“I’m happy where I am. You need to leave.”
He shook his head, his brows pulling together. “Can’t do that. I’ve worked too hard to risk losing this opportunity, and there won’t be another. Security is tied up with the woman who made a threat against you—and I had to pull in a few favors to organize that. It wasn’t easy finding someone who had nothing to lose. She has terminal cancer, and the money she received will go a long way to helping her grandchildren.” He opened his arms out wide like he was a great mastermind. “Plus, the castle grounds won’t be this crowded again until next Spring. We need to blend in when we leave. This is the right time.”
I stiffened. “I’m not going with you no matter what you say.” An image of him watching me in Nice popped into my head, causing goosebumps to break out over my skin. “Did you follow Edward and me to Nice?”
His lips tightened. “Yes, but it didn’t go the way I planned. You were supposed to go alone.”
“Did you really think I would?”
“The old Annette would have, and you should have followed Reginald Thompson’s advice.”
I recoiled, and it felt like someone had dragged a nail down a chalkboard. That was how awful it was to realize he was responsible for that fake investigator manipulating behind the scene. “I can’t believe you tried to make me think I distrusted Edward before my memory loss. Hold on a second. What am I saying? Of course, I believe it. You’re pure evil. Why did I even spend time with you?”
Instead of taking me seriously, he just looked amused. “All of it was necessary, and you’ll see that one day.”
“How did you know we’d left Calais? No one outside of our security team and Edward’s family knew that.”
“Sarah Bromsky, one of the maids…she works for me. She overheard the king and queen talking about it.”
I shook my head, not able to comprehend the extent he’d gone to in order to deceive me.
The calm Beatriz had exhibited earlier began to diminish, and she looked at Leo with an irritable, frustrated expression, her hands on her hips. “You promised she would go with you willingly. This is not what we discussed.”
“I hoped she would, but I have a backup plan,” he said.
I drew back. “Backup plan? What are you talking about?”
“If you keep resisting,” he said, “I’ll have to give you something to knock you out. But it will go much better for us if you do as I say.”
Fear clutched at my throat, strangling the life out of me, making my knees weaken and my skin break out with chills. He wanted to force me to leave the man I loved, and he would make it appear as if I had done it willingly. Edward would think… He would think I didn’t love him, that Leo was the one I really wanted to be with. I couldn’t let that happen. It would crush Edward…it would crush me too.
The wisest course of action would be to pretend to go along with his plan. If he drugged me, I would have no control over the situation. I straightened and did my best to appear cooperative. “Fine. I’ll go with you.” Once we were outside, I would scream bloody murder, but until then, he needed to believe I was on board with his plan.
“No way,” Beatriz said, shaking her head. “I don’t buy it.” She glanced at Leo. “You led me to believe she would go along with this.”
“She will,” he said, eyes flashing with anger. He pulled a syringe out of his pocket and held it up so she could see it. “This was always a part of the plan.”
“You never told me you planned on drugging her. People are going to notice you carrying an unconscious woman, don’t you think?” She placed a hand on her forehead and blew out a breath as red splotches crept up her neck. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” Her voice came out razor sharp, and it rose in pitch. “We’re going to get caught, and they’ll put us in jail. Do you realize what you’ve done?” She was nearly hysterical at this point.
“Calm down,” he said. “It’s going to work. You need to trust me.”
“Well, I don’t,” she said bitterly.
As they continued to argue, I inched towards the door leading to the outside. If I could just get outdoors, I could make a run for it.
“Don’t you understand?” Beatriz practically shouted. “She can identify us both. You put me in an impossible situation because you’re delusional.” She pointed her finger at Leo, her eyes sparking fire. “I should have known better than to partner with you.” She started to pace, and it was obvious she was about to lose her cool any second now. Who knew what she would do when that happened?
I inched closer and closer to the landscape painting covering the door handle, hoping neither of them noticed my movement. Please, Lord. Help me to get out of here.
I was nearly there when Leo glanced at me, eyes widening. “Get away from there.”
I sprang into action and ran the last few steps to the painting. I lifted the frame and fumbled with the handle, managing to open the door a few inches, but Leo slammed it shut and yanked me back.
“Please,” I cried. “Let me go. Don’t do this.”
He wrestled me to the ground and pulled out the syringe, holding it up in the air. He flicked it a few times with his fingers as if getting it ready.
The door at the top of the stairway opened, and the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs echoed through the passageway. “Annette, are you down there?” It was Edward’s voice, and it sounded like he had someone else with him.
“Help!” I screamed. “Edward, Leo is—”
I wasn’t able to complete that sentence because Leo covered my mouth with his hand and pressed down firmly as if trying to stifle the air I breathed. I bucked against him and tried to squirm away, but it was like throwing all my energy against a brick wall. He was just too strong for me.
He brought the syringe to my arm, and I felt a sharp needle prick.
I bit his fingers, and he jerked his hand away, wincing in pain. “No!” I shouted. “Please, don’t do this.” But he had already done it. Tears streamed down my face as he lifted me from the ground and headed to the doorway.
“We have to go now,” he said to Beatriz. “The car is waiting on the side.”
