Billionaire's Princess: A Standalone Novel (A Royal Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (Billionaires Book 2)

by Claire Adams

  I was inside of a closet. It was the biggest closet I’d ever seen, and from the looks of the dresses, shoes and accessories, I’d have to guess it was Elena’s. Luca told me that Elena’s room was across the hall, but I guess a princess can never have too many closets. I closed the door quietly behind me and advanced further inside. I made it to the door that led out into the bedroom. It was a sliding door and it was open.

  I used the mirror on the big dresser across from it to survey what I could see of the room. It looked and sounded empty, but I slid my gun out of my holster just in case. I had fitted it with a silencer Brandon brought me earlier in the day. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to use it, but I was ready if I did.

  As I gently stepped out into the large, empty bedroom I could feel my heart beating a thousand miles a minute. My breaths were short and I was sweating. That was all fear, but not fear for myself. I was simply afraid I was going to screw this up and Emma or Gabriel or both would suffer for it.

  I held my breath when I got to the hallway. I glanced out and looked both ways, still clutching the gun in my hand. I could see just one beefy arm wrapped up in a uniform standing sentry in front of a locked door two doors away. That was the room I wanted. I was surprised when I saw that the guard wasn’t Luca, but I didn’t have time to ponder that. It was showtime.

  I stepped out into the hallway and with the gun clutched in both hands and my back against the wall, I made my way toward him. I was almost there when he saw me. He raised his gun, but since I had the jump on him, I got my shot off first. I didn’t have the heart to kill the man for simply doing his job, though, so I shot him in the leg.

  He cried out as he began to go down, still trying to aim his gun. I used my foot to knock it out of his hand and then used the butt of my gun against the side of his head to put him out for a while. Then I pulled the duct tape from my belt and taped up his mouth, hands and feet.

  Hopefully, someone would find him before he bled to death. I stepped over him and slid the next key Luca gave me into the padlock on the door. Anger seized me again when I thought about Miguel keeping Emma locked up like an animal, with her parent’s consent.

  As soon as I pushed the door open, there was a gun in my face. It was dark in the room but I could tell from the angle of it that it was coming from someone quite a bit smaller than me. “Emma?”

  “Nicholas!” Her sweet voice sounded scared and desperate. She dropped the gun and burrowed herself into me. I was aware that we needed to get out of here before someone discovered the big guy in the hall, but I didn’t have the heart to let her go.

  When she finally released me and looked up, my eyes had adjusted to the lack of light enough to see her face was bruised and there was fresh blood around her nose and on her lips. Another surge of anger ran through me – only this time it was closer to rage.

  “I’m going to kill him.”

  She nodded. “If you don’t, I will. But right now, we need to get out of here. He’ll be back soon and he never goes anywhere alone. Once the party is in full swing, he is coming back to kill me and make it look like I killed myself. He must be suspicious of Luca, too, because he replaced him at the door with one of his hateful men. I’m worried about Luca.”

  My stomach turned. I was worried for him, too, but again, it wasn’t something we had time to spend on. “Why did he leave you with the gun?”

  “He unloaded it before he left.” I smiled at that. She’d taken a risk shoving it into my face unloaded. She was damned amazing and I was damned lucky that she loved me. “Let’s go get Gabriel.”

  I nodded and took her hand. “Okay, beauty, let’s go get our son.”

  Luca had told me how to get to the nursery without being noticed, but as I followed Emma, I could see that she already knew. I wondered if she’d tried sneaking over there before. I didn’t doubt it. She was like a mama bear where our son was concerned and I loved her that much more because of it.

  She stayed under the shadows and we didn’t see any guards until we turned into the hallway where the nursery was. “Whoever the nanny in there is, she’ll be surprised to see me since I’ve already seen him today. Let me go in and deal with her. There are silent alarms everywhere; we can’t let her get to any of them.”

  I didn’t like her going in alone, but if we were going to bring Gabriel out, I’d need to take care of the guard while she was doing that. I nodded and kissed her forehead. She winked at me, took a deep breath, and stepped out into view of the guard.

