The Way to a Man's Heart

by Ann Marie James

“I will do my best. You, too. I’ll see you at one.”

  “See you at one.” Then Christian hustled out the door.

  Max lay in bed for a few more minutes, trying to figure out what was going on, but gave it up as a lost cause. He would find out at one. There was no sense borrowing trouble, as his mama used to say. The sticky mess on his stomach and chest finally drove him into the shower. He enjoyed taking his time and letting the warm water soothe his jangled nerves. How they’d gone from ‘I love you’ to ‘I’ve got to go’ in the course of five minutes, he wasn’t sure. Oh well, that’s castle life.

  Max stripped the bed and put clean sheets on it before going out to the kitchen to make himself something to eat. He felt a momentary twinge of guilt when he realized Christian hadn’t had anything to eat before he’d left. Max shrugged. He could always feed him after the meeting. He continued to putter around the apartment, cleaning and paying bills—anything to keep his mind occupied. Something had Christian spooked about this meeting. Hopefully, it would turn out to be nothing.

  At noon, Max heated up some leftovers and went over his notes for the dinner, so they were fresh in his mind. At a quarter to one, he made his way to the king’s office, surprised to see how many people were milling around the doorway.

  “Who are all these people, Your Highness?” he asked Prince Sebastian, as he was the first person he saw that he knew.

  “No idea. They all came with my sister and Stefan. They said they were necessary for the process.”

  “Does that seem weird to you?”

  “Oh yeah. Castle Commander Diaz is not happy, especially since Zia went around security to get all of these people in.”

  “Did she now?”

  “Yep.”

  “Do you know what’s in the cases?” Max waved a hand at the plastic cases lined along the hallway by the office.

  “Zia said it was samples for table settings. Not sure why they had to be brought.”

  Prince Sebastian and Max shared a look. Turning at movement to his right, Max was glad to see Christian making his way down the hallway toward them. “Hey, babe, we have a bit of chaos going on right now.”

  “I see.” Christian glanced around at the mess.

  “Babe?” Max turned to find the prince looking at Christian. He waved a finger between the two of them. “Are you two finally together?”

  Christian smirked at Sebastian. “Yep. My mission has been a success. How’s yours going?”

  Sebastian looked sad for a moment before he brightened. “Ryan had to fly to Boston to finish packing up his apartment. He has one more meeting with his supervisor then he’ll return. I plan to woo him then.”

  Christian clapped the prince on the back. “Good for you for realizing what a good catch Ryan is.”

  “Yeah. We talked a lot for the few days he was here. He’s a great person.”

  Christian waved at the mess in the hall. “Let me check this out. We can talk about it later.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Christian’s way was blocked by one of the people Zia had brought with her. “I need to check the cases.”

  “Not without Princess Zia or Mr. Guttschein’s permission, you can’t.”

  Max watched as Christian straightened to his full height and squared his shoulders. “That’s not how it works in the castle. Now step aside.” Suddenly, the guy had three friends standing next to him, blocking Christian’s way.

  Stefan came to the doorway and clapped his hands. “Let’s get this meeting started, everyone. Christian, it is so nice to see you, my darling. I think you’re really all going to love what we’ve come up with for this event.”

  “I need to check the cases first.” Christian relaxed his hands next to his sides and spread his legs shoulder width apart.

  “Well, if you insist. Boys…”

  Before anyone could react, handguns were drawn by two of the men in front of Christian while the other two opened the cases, moved aside a couple of tablecloths and pulled out automatic weapons.

  “Hands up, everyone. We’ve prepared this meeting just for you. Please tell me, love. Do you have any weapons on your person?”

  Christian’s jaw was clenched and he was absolutely furious as he bit out a no.

  “Don’t be offended if I don’t believe you now.” Stefan strode over to Christian and ran his hands up his chest. “You are even more gorgeous than the video showed.”

  “What video?” Christian barked out.