“Annette, I’m coming,” Edward shouted. I could hear him and whoever was with him running, but would he make it in time?
Leo opened the door and carried me outside with Beatriz falling behind. He closed it and glanced at Beatriz. “He didn’t see you. Go!”
She ran towards the crowd on the other side of the castle, and I blinked because everything was growing fuzzy.
“You’ll regret this.” My words sounded slurred and jumbled to my own ears.
“Never.”
I heard the sound of something crackling in the air like electricity or sparks flying, and then we were falling to the ground and rolling on the grass. I glanced up to see Georgina standing over us.
“No one messes with my sister.”
Leo tried to get up, but the door flew open, and Edward dashed out just in time with one of the bodyguards following him. Edward ran ahead and slammed his hand against Leo’s shoulder, holding him to the ground. The bodyguard caught up and took over just moments before the rest of the security team surrounded us.
And then I couldn’t keep my eyes open another minute.
Chapter 18
Annette
I woke to the sound of a machine rhythmically beeping over and over, and I instantly recognized it as a heart monitor. Edward and Dr. Bisset were leaning over me, appearing concerned as they watched me intently.
“She’s coming to,” Dr. Bisset said.
Edward took my hand in his own and squeezed it. “Annette, thank goodness, you’re okay. I was so worried.” He brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “I thought he was going to take you from me, and if that had happened…” He didn’t finish, but the pain flashing through his eyes conveyed exactly how hard this was for him. “Je t'aime. Sans toi, je ne suis rien.”
I reached up and put my fingers on one side of
his face, feeling the warmth of his skin and jagged edge of his five o’clock shadow underneath my fingers. “I love you too and don’t ever say that. God created you. You will never be ‘nothing.’”
His eyes widened. “You understood me just now?”
“Of course. You told me you loved me and then you said, ‘Without you, I am nothing.’”
“Did you learn that phrase recently?” He cocked his head to the side, watching me closely as if something very strange were happening.
I let out a breath and closed my eyes, feeling tired and groggy and completely spent. All my limbs felt like heavy weights sinking into the mattress. “Um…maybe? I don’t know.”
“Could it be that your memories are coming back to you?”
“Perhaps,” I said with a yawn, “but it’s impossible to tell.”
“Impossible ñ'est pas français.”
I nodded slightly. “You’re right. I need to remember that.”
“Annette,” he said, sounding excited. “You understood.”
I opened one eye and then the other, and then I sat up quickly, all of a sudden as his words began to sink in. “The translation is, ‘Impossible isn’t French’ and it means it’s not French to believe something is impossible.” I stared at him with my mouth wide open. “How do I know that?”
“Think… When was the first time I asked you on a date?”
I didn’t have to think because the memory was as clear as day. “We were sixteen years old, and you invited me to the school dance.”
“That’s right.” He smiled, looking hopeful and then his eyes flickered with mischief. “When we were seniors in high school, how did we get in trouble?”
“We played a prank on the principal. We put a whoopee cushion on his seat and when he sat down, it made a loud fart noise.”
“Yes! You remember that. It was during an assembly so everyone at school got to witness it.”
“He gave us detention for a week, but he wasn’t really mad. He laughed every time he saw us.”
“Your memory is coming back,” Dr. Bisset said. “This is wonderful news.”
Talking to them was helping me to wake up and shake off the grogginess. I blinked, and without having to strain to remember, I realized it was all there…my history with Edward…and Leo. And it suddenly all made sense.
Edward and I had been the best of friends since we were kids, and I had fallen for him from the very beginning. It had always been him. I always loved Edward.
But there had been times when we didn’t see eye-to-eye, and even though we both had money, we had very different roles in life. He was a part of the aristocracy, while I was wealthy…but common. I wasn’t a blue blood, and that was all there was to it. More than once, I had felt his mother’s disapproving, watchful eye on me, and I believed I wasn’t good enough. I would never be good enough for her son. It was at those times that I allowed a small argument between us to grow bigger than it needed to be, and I broke things off and ran to Leo.
Leo had been there…waiting in the wings. At first, he was just a friend, but then it grew into more because I tried so hard to love him, believing a life with him would be easier than a life with Edward.
It hadn’t worked. It had never worked. I was honest with Leo about my feelings for Edward, but he thought he could change that. Now, I felt terrible that I’d spent so much time with him over the years. It had given him false hope. Even though I’d convinced myself things wouldn’t work out with Edward and Leo was the only other option, I never stopped loving Edward.
“I made a mess of things,” I said, glancing at Edward. “I shouldn’t have dated Leo, to begin with. I didn’t foresee what would come of it, and I never meant to hurt him—but because of my indecision, I did.”
Edward frowned. “He knew what he was getting into. If he had truly loved you, he wouldn’t have put your life in danger like he did. He wanted to possess you. That’s all it was.”
A part of me knew that was true, while the other part berated myself for taking the easy way out. I should have held my ground and trusted that Edward’s love would stand the test of time. Instead, I broke up with him every time fear got a hold of me. The easy way out had led to way more complications than I anticipated. I sighed. “Did they catch Leo and Beatriz?”
