Her Prince (Twisted Royals #2)

by Sidney Bristol

  “How are you going to signal us?” Ryan asked, one brow raised.

  “That’s a good question.” Kade hadn’t gotten that far yet.

  “Zain is going to kill me,” Ian muttered. He turned to the open rear of his Jeep and opened a small case. “Wireless comm units. Small enough they fit inside your ear, and aren’t visible from the outside.”

  “You can back out now.” Kade took the earpiece and stared at what looked like a small, flesh colored tunnel. “You don’t have to be here.”

  “And let you have all the fun?” Ian snorted. “Jaxon, can you keep an eye on Rusty for us and direct the first responders?”

  “Freya’s in there.” Jaxon frowned.

  “And we’ll get her back, but we need someone watching our ass. You don’t have a gun license, do you?”

  “No, but—”

  “Then I can’t give you a gun.” Ian shrugged. “If the cops get here, it’s going to be bad enough for us, without explaining why I gave a civilian a gun.”

  “Fuck.” Jaxon turned, muttering to himself.

  “It’s decided then.” Kade tapped the ear piece, adjusting the volume. “I’ll go in, you wait for my signal, and come in however you think is best. I expect there will be guards. People we aren’t seeing.”

  “We’ll handle it.” Ryan smacked Kade’s shoulder. “Just don’t die on us.”

  “I’ll try not to.”

  Kade circled around to Jaxon’s car and got in the driver’s seat. They needed Ogden to believe he was there alone, that he was playing into the plan. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they were missing an awfully big chunk.

  Ogden was obsessed with Shelby. He could accept that much. But replaying the night things had gone wrong with her mother?

  That was a stretch of the imagination.

  He shifted into drive and cruised back around to the driveway.

  This was it.

  Shelby was in there.

  And he’d either get her back, or die making it happen.

  One way or another, Shelby was going to get a second chance.

  He turned the wheel and let the car roll forward, keeping his eyes peeled for look-outs, cameras, some sort of surveillance. That he didn’t see it, made him more concerned.

  There was no doubt in his mind Ogden had eyes on him.

  Right now.

  If Kade couldn’t see them, it meant this wasn’t a hastily thrown together location. There were defenses in place. And that was bad.

  “You hear me, guys?” Kade said.

  “Yeah,” Ryan replied after a moment. “Had us muted.”

  “I don’t see any surveillance. I don’t like it.”

  “We’ve got you covered.”

  “Someone’s coming out of the house.”

  “Copy that. Going silent.”

  Kade killed the engine and opened the door. He didn’t recognize the man in the suit walking toward him, but Kade knew that look. The one that said he dealt in death and lives.

  “I’m here to see Ogden,” Kade said before the greeter could deliver a line.

  The man paused and shrugged.

  The way Kade saw it, there was no point in pretending this was anything other than it was.

  “This way.” The man gestured toward the double doors leading into the house.

  “Some place you’ve got here.” Kade continued examining the façade, the windows, anything that would give him a clue.

  His host didn’t deign to reply.

  They stepped into the entry.

  Music pulsed from deeper into the house.

  “Wow, hi, guys.” Kade held up his hands. “I thought we were here for a talk. Why the armed guards?”

  The closest one stepped forward, hand out, a menacing scowl on his face.

  “Leave him,” the host said. “Ogden wants a show.”

  “A show? What the hell is going on?”

  “Mr. Ogden will see you now.” The man gestured at another set of doors.

  This was a show. An act. Rusty was his hand-delivered invitation.

  Kade stepped through the doors the men opened for him and into…a very small night club.

  The room was maybe thirty feet square. Lounge areas were crowded with…people. Mostly women. The closest stared back at him with wide, fearful eyes, her wrists bound to a metal railing circling the room.

  Like a damn fighting ring.

  “If you guys can hear me, I’ve found the hostages, but no sign of Shelby. We’re inside the house, some sort of converted living room, made into a club.”

  His first instinct was to go to the hostages, ensure they were okay. The reality was that they were likely safer where they were, handcuffed into place.