  “I have some lovely cameras set up all throughout your house. I needed to keep an eye on what belongs to me, you see.” Stefan ran his hands back down Christian’s chest and cupped his cock through his fatigue pants. “Are you sure you don’t have a weapon stashed in here? Maybe I should check closer.”

  Max went to take a step forward but was stopped by Sebastian grabbing his arm and giving him a head shake. Max gritted his teeth so hard that his jaw hurt.

  “Sir, we should get them in with the others.”

  “Oh, very well. We’ll talk again in a few minutes.” Stefan rose on tiptoes and placed a kiss on Christian’s unyielding mouth. “Don’t be that way, darling. You had to know I was going to have you one way or another.”

  Christian’s expression morphed to one of understanding and horror. “You were the one who tried to rape me at the party.”

  “Now. Now. Rape is such an ugly word. I’m sure you would have enjoyed it as much as me. I mean, you wouldn’t talk to me, so how was I supposed to convince you of how right our being together would be?”

  “You were four years younger than me and still in high school. Why would I even look at you?” Christian asked with honesty but knowing it would taunt Stefan.

  A look of anger crossed Stefan’s face. He was beautiful. Max had to give him that. He was all long lines and grace and built like a ballerina, with white-blond hair and brilliant blue eyes. The madness in their depths twisted his looks to something ugly, though. The man wasn’t even close to sane.

  Max made eye contact with Christian, who was staring at him.

  “Enough! Stop looking at him. He’s mine,” Stefan raged.

  They were all herded into the conference room, where the rest of the royal family, Christian’s father and Doctor Guttschein were already waiting. Two more armed guards stood on either side of the doorway.

  “What’s the meaning of this, Stefan?” The king stood in front of Katarina, while Queen Tania stood in front of Zia. Zia pushed her way to the front, went over to stand by Stefan and sneered at her parents.

  “It’s time for a change in leadership.”

  The Queen stared at her daughter with growing horror. “What? You’re involved in all this?”

  “Yep. The bomb was my idea, actually. Too bad it was found before it came in. It wouldn’t have been if Katarina”—Zia almost spat the name—“hadn’t changed the cake design to her immature, stupid one.”

  “It was supposed to be my way to speak to Christian,” Stefan interjected. “I was going to notice something not right and bring it to his attention. Instead, Max saw something and he got to spend all that time with my man.”

  Max could only stare at Stefan. Is he for real?

  “But why are you involved?” Queen Tania addressed her daughter.

  “Why? Because I need money. How do you expect me to be fabulous on the pittance you let me have each month? If I ask for more, you just tell me I need to learn to budget better. Well, now it will be all mine to do with as I wish.”

  “What could you possibly need that much money for?”

  Stefan snorted from beside her. “Your little angel has a small opioid addiction. She owes some scary people big bucks.” Stefan waved his hand around, indicating all the men with guns. “That’s where all our help came from. Mr. Cervantes would really like to be paid.”

  “Oh, Zia.” The queen’s expression turned to one of pity. “Do you really think these people will let you be queen and keep the money? It’s an ‘eliminate the monarchy’ movement.”<
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  “They need me to make the transition smoother.” Zia flipped her hair behind her shoulder. “I will be queen.”

  “A drug addict under Cervantes’ thumb, you mean,” her father barked at her.

  “As long as I get what I need, I don’t care.”

  “What’s in it for you?” Doctor Guttschein asked his son.

  “I was promised Christian.”

  The princess snorted derisively. “Thank goodness his plans to get Christian back here worked out. He has been whining ever since he was interrupted from having sex with him at the party.”

  “You were the one who slipped the GHB in Christian’s drink?” Doctor Guttschein was obviously horrified by the possibility, as his voice was a screech by the end of the question.

  “Yep. Snagged a couple of pills from the bag brought in by the police for the case you were working on with them at the time. It was so lucky I showed up when I did. It would have been harder for me to get some otherwise. I also was the one who took the ipecac from the cabinet and put it in the brandy. It was really helpful of you to leave your badge behind when you went on vacation.”

