by Madison Faye
“You know, this is great stuff, Jules,” Dan said, his little laugh sending knife stabs through me. “Fuck, I could sell this for a goddamn fortune, you know.”
I shriveled, feeling cold and broken.
“What do you want?” I said quietly.
Dan grinned. “I want you to come with me.”
I jerked my head up. “Excuse me? Not a chance.”
“No?” He shrugged. “Well, then maybe this little home video gets sold to a porno company.” He turned his wicked gaze on me.
“You don’t want this getting out, Jules,” he said flatly. “For you, and definitely not for them.”
I shook my head, looking away so he wouldn’t see the tears threatening to spill.
“I’m parked over there,” he growled, standing. “Let’s go.”
My date, my beautiful night with my three princes — I knew I had to walk away from it. I hated Dan with everything I had, but I knew if I didn’t leave right then with him, he was crazy and asshole enough to do as he’d threatened.
And I couldn’t let that video out. Me, it would hurt, but that I could get over. For them though, the scandal would be fatal. I knew enough about the political climate of the three kingdoms to know that each country’s senate houses were itching for reasons to get rid of the monarchy entirely.
That video would be the end for all three of my men.
And I couldn’t let that happen. No matter what it meant for me.
“Let’s go, now,” Dan hissed.
I looked over at my building, watching with dismay as the black town car came to a stop out front.
I turned my back on it, and them, and the night I had planned, and the future I’d dared to hope for.
“Fine,” I spat at Dan. “Let’s go.”
15
Victor
“Something’s wrong.”
Micah slammed his phone down on the desk, his eyes blazing as his jaw tightened.
Yeah, no shit.
When Julia never answered Luke’s driver’s calls — for over thirty minutes — he’d called us. When she never answered any of ours too, we started to freak out. Micah had just gotten off the phone with the restaurant, in case for some fucked up reason, she’d gone there by herself and turned her phone off or something. But she wasn’t.
Something was definitely up.
“I’m not being paranoid, right?” Micah growled, pacing the room and running his fingers through his hair.
“No,” Luke muttered from the window of his office, his voice tight. “No, something’s fucking wrong. She wouldn’t just disappear like this.”
“She might have gotten cold feet.”
They both glared at me, but I didn’t back down. Hell, someone had to say it.
“You know it’s not outside the realm of possibility,” I said, my voice heavy. “This is a lot for her to take in, and the other night was a lot of new stuff for her. She might’ve…” I trailed off, shaking my head.
I wasn’t even convincing myself, let alone them. And besides, I knew what I was saying was horse shit.
I hadn’t known Julia long, but I’d known even that first random night I met her that she wasn’t weak. She wasn’t one to freak out, or lose her head, or panic.
She was strong — stronger than she even knew. And whatever this was, it wasn’t her “getting cold feet.”
Something was fucking wrong.
“If the other night had freaked her out, we would have picked up on it,” Micah said, echoing my own thoughts.
I nodded.
“Agreed,” Luke growled from the window, still staring out over the capital. He turned, and I saw the worry, and the fear, and the unknown in his face that was the same that was in mine, and Micah’s.
“She’s it,” Like said quietly. “She’s it for me. And I know she’s it for you two also.”
Micah and I nodded in unison.
And it was true. We’d barely known her a week, and I knew how fucking insane it was for us to have these feelings for her like this. But you know what?
I’m pretty sure I’d known I was in love with Julia Carlson the second I saw her across the dance floor at that cheesy masquerade club. The last couple of days had cemented it.
I loved her.
We loved her.
And I knew we’d be damned if we were going to sit by and watch her slip away from us.
Luke met my eye and saw the fire inside, and he nodded.
“Fuck this,” he growled, storming to his computer and clicking it on.
“What are you doing?” Micah and I perked up, standing from the chairs we’d been in and moving next to Luke.
“You know I’m a little…” Luke cleared his throat. “Strict with my employees.”
“You think?” Micah muttered, and in any other circumstances, I might have laughed.
“I assign office phones to everyone in a senior position — guard captains, head chefs, senior valets, and—” He looked up, a grim look on his face.
“And personal assistants.”
His eyes dropped back to his computer as he hammered out some commands, opening up a program with a map on it.
“And every single one of these phones has a—”
“Tracking device,” I whispered, finishing his sentence.
Luke nodded grimly before he punched the enter key, watching as the map zoomed to the left and began to center on a building.”
“Brother,” he growled. “Let’s go get our girl back.”
16
Julia
The loft apartment was grimy, and sparse. In another part of town, this spot would have sold for millions as a luxury loft condo space, but here in the shipping district by the river, it was at the bottom of the barrel.
I shivered, forcing myself not to look away or cower at the wicked look in Dan’s face. Two other men who I’d never met before but who looked as sneering and grizzled as Dan were also with us, glowering at me from behind him.
“So,” Dan stepped forward, and it took everything I had not to either hit him or back away.