  Kade stepped farther into the room, counting off the people.

  “There’s two to three dozen hostages in here. Owen’s going to shit his pants.”

  “Kade!”

  “Shelby?” He glanced around.

  “Up here.”

  Kade took a few more steps until he could see up into the cut-out upper floor. Shelby hung suspended from the ceiling. Or had been. If he had to guess, she’d shimmied up the same line they’d used to string her up.

  “What the hell are you doing?” He rushed forward, nearly tripping over a pair of discarded women’s high heels until he stood under her.

  “Getting free, what does it look like I’m doing? You have to get out of here. Ogden’s going to try to kill you.”

  “Yeah, I figured that. Get your ass down here.”

  “Trying.” She grunted. “There.”

  Shelby dropped to the ground, her face flushed and breathless.

  “You have to go.” Shelby shoved at him. “He’s crazy. This is crazy. Go!”

  “He can’t go now, we’re just getting started.”

  That voice made Kade pause and the air in his lungs turn frigid. He turned to face Ogden, only it wasn’t just Ogden. He held a blonde woman in front of him, a gun to her head, and a smile on his lips.

  “Freya, it’s going to be okay,” Shelby said slowly, hands out.

  “We’re here, what else do you want?” Kade asked. “Let these people go.”

  “No, no, no. That’s not how it goes.” Ogden shook his head. “You dance first.”

  “What?” Shelby’s face scrunched up. “How off your rocker are you?”

  “Sharon, do as you are told. Dance with him, or I’ll shoot your friend in the head. I will not hesitate. And for every time I have to tell you to do something, I’ll shoot someone else. Understand?” What Ogden was asking them to do was crazy, and yet he spoke with conviction and force.

  “Okay, look?” Shelby turned toward Kade and put her hands at his waist. “See? We’re dancing?”

  “You okay?” Kade asked as they swayed side to side.

  “I’ve been better. I’m sorry about running off, I just thought… It doesn’t matter. Kade, he plans on killing you.”

  “Yeah, well, he’ll have to try harder. How many people are here?”

  “I’ve only seen Ogden, a man in a mask, and Yuri Gabor. He’s…it’s bad.”

  “Hm. I saw four armed guards in front.”

  “The facilities I’ve seen, it would take around six to staff this place. At least. Has he let Freya go yet?”

  “No.”

  “Damn it.”

  “I have some guys as back up, but if there’s more than the four guards they’re going to end up fighting their way in.” Kade hoped Ian and the rest could hear him. “How are you?”

  “You already asked me that. How are we going to get out of this? He wants to kill you.”

  “We won’t let him.” He gathered her closer. “Why’d you leave?”

  “That’s not important right now.” Shelby glanced away.

  They kept swaying their bodies in time, though not to the music playing.

  There were three entrances. Two sets of double doors and one side entrance. Ogden must have come through there. Kade could see a single set of a
rmed guards up above on the walkway circling the second floor. They must not have been present earlier for Shelby’s little rope stunt.

  At a glance, it was an incredibly put-together club.

  On closer inspection, the set dressing was clearer.

  How many scenarios had played out under this roof?

  “He was going to come after me.” Shelby stared at his chest. “Either I became a target, putting everyone around me at risk, or I gave him what he wanted in exchange for keeping everyone else safe. I made what I thought was the best choice at the time. I didn’t know this was going to happen.”

  “How could you? You can’t out-crazy crazy.” He bent his neck and kissed her brow.

  “Kiss her,” Ogden yelled from the sidelines.

  Kade turned to glance over his shoulder at Ogden. Kade had tried to keep himself between Shelby and the man, though he was the one with the target on his back.

  “Kiss. Her.” Ogden shook the handful of Freya’s hair.

  The young woman’s face twisted in pain.

  Shelby cupped the back of Kade’s neck, pulling him toward her.

  Giving Ogden what he wanted only got them so far. They were going to need to start buying the guy’s extra time.

  Shelby’s lips pressed to his.

