Protecting the Prince

by Dana Volney

  As she closed her eyes a noise right next to her made her jump again, open her eyes, and suck in a breath. There was light. And hands reaching down, pulling her to her feet.

  Where am I going?

  • • •

  Eliam’s phone rang and he started to hit End on the blocked number before he froze. What if it’s Winter? His heartbeat picked up steam, and another hit of adrenaline sank into his limbs.

  Eliam tapped Eddie’s shoulder. “Can you track calls from any phone?”

  “Yeah. What’s your number?” His fingers were prone over his keyboard, the chiseled, all-American look he had going for him cloaked under a focused solemnness.

  Eliam scribbled the digits as he answered, “This is Eliam.” He hit the Speaker button.

  “Cousin.” Bram was cheery on the other end.

  Dammit. He wasn’t going to get any answers on Winter’s whereabouts from this call.

  “How are ya doing?” Bram continued. “Not dead obviously.”

  “Nope. Alive and kicking.” Eliam hit the Mute button to address Eddie and Felix. “You can stop tracking it. It’s just Bram.”

  Felix shook his head and Eddie continued tapping on his laptop. “That’s the news we had for Winter. Your cousin raised red flags.”

  What in the world could Bram have gotten himself into? What exactly would cause a red flag? Maybe in his personal life Bram had shady stuff going on—he was on wife number three and always had a new business venture—but he didn’t have any pull to get away with anything illegal at Prince Industries. And, more importantly, he was family—he wouldn’t ever try to hurt Eliam or have a reason to want him dead.

  Eliam turned his attention back to the phone—his cousin had asked a question. “Come again? I couldn’t hear you.”

  “Are you headed in to the office today?”

  “I’m not sure.” Eliam watched Eddie’s screen, hoping to glean a clue as to what Bram had done that had raised suspicions. “My schedule just changed.” I’m not going anywhere unless it’s to find Winter. The company, work, food—it would all have to wait until Winter was safe in his arms.

  “I think it would be a good idea if you came in for at least a little bit. There’s some paperwork I have here for you to sign.”

  It was Saturday. Bram, with his managerial position, never had paperwork for Eliam to sign. “You can have Tom take a look.” His VP would be the one to sign off; Eliam only looked over contracts he’d negotiated for the good of the entire company.

  “No. These are for you.” Bram’s voice changed—it was no longer easygoing but clipped and strained.

  Alarm bells rang out in his head; he crossed his arms and stared at his phone. Had Bram been behind the attacks this entire time? Was he Winter’s abductor? Eliam replayed his recent interactions with Bram—was there something he’d missed, an action that could’ve tipped him off as to Bram wanting him dead? He didn’t remember feeling a different vibe from his cousin at all.

  “Bram. How ya doing, man? You sound kind of funny.”

  “I have something you want, and I suggest you come in to the office to get it.”

  Felix drew circles in the air to indicate he should keep the conversation going. It was clear, though, that Bram wanted Eliam to come to the office.

  “Something I want?” Part of him wanted Bram to say no and part wanted him to say yes so he could get Winter back.

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about, Eliam. I want what’s mine. All you have should be mine.”

  A shiver followed by another ran down his spine and iced all of his limbs. Bram took Winter.

  Eddie plugged an USB drive into his laptop and Felix was whispering into his phone.

  “Bram.” He took the phone off of Speaker and pressed it to his ear. “What have you done?”

  “Get to your office. Don’t think about calling anyone or bringing any of those thugs with you.”

  “Bram,” Eliam growled into the phone, but the line was dead.

  He slammed his phone on the bar. “He wants me to go in to the office. Alone. I didn’t get a confirmation that he has her or that she’s okay.” His freaking cousin. The only family he had left.

  If he hurts one hair on her head… He’d what? He didn’t even know how to properly shoot the gun that was in his nightstand drawer. My gun. He made a beeline for his bedroom, made sure the clip was loaded, and put the weapon in his back pocket.