“Yes,” Edward said. “Leo was quick to turn on Beatriz. Turns out, they attempted the same thing the day you and your Aunt Sophie were at Dover Lookout. They’d been watching you for some time, and they noticed you left your security team that day.”
“I remember now. I was concerned Victor Thibeau had killed my mother, and I wanted to talk to Aunt Sophie about it with no one else around. My life had never been in danger before, so I didn’t think it was a big deal. I told the team where we would be and asked them not to disturb us.”
“Roberto gave you a few minutes, but then he thought twice about it and met you there with the rest of our team.”
“I’m glad he did. That was foolish of me to venture out alone.”
“I’m glad he did too,” Edward said, eyes moistening.
“It’s so strange,” I said, running a hand through my hair and staring up at the ceiling, “I remember everything. Aunt Sophie and I were talking, and Leo and Beatriz drove up in a car not a minute later. Leo tried to sweet talk me into running away with him, and when I refused, he and Beatriz both got out of the car. He pulled out a gun and threatened us…told me I had to go with him. The gun alarmed Beatriz as he hadn’t told her he was going to bring it. I remember her saying that it wasn’t supposed to be a kidnapping, that I would go willingly if he spoke to me in the right way. She pushed his arm away, and the gun went off accidentally, hitting Aunt Sophie. She fell back and hit her head hard against a rock.”
Edward pulled up a chair and sat down. “Leo confessed everything to Nigel Walker. Said you were screaming, and in your haste to get to Sophie, you tripped and fell. He said you looked like you were in shock, and he was going to pick you up and put you in the car, but your security team was within sight and there wasn’t time. He and Beatriz took off, fearful he had killed Sophie and the police would charge them with murder. They panicked.”
“Aunt Sophie!” I tried to get up but my IV was still attached. “I need to see her, to make sure she’s okay.”
I remembered everything about her now: the sweetness of her smile, the humor in her eyes when she shared a corny joke. All the warmth and love I felt for her came flooding back.
“She’s fine,” Dr. Bisset said, gently nudging me to lay down. “She’s doing much better, and we’ll most likely release her by the end of the week if she continues to gain strength the way she has already. You can visit her later, but, right now, you need to rest. The medication Leo gave you was very strong, and until it leaves your system, it will be difficult for you to walk, not to mention there were minor effects from Leo being tased while he held you. We don’t want you having any more accidents.”
“I understand.” But that didn’t make it easy. I wanted to talk to Aunt Sophie so desperately now that I remembered her. My eyes widened as something else came to mind. “Georgina helped me.”
Edward chuckled. “She did indeed. Apparently, she keeps a Taser in her purse, and she used it on Leo.” He put his hands in his pockets and glanced away. “After that woman made threats, we were looking everywhere for you. When I didn’t find you in your room, I was frantic. Georgina told me later that she overheard Roberto ordering one of the security guys to go outside and wait by the passageway door on the west wall just in case. She decided to head that way as well. Nigel Walker pulled that guy aside for a moment, asking for an update, so she managed to get there seconds before he did. She didn’t know where the passageway door was, but she knew which way was west.”
“Wow. I’ll have to thank her for that.” I glanced at Edward. “How did Beatriz know about the secret passageway?”
“When we dated, Mother took her on a tour.”
“She said it was a place you two w
ent to be alone.”
Edward laughed. “Yeah, right. Like I would ever take her there to hang out. What a stupid thing to say. You didn’t believe her, did you?”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
“Well, I can promise you that never happened.” He shook his head as if not able to believe she’d told me that. “Leo and Beatriz weren’t too smart. They chose the one day of the year the chief of police visits the castle, and he was quick to call in reinforcements.”
“They obviously didn’t plan well. But there’s something I don’t understand. Why did Aunt Sophie say she needed to warn us about Georgina?”
Dr. Bisset shook his head like he couldn’t believe what had happened. “I am so sorry. Nurse Elliot was so star-struck by talking with Prince Edward on the phone that she jumbled the message. Sophie never said she had to warn you about Georgina. She said she needed to warn Georgina.”
Edward cleared his throat. “Leo confessed that he bragged to Georgina that you were going to run away with him. He was so confident it was a done deal that he didn’t even consider the possibility of you saying no. After he accidentally shot Sophie, Beatriz feared Georgina would go to the police with what he’d told her. She wanted to find Georgina and smooth it over, but they were unable to locate her right away. Once they found out you’d lost your memory, they figured they were safe, and Georgina didn’t put two and two together.”
Something Georgina had said came to mind. It was the day she and Leo had visited me, not long after I came home from the hospital. It had only been three weeks after your marriage and you had already tired of Edward, especially since you were considering running…
She had never finished that statement, but it was obvious now she thought I had planned on running away with him…because that was what he’d told her. She didn’t confirm that plan with me, but maybe a part of her hoped I would actually follow through and do it because she’d pined after Edward for so long. Relationships were so mixed up sometimes. There were times when she hadn’t considered my best interest, and, yet, she’d saved my life. I wasn’t always the perfect sister to her either. There was a lot we would need to work through.
The Prince's Bewildered Bride (The Blushing Brides Book 5) Page 17