  “You bitch,” Ogden roared.

  “Move,” she said.

  Shelby shoved Kade, his gun in her hands. Time seemed to slow, while his thoughts sped up.

  The men at the door expected a fight.

  Shelby wasn’t wearing body armor.

  The blast of muzzle fire created white dots in his vision.

  Kade pivoted at the same moment another blast tore through the room.

  Searing, white-hot pain ripped at his shoulder.

  He gritted his teeth and turned with the bullet’s momentum, staggering to his side.

  The guards were gone. Where had they gone?

  Kade stumbled toward Shelby, wrapping an arm around her.

  The side door opened and the man who’d greeted Kade stepped through.

  “Ogden. Ogden? The cops are coming.”

  “No,” Ogden roared.

  Both Kade and the man leaning against the door glanced at Ogden.

  “Oh, my God. Kade. Kade?” Shelby patted at his shoulder.

  That was going to hurt tomorrow.

  An inkling tickled the back of his mind.

  “We have to leave now.”

  Ogden lurched to his feet.

  Kade shoved Shelby away.

  Ogden lifted his arm.

  Kade rushed him, keeping low.

  The gun went off, the shot wide.

  Kade hit Ogden in the chest, taking him to the ground. A meaty fist clocked Kade in the head. He grabbed the other man’s wrist, the one holding the gun, and rammed it into the ground. Ogden howled in pain, but no one came to his rescue.

  “Down! Down. Everyone get down!”

  Kade had never been so relieved to hear the surly Irishman’s voice.

  He held onto Ogden, the pure, unadulterated crazy staring back at him.

  “She’s mine. I win,” Kade said.

  Let him chew on that for the rest of his life, rotting in a cell.

  “Kade? Kade—I got him. Let go. I’ve got him.” Ryan was there, kicking the gun aside and slapping cuffs on Ogden’s wrists. “Go see about Shelby.”

  Shelby?

  Kade’s head swam. It was like he was off balance. He pushed up, stumbling to the side. He glanced down.

  Why was there blood everywhere?

  Where was it coming from?

  Shelby?

  “Oh, shit,” someone said.

  “He’s going down!”

  Kade felt gravity release him, and the world went wrong side up. Or maybe it was him.

  Shelby’s face filled his vision.

  “Kade? No, Kade? I don’t know what to do! You have to tell me what to do!”

  She patted his chest, the vest.

  She looked okay. Ian and the others were here. She’d be safe. That was what mattered.

  32.

  Shelby stared at the men hoisting Kade into the back of the ambulance.

  It’d all happened so fast.

  She’d shot.

  Ogden had shot.

  Kade moved.

  Why had he moved?

  She’d told him to duck.

  Duck.

  The damn man didn’t know how to stop being a fucking hero, and now he might die. Because of her. Because she couldn’t stop destroying the good around her. Because everyone who loved her—died.

  “Hey—hey, Shelby, right?”

  She lifted her chin, eyes still on the ambulance, but she could see the man with the tattoos and reddish hair in her peripheral vision. Ian. Kade had called him a leprechaun and then they’d thrown peanuts at each other. Such normal interactions. And she’d stolen that from Kade.

  “He’ll be all right. Kade’s a tough bastard. You should get that arm looked at.”

  She glanced down. The blood. So much of it. It streaked her chest, the fabric. Her arms. Was some of it hers?

  “How’d you find me?” she asked. Ogden had set it up, that much she knew, but how? How would he lure her here?

  “Rusty. He told us all about the plan.”

  Rusty.

  “Johnny!” She lurched instead of turned.

  Wow.

  Her head wasn’t right at all. The earth was kind of spinning.

  “Easy, yeah, Rusty told us about Johnny.” Ian steadied her with a hand.

  “He’s here. Ogden said he was here. There—I saw cells. Rooms. People are being kept there. I have no idea why.”

  “We’ll get them out. Easy.” Ian nodded behind her. “You really need to go with Kade.”

  So she could see him die?

  Shelby’s knees nearly gave way. Her body shook.

