Angela's Scribbles

“Yeah, Drake. She is. I’ve been sleeping on the couch. You cannot think I would take advantage of her in this condition!” Liam sounded deeply offended.

Drake headed for the bedroom, but Liam stepped in his way.

“Get out of my way Li, I swear-“

“Drake, listen!”

“I said get out of my way!”

Drake tried to go around him again, Liam placed an open palm on Drake’s chest and shoved him back, hard.

“What the fuck, Li? I thought you wanted me to come back, why are you trying to keep me from-“

“If you’d shut up and listen! The doctors in with her right now!”

Drake froze. “Is she ok?”

Liam laughed but it was a bitter sound, “Define ok. She hasn’t been ok since you walked out on her.” His voice held a hard edge.

“I didn’t-“

“You didn’t walk out that door, that one, right there?” Liam turned and pointed at the sitting room door, “We imagined that?”

“I mean, yeah, I did, but-“

“And you didn’t stay gone for three fucking days? Until I sent Olivia to drag your ass back here?”

“Yeah, but-“

“And you didn’t ignore my calls and texts for three days? Max’s? Hana’s? Riley’s?”

“No, I didn’t!”

“You didn’t?” Liam asked incredulously.

“I mean, I did, but not on purpose-“

Liam stepped in closer, their bodies inches apart and in a low, dangerous voice said, “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kick your ass right now.”

For one heartbeat Drake glowered at him, his hands balled into fists then all the anger whooshed right out of him as he replied, “I can’t. You’re right, I was a dick. I saw her in your arms, and I made assumptions about what she wanted. I walked out and I got so shit faced drunk that apparently, I lost two fucking days, never checked my phone and didn’t hear you when you knocked on the door. I wasn’t trying to ignore you, or her, and I didn’t realize it had been three days. None of that minimizes the pain I caused her. So, if you want to hit me, hit me. I won’t even punch back.”

Liam blinked, “You’ve been drunk this whole time?”

“Not that I’m defending him, but he did seem shocked to find out he’d been there three days.” Olivia supplied.

“Yeah, he was pretty pissed.” Hana said, “And the phone was in his car where he would have never heard it ring.”

Liam stepped back and sighed. “Ok, that actually makes me feel a little better. I thought you were purposefully ignoring the situation. But Drake, she was in my arms because I caught her as she was falling.”

“What?” He blinked slowly, letting that sink in.

“Her knees buckled out from under her. I saw her start to fall, you didn’t. I just reacted, I caught her before she hit the ground. When she finally calmed down enough to look up and realize it was me and not you holding her, all hell broke loose.” Liam looked away, wincing a little at the memory.

“Fuck.” He swore softly.

“I told you you were the stupidest man ever born.” Hana said, but she said it a lot more gently than she had the first time.

“Ok, I know I’m late to the game here, but it seems to me like you need to stop assuming things and actually talk to your wife.” Olivia told him.

“Yeah. If she’ll talk to me.” He muttered.

“Drake, she was fucking destroyed when she thought you had abandoned her and weren’t coming back.” Liam told him, “It was awful, you have no idea-“

Drake let out a snort of derision, “Oh the fuck I don’t! This, Liam! This is what you did to her when you ignored her after you let her be drug out of the coronation ball!”

“I did that to protect her!”

“I know that’s what you thought, but you didn’t see what it did to her, Li, I did!”

Liam glared at his best friend for a moment then nodded his head, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. But unlike me, you still have a chance to make this right with her.”

“I fucking hope so.” Drake replied.

“I know so. She’s not blaming you; she’s blaming herself.” Liam informed him.

“I-that…that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“It wasn’t meant to.”

Dr. Russo walked out, “Drake! I’m so glad you’re back! I have some questions I need to ask you.”

“Is she ok? How is she?” He asked in concern.

“Well, I’m afraid she might have clinical depression.”

“What?” He felt all the air rush out of his lungs.

“I tried to answer the questions, but I didn’t know most, or any really, of the answers.” Liam said.

“Yeah, ok, I’ll answer whatever you need me to. Why do you think she’s depressed?”

“Please, come, let’s sit.” Dr. Russo instructed. Drake took a seat on the couch, across from the chair the doctor took.

“Her current mood is clearly depressed. She isn’t talking, or eating. And I know she’s been under some stress from the situation surrounding the pregnancy. I’d like to ask you some questions about her behaviors and activities over the last few weeks.”

Drake nodded, “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Has she felt anxious or irritable?” Dr. Russo asked.

“Sometimes, maybe, I don’t know.” He twisted in his seat uncomfortably. He knew his answer wasn’t helpful and he wanted to be helpful.

Dr. Russo nodded, made a mark on the paper in front her then continued, “Has she displayed a loss of ability to focus, shortened attention span, has she been having trouble remembering things, concentrating or making decisions?”

Drake blew out a breath, “Maybe….she hasn’t wanted to make any decisions lately.”

“What do you mean? Can you elaborate?” the doctor inquired.

“I just mean….she won’t pick out a crib or a car seat, things like that.” He spread his hands out in front him as he shook his head.

“Ok.” She checked something on the paper again, “Has she shown a loss of interest or enjoyment in things she usually likes, like hobbies and interests?”

Drake thought for a moment, “Maybe? I’m not sure.”

She could tell he was getting frustrated at his own lack of definitive answers, so she tried to reassure him “It’s ok, just answer as best you can. What about sleep? Not being able to sleep well at night, or sleeping more than usual?”

“She’s been restless at night, nightmares, lots of waking up. I chalked that up to pregnancy hormones.” He looked up and around the room at his friends for verification. Not that any of them had any experience with pregnancy, but that’s what all the books had said.

“What about changes in appetite, eating more or less than she usually does, loss of appetite?” Dr. Russo continued to write on the paper as she looked up at him and back down at her clipboard.

“Well, yeah, she barely eats, but that’s from the morning sickness, right?” Again, he looked around at his friends for some kind of indication that he hadn’t just completely missed something.

“Maybe.” She responded.

“She’s barely eaten anything in the three days she’s been here.” Liam supplied, putting a hand on Drake’s shoulder and giving it a sympathetic squeeze.

Dr. Russo nodded and made a note of it. “Any weight loss?”

“She lost two pounds, but the doctor said it was normal in early pregnancy if morning sickness is bad, which it has been.” He shifted in the seat again, his foot started tapping the floor with barely contained anxiety.

“Hmmm, ok, has she been feeling weak or exhausted, displayed a lack of energy or been feeling tired all the time?”

“Yeah, but I thought it was because of the baby. Fatigue is a pregnancy symptom, right?” He asked with a fair amount of distress as he drug a hand through his hair. Had he completely missed everything?

Dr. Russo nodded, “Yes, it is. Has she been having dramatic mood swings?”

Drake barked out a laugh, “You could say that! But I thought it was from the pregnancy hormones!”

“Has she been having headaches, stomach problems or other aches and pains that don’t go away?” Dr. Russo peered at him over the top of the clipboard as she asked the question.

“Yeah, headaches, but again, we were told headaches were common symptoms of pregnancy. These all sound like pregnancy symptoms!” He exploded out of his seat and started pacing. Fuck! He had missed everything!

“They are. Many symptoms overlap, this is why depression during pregnancy is often missed.” Dr. Russo reassured him. “Have you noticed her crying without any specific cause?”

“All the time! I just assumed it was because of our, uh, situation, but I already told her I would raise the baby no matter what, so I didn’t understand why she was still so upset about it. But I couldn’t think of what else it could be. I tried to talk to her, but she always brushed me off or pretended she hadn’t been crying! Shit!” He dropped back into his seat and looked up at Liam with tears in his eyes. I missed all the signs!

“That brings me to the next question, has she had any feelings of overwhelming guilt?”

Drake blanched a little. His shoulders slumped, “Yeah. Because of the baby….I just thought it was the normal amount of guilt, considering….”

“Has she had feelings of worthlessness or inadequacy?”

“I….I don’t know….how would I know that? She stopped talking to me.” His voice broke a little, he was on the verge of tears himself.

“Withdrawing from friends and family is another symptom of depression. Do you feel like she’s been doing that?”

“Shit! Yes. I didn’t realize that’s what it was-“

“What about the future? You mentioned she won’t pick out furniture for the baby. Loss of hope for the future is another symptom of depression. Do you feel like she has stopped being hopeful about or planning for the future?”

Realization swept over him, “That’s why she won’t talk to me about the baby!”

“What do you mean?” Dr. Russo asked.

“I mean, I keep trying to plan a future with her and she won’t participate! I have an empty room ready to be turned into a nursery and I can’t even get her input on what color to paint it!” He sounded anguished.

Dr. Russo sat the clipboard in her lap and reached over to give his hand a reassuring pat, “Don’t be too hard on yourself, it’s very easy and common for loved ones to miss the signs-“

“But don’t you see? I thought she was pushing me away because she was rejecting me! Because she changed her mind! I thought that if the baby was Liam’s, she would want- Shit, I am an idiot and I abandoned her when she needed me most!” He was on his feet again, “I have to get in there, I have to let her know that I’m here!”

“Of course. Just one more question.” She didn’t want to cause him anymore distress, but she had to ask, “Has she been having any thoughts about death, self-harm, suicide?”

Drake stopped dead in his tracks and the blood drained from his face, “God, I hope not.”

“The other day when she clawed her own arms; was that the first time you’ve seen her self-harm, or has she done it before?”

She felt anger and anxiety surge through her followed by something that stunned her: relief. She felt relieved. Like a weight had just been lifted from her shoulders. Liam would marry Riley and there would be no more princes for her father to try and marry her off to. Still. There was her public image to consider. “And why would I cooperate with whatever story you’ve concocted to tell the gullible masses?”

“I assume you’ve read the article?” Liam asked her.

“Yes.” She nodded curtly.

“It gives you an out.” Audrey spoke up, “I suggest you take it. If you go along with the narrative, you are painted as practically a saint. You stepped up to help out a dear friend and to aid a couple whose love was being thwarted by powers outside of their control. And you did it all for king and country.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then you’ll look vindictive, like a woman spurned…again.”

Katerina spoke up, “We’ll add a blurb about you donating proceeds from the sale of your engagement ring and wedding band to a charity that helps victims of sexual assault, give your halo a real good shine. This is a perfect opportunity for you to build some good will with the public.”

“And you need it.” Audrey told her, shoving a paper under her nose, “We did a little poll and your approval rating is not very great right now. You’re seen as a crown chaser, indifferent to the common people, toxic to your employees and fake in your interactions with the press.”

“I….shit.” Madeleine studied the graphic.

Rashad addressed the group, “From a legal standpoint, Liam has fulfilled the requirements needed to claim the crown. Breaking the engagement won’t change that.”

Madeleine looked up from the paper, she had one last card to play, “The marriage contract-“

“Was never signed by Liam, or filed.” Rashad replied.

Madeleine’s head snapped around to glare at Liam, “You bastard! You planned this from the beginning!”

Liam sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, “Madeleine, you’ve always known that I didn’t want to marry you. Besides, don’t you want to be free to pursue someone more, I don’t know, your actual type?”

She shot daggers at him for a few more moments before her face crumbled in resignation, “Fine. Draft whatever you want, and I’ll sign off on it as long as I come out smelling like a goddamned mother fucking rose!”

“Excellent!” Liam crowed, “We’ll issue the statement this afternoon and I’ll attend the UN Gala tonight, alone. Feel free to take the jet back home early if you like. Alec can see to the details.”

It didn’t matter to him if she left early or stayed and went back with everyone else as originally scheduled. He’d already sent for the back up jet. It was smaller, but just as luxurious and more importantly, private. He was not subjecting Riley to a transatlantic flight with the snippy, petty, backstabbing ladies of the court.

He knew that once their engagement was announced those same ladies would be tripping over themselves to get in her good graces, as they should. As far as he was concerned, everyone that had been mean and hateful to her should suffer for it, but he knew she wouldn’t make them. It was one of the reasons he loved her, she really was kind, generous and forgiving.

He felt profound relief swirl through him as he left the conference room. The charade he had started on the night of his coronation was finally over.

Two days later, NYPD headquarters…..

“Riley!”

She turned at the sound of her name and laughed as she found herself swept up into Liam’s arms. “Liam! We’re in public! Anyone could see us!”

“Let them!” He grinned down at her, “I’m a free man now, didn’t you see the news? I can kiss whoever the hell I want!”

“Ok then!” She smiled back as his lips found hers, pressing into them with an urgency born of days apart and the stress and anxiety he’d felt during those hours when he didn’t know what had happened to her.

“Ok lover boy,” Drake clapped him on the back, “We’re still trying to avoid reporters, remember? Let’s get inside the building at least, ok man?”

“Right. Sorry.” He didn’t look or sound sorry as his gaze stayed locked on Riley with unadorned adoration.  

“Liam, you remember my grandfather?”

“Certainly. Sorry, where are my manners?” Liam finally drug his eyes away from Riley as he grabbed Franklin’s hand and shook it enthusiastically, “I can’t thank you enough for getting them out of there!”

“No need to thank me, Your Majesty, I was just helping out my grandson.”

“Please, sir, call me Liam like you did when I was a child, or it’ll be weird.”

Franklin grinned, “Ok, Liam. But then you call me Franklin.”

“Thank you, Franklin!”

Introductions were made quickly as the group entered the building. Drake, Riley and Franklin had brought Logan and Ellie with them, as well as a criminal lawyer Franklin had retained to represent Logan. Liam had Rashad with him to help navigate any legal technicalities that might arise.

They were ushed into a conference room filled with several law enforcement officers, the NYPD chief of police, an assistant director of the FBI, and an assistant attorney general. Twenty minutes later, they exited the room with Logan in possession of an immunity agreement.

“Sir, I can’t thank you enough-“ Logan was gushing.

“If you want to thank me son, do it by not wasting this chance you were just given. Get your life together and keep it that way.” Franklin replied gruffly.

“Yes, sir, I will, sir.”

 “Let’s go get your car out of impound.” The lawyer said.

“Hey, kid!” Drake stopped him, handing him a card with his number on it, “Give me a call if you want a job.”

“Doing what?” Logan looked at him in astonishment.

Drake smirked back, “Driving.”

“What? Really?” Logan stared at him with wide eyes, trying to decide if he was kidding.

“Really. We could use someone with your talent. You’d have to relocate to Cordonia but the crown would cover those expenses. Think about it, talk it over with your girl, get back to me.”

“I….I don’t know what to say.” Logan looked like he might cry.

“Ah, come on kid. Enough of that. Go get your car, and call me later tonight, ok? We’ll discuss details. You don’t have to commit to anything, just let me tell you about the job.”

“Ok, boss!” Logan grinned at him as they parted ways. Logan turned down a hallway to the right and left the building with Ellie and the lawyer while the rest of the group went down the hallway to the left.

“I have to go with Rashad to sign some paperwork to get your phone and com back, as well as the items Riley left behind in the store.” Liam told them, “We’ll be right back, shouldn’t take too long.”

Liam and Rashad approached the main desk while Riley, Drake and Franklin turned into the sitting area to wait.

An older man holding a cup of coffee in his hand stepped away from the counter where the coffee pot was located, his face tightening as his glare fell on Drake, “Well, well, well, look who’s here. Did they finally find you and arrest you? Where the hell is my daughter?”

“I’m not your daughters keeper Detective Wheeler,” Drake responded tightly, “And what would they be arresting me for?”

“You assaulted me!”

“No, I did not.”

“No?”

“No. If I’d wanted to hurt you, you’d be in the ICU sucking your dinner through a straw right now.”

“That right?” The older man sat the foam cup down as he stepped in closer and lifted his gaze challengingly to Drake’s eyes.

Drake’s arms crossed over his chest as he held the other man’s gaze, “That’s right.”

“Ok, that’s enough!” Franklin stepped between the two of them.

“Who are you?” Detective Wheeler demanded, “His lawyer?”

“No, I’m Senator Franklin Throckmorton, his grandfather. And you are?”

“Huh.” The detective snorted, “No wonder he’s not under arrest! Pulling strings for him?”

“No.” Franklin replied evenly, “He’s not under arrest because you didn’t have a warrant for your illegal entry and attempted kidnapping-“

Anger flared through the detective’s eyes, “She’s my daughter and we had a warrant-“

Drake cut him off, “The FBI had a warrant for Logan, you had nothing and were outside your jurisdiction. Furthermore, Ellie is an adult who clearly did not want to go with you.”

“You still assaulted a police officer!”

“I didn’t,” Drake shrugged, “but even if I had, it wouldn’t have mattered.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means,”  Riley answered him, “That Drake has diplomatic immunity due to his post with the Cordonian government.”

“Seriously?” He turned to stare at her in disbelief.

“Seriously.” Riley nodded.

“This is bullshit!” The older man spun to leave.

Drake called out, “Look, Officer Wheeler. I don’t know you, but I do know a thing or two about generational family trauma. You want to fix things with your daughter? Stop trying to control her and start listening to her.”

The detective turned back toward him as he snorted in derision, “With all due respect, you don’t know what you’re talking about. The only thing wrong with my daughter is that degenerate she’s-“

“Logan isn’t a bad kid,” Drake interrupted him, “he’s just had a rough start in life, and made a few bad decisions that set him on a path that was almost impossible to get off of. But he did get off of it. He got his GED, did you know that? He’s been working at a coffee shop for the love of God, when he could still be out stealing cars. And I know I just met him, but he sure as hell seems to love your daughter and I don’t think he’d do anything to hurt her.”

Drake’s eyes flicked over to Franklin then back as he finished, “Plus, she’s an adult. You can’t stop her from being with whoever she wants. What if they get married and have kids? This rift between you, this vendetta against Logan will impact your relationship not just with your daughter, but your grandchildren as well. Have you ever thought about that?”

The other man stared at him for a moment then turned and left without another word.

Franklin took a step toward him, “Drake…”

“Not now.” Drake brushed him off.

Franklin’s eyes went to Riley’s. She gave him an apologetic smile as she rubbed his arm, “Give him a little space. He’ll come around, eventually.”

Franklin nodded, “I hope you’re right.”

Liam and Rashad returned with the items the FBI had seized and the group made their way outside. Drake and Riley were returning to the hotel with Liam, Franklin would be heading back to Virginia.

“Riley, it was so nice to meet you.” Franklin told her, extending his hand, “I’m not sure I understand this arrangement you three have, completely, but I know they do things differently in Cordonia and I can’t deny the positive effect you have on my grandson. I hope the two of you will come visit again next time you’re in the states.”

Riley glanced at his hand, then threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, “Of course we will! Thank you so much for everything!”

He visibly startled then returned the hug with a small chuckle, “I see why he loves you. Be careful, ok? You’re about to be queen, someone will always be scheming against you.”

“I know, I will, and I have Drake watching my back, so I feel pretty good about my chances.” She grinned at him.

Franklin laughed in response, then said his goodbyes to Liam and Rashad before turning to Drake, “I heard what you said to the detective in there, son, and you’re right. I damaged my relationship with you before you were even born, and I regret it. Jackson was a good man, I’m sorry I didn’t realize it sooner. I just didn’t want my baby girl moving to a foreign country, giving her heart to a man in a high risk profession. I may have been wrong, but it was out of a place of love. You’ll understand someday when you have children of your own.”

Drake shook his head wondering if Franklin even realized that the second half of what he’d just said negated the first half. But it was something. “I hope I’ve learned from other people’s example’s not to try to live my children’s lives for them. Not that I plan to have any. But I appreciate the thought. I know it’s not easy for you to admit when you’re wrong.”