I’m proud to say I stood my ground.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” His eyes narrowed at me. “Your new boyfriends are going to pay for the privilege of having my leftovers.”
My resolve broke. This time, I lunged forward, fist drawn back, before one of the other guys darted forward and stopped me right before I could punch my ex in the face.
Dan whistled. “Jesus Christ, Jules. Better watch that temper. I think princes like themselves nice little subservient chicks. You throw a punch at them and you might just get thrown in jail or some shit.”
He and his goons chuckled as I stood there seething at him.
“I’m fairly certain you don’t know what they like,” I hissed.
“Oh, I think I do.” Dan smiled thinly at me. “Sluts, apparently. Used up whores who’ll open their legs for three fucking guys at the same—”
There was no one in the world fast enough to stop my fist from crashing into his nose that time.
Dan screamed, clutching his face and swearing as his two friends lunged forward and pulled me away from him.
“You fucking bitch,” he roared.
“Says the man crying like one with a busted nose.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’ll want to watch your fucking tone with me, Jules,” he snarled.
“Here’s how this’ll work. You’re going to go back to those little pricks—”
“Little, Dan?” I smiled evilly at him. “I mean, you’ve watched that video. Still want to use the word little?”
Dan’s face went red, and he snarled at me.
“They’re going to pay. Fifty million.”
I stared at him. “Fifty million?”
“Each.”
I shook my head. “No one would pay that.”
“For this?” Dan laughed, waving his phone. “Those fuckwads are worth billions. Trust me, a hundred fifty mil is a steal of a deal.”
“Least I’m not a whore.”
I spat at him, and he just chuckled.
“Get the money, Jules, or this gets out.” He eyed me slowly as his friends let me go and moved back behind him.
“Do we have a deal?”
I swallowed, resisting the urge to try and lunge at him again.
“Yes,” I hissed. “Fine.”
Dan just smiled at me as I turned and made for the door.
Locked.
Something cold shivered through me, and I started to turn to tell him unlock it so I could go get his money, when I heard him chuckle.
“And there’s another thing, Julia.”
I whirled at the nearness of his voice, gasping when I realized he and his two goons were right behind me. I backed away, immediately hitting the door and feeling the adrenaline spike in me.
“What do you want, Dan?” I said quietly.
He grinned.
“How about one last time, huh Jules?”
His eyes dipped down over my chest, and I felt like I’d be sick.
“Get away from me.”
“Seems you picked up some new tricks with your royal boyfriends,” Dan said icily. He jerked his head behind him. “How about my fiends join in, since you’re apparently into that sort of thing these days.”
The fear tore through me, tears blurring at the edges of my eyes.
“Please don’t,” I whispered, my skin crawling as I tried to duck away from them. It only backed me into the corner of the room, without even the locked door behind me.
Dan smiled.
“Julia, Julia, Julia,” he sighed, grinning as he and his friends closed in around me.
“For old time’s sake,” he chuckled. “We’re going to have some fun with you before the three of us become millionaires.”
They moved closer, his friends pulling at their belts with dirty fingers.
“C’mon baby,” Dan spit out. “Show me some of those new tricks you—”
The door to the loft exploded in, wood splintering and the very doorframe shattering away from the wall as three huge, roaring shapes came charging into the room.
No, not shapes.
Princes.
I wish I could say there was this huge fight and that it was all this big drawn out thing, but really, the whole thing was over in seconds.
One of Dan’s friends caught a piece of the doorframe to the knee, knocking him to the ground, and the other just held his hands up, like these were the police coming to arrest him and not the furious men who loved me ready to murder him to make sure I was okay.
Hands in the air, for the record, did not stop Luke from slamming a fist into the guy’s face.
Dan, in true Dan fashion, took off running — to where I’m not sure — the second the door caved in. He made it all of ten feet before Micah tackled him to the ground and drove a knee into his side and a fist into his already broken nose.
Suddenly, there were more people pouring in through the smashed doorway — men in the royal marine uniform of North Revania. The second they’d swarmed over Dan and his goons, Victor, Luke, and Micah were all over me — arms around me and pulling me close.
“Sir?”
We pulled apart, Luke looking up at the sound of the gravelly voice.
The older man with the silvered beard and hardened eyes saluted crisply and then bowed formally.
“At ease, Captain.”
The man nodded, gesturing with his head at Dan and his two bleeding friends, all three of whom were now handcuffed and on their knees.
Dan avoided my eyes.
“We’re wrapped up here. I think we’re going to take these three down to the lock-up for processing.”
Luke nodded. “And any electronics?”
“Just the three cell phones on them, a laptop, and one internet router. We bagged it all.”
“Thank you, Captain Locke.”
The handsome, gruff-looking older man frowned.
“Sir, if I may?”
Luke smiled. “Anytime.”
“Sir, you know I can’t approve of you taking point on security raids. It’s entirely too risk—”
Victor and Micah chuckled, with Vic patting the Captain’s arm.
“Yeah, good luck with that, man,” he grinned. “I’ve known this asshole for my whole life, and I’m pretty sure he’s either hard of hearing or just an idiot.”