  “You tried to kill the king?” Doctor Guttschein looked like he was going to pass out for a moment at the revelation before he visibly pulled himself together, took a deep breath and leveled a glare at his son.

  “Oh no. I made it really obvious, so it would get checked out and Christian would be assigned to the castle. I figured the timing was perfect. I was so sad to see he’d been injured, and I knew I had to get him into a safer occupation.”

  Max studied everyone in the room and saw the same horror he was feeling on all their faces. The parents of the two crazy people appeared absolutely gutted, to boot.

  “You do know that I’ll never be yours, right?” Christian taunted Stefan.

  “Oh, but you will. See, I have an ace in the hole. You and Max have made me sick, carrying on as you have been. It wasn’t nice of you to cheat on me so publicly.”

  “We’re not together, so I couldn’t have cheated on you,” Christian barked out.

  “Ah, but you will.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Well, Max is my insurance. He gets locked in the dungeon instead of killed, in exchange for your cooperation. It won’t take long before I’m sure I can convince you to be on my side.”

  Christian raised an eyebrow at Stefan, and Max just knew whatever was coming next was going to be sarcastic as hell. “What do you have? A magic dick?”

  “Oh, darling, you know I do. Now, if you’ll excuse us. The princess and I have a little press conference to set up. Ta, darlings. Don’t try to escape now. The lovely guards are going to stay here and make sure you don’t make an appearance before we need you. Zia, darling, you need to call down to the front gate and have them let the rest of the men in.”

  Their voices faded as the two gunmen pulled the doors closed behind Stefan and Zia, leaving silence in their wake.

  “Now what are we going to do?” Max asked. “Our phones won’t work in here with the doors closed.”

  Chapter Nine

  Christian took a deep breath before turning to look at the king and queen. “Sorry, Your Highnesses. I know this is a lot to take in.”

  “Never mind that,” the queen said. “What’s the plan for getting out of this mess? You really should have let me beat that girl more as a child, Raul.”

  “Yes, my queen,” the king said with a deep sigh. “Does anyone have a plan?”

  “Actually, yes. Did you know that there is one radio frequency that will work in this room?” Christian reached up and touched his ear. “Did you get all that, Lopez?”

  Sean’s voice came through the earpiece clearly. “Yep. I’ve sent Delta team to do a sweep of your and Ryan’s houses for bugs. Alpha and Beta teams have detained all the riff-raff outside the gates. How many hostiles inside?”

  “Two on the door and four with Hansel and Gretel. I’ll get everyone out now. Still site six.”

  “Roger that.”

  Christian turned to Sebastian and his father. “Could the two of you move the two side buffets in front of the doors for me?”

  “Sure.” Sebastian moved quickly to one end of the buffet table on the left and grabbed one end while waiting for Christian’s father to grab the other end.

  “Try to be as quiet as you can so they don’t come to investigate.”

  Christian ignored everyone’s questioning looks and made his way to the mural.

  The king watched on in bemusement. “What are you doing? There’s only one exit and it’s not that way.”

  “King Raul, do you really think your grandfather would have had a room built that he could be trapped in?”

  “What? I’m not following you.”

  Christian spoke to Katarina as he arrived at the mural. “What’s the royal slogan, princess?”

  “Um, ‘the kingdom will thrive with love and heart’.”

  “Exactly.” Christian reached out and pressed on the banner at the top of the turret until he felt it depress under his fingers, then he pressed on the ruby heart and lastly pressed on the king’s crown. There was an audible click before a portion of the wall swung out, revealing the hidden passageway he and Ryan had discovered by accident one long winter. Everyone’s gasps made him smile, in spite of their current situation.

  “Come on, everyone. Let’s go. Sebastian and Dad, great job blocking the doors. Let’s get everyone to safety. Quietly now.”