They shook hands then hugged awkwardly before Drake ducked into the back of the car.

Two days later, onboard the second Cordonian royal jet.....

The next few days had been a whirlwind, they'd spent a long afternoon and evening relaxing at Coney Island, the outing had been Max’s idea. It was technically closed for the season, but Liam had been able to rent the whole park out, declaring they needed to celebrate. Everyone that had helped them in their journey had been invited. Max and Bertrand had been there along with Rashad, Cassie, Hana, and Callie. Even Olivia came. Alec and Marco had been there as guests, given the day off to celebrate and enjoy the victory they’d help create. Drake had invited Ellie and Logan, with Liam’s enthusiastic support.

Logan had agreed to take the job Drake offered him. Ellie had a passport already, but Logan did not. Rashad had offered to help expedite that, as he was staying behind in the states for a few weeks anyway on Sloane Enterprises business. Logan and Ellie would wrap up their lives in New York while waiting for his papers to come in, say goodbye to friends, pack up their apartment, and put in their notices at their respective jobs. All they had to do for the FBI to allow them to leave was promise to return to the states for the trails they were slated to testify in. Drake had sighed and bitched about it, but in the end, he had agreed to ship the Devore to Cordonia.

Logan had talked Liam into purchasing several Devore GTs for the royal fleet. “If you want speed and dependability, this is the way to go.”

Their last night in New York, Liam had taken Riley to the statue of liberty and proposed properly.

“As if you even have to ask.” She told him.

“I told you in Paris that I wanted to this correctly when the time was right. So….” He slid to one knee and held the ring up to her, “Riley Beth Campbell, queen of my heart, I have longed to say these four words for a very, very long time…will you marry me?”

“Yes, Liam, yes! A million times yes!”

The large, pear cut diamond sparkled on her left hand as she gazed out the plane window. They were on their way home, somewhere over the Atlantic. Max had heard from Bertrand and Drake had spoken to Savannah. He was over the moon thrilled that his sister was moving back home. Although Bertrand had offered her a room at Ramsford, Savannah had opted to return to her rooms at the palace, choosing to take things slow with Bertrand, afraid he was only pursuing her because of Bartie. “I want to be wanted for me, not my ability to produce heirs.” She’d told her brother on the phone.

Riley had thanked Justin for his hard work and let him know that his services were no longer needed now that her goal had been accomplished. Her image was rehabilitated, the public was clamoring for an engagement announcement and she was suddenly a media darling again.

They would arrive home at ten p.m. local time, a press conference was scheduled for the next day, in the afternoon to give them a chance to sleep in and recover from the jet lag. They would announce their engagement to an adoring public, Constantine was controlled, Bastien was under surveillance, everything was finally going their way.

A homecoming ball was planned for several days after their arrival. Riley’s things had already been transported by servants from Ramsford back to the palace, but not to her old room. Her clothes had been placed in Liam’s quarters. The life Liam had promised her was waiting on the other side of the ocean. They were finally able to be together, out in the open and nothing was ever going to come between them again.

She relaxed between the two men she loved, who loved her, leaning her head on Liam’s shoulder as her hand slipped into Drake’s, contentment spilling through every pore of her body. The gentle motion of the plane lulled her to sleep as it flew on through the cloudless sky, toward their future.  

*********

I knew my last chance at a night with Liam was shot all to hell the second he saw her. I watched it evaporate as his eyes locked on hers, filling up with something akin to wonder. I’d never seen him like that before. It was like he’d only been going through the motions before and suddenly he came to life. I just thought he’d been heart-stoppingly handsome before. His face, when he was looking at her, was transformed into a vision of pulchritude. He lit up from the inside.

It was his attention to her that first focused mine there.

My eyes slid from Liam’s face to hers. She was beautiful, but so were a lot of women. I glanced at Drake and saw the same love-struck expression on his face. That brought me up short. Liam, I could understand. Liam was a romantic at heart. He believed in hearts and flowers, love at first sight, all that. But Drake? Not so much. Drake Walker was purely a love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy, a one night stand magnet, a commitment-phobe of the highest order. Drake Walker did not look at women like that. But there he was, watching her every move like he needed her to breathe.

They were both so fixated on her, that neither noticed the other one doing it. I noticed. Maybe she didn’t draw me in immediately because I wasn’t strictly straight. I mean, neither was Liam, but he was more woman leaning.

Some people think being bisexual is a fifty/fifty proposition. Straight people think that. Some gay people think that. Hell, I use to think that. I struggled with my sexual identity because of it. What I grew up believing was simple: If you liked girls, you were straight, if you liked boys, you were gay. I had no frame of reference for bisexuality, especially considering that I mostly liked guys.

Put one hundred men in a room and I could pick out fifty to sixty of them that I found attractive to some extent, from mildly attractive to smoking hot. Put one hundred women in a room and that number would drop to five of six. But I would still find that five or six. And that was what confused me. Since I was skewed so far toward men, I thought I was gay for the longest time and the attraction I felt to the occasional woman just confused me, until I finally read an article that explained it. Some bisexual people may be equally attracted to both men and women, but for some it’s more sixty-forty, or seventy-thirty, it can be ninety-ten and you’re still bisexual. I was probably eighty-twenty, leaning toward men. Liam was the opposite, he leaned way more toward women. But I knew a mutual acquaintance that had been with him, so I knew he was bi.

So, Liam, mostly straight, hopelessly romantic Liam falling for a girl that quickly made some kind of sense. But her knocking Drake off his feet as well? And so quickly? That was uncharted territory. My attention laser focused on her in an effort to figure out what kind of magic she possessed that she was able to capture both their attention, and affections, so quickly.

I was only mildly irritated and not at all surprised when Liam invited her to join us for the rest of the night. My irritation dissipated quickly when she appeared in that goddamned body hugging green dress. Well, shit. Liam and Drake weren’t the only ones checking out those curves.

I wanted to go to a club, but we ended up on a beach. That was my introduction to the fact that what Riley wants, Riley usually gets. And that night, what Riley wanted was the beach, and Liam.

Drake built a fire. One minute we’re sitting around it, laughing and talking and the next minute, they were all over each other. Liam had been pussy footing around the issue all night. Finding reasons to touch her hand, her shoulder, scooting closer and closer to her as the night wore on. I watched Drake try to get her attention. I saw his face fall when he couldn’t quite draw her focus away from Liam, no matter how hard he tried. She had clearly made her choice.

It was Riley who finally made a real move. Liam leaned in to whisper something to her and she grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him. That was it, he dove in and didn’t come up for air again. Drake and I looked at each other from across the fire. He shrugged, then got up, dusted himself off and took off. I followed him down the beach a little then turned back toward the dying campfire.

It was Liam I was watching at first. I watched the glazed look in his eyes, the stark hunger I saw there sent tendrils of desire snaking through me. I’d wished a million times that he’d look at me like that. Before long, he was naked in the firelight, the flames sending shadows dancing across his bare chest as he gazed up at her with that look of enraptured wonder he’d been wearing all night, only now it was mixed with unadorned lust.

I couldn’t stop my eyes from wandering to her. Liam reached out a hand and drew it down her arm. My eyes followed his hands as they explored her body. I had to admit, it was a magnificent body. Yes, she fell into my eighty-twenty split, easily. She was the most attractive woman I’d ever met. It wasn’t just her looks though. It was the way she carried herself, the way she laughed. When she’d squeezed herself next to me in the cab, there had been electric sparks coursing off her body and into mine. I can’t explain it. There really was just something about her.

Drake had had the good grace to take a walk down the beach, give them some privacy, his own attraction to her be damned. Drake was a better man than me, at least in that moment. I was staying put. God himself couldn’t have drug me from that beach. I had moved away from their immediate vicinity, they probably thought I’d left. If they thought about me at all. They were so lost in each other, I doubted they noticed that I was still there. I didn’t care. I couldn’t tear my eyes away. I was entranced by them both.

Then she looked up and caught me watching. I expected her to get upset, yell at me to stop, to go away. At the very least, I expected her to look away, pretend she hadn’t seen me. But she did none of those things. No. Instead, her eyes locked on mine, and she smiled. She fucking smiled! I felt something I’d never felt before slide through me. It was more than lust, more than attraction. It wasn’t quite love, I didn’t know her like that, not yet, not back then.

Listen. It’s not a secret that I am sexually submissive. There is something extremely erotic about surrendering control to someone. To the right person anyway. When she locked her eyes on me and then proceeded to fuck Liam, to control him while keeping her gaze trained on me the whole time, it was like she reached right inside my soul and took possession, took control of me too. She was so commanding; I knew in that moment that this woman was the dominatrix of my dreams. I imagined all the things she’d do to me. Not because I’d let her….oh, I would let her….but because she’d make me, she’d take control and do what she wanted with my body and suddenly I wanted that more than anything I’d ever wanted in my life.

It wasn’t that he was inexperienced, per se, but the bulk of that experience had been with other men. There were only a handful of women in his past. He didn’t really know his way around a woman’s body. I intended to change that.

He might not generally like girls, but you wouldn’t know if from the laser like intensity with which those burning blue eyes of his focused on me. The way they followed my every move. Knowing I was the only woman that had his attention was arousing enough. Knowing that he would willing comply with my every demand without question, kept me teetering on edge most of the time.

Literally nothing I did phased him.

“What if I brought another man back here and fucked him while you were tied up and had to watch?”

“If that’s what you want…”

Jesus. I mean, who says that? I swear there wasn’t a jealous bone in his body, but it wasn’t because he didn’t want me. His desire for me was not remotely in question.

It was there in the way his eyes followed me in every setting, every situation. It was there in the way he yielded under my touch, the way he showed up at my door at every conceivable opportunity. He was mine, because he decided he was.

I had been teasing about the other man, talking in theoreticals, testing, pushing to find boundaries, but honestly, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d watched me with another man.

The first night I’d met him, my attention had been otherwise occupied but he was in my periphery. Every time I glanced up, there he was. Watching.

We were sitting next to the bonfire,  Liam kept reaching for me, finding any excuse to touch me, his gaze was locked on me. I pulled myself into his lap, straddling him. His hands went to my hips as he peered up into my eyes with heat blazing in his own.

I lowered my head and brought my lips to his and his kiss was not disappointing. I felt the slick wetness between my legs, proof of my arousal. When I broke the kiss, I arched my back, placing my tits right in his face. He did what any man in his place would do and buried his face between them as his hands explored my body.

I lifted my gaze from the man trembling beneath me to find a pair of cobalt blue eyes locked on me with an intensity I could feel from across the beach. He didn’t look away when I caught him staring either.  

My hands sank into Liam’s hair, urging him on as I licked my lips while my eyes stayed locked with Max’s. Challenging him. He didn’t look away. It made everything I was doing with Liam hotter.

I didn’t know where the hell the third member of their party had gotten off to. In that moment, I didn’t care either.

I ground myself into the man under me, never breaking eye contact with the one whose eyes were searing into me, watching, wishing it was him. There was no jealousy there, just desire. His want intensified my own, spurring me on.

Liam whispered my name, his fingers gliding across the bare skin of my back. I could feel the hard length of him as I basically dry humped him in front of the dying fire. I pulled at his pants, freeing it. He groaned as I grasped him in my hand. My attention flicked back to Max. Still watching. I kissed Liam again, his fingers digging into my back as his body strained upwards toward me.

The flames guttered out as I slid myself onto him. The moon was full and bright in the sky, the beach empty and deserted except the three of us. Just me, the man softly moaning under me as his body responded to my touch and the voyeur.

I could feel his gaze on me, heavy, like a physical touch. It heightened the sensations I was already feeling.

I moved on top of Liam, touching him, tasting him, feeling him, letting him fill me, his hands burned on my body, his touch scorched across my skin, his kisses flooded me with heat.

I nipped at his skin, I licked, I bit, I sucked, I kissed, I scraped my teeth along him. Through it all, at the edges of my awareness, was that gaze, that watchful intensity, and he knew I knew he was watching.

My back arched and my head tipped upward toward the inky darkness of the night sky as waves of pleasure crested over me. I cried out and felt the man below me jerk. His hands pulled at my body as he shoved himself up into me, spilling himself into me as his own cries were ripped from his throat, his manhood hot and pulsing within me.

I cradled Liam’s head into my chest again as I stroked his hair and murmured sweet words into his ear, my eyes searching the beach, a smile of satisfaction curving my lips when I found him.

Then he’d made the offer to sponsor me to move to Cordonia and participate in the social season. I was technically going to compete for the hand of a prince, the one that I had just fucked under the stars on an open beach.

But that’s not why Max invited me to follow him home. His offer was sweet and exciting, tempting and oh so transparent. He wanted me. And after his attention on the beach, I wanted him too. Liam may have captured my attention first, but there was something thrilling about Max’s complete and utter devotion that I couldn’t shake. So, I’d said yes and gotten on that plane with him.

Bastien

"Rico? You got eyes in them?"

"Yessir," came the crackling confirmation over the comms. "They're right in— Oh, shit!"

Bastien grabbed the mic in front of him. "Rico? What the hell happened? Rico?"

All he got was radio silence.

"Bring up the body cam!" he barked at the techie.

The tap of keys rang out as the view on the monitor changed.

"What in the—?"

Words failed Bastien. Never — in all his years as a King's Guard — had he seen anything like this.

"Are they... topless?" whispered the techie with a slack-jawed expression.

"I don't care if they're buck-ass naked!" snapped Bastien, quickly yanking his composure back together as the bare breasts continued to bounce past on the screen. "We need eyes on London and Paris! Dimitriou! Sit rep!"

"I'm neck deep in tits, sir...!"

"Goddammit!" hissed Bastien under his breath. "Why must I do everything myself...? Bruno!"

The techie nearly gave himself whiplash as he wrenched his mesmerised gaze away from the titillating view. "Y-yes, sir...?"

"Get me an earpiece and a tracker. I'm going green," he declared, pulling his jacket on.

Bruno's eyes widened. "But—"

"We need all the eyes we can spare out in the field. And since I can't work all this crap—" he threw his arm out at the various pieces of surveillance tech that had been shoved into the tight space they occupied, "—you're going to have to hold down the fort."

The techie swallowed nervously. But he knew better than to question his commanding officer. Especially in a crisis situation. So, he forced himself to nod. "Yes, sir."

"Good lad," approved Bastien as he quickly slotted the earpiece into place, and pocketed the tracker. "Keep all the comms links open, and keep me informed of everything."

Without waiting for Bruno to confirm his acquiescence, Bastien threw the back of the van open and jumped out onto the pavement. Slamming the door closed behind him, he dove into the press.

God, this was a nightmare...

When Constantine had informed him that the young princes wished to accompany the Beaumonts to New Orleans for Maxwell's birthday celebrations, Bastien had not thought much of it. One city was basically like any other when it came to security, after all.

So, he'd accepted the assignment on the spot.

But as he'd set about planning the details of the security arrangements, he had quickly come to the less than reassuring realisation that this operation was going to be anything but run-of-the-mill.

Not only had the Beaumonts picked the busiest weekend of the New Orleans social calendar — when over 1 million visitors descended on the city for the world-famous Mardi Gras celebrations — but instead of simply enjoying the festivities from the safety of the bar of their five-star hotel, the nobles actually wanted to join the chaotic extravaganza.

In matching costumes.

Bastien had tried to veto the sparkly outfits that Maxwell had smuggled into the country in his oversized suitcase. His team's job was going to be difficult enough trying to keep tabs on his royal charges without them camouflaging themselves in the same kind of gaudy garb that everyone else on the street would be wearing.

But his objections had not only been soundly ignored, but Maxwell had actually foisted the same loud ensemble onto him as well!

Christ alive...

Though as a consolation, he had managed to sneak a few additional tracking dots onto the Princes' clothes before they'd set out for their night on the town.

He just had to hope that nothing had happened to Leo and Liam (codenamed London and Paris respectively for this trip) after his team had lost sight of them in the wild crowd.

Because a few tracking dots weren't going to help in the face of a mugging, much less an assassination attempt. That's why his team also had boots on the ground — to provide close-quarters protection should things take a sudden turn for the worst.

At least, that was the idea.

Because Leo, especially, liked to treat his detail as (un)willing participants in a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek. And Liam was apt to blindly follow his brother into questionable situations, with the result that both royals had the potential to go AWOL in the chaos of the streets.

Which meant that Bastien had his work doubly cut out for him.

And he was not going to be the one responsible for losing the Rys brothers in a foreign country.

Full stop.

He'd rather face a firing squad than Constantine's ire.

Continuing to shove his way through the press, he finally arrived at the Rys' brothers' last confirmed location...

...but there was no sign of them anywhere.

Bastien craned his neck, hoping to catch sight of a tell-tale mop of blonde and/or raven hair, but too many people were sporting top hats, platform shoes, and even stilts. The haphazardly flying beads, coconuts and wayward boas were not helping matters either.

"Damn it..." he hissed under his breath.

"Sir!" Bruno's voice crackled to life in his ear. "I've got them, sir!"

"Where?"

"In the building. Two hundred meters to your right."

"Good work, Bruno," acknowledged Bastien, already elbowing his way through the crush. "All teams! Converge on my location, stat!"

Having arrived at the building in question — which he could see was some sort of dive bar — he was about to step through the door when Bruno's voice buzzed in his earpiece again.

"Sir! I don't know what happened, but I... I..."

"Jesus Christ, lad," shouted Bastien. "Just spit it out already!"

"I can't see them anymore."

Bastien froze. "What do you mean, you can't see them?"

"They're... they're gone, sir," stammered the techie. "They just... disappeared..."

The colour drained from Bastirn's face. "Oh, shit..."

A lost signal meant one of only two things: a technical malfunction or foul play. And since the realm of possibilities where all the tracking signal disappeared simultaneously was slim to none, that meant that they were definitely up shit creek.

"Rico! Dimitriou!" barked Bastien as the team leads finally arrived, sweaty and panting. "Cover the exists! No one's getting in or—"

He almost got bowled over as a large group of animated men wearing matching lime green t-shirts flooded out of the bar onto the sidewalk.

"Which way's the hotel...?" shrieked a well-coiffed blonde with the slogan Most Likely to Get Lost emblazoned across his chest.

"I thought we were going to a bar...!" objected a lanky brunette bearing the phrase Most Likely to Get Us All Arrested on his top.

"We just left the bar!" shouted a third, swinging his man purse out — and very narrowly missing Bastien's face.

"Good thing too, because all the hot guys are out here!" crooned a fourth sporting a tipsy grin and smoky eyeliner, as he laid eyes on Rico and Dimitriou.

"Hey!" objected his ginger-haired friend. "You're already married, Jerry! You made your choice! These hunks are for us!"

"So?!" retorted Jerry, grabbing onto Bastien. "Brad isn't here, is he?"

"No!" cried the redhead, giving his supposed friend a shove. "I saw him first! This one's mine!"

"Where the hell did you get this?" demanded Bastien he snapped a hold over the redhead's wrist.

"Hey!" cried the man. "What do you think you're—?"

"Answer the question!" ordered Bastien, raising the ginger's arm up so there was no way he could overlook the much-too-big Patek Philippe that adorned his manicured wrist.

"Okay, fine!" came the offended scoff. "A random guy with a fancy accent dumped it on me."

Bastien's eyes widened. "Was he tall and blonde?"

"Yeah, I guess so...?"

"Was there another male with him? Similar height, dark hair—?"

"How the heck should I know!"

"By paying attention," grumbled Bastien as he expertly slipped the heavy time-piece off the man’s wrist. "Rico! Dimitriou! We have a lead!"

Quickly extricating himself from the throng, Bastien pushed his way towards the dive bar, the other Guard hot on his heel.