  “Wait,” Felix commanded as Eliam rounded the corner to his entryway, intending to head straight for the office and rescue Winter.

  Eliam stopped and turned around. “I will not. I don’t know what he’s capable of. I didn’t even know he was doing this. Did you track the call to the office? Do you think that’s where he’s stashing Winter?”

  “We have a plan.” Felix nodded to Eddie, who was moving his fingers swiftly and nodding. “We have cameras in your office, remember? We won’t be going in totally blind.”

  He was losing control of his emotions, of his mind. Outcomes, really bad ones, filled his head. Winter not coming home, not being able to see her, talk to her, was starting to paralyze him. A horrific fear he’d never experienced before pounded on every cell in his body. She had to be safe, she just had to be. If she wasn’t, Bram didn’t have a long future.

  • • •

  Winter sat by the wall farthest away from Eliam’s desk. She not only had her hands and feet tied, but she was now roped to a plain wooden chair. Eliam’s crazy fucking cousin was the one behind all the shit, the reason she was homeless. And kidnapped. But really she wanted to knee the asshole in the groin for trying to kill Eliam. Multiple times.

  “Hello, Winter. Eliam told me all about you.”

  Bram and his crazy eyes sat at Eliam’s desk and fiddled around with stacks of papers, pens in the middle drawer, and a gun he kept picking up and putting down. She said a quick prayer for the fucker to accidentally shoot himself in the face.

  “You can’t believe everything you hear.” She smiled now even though she’d tried to claw his eyes out minutes earlier. Whatever he’d given her had certainly slowed her down and was still in her system.

  “Sure you can.” His smile was odd—a little off and a lot disconcerting.

  “Okay then. What did he say about me?” Was Eliam and her team on their way? Surely the call she’d overheard earlier was to them. She just needed to keep Bram talking, keep his mind on anything but shooting Eliam when he walked through the door.

  “That you’re bossy and pretty.” Bram tilted his head. “Yeah. I’d say I believe that.”

  Bossy and pretty seemed like an oversimplification of who she was as a person, but whatever, she wasn’t there to argue.

  “Has he told you about me?”

  “Yes. You’re Bram. His cousin. His only living relative.” Since she was not in the business of dying today, she was going to lie her pretty ass off. “The thing is, he told me you were a good person, that he appreciated all of your work, and that he was glad to have you in his life.” She shook her head. “It’s just so sad this is how you are treating your family.”

  “Treating my family?” Bram raged, grabbed his gun, and came out from around Eliam’s desk.

  Whoops, she’d not lied to help her situation, apparently.

  “Do you want to know how the Prince family has treated my family?” He pounded the barrel of the gun into his chest twice, his slicked-back hair parted in the middle and falling to the tops of his ears.

  “Aren’t you in the same family?” Please get here quickly, guys.

  “Not as they see it. I’m not a precious Prince. I’m an Alder, Raya’s sister’s kid. Her nephew and Eliam’s cousin. But never a Prince and never treated like one.”

  “Have you voiced this to Eliam? I’m sure this has all been a big misunderstanding.”

  “Eliam only cares about running his father’s company.” He ran his fingers through his hair, putting it back in place. “He never once mentioned me running it with him or the
ownership that I should rightly possess.”

  “Ownership?” She tried to move her hands, but they weren’t going anywhere.

  “My father helped Amit start this company. I have just as much right to be president as Eliam does. I should’ve been a VP. I should’ve played more of a role over the years instead of given some pity job with the containers.”

  “How long have you worked here?” She did her best to keep eye contact, but the man’s eyes kept darting every which way. Remind him you’re a human being. All the training manuals said to remind the captor that you were a person, that you had feelings, and try to relate to them.

  “Since I was a teenager. Aunt Raya promoted me before Franklin took over, and I don’t think he ever even knew my name.” Bram scratched his head with his hand that held his gun.

  Go off. Go off. She squinted to make magic shoot from her eyeballs, just in case she had that power. He set the gun back down on his desk and paced. She thanked her guardian angel for putting obstacles like the black couch between her and him.