  Christian was the last into the passageway and gently eased the panel closed and pressed the mechanism to lock the door. Not that he thought they would figure out how to open it, anyway, but he thought it better to be safe than sorry. Raising a finger to his lips, he passed everyone on the way to the front of the line so he could lead them. He stopped and pressed a quick kiss to Max’s lips before giving him a wink, earning an exasperated huff from the love of his life before he caved and gave him a smile.

  Christian led the way along the passageway until he reached a set of stairs on his left. Pausing for a moment to make sure everyone was accounted for, though where he thought they could have gotten lost, since it had been a straight passage, he didn’t know. Shaking his head at himself, he went down the stairs and took a right at the bottom. This passageway led to the rear gardens and came out behind a wall of vines. He stopped in front of the wall and checked in with Sean again. “Lopez. Sitrep.”

  “We have secured the Halls of Justice other than the bat cave. Alpha team is set to escort the Justice League at extraction point six as discussed.”

  “Coming out now.” Christian pressed the buttons to release the wall. “You all stay here for a moment. Let me make sure we’re good to go.” Swinging it open only enough for him to squeeze through the opening, Christian searched around the garden until his gaze landed on the team leader for Alpha Team. Giving him a head nod, Christian swung the door wider and beckoned everyone out.

  Alpha Team closed around the royal family, facing outward to scan for any threats. The Alpha team leader handed Christian the sidearm Christian had left with him rather than have it confiscated.

  “Glad things went to plan, sir.”

  “Me too, Reynolds. Let’s get the royals to safety then take out the trash.”

  “With pleasure, sir.”

  “Max and Doctor Guttschein, please go with the royal family. Dad, I need you to go check on your staff. I understand the guards at the gate were knocked unconscious by Stefan and the princess. They’re just coming around now.”

  “Well done, son.” Juan stopped to whisper to Christian on his way by, “although we will be talking about these passages.”

  Christian smirked at his father. “I figured. Ryan and I found them one winter. It was like our own private club or fort. No one had used them for a long time. We had a great time finding all the hidden doors. Go on now. Check on your people.” Then he turned to the royals and Max and said, “I’ll come tell you when the coast is clear. It hopefully
shouldn’t take that long.”

  Christian didn’t wait for a response, went back into the castle and up the stairs to a spot just out of sight of the office door. He nodded to Sean. “Sitrep.”

  “Two guards standing outside the office door. We haven’t heard any yelling, so we don’t think they’ve realized you aren’t in the conference room anymore.” A sudden screech from down the hallway had them grinning at each other. “Check that. I think they’ve noticed something.”

  The office door suddenly got thrown open and Stefan yelled at the two guards on the door. “They’ve blocked themselves inside the room! We need more muscle. Get your asses in here.”

  “What do you mean they’ve blocked the door?” one of the goons asked.

  “I don’t know. We can’t get the doors to budge. They put something in front of them. We’re almost ready for the press conference. We need the royal family on their knees to show that they bow to us now. They are ruining my vision!”

  “We’ll get them out.” The voices faded as they went into the office.

  Peeking around the corner, Christian saw that the hallway was now empty. “Move. Move. Move.” As one, the team moved down the hall in formation. Christian peeked around the doorway and saw that everyone’s backs were turned. All focus was on pushing open the barricaded doors. The group stealthily moved up behind them. Two guards grabbed Stefan and the princess, placing gloved hands over their mouths and moving them out of the way so they couldn’t be used as hostages, while the rest of the team kept their weapons trained on the muscle.

  “Ahem. Looking for me, gentlemen?”

  The six men spun on their heels while reaching for their weapons. Quickly assessing the situation, five of the men dropped their guns onto the ground before them and raised their hands in surrender without any further bravado. The sixth kept his weapon trained on Christian.

  “I don’t know how you got out, but if I’m going, I’m taking you down with me.”

  “And why would you do that?”

  “Ha. Do you know how much Stefan talked about you? I was the one sleeping with him, but all I heard about was you—how big you are, how strong you are, how perfect.”