Bursting into the smoky and dimly lit venue, he cast his eyes around the room, looking for the missing prince(s).

But he couldn't see them anywhere.

"Rico! Dimitriou! Fan out! If they're still here, we need to find them!"

The Guard dispersed, pushing and shoving their way though the press of patrons, leaving a trail of obscenities and split liquor in their wake.

Bastien, meanwhile, marched up to the bar, pulling his phone out as he went. "Hey! You!"

The bartender flicked his gaze up from the row of shots he was pouring.

"Have you seen these men?" Bastien demanded, thrusting a picture of Leo and Liam at the guy.

The man scoffed. "If I did, I ain't gonna remember. It's been a madhouse in here all day with sororities, bachelor parties, tourists—"

"Damn it—!" Bastien shook his head irately as he turned away.

They needed another avenue.

"Bruno! I need maps, blueprints, CCTV... Anything you've got!"

"Actually, sir, that may not be necessary..."

Bastien snapped a hand up to his ear to make sure he'd heard Bruno correctly. "You found them?"

"I got a hit on their carrier signal. Both of them. They're—"

"Send me the coordinates!" shouted Bastien as he threw himself out of the front door again.

Pulling up the secure tracking app on his phone, he saw two red dots appear on the screen.

Less than a two blocks away...

But his path was blocked by a virtual sea of people. And trying to fight his way through the crush was going to cost him time... time which he did not have.

He was going to have to take a less direct route.

Spinning on his heel, he dived into the closest side-street, elbowing people indiscriminately out of the way as he went. As he moved further away from the epicentre of the carnival, the crowd started to thin mercifully out.

Five blocks out, where the crowd had dwindled to a manageable level, he changed direction, picking up a route that was parallel with the one that the two phone signals were taking.

He was almost level with the red dots flashing on his screen when one of them suddenly disappeared.

Bastien skidded to a confused halt. "What in the—?"

The wayward dot popped up again — in a different location.

Fuck.

"Sir, one of the signals—"

"I know," huffed Bastien in reply.

He didn't have the ability to track two leads at the same time — he was just one man and in his haste to make progress, he'd left the rest of his team behind.

"Which one's London's signal?" he asked Bruno tightly via the comms.

He'd hoped never to be in this situation. Of having to choose. But not all lives were created equal and health and well-being of the heir was ultimately more important than that of the spare.

"The one that's diverged. I... I'll mark it blue for you."

"Thanks, lad," acknowledged Bastien, picking up the pace again. "Send the location of the other signal to Rico. They can take up the chase for Paris."

"Right away, sir."

Ignoring the sweat steaming down his back courtesy of the impromptu exertion undertaken in an ill-fitting polyester jacket under the sultry Louisiana heat, Bastien continued his dogged quest, keeping half an eye on the tracking app as he went.

Before long, he arrived at the location where Leo's phone signal had come to an ultimate stop: Bubba's Gumbo Palace.

Without pausing to catch his breath, or wipe the perspiration from his face, Bastien pushed the gaudily-painted door open, the wall-mounted bell jingling to announce his arrival.

But a quick inspection of the small space (the intentional misnaming of the eatery having been an obvious advertising gimmick) revealed only a few cheap metal tables and chairs and a very pungent smell of garlic.

Maybe he was in the back...?

Wouldn't be the first time that the Crown Prince had been found in a questionable location under even more questionable circumstances... usually in the company of a woman (or three).

But as Bastien was about to take a step forward, he suddenly found his path blocked by a midget of a man, sporting a bald head and a splattered chef's apron.

"You must be hungry!" the man declared with a gap-toothed grin.

"Actually, I'm looking for—"

"Well, you ain't gotta look no further, ti!" pronounced the dwarf, jabbing his greasy ladle at Bastien. "Ma name's Bubba and lordeee if I ain't just gone and made da best batch o' gumbo this side o' Dixie!"

"I'm sure it's great, but—"

"The only question is, how hot do ya wan' it?" asked Bubba, scampering enthusiastically behind the counter. "Hot? Hellishly hot? Or hot enough to fry a Mexican?"

"Look, I'm not here for—"

"Mexican it is!" declared Bubba, furiously ladling gumbo into a bowl. "That'll put some hair on your chest!"

"I have hair on my chest..."

"Not this kinda hair!!" came the shouted proclamation as Bubba finished putting the finishing touches on his creation. "Now what do ya wanna wash it down with?"

"The only thing I want is—"

"Coke!" pronounced Bubba, slamming a can of Dr Pepper down on the counter. "No two ways 'bout it, ti!"

Bastien raised a brow, but held off on commenting. He didn't want to get drawn down an even more potentially time-consuming tangent than the one he found himself on already.

Instead, he reached for his wallet. "How much do I owe you?"

Since Bubba had refused to take 'no' for an answer, Bastien figured he might as well just pay up so he could—

The ear-splitting opener of Right Said Fred's I'm Too Sexy rent the silence of the small space.

"Oh, 'scuse me a sec," flushed Bubba, pulling the phone out of his apron pocket...

...a phone that Bastien instantly recognised.

"Bubba's Gumbo Palace!" chirped Bubba, lifting the device to his ear. "We got deee best—"

"Give me that!" cried Bastien, making a grab for the phone.

But the little man was surprisingly spry for his age (and height) and ducked deftly out of reach. "Now that was mighty rude—!"

"No ruder than you shamelessly misappropriating stolen property," glowered Bastien, sizing up the space and the angles in order to calculate the best way to get the jump on Bubba.

Bubba looked genuinely offended. "Stolen?! Sir, I'd neva! This here phone is mine by rights!"

"Uh-huh," muttered Bastien. "Because a lion-emblazoned phone case with the words 'Totally Roarsome' just screams gumbo-obsessed hillbilly."

"A man can have diverse interests," sniffed Bubba.

"Not that diverse," countered Bastien. "So how about you hand that phone over, and tell me how you got your hands on it, and I'll consider not reporting you to the cops for petty theft."

Bubba mulled his words over. "A'ight," he said eventually. "You can have the phone. But only after you have that gumbo. Can't have all that food goin' t' waste! And I gotta get somethin' outta this transaction!"

"There is no transaction!" objected Bastien. "You're lucky I'm not—"

"D'you want the phone or not?"

"...yes."

"Then eat the grub," insisted Bubba, pushing the tray towards him. "It's a fair trade, wouldn't you say...?"

Bastien heaved a breath. As much as he hated to admit it, taking Bubba up on his offer was guaranteed to be a much faster way to get what he came for than potentially spending several hours running around the French Quarter looking for a needle in a haystack. And if the little man reneged on his word...? Well, then there was always the option of slowly peeling back the midget's fingernails with the business end of his switch-blade.

"Okay. Fine. I'll—"

"Can't forget the secret ingredient !" cried Bubba, dumping half a bottle of hot sauce on the plate.

Bastien stared at the fare dubiously. The things he did for King and country...

Picking out a plastic spoon from the holder on the counter, he grabbed the tray and took it over to the nearest table. Sitting down, he dipped the utensils into the red hot mess in front of him, and lifted it to his mouth...

...and nearly spat it back out when the heat of the hot sauce hit the back of his throat.

But he forced himself to swallow. Because Bubba had potential information about Leo's whereabouts and Bastien had lost too much time already chasing his tail.

Twenty agonising bites later, Bastien was red-faced, sweating and his mouth felt like it has been dragged through a lava field. But he'd accomplished his mission. He'd finished the whole bowl. Without touching the Dr Pepper.

Even Bubba looked impressed. "Ooh-whee! That was some championship eatin' right there, 'cuz! What d'ya think? Good, huh?"

"It was... It was actually good," admitted Bastien. It was true — behind the towering wall of hellfire lay a surprisingly nuanced flavour profile. And he actually wouldn't have minded having some more... just with a lot less hot sauce.

"What did I tell ya?!" beamed Bubba. "Now, I also have—"

"Just the phone... please," interjected Bastien.

"Oh, alright," harrumphed Bubba, reaching into his pocket. "A bet's a bet..."

Bastien raised a brow. "Bet? Thought this was supposed to be a trade..."

"Mighta been a bitta both," shrugged Bubba unabashedly. "And you won, so what does it matter, huh?"

"You still owe me an explanation..." Bastien reminded him as he pocketed the phone.

Bubba spread his hands. "Not that much to tell, really. I'd gone out back for a smoke when I felt somethin' crunch 'neath ma feet, and I thought to Lord Ah must've stepped on a damn turtle again..."

"A turtle? In the city...?" queried Bastien sceptically.

"How else am I s'posed t' make turtle soup if I ain't got no turtles!" exclaimed Bubba. "But them sneaky critters are always excapin' outta their cage...! But anyso's, I look down and it inna a turtle but a phone."

"And you have no idea how it got there?"

"If I did, I'd've told ya."

Bastien's shoulders sagged. "Thanks, anyway..." Pulling out his wallet, he handed the little man a hundred dollar bill.

Bubba's eyes widened. "But—"

"For the trouble," Bastien said as he turned back towards the door.

"Wait!"

Bastien paused and looked back.

"How 'bout Ah give youse a lil' somethin' for the road, huh?" offered Bubba, scuttling back behind the counter.

"Thanks, but—"

"On da house!" declared Bubba, foisting a surprisingly heavy paper box into Bastien's hands before he could protest further and shoving him out onto the street.

Bastien shook his head. Stranger than fiction, that man...

But the story was not over yet, unfortunately.

"Bruno! Progress report!"

"Rico and Dimitriou are still tracking Paris' signal. They should be—"

"Call them off," Bastien huffed. "Leo seems to have deliberately dumped both devices to send us on a wild goose chase across the city... again."

"So... what's the plan now, sir?"

"To wait for them at the rendezvous point. And pray they turn up..."

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“Whatever,” she waved her hand dismissively in the air before turning to Liam and making introductions, “Anyway, I’m Valerie and this is Mindy. Sara is the ex-bride but I dunno where she’s gotten off to.”

“Ex-bride?” Liam blinked in confusion.

“Yeah, ex-bride!”

“I thought this was a bachelorette party…”

“Oh, no honey!” she laughed, “this is a divorce party!”

“Oh!” Liam had never been more confused in his life, “I’ve never heard of that…”

“Well, it’s a thing! Or it should be anyway! Men are such fucking pigs! Present company excluded of course,” she gave him a wink before throwing back the drink another one of the women had just sat in front of her.

“Who’s your friend?” the new woman looked to be a few years older, her hair a lighter shade of brown, and she was eyeing Liam up and down in a manner that made him feel suddenly self-conscious.

“Is it….hot in here?” he asked as he peeled off the hideously sparkly atrocity of a jacket Max had forced him to wear.

“It could be,” she answered, “they say the best way to get over a man is to get under another one. Wanna help a girl out?”

“Oh! I…ah…are you Sara?”

“I am! See?” She thrust her chest out and pointed to her slogan, “Most likely to get divorced” before extending her hand to him, “And you are?”

“My name is Liam,” he stood up, took her hand, and kissed the back of it, “It’s a pleasure to meet you and I hope I don’t offend you but I must respectfully decline your most generous offer on the grounds that you are just coming out of a relationship and most assuredly only made the offer from a place of pain and anger. It would be ungentlemanly of me to take advantage of you in such a state.”

The room had gone quiet as every woman in it stared at him with widened eyes.

“Holy shit!” Sara breathed out.

“What? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, you did not!” A blonde exclaimed, “Hot damn boy! Handsome, fit, employed, smart, and respectful? You could straight up fuck any woman in this room right now!”

“I…ah…that was not my intention…” He slowly retook his seat.

“We know!” Valerie stage whispered, “And that makes you prime boyfriend material!”

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the room.

“Husband material!”

“Damn straight!”

“That boy could get it!”

“More men should be like you, honey,” the blonde told him, “I mean…some bozo at the bar earlier was trying to convince me he’s a prince! I mean, can you imagine?”

Liam’s head snapped up, “blonde guy?”

“Oh yeah! You’re the guy whose pants he was shoving his hands into!”

“That would be Leo. He’s my brother.”

“That douche is your brother?”

“He’s not so bad once you get to know him. He’s just…exuberant.”

“If you say so.”

“He shouldn’t have told you he’s a prince,” Liam said, “he likes to joke around a lot, but underneath he has a heart of gold, really.”

“Hmm,” she mused, “he was pretty hot.”

“Yeah, he gets that a lot,” Liam nodded, “Like, a lot! He’s definitely the handsome one!”

“Oh, now don’t sell yourself short, Liam!” Sara shoved her way in between him and the blonde and took the seat next to him, “I think you’re very handsome!”

Murmurs of agreement again broke out throughout the room.

“Stop! You guys are making me blush!”

“Oh my God, you’re too adorable! You stop!” Valerie pushed him playfully.

Sara pushed him from the other side, “Don’t listen to her! Never stop! In fact, tell us all where to find more men like you!”

“All right everybody!” Mindy jumped up and yelled, “Time for our next stop….karaoke!”

“Oh…we’re leaving?” Liam was pulled from his seat and drug along with the group out of a back entrance that was only accessible from the private room.

He never saw the king’s guards that burst into the room from the bar moments after he exited out the back.

Two blocks later he found himself in a karaoke bar with flashing neon lights, a decent-sized stage, and even more drunken women that wanted to talk to him. He blushed at all the attention and spent the next hour laughing, drinking, listening to karaoke, and talking to multiple women as they took turns coming to his table to ask him for dating advice.

“Come on Liam, it’s your turn!” Valerie exclaimed as she held the mic out toward him.

“Oh, no…no, I couldn’t possibly!”

“Ah, come on!” Mindy wheedled, “you don’t have to be good at it, bad singing is the point of karaoke!”

“Do it for me? It’s my party!” Sara begged.

“Okay, okay, fine, I’ll do it!”

Liam climbed up on the stage and gave a perfect rendition of “Seven Bridges Road” by the Eagles.

When he was done there was stunned silence followed by thunderous applause.

“God damn! How can he be that hot, have a real personality, and fucking sing like that?”

“That’s it, I’m ruined for all other men, and he hasn’t even touched me!”

“Hey, Liam,” a very inebriated woman whose name he hadn’t caught leaned over and slurred, “I’d throw my panties at you but I’m not wearing any!”

“Holy crap that was good!” Sara told him as he retook his seat.

“Thanks!”

“No, I mean like good, good! Like I work in the music industry, and I could arrange a meeting for you with a guy that could get you a record contract good!”

“Thank you, but I’m afraid I must once again decline your most generous offer.”

“Really? You’d rather be a high school principal than a rock star?”

“My life is…fine the way it is.”

“But you could be rich!”

“Heh, wouldn’t that be something?”

“Well,” the blonde wearing the “most likely to get pregnant” shirt stood up, “No one can compete with that, and I have to be up early tomorrow so I’m heading back to the hotel! It was nice meeting you, Liam.”

“It was nice meeting you too, Genevieve,” Liam stood and gave her a little bow, “If you see my brother again, please go easy on him.”

She laughed, “I doubt I’m going to run into him between here and the hotel but sure.”

Liam sat patiently at his table for another hour talking to whoever approached him as the women gradually filtered out.

When there were just a few left, a raven-haired beauty shoved a cheap plastic trophy into his hands, “Here! You earned this!”

“Thank you, I shall treasure it always!”

“Fuck me, stop already!” Sara told him, “It’s unfair for you to be this perfect and refuse to sleep with me!”

Liam blushed from the top of his head down to the tips of his toes, “My most profound apologies for any offense, but my mother would be sorely disappointed in me if I were to disregard her teachings in such a blatantly disrespectful manner.”

Sara shook her head as she murmured, “So fucking unfair…”

“Do any of you ladies require an escort back to your hotel?” he asked, “It would make me happy if you would allow me the honor of ensuring you made it there safely.”

“There you go being perfect again!” Sara laughed, “But yes, it would be most appreciated.”

Liam walked with the remaining four women, carefully helping Valerie, who was indeed drunk, stay upright.

He saw them to the elevator in the lobby and then transferred Valerie into the care of her friends. He waited while the door closed, returning their waves and shouted goodbyes.

Constantine paused, peering at his son through slitted eyes. The fool boy was serious. The gears in his brain spun as he looked for a solution. There was no way he was ever going to allow such a thing, but he didn’t want his son to do something impulsive like actually abdicate. He needed to buy time. “Who is it?”

“What?” Leo blinked in confusion at his father’s sudden change in demeanor.

“Who are you in love with, son?” His voice had gone eerily calm.

Suddenly wary, Leo’s guard went up, “That doesn’t matter. Whom I marry should be up to me, that’s the point!”

Constantine steepled his fingers and cocked his head to one side as he studied his oldest child. The stupid shortsighted idiot was serious. He was actually ready to chuck it all-the throne, his future-and for what? Perhaps a different tact was in order, “Even if I agree to your terms, the council will never capitulate.”

“Then I’ll abdicate. Liam can be king.” He had never really wanted it anyway.

Constantine considered his words carefully, “I’ll give you my blessing and go to bat with the council for you under two conditions.”

“What are they?” Leo asked suspiciously.

“First, you must talk to your brother. You can’t seriously be considering dropping the crown in his lap without so much as a heads up.”

“That….that’s fair….”

“Take him into town, to the city square, by the library, the museum of history, and the statue of our ancestor. I think you both could use a reminder of what’s at stake.”

“Okay. What else?”

“Then come home and sleep on it. If you still feel this way in the morning, we can have a serious discussion about it, but I refuse to even entertain this notion until you have taken the time to truly reflect and consider all of the factors that are at play here.”

Leo hesitated. He didn’t trust his father, but he could find no trap, no trick, no downside to doing as he asked. It was less than twenty-four hours. Leo already knew that he wouldn’t be changing his mind, but if humoring his father would speed up and simplify the process, that would be easier on everyone. “Okay, you have a deal.”

Constantine stared after his son for a long minute as he considered his next move. Unlike his progeny, he wasn’t an idiot. He paid more attention to the goings-on of his children than they thought he did. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who Leo thought he was in love with.

He lifted his phone and dialed, “Bas. Let me know when Leo has left the premises, then send Drake Walker up to my private office.”

Leo called Liam and asked him to meet him out front, then he called down to the garage and had a car pulled around. He needed to do one last thing before he left.

He knocked on Drake’s door, the familiar butterflies swooping through his stomach as he heard the deep, rumbly voice call out, “Come in!”

“Hey, babe, I just wanted to- oh! Sorry!” He stopped when he saw the phone in Drake’s hand.

Drake covered the mouthpiece and whispered, “It’s my mom.”

“Ah.” Leo knew that he wasn't the only one being pushed toward a particular future. Drake's mom had been pushing him hard lately about moving to Texas to help her run the family ranch.

He had wanted to explain everything to Drake before he met with Liam, but he knew these conversations could drag out and Drake was always in a bad mood after.

He wouldn’t be gone more than a couple of hours. It could wait.

“I have a meeting,” he said in a stage whisper, then pointing to his wrist, “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Can we talk then?”

Drake nodded and gave him a thumbs-up as he continued to argue with his mother.

Leo blew a kiss to his boyfriend and backed out of the room with a smile, confident about their future for the first time.

“Sir?” Drake shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he glanced nervously around the king’s office. He had known the man most of his life, but he’d never been summoned to his office before.

“I said I know about your relationship with my son, are you going to deny it?”

“Liam and I-“

“Don’t play dumb with me, boy. It doesn’t suit you.”

Drake let out a nervous scoff, “I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but-“

“I know your fucking Leo. The future king of Cordonia. And it has to stop.”