The Captain clearly did his best to restrain a grin.
“Thank you, Captain Locke. I’ll take it under advisement.”
The man bowed again and took his leave, snapping at some of the other guards who hauled Dan and his goons to their feet and dragged them from the room.
“Do us a favor,” Micah murmured as the rest of the room filed out. “Maybe try to not follow any of your ex-boyfriends to sketchy lofts anymore?”
I laughed, throwing my arms around them and burying my face in their chests.
17
Micah
We skipped the fancy restaurant in favor of dinner back at Luke’s palace. Home cooked was always a million times better anyways.
After dinner, and some great wine, we moved into his private quarters. After another glass of wine and some lingering kisses, Julia left us to go take a long hot bath, leaving us alone around the table in Luke’s study.
Victor cleared his throat first, toying with his wine glass.
“Being with us is dangerous for her.”
He looked up, his face grim.
“C’mon, we’re all thinking it. This was just tip of the iceberg shit. Hell, this happened while we’re keeping it a secret. Can you imagine the shit she’d have coming at her if we ever made this arrangement public?”
Luke and I said nothing, just stewing in our thoughts for another minute.
“The video is destroyed, by they way,” Luke finally said. “I got a confirmation from my private computer forensic guy as we were finishing dinner. Dan made one copy of it, which was on his laptop, and the forensic guy assures me nothing was emailed or uploaded.”
“We’re in the clear?”
He nodded at me. “In the clear. It’s gone. They’re incinerating the phone and the laptop now just to make sure.”
“And that fuckwit?” Victor growled, his look souring. “Please tell me you’ve reinstated medieval torture here in the north?”
Luke smiled grimly. “I wish. I’ve talked to my attorney — he’s aware of the full situation, but he’s the most discreet guy I’ve ever known. We’re going to pin this up as a ‘conspiracy against the crown’ charge, which is some serious shit. We’ll dangle that in front of her ex, and when he loses his shit over the eighty years he could be looking at locked up with some of the worst criminals in the three kingdoms, I’m betting he’ll beg on his knees for mercy. He’ll keep his mouth shut about what he saw with the right threat hanging over him.”
I nodded. “Nice work, man.”
“Thanks.”
“Still think we should shove hot irons up his ass,” Vic muttered.
So, the immediate danger was gone. The video was erased from the face of the earth. Dan had apparently gotten into the Club that night alone, having followed Julia and then somehow having slipped through a security hole — a hole you could be damn sure would be fixed. His two goons weren’t exactly the brightest bulbs in the box, and it didn’t take long for our interrogators to realize they didn’t even know what was on the vid.
So that left just Dan himself who’d seen what he saw. And Luke was right — with the right threat, that pussy would be pissing his pants and tripping over his own tongue trying to tell us how quiet he’d be.
But then, this wasn’t the end, and we all knew it. There was more danger for her out there — more if we went public somehow. And that brought up another train of thought entirely — how could we all be with her? Publicly, that is?
“How does this work?” I finally said out loud. “Her, us, the public.” I scowled. “Ho
w do we live openly with the women we love without the kingdoms and the senate tearing us apart?”
Victor shrugged. “There’s the Charming brothers, over in Marland. Word has it they’re in the middle of re-writing their laws so that they can be with Princess Ilana of Avlion.”
“King Lucian’s oldest?”
“The very same.”
Luke whistled. “Shit, those two have fucking balls.”
He was right — King Lucian of Avlion was legendarily protective of his three virgin daughters. Well, or maybe no-longer-virgin daughters, if what I’d been hearing was true about the Charming brothers from Marland. Not to mention the rumors of Prince Magnus and Prince Logan with Lucian’s other daughters I’d also heard whispers about recently.
But Caspian and Cade Charming weren’t us, and Marland wasn’t the fractured three kingdoms of Revania. They weren’t under the thumb of crooked senators looking to pad their own pockets at the expenses of the countries they were supposed to be serving.
I said as much to Luke and Victor, who nodded.
“True, it’s a different scenario,” Victor mused, stroking his strong jaw. “But it’s precedent.”
“Which would be fantastic if we still had control of our own fucking countries,” Luke growled.
“Why?”
They looked up at the heat in my voice.
“Why are we still this broken country torn into three by fucked up trade deals and shitty politicians? The fuck are we doing, ruling these little fiefdoms separately instead of a strong, powerful country united under one banner.”
“With the three of us ruling?”
“Fuck yeah,” I growled at Vic. “Yeah, man. Hell, we’ve been working together in pretty much everything since we were five — back-channel politics, business dealings,” I shrugged. “Women.”
“We’d need the backing of the right people,” Luke mused.
Victor laughed. “Are we seriously discussing this?”
“Yeah,” I growled. “Yeah, man we are. I’m fucking tired of being a mascot for the country I’m supposed to be ruling, aren’t you? Aren’t you tired of watching our broken senate systems run Revania into the ground split into three?”