  His attention was immediately on her. He said something to her in Spanish. She answered him. He retorted back, and I heard my love go into full princess mode. Although I didn’t understand what she was saying, the tone was no-nonsense, “I give the orders here.”

  I watched from my vantage point as the guard stepped aside and allowed her to pass. She smiled prettily at him as she did. I shook my head at her and readied myself to attack as soon as the door closed behind her.

  I slid along the wall in the hallway, staying in the shadows as much as I could. I was surprised the guard couldn’t hear me breathing. I was trying to control it, but adrenaline was pumping through me and everything was wide open.

  I unsheathed the knife at my waist. I didn’t want to use the gun again if I didn’t have to. I was about two feet away when the guard saw me. I jumped on him and we wrestled across the floor. I dropped the knife, but was able to wrestle his rifle from his hand. He had it attached to him by a sling so I used that to shove it up underneath his chin and I whispered,

  “Do you want to die tonight?” He looked at me blankly, and I realized he didn’t understand. I searched back to my college days and said, "¿Quieres morir esta noche?”

  I wasn’t sure that was right, but from the widening of his eyes and the gentle shake of his head, I’d say he got the idea. “Okay, good. Don’t fight me, or I will kill you.” I pulled the roll of tape from my belt and with one hand on the gun I swiped a piece across his mouth and told him, “Tear it.”

  He reached up and did as he was told. I kept my eyes on his hands. I wasn’t sure he was stupid enough to try and get the gun from me while I still had my finger on the trigger, but I didn’t trust anyone these days.

  “Hold your hands up and put them together.” He did that, too, and after using one hand to wrap the tape around them about eight times I let go of the gun and tore it. Then, I taped up his legs and rolled him up against the wall and out of the middle of the hallway.

  I could hear loud, Spanish voices as I entered the nursery. Carmelita Delgadillo stood on one side of a crib and Emma on the other. Carmelita was facing away from me as I slipped in. It was obvious she wasn’t happy to see Emma. Emma glanced at me, but quickly returned her eyes to the older woman’s face.

  While she kept her distracted, I was able to slip up behind Carmelita and get my arm around her neck. As I pulled her back into me she looked up at my face with shock in her eyes. I smiled. “Hello, Carmelita.”

  Emma came around from the other side of the crib and before I could put Carmelita to sleep, she doubled up her little fist and hit the older woman square in the center of her face. I moved my hand up to Carmelita’s mouth to keep her from crying out. Emma looked at me as she shook her fist and said,

  “I’m sorry, but she had that coming.”

  I nodded. “One more?” Emma smiled and punched her again. I’m sure it stung, but it didn’t do any serious damage. From the smile on Emma’s face it had helped her out a lot, though, and to me that was all that mattered.

  I put my arm back on Carmelita’s neck and squeezed the way Brandon had showed me to until she passed out. Then I lowered her to the floor and taped her mouth, hands and feet.

  When I looked up, I was staring into a pair of bright blue eyes. They were eyes that looked eerily like the ones I see in the mirror every day. Emma had Gabriel in her arms and the sleepy boy was looking at me curiously.

  I felt something inside of me that I’d never felt before. It was love at first sight a
nd a feeling of wanting to protect him so desperately that it was almost overwhelming. I smiled at him. “Hello there, little prince.” Gabriel found that funny and started to giggle.

  Emma and I only took a second to enjoy that beautiful sound before I looked at her and said, “We have to get out of here.”

  She nodded and grabbed a blanket from Gabriel’s bed. “Do you have bullets for my gun?” Her gun used the same .22 hollow points that mine did. I pulled a handful out of my pocket as she handed me the gun. I loaded it for her and watched as she put the safety on and stuffed it back into her bra.

  On the way out of the room, she grabbed a diaper bag and then looked at the baby and said,

  “You want to play a game with Mama?” He nodded and she continued, “We’re going to play hide and seek and you’re going to hide first under the blanket. We have to be really quiet. Can you do that, my prince?”