“Leo’s a grown man, I think he can make his own-“

“Drake,” Constantine adopted a sympathetic tone, “I didn’t call you here to argue with you. I called you here to spare you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Leo cares about you, son, so he would never tell you this himself, because he doesn’t want to hurt you, but he understands his obligations and he’s committed to his role as monarch. He knows that he has to pick a wife and produce heirs for the throne.”

“Sure, but-“

Constantine pulled a stack of papers from his desk drawer and slid them across the top, “He’s already chosen. This is the preliminary marriage contract between Houses Rys and Theron.”

Drake’s eyes dipped down to scan the legal document, dated last week. His heart dropped. He reached for it, but the king pulled it away before he could flip to the end to check for signatures. “Why are you showing me this?”

“Because I care about you too, son. You’ve grown up under my roof. You’re Liam’s best friend. But Leo has a legacy, a future, and responsibilities. He will be the next king. There’s no room for you in that picture. If you stay, you’ll only end up hurt, but you’ll hurt my son first.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Leo does care about you, but that isn’t love. He feels guilty that he has inadvertently misled you. I can see him trying to juggle his duties while trying to spare your feelings for a while until they get in the way of him doing his job. It won’t end well. Not for him, not for you. You’ll be a distraction he doesn’t need and doesn’t want, and he’ll start to resent you for it.”

“He told you all this?” Drake fought back the tears that sprang unbidden to his eyes.

“Yes. Earlier today. He confided in me about the obstacles in his path. I’m sorry, son, I really am, but if you truly care about Leo, you won’t stand in his way.”

That must be what Leo wanted to talk to him about he realized as his worst fear materialized.

He wouldn’t put either of them through that. He’d pack and leave right away, give in to his mother’s demands. It was best for everyone that way.

The conversation with Liam had gone far better than Leo had expected. Liam had been supportive of his decision and thrilled that he wanted to pursue a more permanent relationship with Drake.

Leo went straight to Drake’s room, bursting with the news.

He didn’t find Drake in his room. He found an empty closet and a note on the nightstand.

Cordonia is your future, the ranch is mine. I love you, Leo, and because of that, I can’t stand in your way. You’re going to be a great king, I know it.

Tears fell down his face, dropping onto the paper and smearing the ink. “Goddamn it!” He crumpled the paper and threw it across the room.

Fucking Constantine.

This was his father’s doing, he knew it.

He scrambled across the room to retrieve the note from where he had thrown it, smoothing it out and tracing his fingers across the words I love you.

He slumped against the door frame and cried.

There was a knock on his bedroom door. Drake didn’t bother to turn toward it. He yelled out from under the covers, “Go away, Mom! I told you I don’t want any-“

The door opened anyway, “It’s not your mom.”

“Leo?” Drake spun in the bed and jumped out of it, frantically combing his fingers through his hair as he wondered if he stank. When was the last time he’d taken a shower? He ran his tongue across his teeth hoping his breath was okay. What the fuck was Leo doing in his bedroom in Texas? He was supposed to be on the other side of the ocean, getting ready for the beginning of the social season.

“What are you doing here?” Drake demanded as he darted into his closet for a clean t-shirt.

“I came to see you. Thought that was obvious.”

“Hahaha. You know what I mean. The social season starts next week! You should be-“

“I abdicated.”

“You did what?” Drake yelped.

“I abdicated…I thought you would approve.” He had drawn up his articles of abdication and filed them with the council in an emergency, off-the-books meeting he had called without his father’s knowledge or presence.

Because fuck Constantine.

“Why the fuck would I approve of that, Leo?”

“Because you’ve always hated the nobility, much less the monarchy, and all the bullshit that goes with it!”

“So? We’re not talking about me; we’re talking about you! This is your birthright! Why the fuck would you give that up?”

“Because I don’t want all the shit that comes with it!” Leo was red in the face now. Why wasn’t he getting it? “There are other things I want to do with my life! I’m sick of my dad controlling every little fucking thing that I do!”

“He won’t live forever, Leo, and this is your life we’re talking about! The throne, ruling, Cordonia, these things are your destiny! Remember when you thought I was dropping out of college and throwing my life away? Remember how pissed you got?”

“Yeah, but that was different! This is about something important! If you’d just fucking listen-“

“Something important?” Drake snorted incredulously, “What the fuck could be more important than the crown, Leo? Huh? What?”

“You, you fucking idiot, you! You’re more important!”

Drake stopped in his tracks, “What?”

“You heard me you fucking asshole! I gave up the crown so I could be with you! I mean…if you want that…”

“I don’t understand…”

“Are you slow?”

“No, but-“

“Your note said that you loved me, is that true?”

“Yes, but-“

“No buts. Cordonia isn’t my future, you are! And if Texas is where you need to be then I guess I’ll have to learn to rope a bull or what the fuck ever cowboys do.”

“You want a future with me?” Did Leo Rys just say he’d learn how to rope a bull? For him?

“Yes! Have you heard a word I said?”

“But your dad said that you didn’t love me and that you just didn’t want to hurt my feelings and that I would be standing in your way….oh….he lied to me?”

“I don’t know what he told you, but none of it was true! The day you left, I told him that if he didn’t change the laws of succession to allow me to marry you then I was going to abdicate, and he said-“

“Wait! You want to marry me?”

“Oh…uh…..yeah, I do. I love you, too, Drake and I’m so fucking sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner! Maybe then you wouldn’t have believed my father and left me and-“

Drake jumped onto the bed and off the other side in record time. He took Leo’s face in his hands and brought his lips to his in a crushing kiss. When he pulled away, they were both breathless, “Are you sure, Leo? I never asked you to give up-“

“I know you didn’t, but Cordonia has Liam. All I want is you! Please don’t give me a hard time about this!”

Drake considered him seriously for a moment, “You really want to live here? On the ranch?”

“I don’t care where we live. As long as I’m with you, I’m happy!”

“Goddamn it, Leo!” Drake brushed tears from his eyes, “Who knew you could be so fucking sappy?”

“Are you….are you crying? Is Drake Walker showing feelings?”

“Shut up!” Drake laughed, “And go lock the door. I want to show you exactly how I feel!”

Drake scoffed loudly, “I’m a better horseman than you, Leo!”

“See?” Olivia arched her eyebrows at Hana, “It never ends.”

 “Yeah,” Max agreed, “They got so competitive with the fencing that they weren’t allowed to spar with each other anymore.”

“Damn!” Riley shook her head in amusement, “That bad huh?”

“Football, Rugby, shooting pool, darts, hell, who could eat the most,” Savannah verified, “They competed over literally everything!”

Riley smothered a giggle, “Yes, I’m aware. I’ve seen it firsthand!”

Leo and Drake both had the good grace to look abashed.

“Sorry about that, Brooks,” Drake muttered.

“Yeah, we were wrong for that.” Leo agreed.

“It’s okay,” she waved them off dismissively then wrapped her arms around Liam, “It worked out far better this way!”

Liam beamed down at her, “It certainly did!”

“I think all that competition and snarky bullshit was always just repressed attraction,” Olivia nodded sagely as she took a bite of her salad.

Drake dove for the ball, skidding through the mud and colliding with Leo. He hit him full force, dropping both their bodies to the ground. For a moment time froze as he looked down into those ocean-blue depths, his heart pounding in his chest as the rain pelted down on them.

“Get off me, Walker!”

Drake scrambled up from the ground, face red, mumbling an apology.

“Game is over, I need a shower!” Leo stalked off the field, hoping no one noticed the raging erection in his pants.

“Did they ever get along?” Hana asked, curious how their feelings for each other developed if it was all about competition.

“Oh, sure,” Liam answered, “Usually because I begged them to be nice, for my sake.”

“Well, that,” Max agreed, “but also, they were both so full of disdain for all things courtly, despite being forced to attend.”

Leo smiled as he thought back, “Oh God, remember how we used to ditch out of all those formal events every chance we got?”

“Yeah, he was supposed to be my best friend, but there he’d go, sneaking off with my brother and leaving me to fend for myself with the adults!” Liam complained.

“Really?” Drake’s mouth fell open in disbelief, “We tried to get you to ditch with us all the time, but your goody-two-shoes ass wouldn’t even consider it!”

“I didn’t want to get in trouble, Drake!”

“He’s got a point, little bro,” Leo chimed in, “You were invited, you said no, you can’t blame us for that!”

They sat on the roof looking out over the sparkling lights of the city and the deep inky blackness that was the Mediterranean at night.

“It’s really pretty up here at night,” Drake observed.

“Yeah,” Leo agreed as he produced a bottle of Breckenridge Bourbon Whiskey he’d stolen before they’d snuck out of the gala. He opened it and took a long drink as he gazed out over Stormholt City. When he was done, he held it out to the younger boy, “Want some?”

“Sure,” Drake reached for it, unwilling to admit he’d never tried it. He brought the bottle to his lips and tipped it back, and took a long draw. He squeezed his eyes shut as the liquid slid down his throat, the burning sensation making him cough.

Leo took the bottle back, slapping Drake on the back as he chortled, “Lightweight!”

Drake tried to protest as he drew an arm across his mouth, but he couldn’t make his vocal cords work so he settled for extending his middle finger.

“Seriously man, you okay?” Leo asked, concern seeping into his voice.

“I’m fine,” Drake managed, embarrassment spilling through him.

“First time?” Leo quirked an eyebrow at him.

Drake nodded, looking away.

“First time for everything, no shame in that,” Leo told him as he hopped up onto the ledge and dangled his legs over the side of the roof. He took another long drink as he tilted his head back to look up at the stars.

Drake joined him on the ledge and reached for the bottle.

“You sure about that?” Leo asked, “Because you can’t get drunk and fall off the roof. Liam would never let me hear the end of it.”

“Just shut up and give it here!”

Leo shrugged as he handed it over, “Okay, it’s your funeral.”

Two hours later they lay on their backs on the roof staring up at the night sky. Drake was definitely drunk. They had exhausted all avenues of conversation from sports and girls to horses and cars.

“We should probably get back to our rooms,” Leo said as he stood.

“Okay,” Drake tried and failed to regain his feet as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He lowered himself back to the ground, “Maybe we could just sleep up here?”

“Yeah….no,” Leo extended his hand to help him to his feet, “They’ll have the entire king’s guard looking for us, come on!”

He helped him back to his room, made him swallow some Tylenol then tucked him into bed. As he turned to leave Drake called his name.

Leo turned around, “Yeah?”

“You’re not so bad. I actually kind of like you, you know.”

“What?” An elated surprise thrilled through him. Drake didn’t mean he liked him, liked him, did he? “What do you mean you like me?”

The only response he got was the sound of Drake snoring.

Leo was sure he didn’t mean it like that anyway. “I like you too,” he said softly before slipping out the door.

“Well, I suppose you have a point,” Liam relented, “At any rate, I’ve forgiven you.”

“Forgiven us for what?” Drake demanded.

“Yeah, little bro, don’t blame us for your lameness!”

“Right. I’m the lame one,” Liam rolled his eyes, “I’m not the one that denied my own feelings for years, Leo!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means Drake came out at seventeen and you just kept pretending you didn’t like him!”

“You have a date tonight? Who is she? I’ve probably already fucked her.”

“Not a her,” Drake replied evenly as he smoothed down the front of the deep blue button-up shirt and checked his look in the floor-length mirror.

“Wait…what?” Leo felt frozen to the spot as a multitude of emotions flooded through him. None of which he was ready to cope with.

A searing white hot jealously pierced his heart.

It was one thing when they were both fucking women. It was one thing when he could convince himself that Drake was straight. It was one thing when he could deny that he himself was anything other than straight, Cedric Vescovi notwithstanding.

It was a far different thing to be confronted with the fact that all the turbulent, seething emotions that Drake inspired within him were within the realm of possibility, yet completely out of his reach because he could not bring himself to admit to any of them.

Instead, he had opted for snarky remarks and sneering condescension most of the time. He had been afraid that any small crack in his armor, any bit of kindness or real emotion shown would rip him open wide and let all the feelings that scared him most flood out for the world to see.

Then Drake was leaving for college and any opportunity he might have had to confess his feelings and find out if they were returned was slipping right through his fingers.

“I’m just wondering why you have to go so far away!” Leo glared at his younger brother’s best friend.

“Why do you care?” Drake shot him a confused look.

“I don’t!” Leo protested, “But my brother is going to miss you. You could just stay here and attend university with him. Then you’d see each other a lot more often. You could be roommates even, if you wanted!”

Something in Leo’s tone brought Drake up short. He stopped and gave the other man a long searching look. He opened his mouth to speak, and Leo’s heart jumped into his throat.

“There you are!” Liam called out as he rounded the corner with Max and Olivia in tow, “Are you ready? We can’t be late, you’re the one in charge of the bonfire!”

They were going to a private beach party as a bit of a bon voyage for those of them that were off to university in the fall.

“I’m ready,” Drake responded, turning away from Leo, and just like that, the moment was gone.

Leo pushed his plate away. His brother wasn’t wrong. He had wasted years pretending to be straight. “Yeah, well, you have the same father I do, so you should understand why.”

The teasing smile disappeared from Liam’s face. He did know. “My apologies, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just taking the piss out of you.”

“I know,” Leo gave him a half-hearted smile, “It’s fine. Just having a bad day. What’s for dessert?”

Liam leaned over and lowered his voice sympathetically, “I’m sorry our father is such a cretin. It’s too bad you were born before me.”

Leo froze. “What did you just say?”

“What?” Liam looked confused then he glanced at Riley who was leaning away chatting with Savannah before responding, “Oh, nothing. Just that it’s a cruel irony that either our sexuality or our birth order wasn’t reversed.”

Liam had already bought an engagement ring. He was just waiting for the right moment to pop the question. He was so distracted by the sight of his girlfriend that he missed the expression on his brother’s face.

Leo sat staring at his brother, dumbfounded as his future exploded and then reassembled itself in his head.

“Come.” She tugged on Max’s arm. “Let’s go congratulate the happy couple.”

When it was their turn in the receiving line, Riley hugged the new king and queen tightly, happily, kissing each one quickly on the lips, and delighting in the shocked gasps from onlookers.

Liam entwined his hand with Hana’s as they watched her walk away and whispered to his new partner in crime, “What are we going to do with her, my queen?”

Hana shivered slightly. “Unspeakable things, I hope.”

Hana had been heartbroken when Riley first told her about her relationship with Liam and Max. But when the object of her affection had proposed a unique solution that positioned her as queen and gave her full access to exploring a relationship with both the woman she loved and the man at her side, a man she liked, respected, and was attracted to, she had for once in her life chosen the path of the unknown, of adventure, of jumping off the cliff with blind faith that things would work out. She had jumped, and it was exhilarating. The public assumed her flushed face and sparkling eyes were because of Liam. Let them. That was according to plan.

Riley’s appointment as Duchess of Valtoria would be announced within the week.

Liam had been clear with all involved that he would not hide his relationship with Riley. Royal marriages were political and there was no reason to pretend otherwise. He had promised Hana that he would treat her with dignity and respect. He would not publicize their agreement, but he also refused to treat Riley as a dirty secret. They would be reasonably discreet, but if they were photographed together, there would be no denials. A simple no comment would be the only response.

The engagement tour was scheduled, the wedding day was chosen, and the honeymoon would be at an undisclosed location due to security concerns.

The undisclosed location would be Valtoria. The press would be sent on a wild goose chase to Aruba.

A full investigation had been opened into the sabotage scheme and Bertrand’s name had been removed from consideration for the vacant council seat.

Riley and Max made their way through the crowd, only to be intercepted by Bertrand. He was livid. “What just happened?”

Riley tightened her grip on Max’s arms as she smiled serenely. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, two days ago your things were moved from Ramsford and your room at the palace into the suite next to Liam’s! What changed since then?”

“Nothing.” She grabbed a champagne flute from a passing server.

“Then why aren’t you engaged?”

“Oh, I am.” Her smile turned malicious as she held her left hand up for inspection. An enormous pear-cut diamond surrounded by a cluster of smaller diamonds sparkled on her ring finger. “I’m going to be your sister-in-law. You should congratulate us.”

Bertrand’s face darkened. “I warned you what would happen if your little dalliance with my brother ruined our chances at the crown. I will disinherit him, and I will personally ensure that your visitor’s visa is revoked!”

“You’ll do no such thing.”

Bertrand spun toward the voice. “Your Majesty! I was just—”

“I know what you were doing.” Liam’s face betrayed no hint of emotion as he reached his hand out toward Riley. She took it and stepped up to his side. “And while I can’t stop you from disinheriting your brother, I can promise you that Duchess Riley’s citizenship has been fast-tracked and cannot be revoked by anyone other than myself.”

Bertrand blanched. “Duchess Riley?”

“Oh, I meant to tell you!” Riley said with exaggerated sweetness. “Liam gave me Valtoria. So once Max and I are married, he’ll be a duke like you! He doesn’t need your money anymore and neither do I. Hm. Maybe I’ll talk to Liam about giving him that council seat you wanted.”

Bertrand paled even more as he tracked Liam’s face for some sign she was lying and found none.

Without removing his eyes from Bertrand, Liam handed the woman at his side back to Max. “Why don’t you take your fiancée to dance? I’ll be there shortly to cut in.”

Riley blew a kiss to Bertrand as she followed Max to the dance floor. “Ta!”

Liam fixed Bertrand with a steely glare. “I understand you’re disappointed that House Beaumont’s sponsee wasn’t chosen as queen, but the same can be said of every other noble house here tonight. Regardless of official titles, the duchess remains very dear to me. Slights to her will not be tolerated. Any offense against her is an offense against the crown as far as I am concerned. I hope that clarifies things for you.”

“I understand Your Majesty. I apologize. I mean no offense.”

Liam gave him a curt nod before striding out onto the dance floor.

“Are you okay?” Riley asked Max as she watched Liam approach.

“I will be. I just…need a word with my brother.”

“Good luck.”

Riley went from her fiancée’s arms to her lover. She grinned up at him. “Aren’t you worried that dancing with another woman thirty minutes after getting engaged will cause a scandal?”

He returned her grin. “Let it.”

“Oh, reckless! Are you a bad boy now?”

“Hardly!” He laughed. “You know there’s no way in hell I can give Max a council seat with his very questionable background, right?”

“Good Lord, no!” She tilted her head back and joined his laughter. “He would be terrible at it! I was just fucking with Bert.”

Liam pulled her closer to him with a chuckle. “I’ll bet he loves it when you call him that.”

“Why do you think I do it?”

While Liam twirled Riley around the dance floor, Max approached his brother with a storm raging in his eyes. “I can’t believe you want to disinherit me.”

“Oh, what difference does it make?” Bertrand scowled at him. “Valtoria is one of the wealthiest duchies in the country. You’ll be fine.”

“It’s not about the money!” Max cried in distress. “Don’t you want to be my brother anymore? Don’t you love me?”

“You think I don’t love you?” Bertrand spluttered. “Why else do you think I’ve bailed you out of your messes time after time?”

“I don’t know. To protect the family name, I assume.”

“That’s what you think of me?”

Max gave him a baleful look. “You knew Riley liked me and you didn’t tell me. You yell at me all the time. You care more about your reputation than my happiness.”

Bertrand straightened his suit jacket with a sharp tug. “One of us has to consider our reputation. Heaven knows it’s not you.”

Max scuffed the toe of his shoe on the ballroom floor as he considered that. “You know what? You’re right. I’ve done a lot of stupid shit in the past, and you’ve always come along and cleaned up behind me.”

“What are you getting at?” Bertrand sneered.