  “I really think if you just talk to Eliam—”

  “No!” he shouted and she moved her head back a little.

  Oh-kay. New tactic. “Where’s your father?”

  “Died. Not long after Prince Industries started.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” The sincerity in her voice was genuine—losing a parent was hard. Even for nutballs such as Bram. “I lost a parent early on in life. How old were you?”

  “I was young.” He sat back down at Eliam’s desk, feet propped up.

  “Maybe they just didn’t know you wanted to be a part of the company.”

  “They knew. They knew this whole time, and they didn’t care because Eliam was the golden boy. Well, not anymore.” He laced his fingers behind his head.

  His smile was alarming.

  Suddenly Eliam’s office door swung open and a woman appeared wearing a tight red top, leopard leggings, and red heels that no woman should be able to walk that fast in.

  “Get your feet off that desk and make yourself useful.”

  Her sneer was not in the Jersey accent Winter expected, but rather nondescript.

  “I did.” Bram stood, walked around the desk, and tried to hug the voluptuous woman. She kept her hands at her sides and rolled her eyes. “I called him, baby. And she’s tied up tight.” His arm flailed toward Winter.

  Well, holy shit, Bram wasn’t in the kidnapping business alone.

  “We’re finally gonna get what’s been due to you.” Baby turned a disgusted look to Winter. “And you and Eliam are going to get what’s comin’ to you.”

  “I’m not sure why I’m lumped in with Eliam all of a sudden. You know I was only paid to protect him, right?” She knew what tactics didn’t work with Bram, so now she needed to test the new player.

  The woman scoffed and left the room. What is so important out there? Bram being the sole person to abduct her was one thing, the woman was another, but if they had a whole caravan of hired guns, that was going to be a problem. Winter knew her team well and hopefully they’d used all of their training instead of rushing into whatever trap Bram was surely setting.

  “I saw the way he looked at you.” Bram sat back down in Eliam’s seat.

  Eliam had filled out the chair, commanded the seat. Bram’s frame sunk in and was swallowed by the responsibility of the presidential position he was clearly too crazy to have in the first place.

  “When?” She knew she was at least safe until Eliam showed or the deal went down. Then she’d worry. She was sufficiently bound for now—so pumping Bram for information to keep him distracted from making any more plans was the only option left in her bag of tricks. If she happened to find out a little more about Eliam in the process, she wouldn’t mind—provided she lived long enough to care.

  “The other day, when your goons tried to attack me. I’ve never seen him look at another woman like that.”

  If her hands and feet weren’t tied up by the guy telling her what she wanted to hear, she might have let herself smile. “Look at me like what?”

  “Like he’s in fucking love. That’s what.” He glanced at the door. “Not that I would know what that would really look like.” He turned back to her, and her body went cold as he ran a shaky hand through his dark hair.

  If Winter were to give credit where credit was due, they weren’t actually doing a horrible job at kidnapping. She hadn’t been able to overhear Bram’s conversation with, she assumed, Eliam for the ransom demand. And depending on Bram’s terms and the swap plan, if he wasn’t up against her amazing team, he might’ve gotten away with all his shenanigans. She just hoped he didn’t get away with it and she or Eliam ended up dead in the process. Amateurs were unpredictable, and Bram wasn’t exactly the picture of sanity. If only she could reach her knife on her shin—if it was still there—she could end this right here and now with one swift throw.

  “That’s what makes our plan all the more sweet,” Bram continued.

  His voice, his gun, his movements, and his hair were all really starting to grate on her last nerve.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “We are going to destroy him. In every way.”

  Her stomach fluttered with bad intuition—she might not be in the clear until the deal went down after all. “I doubt that.” Eliam was strong and resilient. Nothing Bram could do would break his spirit.

  “I don’t see another way out of this for him. Not if he wants you back. And, believe me, he wants you back.”