  He nodded again. He looked excited about the game. Emma covered him with the blanket and then looked at me and said, “Okay, let’s go.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  EMMA

  Nicholas went first to make sure the coast was clear and then he waved me and the baby through. The look on his face when he saw his son for the first time still warmed my heart. I knew he was going to be an amazing father and I couldn’t wait for us to get on with our lives and the business of raising him.

  My hand hurt. I’d never punched anyone before in my life. I was almost ashamed of myself for how good it had felt to connect with Carmelita’s face.

  Nicholas led us past one guard on the floor taped up, but still very much alert. His eyes looked like saucers as he realized I was escaping with the prince. His life was probably flashing before his eyes. I couldn’t work up the compassion to care.

  We made our way back toward my prison room where the other guard still lay in the floor, bleeding and unconscious. Again, I wondered at my inability to feel anything but glad he wasn’t awake.

  Nicholas took us into the guest room and then the closet, and finally we entered the tunnels. I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath almost the entire time. I let it out just as Gabriel began to fuss. It was too dark, and he was afraid. I uncovered his head and pressed my lips to his fat little cheek. “It’s okay, baby,” I said to him in Spanish. “Mama is here. Everything is going to be okay.”

  I could barely see Nicholas behind us, but he was holding onto my hips and propelling us forward. “He speaks Spanish?”

  I tried not to laugh. Nicholas forgot where he was, apparently. “Yes, everyone here speaks Spanish to him.”

  “Oh.” I could hear disappointment in his voice.

  “Toddlers are like little sponges. He’ll pick up English quickly, and until he does, I’ll bet he can teach you a few Spanish words.”

  He gave me a little squeeze and we kept walking until we came to a place where the tunnels branched off in two directions. Nicholas let go of me and fished something out of his pocket. He put it to his mouth and said, “Brandon? Are you there?”

  “Nick, where are you?”

  “I just got back into the tunnels with Emma and Gabriel. Where are you?”

  “I followed the tunnel all the way. There’s another exit here. Do you remember where we split up?”

  Nicholas hesitated. “Sort of,” he finally said.

  “Go the way I did. I’ll wait here for you. This exit comes out in the middle of heavy woods and it’s not guarded.”

  “Okay, good, we’ll be there…soon, I hope.”

  He took hold of me again and turned me to the right. Gabriel began to talk and fuss as we walked and I tried holding him close to my shoulder and rocking my body as I walked. I wanted him to go back to sleep so that he wasn’t traumatized by any of this or anything he might happen to see.

  We walked silently otherwise for the next half an hour or so. By the time we came to the next bend in the tunnels, Gabriel was fast asleep on my shoulder. Nicholas took his radio out again and said, “We’re at another bend. Which way do we go?”

  “Look up,” he said. Nicholas and I both looked up and suddenly a light was shining down in our faces. We could see a ladder along the wall. “Send Emma up first and then you come up with the baby.”

  “The baby?” For the first time since I met him, I heard terror in Nick’s voice at the prospect of holding Gabriel.

  “Yes, it’s a hard climb. You’ll be better equipped to do it with one arm and hold onto the baby.”

  Nicholas leaned in close to my ear and said, “I’ve never held a baby before.”

  “There’s nothing to it,” I told him. I slid Gabriel into his arms. I expected him to wake up and cry, but he only snuggled deep into Nick’s big arm and chest and continued sleeping. I could see Nick’s eyes in the light Brandon shone down. They were filled with awe and pure love.

  I kissed the baby softly and took hold of the bottom rung of the ladder. It was about four feet off the ground, so it was going to take a lot of upper body strength to pull myself up. I managed it, barely. Once I was on the ladder I told Nick, “Let me have him so that you can pull yourself up.”

  He pulled the baby in tighter. It was cute and annoying at the same time. “I’ve got him, go ahead. I’ll need more room.” I trusted Nick implicitly to keep Gabriel safe, but I wasn’t sure he’d be able to do that and get out of here. I hesitated until he said,

  “It’ll be okay, I promise.” Reluctantly, I nodded and started climbing. I felt Nicholas reach up with one arm, and I looked down. He simply swung his long leg up and used that arm to shimmy them until they were on the ladder with both of Nick’s feet. I should have never doubted him.