Max’s trademark devil-may-care smile replaced the gloomy expression he’d started with. He clapped his brother on the back. “You’ve always been there for me before. I forgive you for trying to keep me and Riley apart.”

Bertrand gaped at him. “You forgive me?!”

“Yeah. I forgive you. All’s well that ends well, right?”

After all, he had ended up with the girl. He, Maxwell Beaumont, had gotten the girl. And not just any girl. The girl. The most perfect woman he’d ever met.

His competition had been a literal prince and somehow, inexplicably, that was his ring on her finger. He didn’t pretend to understand how it had all happened. He had just paid for the ring like she told him to.

Bertrand shook his head as his eyes tracked from Riley and Liam canoodling on the dance floor, back to the sappy grin on Maxwell’s face. “Are you stupid? You’re really going to marry her and just look the other way while she continues to fuck the king?”

Much to Bertrand’s astonishment, Max’s smile got even bigger. “Oh, I’m hoping to watch. Maybe even join.”

He’d do whatever, and whoever, she instructed him to. Her, Hana, Liam. He just wanted to be included.

“I…. that…. You know what? The two of you degenerates deserve each other!”

Max, who was also watching Liam and Riley on the dance floor, heaved a dreamy sigh. “I know. Thank you.”

Bertrand went to find his driver. Max was Riley’s problem now.

Riley stayed occupied most of the night between Liam, Max, and Hana, but the moment she was alone at the refreshment table, Madeleine swooped in on her. “How does it feel to be tossed over for your little bestie?”

Riley turned slowly to take in the other woman’s haughty expression. She repaid the jab with a shrug. “No one was tossed over, Mads. And if you’re asking how I feel about Hana being queen, the answer is great! She’ll be good at it. She’s smart, charming, and diplomatic.”

The blonde’s brows drew together in confusion. “It doesn’t bother you that he’s marrying someone else?”

“No.”

“No?”

Riley shook her head emphatically. “I never cared about being queen, Madeleine. Unlike you, my interest in Liam is personal, not political.”

“Yes. But he just got engaged to another woman!” Madeleine was becoming increasingly annoyed at her failure to get a rise out of the strumpet who had been the bane of her existence for the last three months.

Riley followed Madeleine’s eyes to where Liam was chatting with his parents, his arm wrapped around Hana. Her face brightened as she stepped closer to Madeleine and lowered her voice. “And what a woman she is, right?”

Madeleine blinked. “What?”

“Come on,” Riley smirked. “I’ve seen how you look at her.”

Madeleine’s face mottled as red blotches marred the milky whiteness of her complexion. “I have no idea what you’re babbling about.”

“Sure you don’t.” Riley stepped away with a smile. Turning her back, she plucked a strawberry from a serving platter. “You know, you sycophants all treat the crown like some sort of prize.”

“What else would it be?”

Riley lifted the fruit to her lips as she turned back to face the countess. “The crown, and all its obligations, have been nothing but an anchor around Liam’s neck. He’d be happier without it.”

“You’re so naïve.”

Riley slowly finished chewing as she eyed Madeleine up and down with a smirk. “Right. I’m the naïve one.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

With a sparkle in her eye, Riley leaned in close and purred, “It means that I got every damn thing that I wanted and none of the crap that I didn’t. I started the summer as a waitress. I finished it with a duchy, my own money, Liam, Hana, and Max. What did you get, again?”

“I…”

“Exactly.” Riley turned and walked away while Madeleine was still trying to form a coherent response.

She made it four steps before Max was next to her. Together, they found Liam and Hana as the festivities wound down and the guests began to trail out of the ballroom.

Liam turned to the other three. “Shall we retire to the royal wing?”

“And do what?” Hana felt both apprehension and excitement punch her in the stomach.

“Not that,” Liam assured her. Then, with a wicked grin, “Unless you want to.”

Hana’s eyes widened and her breath hitched a little. “I…”

Liam grasped her hand and gave it a little squeeze. “We have our entire lives to get comfortable with each other. We can go at whatever pace you’re comfortable with.”

“Just for the record,” Max interrupted, “I am comfortable with whatever pace you like, Your Majesty.”

Liam gave him a questioning look.

Max flushed. “I know about you and Carson. I’m not wrong that you like boys too, am I?”

Curiosity and interest flickered through Liam’s eyes at the offer. With a quick glance at Riley, he told Max, “We’ll take that slow as well.”

If he had to marry someone other than Riley, he couldn’t have done better than Hana. The burgeoning relationship between the two women circumvented all the awkwardness and anxiety Riley had understandably had about his marriage to another woman. And Hana would make a good queen. He was confident of that.

Max’s offer was intriguing, and the idea of sex with Hana wasn’t exactly off-putting. But Riley was the one who had his heart. With four people in the mix, there were a lot of moving parts and he wanted to proceed at a pace that would ensure plenty of time for everyone to process things as they went and minimize fallout from any potential landmines they hadn’t foreseen.

With a lot of intentional relationship-building and a little luck, they could make this unconventional arrangement work. Not just work but thrive. He was sure of it.

As the four of them made their way toward the royal wing, Max grasped Riley’s hand. Riley placed her other hand in Liam’s, and he, in turn, took Hana’s. He gave his new queen a reassuring smile then turned his gaze to Riley and Max as he told them all, “This is only the beginning, loves.”

She would stay in Cordonia. She would continue her relationship with him. He would marry someone else. She would be free to continue her relationship with Max.

Bertrand was going to be livid. She did not doubt that he would make good on his promise to withdraw House Beaumont’s support, both publicly and financially. He’d likely cut Max off as well.

Liam had brushed her concerns about the future aside, telling her not to worry, he’d handle it. For now, she would keep her room at the palace. She would attend the engagement tour and before they left, she would move into a new suite of rooms in the royal family’s wing.

She wasn’t crazy about not having a solid plan for the long term and she was even less thrilled about living in a room right down the hall from Liam’s wife, especially if that wife turned out to be Madeleine.

Liam had assured her he had no intention of marrying the countess, but Riley wasn’t sure that Kiara or Penelope would treat her much better.

There was a knock and Riley crossed the room to open the door for Hana. She pulled her inside and enveloped her in a hug. “I’m so happy to see you!”

Hana returned Riley’s embrace with a laugh. “I’m always happy to see you. But why, specifically?”

“I have a lot to tell you, but you first!” Riley released her and returned to folding clothes to place in her luggage. “I am dying to know what you were talking about last night. What did you mean when you said you weren’t sure you still wanted to marry the prince?”

Hana sat on the edge of the bed and stared down at her hands. “I don’t want to marry Liam. I mean, I did, when I first got here. In addition to making my parents happy and being able to put my considerable skills to good use as queen, he is hot as hell.”

“Right?” Riley laughed in agreement. “I didn’t hear a downside in there!”

Hana looked up with heated cheeks. “What about you?”

“What about me what?”

“If he chooses you, will you say yes?”

“Oh, he’s not going to choose me.”

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“I can. We discussed it last night.”

Hana couldn’t hide the astonishment that crashed through her. “I knew you were close, but I didn’t realize he was confiding in you about such things. And if you’re that close, then why wouldn’t he—”

Riley dropped the blouse she was folding and grabbed Hana’s hands. “I’ll tell you everything, but not until you tell me why you don’t want to marry Liam. You would be a great queen.”

An idea seized hold of her. Hana would be a great queen. And she wasn’t a bitch.

Hana screwed her courage up, determined to say what she had come to say. The next time she would see Riley would be at the Beaumont Bash, an event sure to keep her too busy with hostessing duties to find a moment alone for a conversation. Then after that, the Coronation Ball.

It was now or never.

She drew in a deep breath and blurted out, “I can’t marry Liam because I’m in love with you!”

***

Drake lifted his hand to knock just as the door to Liam’s office opened and the prince’s personal lawyer stepped out. “Rashad, I didn’t realize you were here today.”

“Last minute meeting,” He explained as he nodded at the other man, “Nice to see you. I’m on my way out.”

“Nice to see you, too. Hello and goodbye.” Drake chuckled as he entered the office and closed the door behind him. He took in his best friend’s demeanor. “Wow. You look downright chipper this morning.”

Liam grinned at him from his place behind the highly polished mahogany desk. “Oh, I am! I spoke to Riley last night and I think I have everything figured out, Drake.”

Drake suppressed a long-suffering sigh. “I thought we settled this. You can’t marry her—”

“Oh, I’m not. I can’t. You were right about that. And she doesn’t want to be queen, anyway.”

Drake had been reaching for a donut on the service cart. His hand froze midway as he did a double take. “What now?”

“She doesn’t want it, Drake. Can you imagine? A woman who doesn’t even want the damn crown!”

“And you’re happy about that? Because yesterday you were still trying to find a way to marry her.”

“I realized I can’t marry her. You were right about her and Max.”

Drake poured a cup of coffee to go with the donut and sat down across the desk from Liam. “I’m very confused. She doesn’t want to marry you, and she’s fucking Beaumont. Why are you happy?”

“Because my overstepping, interfering stepmother is right about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Queen is a job title. One that Riley is neither prepared nor suited for.”

“Okay….”

Liam leaned forward with excitement. “I thought I needed her to marry me to be happy, but I don’t!”

Drake lifted an eyebrow skeptically. “You don’t?”

“No. I don’t. I just need her in my life, and she’s agreed to it. I’m determined to make this work. My marriage will be in name only.”

“But….she’s still sleeping with Max, right? You’ll never be able to reign her in. That girl is a wild card.”

Liam leaned back in his chair with a grin. “Perhaps I like that about her. She just follows her heart and does whatever the hell she wants. What freedom that must be.”

“That’s one way to look at it.”

“Yes. But also look at it this way. I’ll always know she’s choosing to be with me because she wants to, not because she has to.”

“How do you figure?”

“You know I’ve always had issues with women wanting the crown more so than me.”

“Yes…”

“She doesn’t want it and she won’t have it. There will be no marriage contract to bind her to me. Every moment we spend together will be because she wants me. Liam, the man. Not the king, not the crown.”

“I think you’re forgetting one very important thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Your money. She may not want the responsibilities of the crown, but how can you ever be sure she isn’t just enamored of your wealth?”

“Ah. I have a solution for that as well. That’s why Rashad was here.”

“I don’t follow.”

Liam pushed a folder across the desktop.

Drake flipped through it and whistled. “Wow. You really have thought of everything.”

 “I know.” Liam gave him a self-satisfied smirk as he rose from the desk. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go pack.”

Drake’s head snapped up. “Pack? Why? We don’t leave for Ramsford until tomorrow.”

“Court doesn’t. Riley and the Beaumonts are leaving this morning. I plan to surprise her there.”

“At Ramsford? Where she’ll be with Max?”

“I can handle Max,” Liam assured him with a scowl. “It’s Bertrand I’m worried about.”

“Bertrand?” Drake sat up straighter, “Explain.”

Liam quickly filled him in on what Riley and Max had confided to him before heading to the royal quarters to pack.

***

Thirty minutes after arriving at Ramsford, Liam was alone with Riley. Bertrand had been thrilled to provide them with a private sitting room and shoo all the servants away from the area.

Riley’s eyes flicked back and forth from the paperwork in her hands to the man standing in front of her.

Liam was vibrating with excitement as he waited for her reaction.

She shifted through the documents in confusion. “I don’t understand. You’re giving me Valtoria?”

His grin broadened. “Yes!”

Her brows drew together. “What is it?”

“It’s a duchy.”

“Wait. You can just give someone a duchy?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Yes, of course?” She scoffed, “This is brand new information to me, Liam!”

“You’ll be a duchess, complete with full Cordonian citizenship and voting rights in the House of Lords.”

“I’ll be a duchess….”

“Yes, with everything that entails. Lands, titles, bank accounts—”

Her head jerked up as her eyes flew from the document she was holding to his face. “Bank accounts?”

“Naturally. You don’t need Bertrand’s money and you won’t be beholden to him or anyone else for anything from here on out.”

“Liam, this…this is incredibly generous, but I don’t know anything about running a duchy!”

“You don’t have to run it, Riley. You can appoint a prime minister to do all the work.”

“And I’ll keep this as long as I’m your mistress?”

“You’ll keep it, regardless. I have signed and filed all the paperwork, Riley. It’s yours with no strings attached.”

Her mouth fell open in disbelief. “Why would you do this?”

“Why?” He took her hand in his. “Because it would kill me if I ever thought you were sleeping with me out of some sort of obligation or because you felt backed into a corner financially. And because I love you. If you cut me out of your life tomorrow, I can live in peace knowing that you’re taken care of.”

“Liam…”

“I’m sorry I can’t marry you, Riley. But your future is secure, with or without me in it, so would you please stop worrying about that?”

She threw herself into his arms.

After several moments filled with laughter, tears, and lots of kissing, she pulled away from him. “This is the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me, Liam. I love it and I love you. I feel selfish for asking, but there is one more thing I’d like to ask of you.”

“I’m gratified that you’re so happy. It gives me great satisfaction to please you. If there’s something else I can do, please tell me.”

“I want you to marry Hana.”

***

The moment the guests arrived, Liam pulled Hana aside for a confidential chat. Then he spoke privately to his father.

“I had hoped you’d choose Countess Madeleine.”

“And I had my heart set on marrying Lady Riley.”

“The council—”

“Won’t approve her. And neither will you. I know. Lady Hana isn’t your first choice, nor is she mine, but she’s an excellent compromise. She has the correct background and education. She’s poised, talented, charming, and beautiful. She should have no trouble securing council approval.”

Constantine laughed with relief, proud to see his son making logical compromises. He had been worried Liam was going to be intransigent about marrying the waitress. The lady from Shanghai was indeed an excellent choice. Regina wouldn’t be happy, but he could handle his wife. Clapping his son on the back, the king assured him, “I’ll have them get the approval pushed through by tomorrow.”

***

The Beaumont Bash went off without a hitch. The overnight guests were served a late brunch the next day. Liam insisted Riley return to the palace with him.

“Surely you don’t need her for the cleanup? You have staff for that, right?”

Bertrand nodded his agreement with glee. “Yes. It’s fine. Go. Go.”

Liam pushed away from the table and held his hand out to her. “Come, Riley. I’ll walk you to your room. Max, would you please join us?”

Max looked up from his plate in surprise. His eyes flicked to Bertrand, who was shooting daggers at him, then back to Liam. “Um…yes, sure.”

Liam ushered them into Riley’s bedroom and closed the door before turning to face them. “Take anything you care about. You too, Max. The day after tomorrow Bertrand will realize that his plan has failed. I want you both out of his reach. The worst he can do is withdraw his support of Riley and disinherit you. It won’t matter. As I’m sure she’s shared with you by now, Riley is a duchess in her own right. Regardless, you’re both welcome to stay at the palace for as long as you want.”

“With pleasure!” Riley was already pulling her suitcase out.

Max watched Liam’s face closely. “I understand why you’re helping her. But why are you helping me?”

“It’s the same answer. You’re important to her, she’s important to me. I hope you prove worthy of it. Now go pack. We’re leaving in an hour.”

***

It was coronation night, and everything was in place. Liam hummed happily as he stepped out of the bathroom into the small but elegant sitting room just down the hall from the grand ballroom to find Madeleine waiting for him. His jaw clenched in annoyance. “What are you doing in here? This is a private room.” He was going to have a very stern talk with his head of security.

“We need to talk.”

“What could we possibly have to discuss?”

“Our engagement.”

Liam tipped his head back with a sigh. “We are not engaged, Countess.”

“But we should be. I know you’re in love with…” she grimaced, liked the words burned in her mouth, “…the American. But arrangements can be made for that…”

“I’m aware of what I can and can’t do!” He turned his back on her and headed for the door.

She lunged after him, grabbing his sleeve and jerking him back toward her. “What other woman is going to offer you the freedom to—”

“Any of them!” He jerked his arm free. “Do you imagine I’m going to enter into a marriage contract without a Cordonian Arrangement codicil? Looking the other way while your spouse has dalliances is politically arranged marriages 101, Madeleine. You should know this.” Liam shook his head. “I’m disappointed, honestly. For all the talk of your political acumen, you have very little.”

“I have what it takes to be queen, Liam, and you know it!”

“No, you don’t. You’re not fit to rule. You paint yourself as regal, but you’re not, you’re just plain mean. You intend to rule through fear and intimidation based not even on any power of your own, but on mine. The fact that you don’t realize you have no power is pathetically evident in the way you’re behaving right now, as if you’re holding all the cards in this dynamic.”

“I’m simply trying to look out for you, Liam. The monarchy needs to be strong, you—”

“You think you’re the best choice for Cordonia?”

“Yes, of course! It’s my duty—”

“You don’t care about duty. You like lording your position over the other ladies of the court. Do you think I don’t see that?”

The countess straightened her shoulders indignantly. “That’s not true! I am committed to serving my country!”

He adjusted a cufflink as he gave her a considering look. “Do you wish to be queen, Madeleine?”

“You know I do!”

He stepped into her personal space. “How much?”

“What?”

He took her arm and pulled her closer. He lowered his head so that his lips were just inches from hers. “Will you fulfill your wifely duties?”

She flinched, but she didn’t pull away. “Of course. We must produce heirs—”

He ran a finger down her cheek, then down her bare arm. “And you’ll look the other way while I take whatever lovers I so desire?”

“I’ve already agreed to this! What—”

His fingers dug into her arm deeper. “Will you be nice to the other ladies of my court? Stop being a bitch to the servants?”

“I…I suppose I could be a little…softer…”

“I don’t like your father. Are you willing to cut him out of your life?”

She hesitated for a scant moment and then whispered softly, “Yes, I’ll do it.”

He shoved her away with a laugh. “See? No power. Stop acting like you have anything to bargain with.” His eyes ran down her body, “Other than your physical attributes. But every other lady here has those as well. What else do you have to offer? You are not smarter than Kiara, you are not more cultured than Hana, you are not more charming than Penelope and you’re sure as hell not Riley.”

A primal roar broke out of the usually composed blond. “You can’t marry her! The nobility will turn on you. You—”

“I never said I was going to marry her.”

“But….the matching outfits at the Beaumont Bash….the diamond and sapphire necklace around her neck that she obviously can’t afford….the two of you sneaking off into the hedge maze…”

“I’m sleeping with her. I love her. But I’m not foolish enough to marry her.”

“Then who—”

“You’ll find out when everyone else does.” He pulled the door open and then paused. Looking over his shoulder, his voice dropped low and menacing. “Oh, and Madeleine? If I find out you were involved in the attempted sabotage of Lady Riley or Duchess Olivia, I will make sure you pay for it.”

Madeleine stiffened slightly as her eyes widened. Then she sniffed indifferently. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Liam shook his head, “He’s mine in every way that matters Leo.”

“Yeah….I don’t think the royal council would see it that way.”

“And who the fuck is going to tell them, huh, Rys?” Drake demanded

Leo threw his arms up in the air, “Not me! I was just making an observation, that’s all! Sheesh, so fucking sensitive.”

“Leo, didn’t I tell you to stop provoking him?” Riley asked, placing her hand on his arm.

Leo positively lit up as his eyes dipped down to where she was touching him then back up to her face. He covered her hand with his own, “You did. But it’s so much goddamn fun! It’s too easy! It’s not my fault he has a fucking hair trigger.”

“Oh, look, our guide is here!” Max interrupted.

A young man with a Disneyland nametag smiled at them, “Hello, Smith family. My name is Jason and I’ll be your guide today for your VIP tour. I have a list of your ride preferences and suggested start times for each based on my conversation with Max earlier. Are you ready to get started?”

