removed from his face, there was an audible gasp.

  “Charlie?” Kiefer said.

  Charlie was the muscle who worked for Amira’s father, the first to call Jesse’s credentials and Amira’s need for protection from Edgewater into question. Even with all of the work David had done into the security guard’s background, he hadn’t come up with anything.

  Jesse went for the man’s throat. It took both of the other men to pull him off of the assailant. Charlie coughed, his eyes wide and bloodshot. It took both the other men to keep Jesse from charging at him again.

  “Mother fucker,” Jesse screamed. “All these years working for Amira’s family and it was you? All the shit you gave me when we started protecting her? You traitor!”

  “Well it makes sense now, doesn’t it?” Erika said.

  “You’re not Amira,” Charlie cocked his head to the side. “Who are you?”

  “She’s none of your concern,” Kiefer answered.

  “All the years of waiting for hand and foot on that brat,” he said. “What use is she? She doesn’t follow her people’s traditions anymore. They ruined her when they sent her away to school in London; she came back thinking she was just as Western as anyone else. She has no concept of her true responsibilities. A woman like her isn’t fit to lead.”