  I emerged into the darkness with Brandon’s help a few minutes later and Nick and our son came out not far behind. I held out my arms and this time, he placed Gabriel in them. I put my face in his silky, dark hair and breathed him in. God, nothing felt better than having my baby in my arms again knowing that no one was going to come along and snatch him away from me.

  Without much talk, we started out following Brandon. Nicholas walked behind us and made sure that no one was coming up on us from behind. We hadn’t gotten far when we heard the alarms begin to scream from the palace. They had realized that Gabriel was gone. I was sure the sirens were for him and not me.

  Brandon walked faster and I hurried along as well as I could with Gabriel on my shoulder. Nicholas gently put his hand on the small of my back to guide me somewhat, but he didn’t rush me. I was glad. I was suddenly terrified of falling out here in the dark with the baby and hurting him.

  We came to a small clearing and Brandon looked down at something in his hands. I realized it was GPS when I saw the flash of a satellite signal. He was using Google Earth either to see where we were or where we were going. After several long seconds, during which I expected the palace guards to break through the trees and shoot us all, he said, “The boat is waiting about a mile from here. He’ll take you to the mainland and a car will be waiting there.”

  “Wait, what will you be doing?” Nick asked him.

  “What you pay me for,” he said. “Making sure you and your family get out of here. Now go.”

  I saw Nick clap him on the shoulder as we passed. I’m sure he had a lot of guilt and/or mixed feelings about leaving him there alone. But Brandon was a highly-trained military expert. I convinced myself he’d be okay and I’m sure it would dawn on Nick soon, too. He suddenly stopped and turned me by the shoulders to face him.

  “Listen, Emma, if I hear them coming before we make it to the beach I want you to just keep going, okay?”

  “Without you?”

  “Yes. You and Gabriel getting out of here is all that matters tonight.”

  “But—”

  “Stop,” he said, forcefully. “Promise me you’ll keep going. I can live with whatever happens as long as I know you two are safe.” I felt my baby’s breath on my shoulder and nodded.

  “I promise,” I told him. He leaned down and kissed me softly and
then said,

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  We made it to the beach without incident. The boat with Brandon’s man in it was waiting like he said it would be. Nick helped me and Gabriel on, and just as soon as I settled down on the seat, I heard a commotion.

  Two palace guards emerged from the woods. I watched in awe as Nick untied the boat and kicked it and then took out his knife and hurled it at one. It struck him in the chest and he dropped down into the sand. The other one aimed his gun and took a shot that looked like it either hit or barely missed Nick.

  I screamed his name as I watched in horror as his body crumpled to the ground. Gabriel had woken up and was crying now. I was torn between my need to comfort him and the overwhelming urge to jump off the boat and go to Nick.

  I heard another gunshot and saw the guard fall to his knees and then flat on his face. I looked up and the man driving the boat was laying his rifle down.

  “Mr. Vansant, are you okay?” he yelled out. I watched, begging Nick to get up in my mind when suddenly he moved and I saw him struggle to his knees. The boat driver didn’t hesitate to go back to the shore. He jumped out and dropped the boat tie to the wooden post and ran to where Nick lay.

  Tears were flowing down my face as I watched him slip his arm around Nick’s waist and help him to his feet. From where I was sitting, it looked like Nick was shot in the side. His shirt was saturated with blood. From here it looked just like a dark shadow, but from the way Nick was walking, I was sure it was blood.

  When they made it to the boat, I lay Gabriel down on his blanket on the seat and went over to help them. Nick leaned on me as I braced myself underneath his weight and helped him sit down. He looked at me and asked, “Are you and Gabriel okay?”

  I couldn’t stop the tears. No one in my life had ever cared so much about me. I leaned into his good side and said, “We’re perfect, and we love you.”