Riley shot a sidelong glance at Liam as she mouthed, “Smith? Really?”

Liam shrugged. They had to use assumed names, he couldn’t very well book it under King Liam Rys of Cordonia, now could he?

Riley read all of that in his expression. She shook her head to convey, yeah, but Smith, really? It seemed too obvious.

Liam pursed his lips as he read all of that in her expression. He shoved his hands into his pockets, trying not to sulk. He’d gotten them a VIP tour of Disneyland, hadn’t he? He knew Drake was freaking out about security, but there were at least two dozen guardsmen dressed as tourists milling around watching them covertly. It would be fine. The fake last name he’d booked it under seemed like a minor detail.

“I think we’re starting with space mountain!” Jason informed them in his best tour guide voice, “Who’s ready?”

“Me! Me! I am!” Ellie jumped up and down then spun in a circle, did a front roll then stood up and jumped again.

“Wow. She is really ready!” Leo observed.

The group started walking, following the tour guide. They were all mesmerized by the sights. There was so much to see and so much to do. Riley was too busy looking around to notice Xander had stopped walking until she tripped over him. “Oof!”

“Whoa there!” Drake called out as he caught her in his arms.

“Thanks, damn.” She blinked up at him, “Where did you come from?”

“While you were watching everything but your step, I was watching you. It’s what I do.”

Riley smiled at him, “You really are totally obsessed with me, aren’t you?”

“Obviously. Now, are you ok?”

“Yes, but….Xander, honey, what are you doing?” She turned to look at her son who was still rooted to the spot, eyes wide as saucers. Riley followed his gaze to find his eyes locked on Pluto. “Oh, no. Liam?”

“What is it, love?”

“I think your son is scared of Pluto.”

Liam squatted down in front of him, “Hey buddy, are you ok?”

Xander didn’t speak, didn’t move, just continued to stare at Pluto.

“What wrong with ‘ander?” Jax’s lip started to tremble.

“Oh, hey, kiddo, it’s ok!” Drake knelt next to Jax, but it was too late. The toddler’s eyes filled with tears as he let out an ear splitting shriek.

“Jesus!” Leo put his hands over his ears, “Fuck, can someone shut that kid up?”

“Leo.” Drake said through gritted teeth, his eyes still focused on his child, “Just shut up, will you? You’re as bad as the kids, fuck!”

“You said fuck.” Ellie pointed between them accusingly, “Mommy! Tata said fuck! So did uncle Leo! They’re not supposed to say that word, right?”

“Hey, it’s ok, Xander, watch!” Max went over and got a high five from Pluto, “See? Pluto is totally cool! Do you want to give him a high five?”

Xander shook his head slowly from side to side, eyes still wide. Jax threw himself of the pavement and started thrashing around. Drake bent over and hauled Jax off the ground as Max tried to convince Ellie to give Pluto a high five and Liam comforted Xander.

Ellie approached the giant dog and held her hand out with a tentative smile. Xander’s eyes grew even wider as he yelled out, “Ellie, no!”

Ellie hesitated, glanced back at her brother’s terrified face then turned and shoved Pluto as hard as she could, sending him stumbling back to crash into Max.

Drake thrust Jax into the closest adult’s arms as he ran to restrain Ellie who was now swinging on Pluto. That person happened to be Leo. “Oh…ok….”

Drake pulled Ellie back as Liam raced to help Max up from the ground where he had sprawled after stumbling backwards and tripping over a curb. Riley took his place next to Xander, wrapping her arms around him and murmuring words of comfort as he buried his face into her body and sobbed, “Ellie! Ellie!”

“What the hell?” Leo muttered as he felt something warm spreading across his stomach. Glancing down he saw a wet spot growing across the fabric of his light grey, soft linen Laguna button up shirt. “Fuck! Shit! Goddamn it!”

Drake held a still swinging Ellie tightly in his arms as he told Pluto, “It might be best if you just go, ok?”

Pluto nodded his head as he placed his large hands over his mouth. He waved as he ambled away.

“Max!” Leo bellowed, “Come take this kid please! He peed on me!”

Max pulled Jax out of Leo’s arms as Pluto left, and Drake, Liam and Riley calmed the other two children.

Leo stripped his shirt off and asked the guide, “Is there a clothing store around here somewhere?”

“Yes, sir.” Jason answered, “Come on, I’ll take you to the nearest gift shop.”

Riley eyed Leo’s bare chest and shoulders appreciatively, “Damn, Leo. Been keeping up with your gym routine?”

A self satisfied smirk broke out across his face as he flexed for her. He winked at her as he replied, “You know it babe!”

Drake’s eyes tracked back and forth from Riley to Leo as he inserted his body between them and draped an arm around her shoulder. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear, “If you just want to drool over pecs and abs, I’d be more than happy to remove my shirt for you.”

She grinned up at him with interest, “Really? Right here? In the middle of Disneyland?”

Drake nipped at the side of her neck as they walked, “If that’s what the lady wants……..”

Jax exited the gift shop skipping. He was delighted with his brand new Mickey Mouse shirt and short set. Leo was less excited about his new amusement park t-shirt emblazoned with the image of Goofy.

The rest of the morning flew by in a blur of rides, attractions and children’s giggles. They stopped at Award Wieners for lunch on Jason’s recommendation. “If the kids like chilidogs, you’re going to want to try this place.”

The third time Drake had to chase Jax across the room, a woman in a group of French tourists at a nearby table told her companions, “Les parents américains sont de tels jeux d'enfant. Regardez ces enfants. Petite merde. Mes parents n'auraient jamais permis un tel comportement!”

Riley turned to stare at the woman as she whispered to Liam, “Did she just call us pushovers and say our kids are little shits?”

Liam, ever the diplomate, tried to diffuse the situation, “Riley, sweetheart, let’s not cause a scene.”

Drake had no such qualms, “That’s exactly what she said.”

Before any of the adults could react, Ellie turned her gaze on the woman and responded, in perfect French, “Peut-être que vos parents auraient dû vous inculquer certaines manières. Imaginez une femme adulte adulte qui parle de la merde des enfants d'âge préscolaire.”

Riley’s face lit up in delight, she grabbed Max’s arm, “Did my daughter just tell that woman her parents should have taught her some manners?”

Max grinned at her, “She said, and I quote, perhaps your parents should have instilled some manners in you. Imagine being a grown adult woman talking shit about preschoolers.”

The woman stuttered and stumbled over an apology before hurriedly excusing herself from the table with a deep flush.

“Very good, Ellie, mama’s proud of you!” Riley high fived her daughter.

As Ellie drew her arm back from the high five, her elbow collided with her cup, sending the fruit punch flying.

“Fuck!” Leo’s chair shot away from the table as the coldness from the icy beverage shocked him, the red color soaking through quickly to the skin, ruining the white of the goofy t-shirt. “Are you kidding me? Again?”

“I’m so sorry uncle Leo!” Ellie’s bottom lip protruded as tears stared to gather in the corners of her eyes.

Leo’s pique evaporated immediately. “Oh, no. Don’t cry, baby girl, it’s ok, I’m not mad, see?” Leo stripped his shirt off for the second time that day. “I didn’t like this shirt anyway.”

Liam sighed in annoyance as he watched Riley’s eyes casually track down Leo’s torso while she sipped her iced tea. “I’m beginning to think he’s doing it on purpose.”

Drake grunted in agreement.

Max leaned in, “He’s not seriously flirting with her though, right? I mean, she’s eight and half months pregnant!”

All three men’s heads turned to watch as Leo used the Goofy t-shirt to wipe the sticky liquid from his chiseled abs, his movements slow and languid as he drew the fabric up and down his body, his eyes locked on Riley the entire time.

“Oh yeah, he’s flirting.” Liam confirmed.

“Fucker.” Drake muttered.

After a second detour to a gift shop, Leo pulled a light blue shirt with the Disneyland logo on it over his head as he conversed with the tour guide. They were waiting for Riley and Ellie outside the women’s restroom.

“So, how are you all related?” Jason asked curiously.

“Well, that one is my brother.” Leo pointed at Liam.

“Right. And she’s married to which one?”

“Same. Him, my brother.” Leo gestured again.

“Really?” Jason looked surprised, as he pointed to Drake, “I would have bet it was that guy.”

“Well, I mean, they’re kind of all with her.” Leo offered.

Jason blinked, “Wait. What?”

“Yeah, have you ever seen that show Sister Wives?”

“Yes…”

“It’s like that. Brother husbands!” Leo laughed at his own joke.

“All three of them?” Jason asked incredulously.

“Yeah.” Leo nodded.

“But not you?” The guide arched an eyebrow questioningly.

Leo shook his head sadly, “Nope, not me.”

“Didn’t make the cut huh?”

“What? No! I mean, yes, I mean- you know what?” Leo raised his voice trying to get Liam’s attention, “Can we get a different guide? I don’t like this one!”

Liam shook his head as he called back, “Jason has been nothing short of an amazing guide. I would never dream of replacing him or besmirching his professional reputation.”

“That’s…whatever.” Leo growled, “What are we doing next?”

“Spinning teacups!” Max answered him.

“Really? Teacups?” Leo asked skeptically.

“Feel free to go seek out some of the more adult friendly rides on your own.” Drake told him.

“Yes, Leo.” Liam chimed in, “I’m sure you could have a really good time on your own. Probably even pick up a woman. We all know how much you like casual, anonymous sex.”

“No, thanks.” Leo shook his head with a smug smile, “I do like that, but I’m having fun with you guys.”

When they arrived at the teacup ride, Leo quickly exclaimed, “I’m riding with Riley!”

Liam, Max and Drake looked at each other for a moment, a look passed between them, then Drake answered, “Fine. But you have to take Ellie and Xander with you.”

“Deal!” Leo crowed, pausing only a moment to wonder why Drake had acquiesced so quickly. It wasn’t like him.

Leo climbed into a car with Riley and the two older children while the other three men took their seats with Jax in between them.

“Now remember,” Liam warned, “No one spin that wheel, we don’t want a motion sick toddler.”

“Not to worry.” Max assured him, “I don’t like things that spin. That’s Ellie.”

“Yeah,” Drake agreed, as he shot a smile Leo’s direction, “and Xander is the one who gets motion sick.”

Leo’s head snapped up, “What?” But it was too late, the ride was starting.

Ellie gleefully reached for the steering wheel in the center of the ride and twisted.

“Hey, Ellie!” Leo tried for a cajoling tone, “How about we don’t spin this thing, ok?”

“Don’t be scared Uncle Leo!” Ellie giggled as she spun the wheel harder.

“Aiyeeeee!” Xander yelled as their cup spun faster.

“I’m not scared, sweetheart, I’m just worried about your brother!”

Riley glanced at Xander, who was yelling and laughing, “He’s fine!” She assured him.

Leo wasn’t so sure. He looked around until he found the rest of their group in the yellow teacup. Drake was watching him with a look of anticipatory amusement on his face. Shit. He had a feeling he was going to need another shirt.

Miraculously, they made it through the ride with no one throwing up. Leo heaved a sigh of relief as he helped Riley out of the cup. Ellie scrambled out and ran past him as he reached back and lifted Xander out.

As they walked toward the exit, Xander stumbled and weaved from side to side. Ellie giggled and pointed, “Look! Xander’s dizzy!”

Leo barely glanced at the child, turning his attention instead to his sister in law as they exited back onto the main walkway in front of the attraction, “Come on, Riley, you don’t need to be walking all over this huge ass park! Let those guys take the kids, we can find some shade and sit, and I will fetch you turkey legs!”

He felt a tug on the hem of his shirt, he looked down to find Xander staring up at him, “Uncle Leo?”

“Yeah buddy?” His brows drew together as he watched Xander mumble something that he couldn’t hear. He squatted down to get on eye level with his nephew, grasping him by both shoulders as he asked, “What did you say Xan?”

Xander opened his mouth as if he were going to speak, but instead a steamy, chunky stream what looked like a thick mixture of enchilada sauce and cottage cheese spewed from his mouth, hitting Leo square in the chest and splattering onto his face and arms.

“Shit!” Leo yelped as he fell backwards, trying to scrabble away from Xander who was still heaving chunks of his lunch.

Riley was unbothered. “Oh no. Maybe letting him have two chilidogs and funnel cake at lunch was a mistake, huh?”

“You think?” Leo stared at her in wide eyed horror as he pushed himself off the ground and stumbled toward Max, “A little help?”

“Oh….oh, no.” Max shook his head violently and took a step back as he retched a little, “I can’t…..”

“Oh, what’s wrong, Max?” Leo stepped closer as a mischievous grin spread across his face, “Can’t handle a little vomit?”

“I…no…” Max took another step backwards, and retched again, “I mean it, Leo, I’m a sympathetic puker!”

“Max, buddy.” Leo opened his arms wide like he was going to hug him.

“Leo, oh!” There was a dry heave then suddenly Max was spewing his lunch all over Leo.

“Fuck!” Leo turned and vomited into the bushes.

Liam turned to Drake with a shrug, “He kind of asked for that.”

Drake was shaking with laughter as tears of mirth streamed down his face, “I wish….I wish… I’d gotten that….gotten that… on video!” He bent double and grasped his stomach as he struggled to catch his breath.

Unfortunately, there was another sympathetic puker that had witnessed the whole display. The teenage boy inside the Dumbo costume hurled at about the same time Leo did. Though it was expressly against park rules to remove the head from the costume for any reason, he was beyond caring as the overwhelming stench from his own half digested lunch that now coated the inside of the already stifling suit made his stomach continue to roil. The risk of getting fired wasn’t even on his mind as he pulled the head off.

Ellie’s eyes opened wide as she watched Dumbo pull his own head off his body. She let out an earth shattering scream at the same time Jax noticed and began crying hysterically as he pointed, “Ella pant dead! Ella pant dead!”

Xander stopped throwing up and added his own screams to Ellie and Jax’s.

“Fuck!” Leo wiped his mouth as he rejoined the group, “This is why I’m never having kids!”

“Excuse you?” Liam blinked at him in astonishment, “You’ve had no less than twenty six paternity suits filed against you!” He would know, he always had to sign off on the royal lawyers representing Leo in court.

Leo scoffed, “Only seven of those turned out to be mine.”

Liam didn’t respond to that as he’d turned his attention to attempting to calm his hysterical children.

Riley passed out some baby wipes to Max, Leo and the kid in the Dumbo suit.

Turning to the tour guide, Leo asked, “Is there a place I can shower around here?”

“Uh….yes, there are showers in the restrooms near Calypso Pool. Shall I take you there?”

“Yes, please and I’m going to need pants in addition to a shirt this time.”

Riley eyed him critically up and down, “You look like you’re about Drake’s size. I can go pick out some clothes for you while you shower. We’ll meet you over there.”

“Thank you, beautiful, you’re an angel.” He grinned at her, already shirtless again.

Jason pointed out the nearest gift shop before turning to escort Leo to the pool. Riley placed a hand on her stomach as she felt a contraction ripple through her abdomen. It was nothing, she decided, just some Braxton hicks.

“Everything ok?” Drake asked her.