  A life without Kade.

  She’d known him—what? A week? And now the idea of him gone, his life snuffed out, it was wrecking her from the inside out.

  People who loved her died.

  That was what happened.

  Why had she ever thought Kade would be different?

  Then again, she hadn’t exactly gone down this path willingly.

  Ian wrapped his arm around her waist.

  “Shelby? Ma’am, are you Shelby?” One of the uniformed medics jogged up to them.

  “She’s Shelby,” Ian replied.

  “I need you to come with us. Kade’s awake and asking for you.”

  Shelby propelled herself forward, Ian helping her along. They talked over her head, but she didn’t care. Kade was awake. Maybe for one last time. If she did nothing else, she had to apologize, tell him she was sorry.

  Ian and the medic in the ambulance helped her manage the vintage gown and the climb into the truck.

  “God damn it, Kade. What the hell did you get into this time?” The other medic kept up a steady stream of shit talking, his voice jovial, upbeat.

  Kade’s face was covered by one of those clear, plastic face masks. Oxygen. She could still see the way his cheeks crinkled. How could he smile?

  He reached out his hand, batting the jabber mouth aside. She grasped his palm in both of hers. It was cold. Worse than ice.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

  “Kade, buddy, you know the drill. I need you to lie flat. Excuse me.” The medic shuffled around the stretcher, scissors in hand.

  She sat back and watched the life drain out of Kade. His face grew pale. His eyes closed. The medic cut most of his shirt and the Kevlar vest off. The bullet frayed the very edges of the strap. The gaping wound in his left shoulder seeped blood, even when the medic tried to plug it with gauze.

  “Kade? Kade, don’t pass out on me. Your girlfriend’s right here. You don’t want to look like a wimp, do you?”

  Shelby glared at the guy for a moment. Until the tense line of his mouth and the color draining from his cheeks registered.

  He was worr
ied about Kade, too.

  “Should I talk to him?” Shelby asked.

  “Yeah, just tell him you’re here.” Despite the guy’s attempt, the strain leaked through his tone. “Kade, I’m going to start your transfusion. Hold on just a little bit longer, okay?”

  It was every bit as bad as Shelby feared.

  Transfusion?

  Shit.

  What did she say?

  Where did she begin?

  If these were the last minutes she ever had with him, what did she want to tell him?

  “Kade?” Shelby slid down the bench. She didn’t dare get in the way, but she did place her hand against his hip.

  His head shifted and she saw his eyes open the tiniest bit.

  “Hey.” Shelby opened and closed her mouth.

  What did she say to him?

  With an audience at that?

  His lashes drooped.

  “Kade—look at me.”

  Fuck the audience.

  If these were her last moments on earth with him, she wanted to do it right. To say what she should have last night.

  “Hey.” She squeezed his hip. “Kade, I’m sorry about how we met. I wish I’d have…I don’t know. Given you the benefit of the doubt. You make me believe that people can be better. I…I don’t deserve—you’re amazing—fuck. I love you. Please, please don’t die?”

  Shelby’s throat tightened up.

  His hand pressed over the top of hers.

  “Shit—Kade? Kade, you have to relax. No, no, buddy. Don’t do that.”

  The machine the medic had attached to Kade’s chest started beeping.

  Kade’s hand flopped to the side.

  His head lolled with the ambulance as it jostled him.

  “What’s going on?” She pulled her hand back.

  The ambulance rolled to an abrupt stop. The back doors jerked open from the outside. A small army of grim-faced people were there, grasping for the stretcher, taking the machine and transfusion bag.

  And then Kade was gone.

  Shelby sat on the bench, alone, staring at drops of blood on the floor of the ambulance.

  Was Kade dead?

  She covered her mouth with her hand, biting her lip to keep the tears at bay.

  God, she hated crying.

  But if Kade… If he…

  She squeezed her eyes shut and the first sob wracked her body.

  “Hey. Hey? No, please, don’t do that.”

  Shelby jolted at a touch to her knee.