  She both hoped he did and didn’t. She didn’t want to be the reason Eliam was lured into a trap. But, God, to see him again, kiss him again. She could see his sleepy eyes when they’d woken up that morning—soft and steamy brown gazing at her like she was the only person in the world. Why hadn’t she just stayed in bed with him? She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed being a part of that feeling. Knowing that someone in the world cared for you on a deeper level, wanted to know what made you laugh, cry, or shout during your day, and kissed you like you were of one mind and soul—it changed a person. It made you crazy and worried and happy all at the same time. Because as much as you loved someone, as much as you want to be wrapped in their arms forever, there were no guarantees. Just like Eliam had said that morning. She knew firsthand what could be taken away by a third party, but she also knew what self-destruction looked like, and she hoped that wasn’t their fate, either.

  The door opened with a bang, and the woman popped back into the room.

  “And what if he doesn’t?” Winter asked Bram but kept an eye on the brunette.

  “What if he doesn’t what?” she asked and crossed her arms over her red V-neck.

  “Eliam.” Winter leveled the other woman with a stare. “What if he refuses to give you what you want?” Do you have a backup plan? How many people are outside waiting for my team?

  “Then you both die.”

  So lethal force, it is. Her team was going to come in guns hot; she wished she could tell them they wouldn’t be alone. This was another time those damn ear comms would’ve come in handy.

  “Carmen.” Bram was by the woman’s side instantly. “Eliam isn’t supposed to die. That’s not part of the plan.”

  But I am? Fuck. The more Winter heard of their plan, the less comfortable her chair was. She controlled her breathing by sizing up Carmen from head to toe. There was nowhere that woman was hiding a gun. Bram was clearly out of his depth, but the woman was ready to explode without warning.

  Hurry up, guys.

  “If your idiot cousin doesn’t give you your due, then he dies.” Carmen’s eyes were stone cold.

  “I don’t know.” Bram shook his head and went back to pacing.

  “Baby.” Carmen smiled, stood in Bram’s worn path, and slid a palm up his chest. “You deserve this company. You deserve this life. We are going to live how we’ve always wanted now. You and me.” She kissed him, and Winter threw up a little in her mouth—she could literally see their tongues. “
Together forever, baby.”

  “Maybe you should just kill me now then.” Winter rolled her eyes, crossing her fingers they didn’t actually pull the trigger…ever. “I doubt Eliam will trade anything for me.” She knew her words weren’t true, but saying them hurt a little.

  “If he doesn’t show, we’ll send you back to him piece. By. Piece.” Carmen started for the office door again.

  “What in the hell is out there?” Winter couldn’t hide her annoyance any longer. Her arms were getting cold from being tied behind her back for too long, she was hungry, and in a room where the majority wanted her dead.

  Carmen stopped short. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “What are we, in elementary school? Yes, I would like to know. That’s why I asked.”

  “I guess since you’re gonna die anyway.” If Winter weren’t tied up, she’d have kicked that smirk right off of Carmen’s face. “Cameras. I’m monitoring the cameras in that old guy’s office to make sure Eliam comes alone.”

  “Louis?” No. “Is he in there?” Would he normally work on a Saturday?

  “The building is cleared out. That’s why we took you on the weekend. Duh.”

  “You just happened to know I’d be going to the grocery store this morning?” If this dynamic duo was that clever, she was an Emmy-nominated actress.

  “I’ve been staking out his place,” Bram broke in. “Figured if the sesame cookie didn’t kill him, you guys would be out and about today. I thank you for leaving first thing this morning.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t want to kill Eliam.” Were these two even talking the same language? Carmen wanted a body count of two, but Bram seemed to only be keen on one—sometimes. Either way, today was not Winter’s day.

  “Yeah. Today. With a bullet. I don’t want to actually watch him die.”

  Her mind whirled with all of the information they’d given her. A deep, guttural fear sucked the air out of her lungs, made her light-headed, and numbed her arms and legs. She wasn’t leaving Eliam’s office alive.