“Just fine.” She smiled up at him, “Now let’s go get Leo some clothes.”

````````````````````````````````

Words/lines that were used with permission from brain storming sessions:

@dcbbw for “Riley was unbothered” and “Come on, Riley, you don’t need to be walking all over this huge ass park! Let us find some shade and sit and I will fetch you turkey legs!”

“Cuddle bear, listen.” Riley struggled to walk across the room to him, one arm resting on her very pregnant belly, the other pushing into the small of her back. When she reached him, she took his face between her hands, “I was the one that wanted to come with him. He was going to come by himself, remember?”

Drake sighed and nodded. “But-“

“No buts, babe. I insisted on coming and then you insisted on coming with me-“

“I’m the head of your security, I go where you go, you know that!” He said petulantly.

“I know that, Drake. My point is that I was the one that chose to come, and I was the one that chose to stay.”

“Stop trying to handle me, Riley and sit back down. You need to stay off your feet.” His anger whooshed out of him as he shifted into protector mode.

“Great news!” Liam chirped out as he sailed into the room, “Dr. Russo can be here by tomorrow! She’s on her way to our private airstrip now. The backup jet is on standby.”

“They have doctors in LA, Liam.” Riley told him.

“They don’t have your doctor. She’s been monitoring you the entire pregnancy and you need her. She’s coming.”

The door opened again, interrupting their conversation, “What are you fuckers still doing in my house? I thought you were leaving.”

“First of all, it’s not your house, Leo.” Liam pinched the bridge of his nose, “It belongs to the crown, I just let you live here, rent free I might add so-“

“Riley can’t travel, she’s passed the 36 week of pregnancy mark and they won’t let her fly.” Max blurted out.

Leo turned to Riley in astonishment, “How the hell could you not know how far along you are?”

“Well-“

Liam and Drake spoke at the exact same time.

“Oh, shut the fuck up, Leo!” Liam said.

“Swear to God, Rys, I’ll knock you the fuck out!”

Leo crossed his arms over his chest, “That would be treason.”

“Fuck it would.” Drake scoffed, “You aren’t prince, king or really shit anymore and we’re on American soil.”

“I’d pardon you anyway.” Liam told him.

“Thanks.”

“Well, this is very touching.” Leo rolled his eyes, “But I still don’t understand how the hell this happened.”

Riley couldn’t resist the urge to be sarcastic, “Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much-“

“Ha ha ha. I mean, seriously, how did you not plan better?”

“We were supposed to leave three days ago, and that would have been under the wire.” Max explained, “But there were some last minute adjustments to the script that required my input.”

“Right. This is the Royal Romance three? Four?”

“Four.” Max replied with a grin. “The Royal Romance 4: Lost in New York.”

“Based on the summer you guys spent in New York when Riley went back to settle her grandmother’s estate?”

“A fictionalized account of it.” Liam emphasized. The whole thing made him look completely clueless about how to navigate life outside the palace. Honestly, Max had just run out of good material after the second or third book.

“Mostly fictionalized.” Drake smirked at him. Liam had been pretty clueless that summer.

“Yeah, watching you try to figure out how to work a washing machine was fucking hilarious!” Max chortled.

Liam gave him a withering look, “Like you did any better.”

“Ok, ok, don’t start arguing. The point is, I didn’t want to go back without Max and the extra day turned into two, which turned into three and now here we are, stuck.” Riley finished.

“So, you’ll be here for, what, another month?” Leo asked.

Liam shook his head, “I mean…we’re not flying with a newborn so more like two months. I’ll fly back and forth for business if absolutely necessary, but Riley, Drake and Max will be here for the duration.”

“Fuck.” Leo muttered under his breath. This was seriously going to put a crimp in his whoring around.

“Leo, I’m hurt. It sounds like you don’t want to hang out and bond with us.” Max pouted.

“No offense Beaumont, but you guys aren’t exactly fun.”

“Afraid we’re going to cramp your style?” Drake snorted.

“Yes, actually.” Leo answered before turning to Riley with a wink, “Everyone but you baby.”

Riley gave him a little smile as she bit into her lip and rocked her body from side to side.

“What the hell?” Drake looked between Leo and Riley in confusion. “What’s happening?”

“Leo, that was a very long time ago. That was…..” Liam counted on his fingers, “At least five lovers and four children ago.”

“More than five.” Riley smirked, “Hell, that was before Nick.”

“Wait. What?!” Drake exploded.

“Oh. My. God!” Leo’s face lit up in delight, “You didn’t know?”

“I…that….” Drake felt like he was going to hyperventilate.

“It’s ok, it’s ok buddy.” Max soothed in the voice he used when one of the children was having a meltdown, as he rubbed Drake’s shoulders.

“Stop it, Max. I am not a child.”

“I mean…you do act like one sometimes though, don’t you? It’s why we don’t tell you things.” Max replied.

Drake blinked then turned to Riley, “So everyone knew about this but me?”

She nodded. “I had no idea who Leo was at the time. So, it was quite a shock when I saw him at the coronation ball and figured out he was Liam’s brother!”

Riley spotted Liam across the ballroom and made her way over to him. Her eyes were locked on him as she approached so she didn’t notice who he was talking to.

“Riley?! What are you doing here?” A voice from the past pulled her attention.

“Leo? What are you doing here?”

“You two know each other?” Liam’s head swiveled between them.

“Know her? This is the woman I was telling you about! The one from New York that just fucking disappeared on me!”

“Oh no….”

“Oh no, what?” Leo looked back and forth between Liam and Riley.

Liam cleared this throat, “Riley is about to be my fiancé, I’m going to marry her.”

“What? How?” Leo demanded.

“Let’s go have a talk, privately.” Liam suggested.

Drake stared at her in consternation, “Where was I when this revelation occurred?”

“Outside at the bar where I left you, pouting.”

“I wasn’t pouting! I don’t-“

“Dude, you were a wreck that night. Sorry, but it’s true.” Max held his hands up in front of him. “I was having my own struggles with the situation, but even I could tell you were in your fucking feelings.”

“Fine. Whatever. I’m just surprised Liam didn’t tell me at the time.”

“Well, all hell broke loose later that night if you’ll remember, so I had other things on my mind at the time.” Liam told him acridly.

“Right. But still, I’d think that someone would have mentioned it at some point in all the years since. I mean, Beaumont knows!” Drake gestured at Max.

Max shrugged, “She’s always told me everything and we did spend three weeks together immediately after the coronation with nothing else to do but talk and fu-“

“Ok, we get the idea Max!” Leo slapped him in the chest, “If I’d known she was at Ramsford instead of on a plane back to New York, things would have ended differently.”

“No, they wouldn’t have.” Riley rolled her eyes.

“You told Max, but not me.” Drake said accusingly.

“Yeah!” She cried in exasperation.

“Why?”

Riley shrugged expansively, “We knew it would just upset you.”

“Yeah, Walker. She knew you couldn’t handle knowing she’d been with a real man!” Leo gloated.

“Leo, I swear to God, if you don’t shut your fucking cakehole-“

“See?” Riley shot him an I told you so look.

“But baby,” He pulled her into his arms as he made a conscious decision to ignore Leo, “I’ve gotten better.”

“Ah, snuggle bug, you have.” She crooned as she caressed his face and he leaned into it, “I guess it just hasn’t come up. I don’t really think about it much. It was a long time ago and it wasn’t a big deal.”

“What do you mean it wasn’t a big deal?” Leo exclaimed, “That was one of the most amazing weekends of my life!”

“Weekend?” Drake’s jaw clenched tightly.

“Yes, weekend. I met her in New York, just after I’d abdicated. We met at the BRIC festival, she was wearing this tiny little halter top that you would not-“

“I swear to God, Leo, shut your fucking mouth!” Drake looked down at Riley, “Sorry babe.”

Riley pulled out of Drake’s embrace and walked over to Leo, “Stop trying to provoke him, ok?”

Drake turned to Liam, lowering his voice so only Liam could hear him, “How the hell do you not punch him in his smug fucking face every time he brings this up?”

Liam smiled indulgently, “I don’t have to. He does it to himself, every time. Wait for it.”

Drake’s eyes went back across the room where Leo held his hands up in the air, “All I’m saying is that it was an amazing weekend, and we shared a real connection, right baby?”

“Eh,” Riley shrugged, “I mean, we had some fun.”

“Ok, first of all, it seemed like more than that to me. I mean, we had fun,” he quirked his fingers in the air to form imaginary quotation marks around the word fun, “seven times that weekend. Second of all, you’ve still never explained why you left without even telling me goodbye.”

“What?” Drake barked out a laugh.

Leo’s eyes flicked up to Drake, “She just completely ghosted me! I went out for coffee and bagels and when I came back, she was just gone! No note, nothing!”

“And….there it is!” Liam stifled the satisfied giggle that burbled up in his throat, “He’s still salty about it! He couldn’t keep her attention for more than a few days and I married her!”

“I’m sorry, Leo.” She placed her hand on his arm, “You’re just not really my type, that’s all. But I’m sure you’ll make some woman very happy someday.”

“Not your type?” Leo stared at her in disbelief, “Seven times, Riley, seven times!”

“I said it was fun.” She waved him off dismissively, “I’m sure you replaced me by the next night.”

“That’s hardly the point!”

“I think that is the point.” Liam told him, “You just want what you can’t have, that’s all.”

“No, I-“

“Ok, I’m tired of this conversation.” Riley dropped herself onto the couch, “What the hell are we going to do for fun until the baby gets here?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you the best part!” Liam turned back to Riley, “I know everyone is bummed about being stuck here for the next two months so….we’re going to Disneyland!”

“What?!” Maxwell bounded across the room and threw himself into Liam’s arms with a squeal, “This is the greatest idea you’ve ever had!”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Drake asked in concern. “Riley is eight months pregnant!”

“Oh, it’s fine.” Riley assured him, “I still have a month to go. And the kids will absolutely love it!”

“I don’t know,” Drake mused, as he took a seat on the couch next to her. “Jax is only two, he won’t even remember-“

“We’ll take plenty of pictures!” Riley waved him off, “Ellie and Xander will remember.” At eight and five, the older children would be getting an experience of a lifetime.

“Fine.” Drake sighed, his brain already spinning with the logistical nightmare of protecting everyone while they were there.

“Would you like to join us, Leo?” Liam invited, just to be polite.

Leo opened his mouth to decline, but then his eyes went to Drake sitting next to Riley on his couch, arm wrapped around her protectively as his eyes shot daggers at Leo.

Liam rubbed a finger across his lips. A telltale sign that he was stressed or thinking deeply, or both. “I don’t know. I think this requires someone a little more….direct than Max. Someone who can be blunt.”

“Someone willing to hurt his feelings, you mean. Now I understand why you called me.” She looked at Liam for moment then told him, “You look like shit.”

A surprised laugh bubbled out of him, “You don’t pull any punches, do you?”

She shrugged, “Not usually, no.”

He sighed, “I haven’t been sleeping well. The couch isn’t that comfortable, and I can’t stop worrying about her.” He gestured toward the bedroom.

“Still not talking?” Olivia’s eyes flicked toward the bedroom. She’d been in earlier, but Riley hadn’t even looked at her. Liam had filled her in on everything.

“No! She hasn’t said one fucking word in two days! She barely eats. She just lays in there and stares at the fucking wall! I don’t know what to do!”

He sounded so lost, that it made Olivia’s heart hurt. Damn it. “Ok, I’ll do it.”

“Do what?” Hana asked as she came through the door. She’d been there for two days. Liam had called her the day after the test results, hoping she would be able to get through to Riley. She hadn’t. He’d called Max too. Max had barely left her bedside, but she wasn’t responding to him either.

“Go get twiddle dee to pull his head out of his ass and come fix his wife.” She said with a small frown.

“Oh, I’m coming with you!”

Olivia’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “Why?”

“Why? Because my best friend is in there destroyed and he’s the only one that can fix it. Sorry Liam.” She gave him a sympathetic glance.

“S’ok.” He shrugged. It was true, he had tried everything he could think of to comfort her, to pull her out of her misery and he had failed.

Whatever sliver of hope he had harbored about the baby bringing them closer together, whatever thin fantasy he had secretly nurtured about a reconciliation was long gone. The depth and intensity of her love for Drake was clearer than it had ever been. The only person that could destroy that bond, was Drake himself. And he was doing a damn good job of it right now.

“Ok then, let’s go.” Olivia hopped up from her perch on the edge of the couch and headed for the door.

“Thanks. And Liv?”

She stopped and turned around, “Yeah?”

“If he doesn’t come back with you, I’m dispatching a guard unit to drag his fucking ass back and I’m not kidding, not even a little.” There was a hard edge to his voice that she had very rarely heard.

Olivia regarded him for a moment then nodded, “I believe you.”

They made the drive to the cabin in record time. Olivia treated speed limits as suggestions.

“What are we going to do if he doesn’t answer the door?” Hana asked as they pulled in the driveway.

“Break it down. We’re not going back without him.” Olivia put the car in park and looked at Hana, “Ready for this?”

“Yeah. Let’s do it!” She said with determination.

They walked up to the door, Hana stepped forward and knocked politely.

“Really?” Olivia asked her with barely contained impatience.

“What?” Hana looked at her in confusion.

“That’s not getting us anywhere. You have to knock like you mean it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Olivia stepped forward and pounded on the door with a balled-up fist, the loud pounding noise echoing through the surrounding woods as she yelled, “Open this goddamn mother fucking door right fucking now Drake! I goddamned well mean it! I will throw a mother fucking rock through one of these windows and you know I’ll fucking do it! You have ‘til the count of three! One! Two! Three!“

Hana gasped as Olivia lunged off the porch, picked up the biggest rock she could find and hurled it through the closest window. Glass shattered everywhere, the sound deafening in the stillness of the clearing.

Then she started pounding on the door and yelling again, “I have a rock for every fucking window in this place you piece of shit! Now open the goddamn fucking door! Drake Walker, I swear to God, I will-“

The door swung open. Drake stood in the darkness of the cabin, he looked like hell, and he smelled worse. His hair and clothes were completely disheveled, eyes bleary. “What the hell Liv!?” He snarled.

“Oh, fuck your window, it can be replaced!” Olivia shoved her way past him into the dim interior of the cabin. She searched the wall until she found the light switch. She flicked it on, and the room was illuminated.

“Ew.” Hana stepped gingerly around empty bottles as she made her way inside.

Drake rubbed his eyes and blinked, he had obviously just woken up, “Why are you here?” He growled.

Olivia surveyed the scene. Empty liquor bottles were everywhere, along with some discarded and half eaten cans of beans and MRE’s packages. She wrinkled her nose then turned to face Drake, “Why the fuck do you think we’re here? Why didn’t you answer the door for Liam?”

He ran a hand through his hair, “Liam was here?”

“Yes, Liam was here, two days ago.” She informed him as she watched his face. This clueless fucking bastard really didn’t remember. Maybe he’d been passed out drunk and hadn’t heard the door.

Drake’s head snapped up, “What do you mean two days ago? How long have I been here?”

“Three days.” She watched his eyes widen in shock and disbelief.

“What? No, that’s not possible. I mean, I’ve been drunk, but it hasn’t been-“ He shook his head as a hand combed through his hair again.

“Why the fuck would I lie about that?” She snapped.

He threw his hands up in the air, “I don’t know! Why the fuck would Liam have been here?”

“To bring your sorry ass back to the palace, that’s why. Your wife needs you.” What was it going to take to penetrate that alcohol laden brain of his?

He shook his head, “No, she doesn’t. And she doesn’t want me either. Why the hell do you think I’ve been drinking?” He grabbed a half empty bottle from a side table and started unscrewing the cap.

Olivia reached over and knocked it out of his hands.

“Hey! What the hell-“ He tried vainly to catch the bottle as it tumbled out of his hands and clattered to the floor.

“I knew you were stupid, you fucking asshole, but this is beyond. Even for you. Get your head out of your ass!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Liv, but you’re wasting your time. She doesn’t want me.” He said, the pain filling up his heart at the memory of her in Liam’s arms. He reached down and picked up the bottle.

“Have you not been checking your messages? Texts?” She grabbed the bottle out of his hand and this time she spun around and sent it flying into the closest wall, she found the sound of it shattering satisfying.

Drake flinched at the loud noise and rubbed the back of his neck as he shrugged, “Haven’t gotten any.”

“Haven’t-“ she stared at him with her mouth open for a moment, then she started tearing the room apart, “Where’s your phone?”

His hand raked through his hair again as he tried to focus. Bits and pieces of memories started to filter through his mind as he tried vainly to string together how he had lost two days. “I…uh….I dunno….in the car maybe?”

He didn’t think he’d ever brought it in. He had taken nothing but himself out of the car, stumbled into the cabin and started drinking.

Olivia glanced at Hana, who was scurrying around tidying things. “Hana, what the fuck are you doing?”

“Oh, I…ah, I can’t help it! This is gross, I’m cleaning it up!” She felt like she should apologize, but she wasn’t sure why.

“Yeah, fine, whatever but just…keep an eye on him please, I’ll be right back.” Olivia instructed.

“Sure.” Hana regarded Drake doubtfully. What was she supposed to do with him, exactly? She tapped her foot as she stared at him, willing Olivia to be quick.

Olivia stormed through the cabin door and walked out to his car. She pulled the door open; it wasn’t locked. The phone was sitting in the console, dead. She grabbed it as well as the charging cord that was plugged into the dash, then went to her own car and rooted around until she came up with a charging cube. Striding back into the house, she demanded, “Where can I plug this in?”

Drake waved vaguely toward a wall. She strode purposefully over to the wall and plugged in the phone. Then she turned back toward Drake, “So what’s the plan Einstein? Stay here until Riley gives up on you?”

He snorted, “She has Liam, she doesn’t need me.”

“She doesn’t want Liam. For some God forsaken reason that none of us will ever understand, she wants you!”

“No, she doesn’t.” He said more forcefully.

“Right. The woman who turned down a marriage proposal from a king to be with you, just isn’t that into you?” She looked at him like he was stupid. Because he was.

“Maybe she was, before. But now-“ He trailed off, wishing he had a drink.

“Now nothing. She’s devastated that you left.” Olivia wanted to hit him.

Drake snorted again, “I doubt that.”

Before Olivia could respond, Hana had made it across the room and hit Drake in the back of the head, hard.

“Ow!” He grabbed his head, “What was that for?”

Olivia howled with laughter, “Good job Hana! I didn’t know you had it in you! Respect!”

“That’s for what you did to Riley!” She said furiously. Hana had never hit anyone in her life. She would have been shocked at her own actions if she hadn’t been too angry to feel anything else.

“What I did to Riley?” He exclaimed in indignation, “I gave her what she wanted! I got out of her way so she and Liam could-“

Hana hit him again. “Olivia’s right. You’re the stupidest man ever born!”

Olivia powered up the phone then told him, “Check your phone, Drake.”

He muttered under his breath as he made his way across the room. He picked the phone up and scrolled through it. Forty-two missed calls from Liam, twenty-eight missed calls from Maxwell, fourteen missed calls from Hana. Three missed calls from Riley. He hit play on the first message from Riley. She was crying so hard he couldn’t understand most of what she was saying, but he caught “I’m sorry” and “Please come back.”

The second message was worse and the third one was just her crying. What the hell? He opened the text messages and scrolled through Riley’s first. They were all heartbreaking. He opened Liam’s next. “Sedated? What does he mean sedated?” The first thin tendrils of panic started to slowly snake their way through his body, pushing back the haze and stupor of a three-day bender.

“What the fuck do you think he means? It means she was so hysterical she had to be sedated! Fuck, how are you this dense?” Olivia gave him a withering look.

“But I thought- I didn’t know-“ He looked so anguished she almost felt sorry for him. Almost. He sat down on the couch and looked up at her in despair, “How bad was it?”

Olivia shrugged and fidgeted in her seat, betraying her discomfiture despite the overall air of indifference she projected, “I wasn’t there, but from what Liam told me pretty fucking bad.”

“She hurt herself.” Hana said, fury lacing her voice.

Drake’s head spun around to focus on Hana, tears already in his eyes, “What?” His heart sank to the bottom of his being.

“She used her fingernails to gouge her arms bloody while she was hyperventilating and couldn’t breathe. That’s why the doctor had to sedate her.” Hana hissed at him. She didn’t care about the wounded expression that bloomed across his face. This was his fault; he should feel bad.

He was on his feet instantly, frantically searching for his keys, “Where the hell are my keys? Never mind, come on Liv, we’ll take your car!”

He was halfway to the door when Olivia jumped in front of him, hands out to stop him, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there buddy! You’re not going anywhere yet.”

“But I thought that’s why you-“ He tried to push around her, but she was more clearheaded, sober and faster than he was in that moment.

She moved to block him again, “It is, but dude, you fucking stink. Go take a shower and brush your teeth.”

“But she needs me!” His voice had taken on a panicked pitch. He tried again to sidestep her, but she anticipated him and was already blocking him again.

“She needed you three days ago. Twenty more minutes isn’t going to hurt. It’s not like she’s going anywhere.” Olivia told him, pointing toward the master bed/bathroom.

Hana had now stepped up next to Olivia, also blocking his path to the door, “Yeah, and we don’t want her to throw up. Please go take a shower.”

He glared at them both for a minute then all the fight went out of him. He just wanted to get to Riley. Taking a shower would be faster than arguing with Olivia. He knew that from experience. Hana was an unknown as he had never seen her mad before. The fact that sweet, unassuming Hana was this furious with him told him that it was bad. Olivia was always prickly, but Hana…..

“Fine.” He spun on his heel and stomped into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. He turned the water on in the walk-in shower and turned toward the mirror. He caught a glimpse of himself. Shit. He did look like hell. His hair was matted, his eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. He gingerly lifted an arm and sniffed. He retched a little. Fuck. Maybe he did need a shower.

He brushed his teeth while the water warmed up then took the fastest shower he’d ever taken in his life. He grabbed clothes out of the dresser at random, pulling them on in record speed. When he made it back to the living room, Hana handed him a cup of coffee and some Tylenol, “Thought you might need this.”

“Thanks Hana.” Maybe she’d forgive him, eventually. But will my wife?

“Now go get in my car.” Olivia told him, “I’m not sure you’re sober enough to drive. Hana can drive yours back.”

“But I can’t find my keys-“ He protested.

“There still in the ignition.” Olivia told him. “I saw them when I went to get your phone and charger. Speaking of which, here.” She thrust them at him, and he had to grab them fast to keep from dropping them.

“Thanks, Liv.” He said gratefully, and he wasn’t talking about the phone.

“Don’t thank me. I did none of this for your sorry ass. Now get in the car.” She pointed out the door.

He got in the car. He was desperate to get back to his wife. She needed him and he wasn’t there. She had hurt herself? Because of him? Guilt crashed into him.

He was confused. He knew he hadn’t imagined her pushing him away, shutting him out. And he hadn’t imagined her wrapped up in Liam’s arms the other day either. But none of that mattered at the moment. If she needed him, he’d go.

How the fuck had it been three days? He thought it had been one! He remembered it being night, once. How fucking much had he had to drink? The worst headache he’d ever had was pounding though him as he shielded his eyes from the sunlight.

When they reached the main road, Olivia turned left.

“Valtoria is that way.” Drake pointed right.

“She’s not at Valtoria. She’s still at the palace.”

“Why?” He asked before he thought better of it.

“Why? Fucking why? Because she’s practically catatonic, that’s why!”

He felt ice shoot through his veins as he turned in his seat to look at her face, “What do you mean catatonic?”

“I mean, she hasn’t spoken in two days. She just stares at the goddamn wall all day. She was in no shape to be left alone at Valtoria. And a house full of servants does not fucking count as not being alone!” Olivia wiped a tear from her check angrily. She knew exactly what she was talking about. Her aunt had abandoned her, leaving her with a houseful of servants when she was just a child, sunk deep in grief over her parent’s deaths. She wouldn’t do that to anyone, let alone someone she considered a friend.

“Liv, I didn’t mean-“ He knew exactly what she was remembering.

“Fuck you Drake. None of the rest of us were willing to abandon her like you did.” She kept her eyes glued on the road as she fought back the tears of anger and frustration.

“Olivia, I didn’t abandon-“

“Oh yeah? What would you call it then? Where were you while your wife was crumpled in the floor screaming your name and clawing herself bloody?”

The vice tightened on his heart. Of course, she thought he had abandoned her. That’s what it looked like. He remembered how furious he’d been at Liam for what had happened the night of the coronation. How destroyed Riley had been by Liam’s actions. And now he’d done the same thing to her. Fuck! Liv and Hana were right. He was the stupidest man ever born. Would she even want to see him at this point? He wouldn’t blame her if she never forgave him.

“I-“ He slumped back in his seat in defeat. “Just get me to her please.”

She took a quick shower, picked out a flower print halter dress with a scoop neck that fell halfway to her knees. It was summery but still modest, she wanted to make a good impression on Drake’s family. She rummaged around and found a pair of strappy sandals that made her happy, slipped them on then made her way downstairs for breakfast.

As she approached the dining room, she could hear Drake arguing with his grandfather. Franklin’s voice was loud, booming. He wasn’t yelling, but his voice carried authority. He was a man used to having other’s answer to him, “You show up with this woman claiming she’s the next queen of Cordonia yet she slept in the same room with you last night. You brought a wanted fugitive into my home. After I specifically told you I couldn’t impede a federal investigation, you had me pull the target right out from under them! Do you have any idea the position you’ve put me in? I think I have a right to some answers, son!”

“Well, if you’d shut up and listen-“

“Sorry, am I interrupting?” Clearly she was, but she had to say something in the way of making her presence known.

“You are never an interruption kardia mou.” Drake told her as he rose from his chair to greet her with a kiss to the cheek before pulling a chair out for her.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Franklin motioned between them, “Either of you want to explain to me exactly what’s going on here?”

“Drake, he’s entitled to some answers.” Riley told him softly.

“I know that. I was going to explain everything, if he’d stop barking questions long enough for me to get a word in edgewise!” He growled in frustration as he drug a hand through his hair.

Riley turned to Franklin with an apologetic smile, “I’m so sorry for all of this, Senator, this is not how I wanted to meet Drake’s family.”

“So you two are a couple?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And all that nonsense about being the next queen of Cordonia was a lie to get me to send my helicopter in-“

“No, sir. That part was not a lie.” Riley replied with equanimity.

Franklin blinked but he didn’t seem ruffled in the least, “Explain, please.”

“Certainly. I don’t know how much you followed the social season in Cordonia-“

Drake snorted, “Not at all. He has no interest in what happens in my home country.”

Franklin sighed, “I have this country’s governance to look after, son, I can’t-“

“You could, you just don’t bother with anything that doesn’t affect you directly-“

“Drake.” Riley placed her hand on his forearm, the one that was resting on the table in the front of him, “Please. Could you let me finish speaking? We can talk about your personal issues with your grandfather after we explain our situation to him, ok?”

Drake blew out a sigh of frustration, knowing he was being handled, but giving in anyway. He placed his hand over hers with a small smile, “Of course. I’m sorry. He just pushes my buttons.”

“I know.” She gave his arm a little squeeze.

When she turned back to Franklin, he was giving them both an appraising look, “You have diplomacy down that’s for sure. And I’ve never seen anyone be able to handle my grandson like that.”

Drake bristled but said nothing. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and sat back in his chair, lips pressed in a thin line.

Riley continued, “Liam and I fell in love during the social season. He actually proposed to me a few hours before the coronation. Then the scandal happened, I was framed by someone who didn’t want me to be queen. Duke Lambros was told that I liked him, romantically, and then told his room assignment had been changed. My lock was disabled, and a very drunk duke stumbled into my room while I was undressing and made assumptions-“

“That son of a bitch put his hands on her,” Drake inserted, “If I hadn’t heard her scream-“

“But you did!” Riley reminded him, then to Franklin, “He did, and he came to my rescue or who knows what might have happened that night.”

“Oh, my dear, I’m so sorry.” Franklin said sympathetically.

“Yes, well, what we didn’t know was that a reporter with a camera was hiding in a tree outside my bedroom waiting to get the whole thing on film so she could splash the pictures all over the papers claiming I had been unfaithful to Liam.” Riley paused to calm herself as the rage and hurt washed over her again.

“That’s terrible!” Franklin replied.

“Liam thought that whoever was able to orchestrate that must be very powerful and that, in order to protect me, he had to let his enemies think they’d won.”

“So he only pretended to break up with you and choose someone else?”

“Yes but….” She paused again, as the feelings surrounding that night rushed back.

Drake sat up and grasped her hand in his, “Hey, it’s ok. Take a breath, I’ll tell him the rest.”

Riley nodded and Drake turned to his grandfather to finish the story, “The problem was Liam didn’t let Riley in on the secret. She thought it was real. I reached out to her and tried to explain, but she wouldn’t talk about it, didn’t want to hear it. But I kept calling and we…uh…got closer during that time.”

“I see.” Franklin said noncommittedly, “And now?”

“Well, we’ve been working to clear her name ever since, which we’ve now done. We got even closer over the course of the engagement tour, but once she finally let me tell her the truth about what was going on with Liam, and after a considerable amount of effort on his part, she forgave him.”

“And those feelings returned.” Franklin guessed correctly.

“Yes.” Riley answered, “But the feelings I’d developed for Drake didn’t just go away.”

“I don’t imagine that was easy.”

“No, I was going to just leave, go back to New York because I couldn’t bear to break either of their hearts and I knew that whoever I chose, it would damage their friendship and I didn’t want to be responsible for that.”

“Yet here you are, holding my grandson’s hand and claiming to be the next queen, so what am I missing?”

Drake answered, “When we thought we were both going to lose her, Liam offered her a Cordonian Arrangement.”

“I see. And you’re ok with that?”

Drake looked at her with a smile as he squeezed her hand, before flicking his eyes back to his grandfather, “I am more than ok with it. We hired a political fixer to pave the way, cleared her name, and Liam has broken his engagement with Madeleine. We staged a news story that will promote the image of their relationship as star crossed lovers, kept apart by circumstance. Tariq’s confession aired last night just hours after that story broke. Later today, Liam and Madeleine will announce the dissolution of their engagement and when we get back home, there will be a press conference so Liam and Riley can announce their engagement. So, you see, she is the next queen of Cordonia.”

“Ok, I understand all that. Now do you want to tell me how the hell you ended up mixed up with this fugitive?”

Drake sucked in a deep breath then launched into the whole story about being in Manhattan when the story broke early, the unanticipated response from the American press, having to take shelter in the clothing store where Ellie happened to work, getting caught between the FBI raid and the reporters and social media influencer. He told him about Ellie’s father trying to abduct her and Logan showing up, and Logan’s role in getting them to the helipad on top of Skyway Tower.  

When he was finished Franklin regarded him severely, “Drake, I understand that you think you owe this young man something for helping you out, but surely you can see that he had a vested interest in-“

“I think his story is at least looking into, grandfather. If he’s innocent as he claims, if police corruption is at issue-“

“So he claims! Every criminal in prison is innocent to hear them tell it.”

“I understand that but-“

“What makes you think he’s telling the truth?”

“I can prove it.” A voice called out from the doorway.

They looked up to see Ellie and Logan enter the room, with Sara behind them.

“Has everyone eaten?” Sara asked, either oblivious to the tension or ignoring it.

“Actually no, I haven’t.” Riley responded.

“Shit!” Drake flushed, “I’m sorry babe, I should have offered-“

“It’s ok, you were in the middle of something, and it was important. Sara, can I help you in the kitchen?”

“No dear, you stay here, I have a feeling Drake could use your help.” Sara gave Franklin a look as she disappeared out the door at the other end of the dining room.

Logan shuffled his feet and studied the floor, but Ellie strode right over the Franklin and looked him in the eye, “Sir, please, let me tell you our story.”

Franklin nodded to a chair, “Well, have a seat, both of you. You said you can prove what you say is true?”

“Yes. I can prove it because I have an immunity agreement for all the same crimes. It was given to me in exchange for a promise to testify against the officers involved, all of whom have been relieved of duty and indicted. You can look it all up. Several other members of the Mercy Park Crew were granted similar agreements.”

“If what you say is true, and I will verify it all, why wasn’t the same agreement extended to Logan?”

“Because my father hates him. He blames him for my involvement in the first place and believes he ruined my life. He wants us apart and he’s willing to lock Logan in prison to accomplish that.”

Logan finally spoke up, “It wouldn’t have mattered how we met. He was never going to think I was good enough for Ellie and hell, I know I’m not.”

“Logan, stop.” Ellie admonished.

“It’s true. I’m just a street kid, grew up in foster care, didn’t even finish high school-“

“None of that is your fault!” Ellie cried in anguish, “And you got your GED! You got a real job, you put your life back together after other people tore it apart!”

Ellie turned back to Franklin, “New York was supposed to be our fresh start! Why is Logan supposed to go to prison for something that the rest of us get to walk for? He actively tried to put a stop to all of it! Even Colt, who was gung ho to commit any and every crime asked of him, got an immunity agreement. Why not Logan?”

“I’ll look into it.” Franklin conceded.

“This could be your chance at some amount of redemption.” Drake told him.

“What are you talking about?” Franklin asked.

“I’m talking about how you stood in mom and dad’s way. You know something about trying to control your daughter’s life and choices.”

“I said I’d look into it.” Franklin stood abruptly and exited the room.

Sara returned with orange juice and coffee, “Breakfast is ready!”

“Let me help you!” Drake followed her back to the kitchen to bring the rest of the food in. Drake returned first, depositing a skillet full of scrambled eggs filled with onions, peppers, chunks of sausage and melted cheese onto the table.

As everyone else settled in to eat, Ellie remarked, “Your grandmother is very nice.”

Drake laughed, “She’s not my grandmother.”

“Oh!” Ellie’s eyes widened in surprise, “But I thought-“       

“My biological grandmother passed away when I was six. Grandfather eventually remarried. But you’re right. She is very nice. I don’t know what the hell she sees in him though.”

“He regrets the distance between him and your mother, you know.” Sara said as she entered the room with a platter full of bacon and one full of toast and sat them on the table. “And he did come around to Jackson eventually.”

“I know.” Drake sighed, “But it’s not just that. It’s the ranch….”

“What about the ranch?” Riley asked as she reached for a piece of toast.

“He abandoned it!” Drake replied heatedly, “Left my mom and aunt Leona to struggle trying to save it. Which they did by the way, with no help from him, despite him having plenty of money he could have invested! My mother struggled for years when he could have helped her!”

“Why would he do that?” Riley looked at him inquiringly.

“He said if the ranch couldn’t succeed on its own merits, it didn’t deserve to continue to exist and we should sell it. Said dumping money into a losing endeavor would undermine his credibility as a fiscal conservative.”

“Oh….” She didn’t know what to say to that.

“Drake,” Sara interjected, “I know you two don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, but he does love you and your sister too.”

Drake’s only answer was a grunt.

“Grunts are like, half his vocabulary.” Riley explained.

“I’m aware.” Sara laughed, “It’s funny. The reason he and Franklin butt heads so much is because they’re very much alike.”

“In what way?” Drake demanded; he was sure he was nothing like his grandfather.

“Both stubborn as mules.” Sara replied.

Drake clamped his mouth shut because he really couldn’t argue with that.

Riley stifled a smile and decided to change the subject, “How is it that there are brand new clothes in my room that fit me perfectly?”

Drake felt a flush creep up his neck, “Ah, I had grandfather send his personal assistant out early this morning to pick a few things up for you.”  

She arched her eyebrows in amusement, “A few things?”

“I didn’t know what you’d want or need so I just told her to get some of everything….was it all ok?” He shifted nervously. He’d never bought clothes for a woman before.

“It’s all fine,” she laughed, “There’s just a lot of it! How did you know what sizes I wear?”

“I pay attention to things.” He huffed.

“You called Liam, didn’t you?”

He gave her a sheepish grin, “Maybe.”

Franklin came back in the room with a tablet in his hand, “Have you seen the article that caused all this commotion?”

“I glanced at it yesterday but was a little busy getting Riley out of the line of fire.” Drake answered.

“I’d like to see it.” Riley responded.

Franklin handed her the tablet. She read the first paragraph out loud, “The Cordonian Star has confirmation that the rumors that have been swirling for weeks about the king and Cordonia’s own Everywoman Riley Campbell are true! They are an item again, or, perhaps, are still an item, their relationship having never ended, but simply forced underground by circumstances. An anonymous source tells us that the king was overheard saying that Riley Campbell was innocent of any impropriety with Duke Tariq Lambros and he could prove it, that he still loves her and is having doubts about marrying another. We have exclusive photos of the couple, and they seem to be very much still head over heels in love!”

She moved the tablet between them so Drake could see the photos. There was a two page spread of Liam and Riley caught in intimate moments in public. The two of them embracing in front of the Louvre, strolling hand in hand as they entered the Pont des Arts, snapping the lock into place together, tossing the keys, kissing on the bridge, followed by a profile shot of Liam dipping her into a kiss as the tourists on the boat cheered. There was even a picture of the lock itself, complete with a close up of the inscription on the back.

There were pictures of them at the opera: sitting, talking to each other, standing, embracing, kissing. The photos from the second act were more intimate, there was one of them leaning into each other, foreheads pressed together, one of them sitting, Liam’s arm around her, looking at each other not the stage. There was a frame worthy shot of Riley applauding while Liam stared down at her with an enraptured look on his face. And of course, a photo of the closed curtains, with the caption, “King and lover’s secret tryst in opera house!”

The final photos were of Riley and Liam entering the same hotel, separately and of them leaving the next morning, together, then boarding the plane for America hand in hand. The attached article detailed each of the outings as well as the fact that both Riley and Liam had been absent from Madeleine’s tea party.

There was a companion article extoling the virtues of the Countess of Fydelia and what a good friend she was to the king, offering to marry him knowing he loved another, agreeing to stay engaged to him while he worked to clear his true love’s name, ready to cede her place as the king’s fiancé as soon as Riley’s name was cleared.

Madeleine was praised for agreeing to an engagement, even being willing to enter a loveless marriage for Liam and Cordonia’s sake, if necessary, despite being herself in love with another. The article was accompanied by photos of Madeleine and Cassie kissing in front of a restaurant, and Cassie kissing Madeleine’s hand, entwined with her own as they entered said restaurant.

The main article wrapped up with the quote Liam had given them, “I believe in Lady Riley’s innocence and am confident that the world will soon see what I see when I look at her: a beautiful soul, inside and out, who is kind, generous and giving. I still count her as one of my closest friends. Any arrangement Madeleine and I have or do not have is between us and us alone.”

Drake did a quick search and brought up the video of Tariq’s confession along with a proliferation of articles about it. “This is perfect! Now Liam and Madeline just need to officially announce their engagement is off.”

“And you think she’s just going to go along with that?” Riley asked.

Drake gave her a triumphant smile, “Hell yes, I do. Liam is meeting with her right now, along with Katerina and Rashad. I’m confident she’ll be convinced the do the right thing.”

“I certainly hope you’re right!” Riley was afraid to believe that her ordeal was almost over. She didn’t want to get her hopes up prematurely.

“Oh, I’m right alright!” Drake told her, then to his grandfather, “I think it would be best if we stayed here for the next couple of days, to avoid the press. Riley was going to attend the UN Gala with Liam but at this point, Li and I agree that she’s better off staying out of the limelight until the media feeding frenzy slows down a little bit.”

Franklin clapped his hands together in delight, “Excellent! That will give us a chance to catch up and me a chance to get to know my sort of future daughter in law!”

“Right.” Drake said carefully, “But did you get a chance to look into the case? Are you going to help Logan?”

Logan started down the alley, but Drake grabbed his shoulder as he hissed, “Are you fucking stupid? There’s a team already on their way back here, we need to go through another building, quick!”

They each glanced frantically around the nearby buildings dotted with back entrances to shops all along the alleyway.

“Oh!” Ellie exclaimed, “This way!”

Drake fervently hoped this girl knew what the hell she was talking about because they had probably five seconds before SWAT was up their assess.

Across and three doors down, a back door was propped open, the group disappeared through the door, pulling it closed behind them.

“Great job, Ellie!” Logan laced his fingers through hers and gave her a quick kiss, “How’d you know?”

“My friend Cathleen works here; they leave the back door propped open so they can sneak out for unofficial smoke breaks when the manager isn’t looking.” She beamed up at him.

“This is great you two, but we need to move.” Drake grunted at them. His only objective was get Riley to safety and this wasn’t it.

“Right. Sorry.” Logan said, his face crumbling into a frown, “The street this store opens onto is the opposite direction we need to be going.”

“That’s fine.” Drake told him, “Let’s fine a safe place to regroup then we’ll do a little recon and formulate a plan. What’s nearby?”

Ellie answered him, “Um…there’s a deli, a lot of clothing stores, an apartment complex, a church, a few restaurants, several law offices, a parking garage, an abandoned museum, a post office-“

Drake’s head snapped up, “How far is this museum?”

“About three doors down.” Ellie answered.

“Left or right out the front doors?”

“Right.”

He directed his next question to Logan, “How are your breaking and entering skills, kid?”

“Excellent. I can jimmy a door open in five seconds flat.”

“Ok, we’re going to walk out into the shop like we have every right to be here, don’t answer or speak to anyone, go straight out the front door, turn right, keep your heads down and get to that museum as quickly as possible.”

“Hats!” Riley interjected.

“What?” Drake blinked at her in confusion.

“They sell hats here!” She exclaimed pulling several from an open box, “They’ll make us less recognizable, right?”

“Shit, Riley, you’re a genius. Spread out and look for sunglasses too, but don’t take too long.”

In about three minutes, everyone had a hat and a pair of sunglasses. They stepped from the back room and headed straight for the front door. None of the customers blinked, but the manager called out, “Hey! What are you-“

“FBI!” Drake barked at her, flashing his King’s Guard badge but too quickly and too far away for her to actually read it, “Everyone stay put until we give the all clear!”

It worked, the manager stepped back into her spot as the group hurried outside and down the sidewalk.

“How’d you get past the barricade to get in here?” Drake asked as they walked.

“I was already on this side of it.” Logan replied, “I work at a coffee shop down the street.”

There was probably a SWAT team swarming that store as well.

6:30 p.m.

The made it to the museum with no issues, while Logan was looking around for something to jimmy the door with, Drake glanced around to make sure the coast was clear then kicked the door in.

“Well, that’s one way to do it, I guess.” Logan grumbled.

“Just get inside.” Drake ushered the other three into the building then shut the door, pushing a table against it to keep it closed.

“Now what?” Riley asked.

“Shit!” Drake swore, patting his pants pockets, “Lost my phone and my com in that scuffle. Do either of you have a phone I could borrow?”

“Mine is still on the counter at the store.” Ellie told him.

“Left mine behind on purpose.” Logan said, “So it couldn’t be tracked.”

Right. “Smart but I need a damn phone.”

He looked around the group, wondering how he’d ended up responsible for the two kids. “What’s the FBI want you for?”

Logan and Ellie looked at each other. Ellie spoke first, “I think we can trust them. He did save me from my dad.”

“Just the highlights, kid, we don’t have time for more.”

“Short version?” Logan shrugged but he sounded bitter as he explained, “Not gonna lie, I was running with a gang of street racers and car boosters. We got jacked up by some dirty cops and forced to commit some bigger crimes, which I tried to stop by the way-“

“He’s telling the truth!” Ellie interjected, “My father’s partner turned out to be one of them and he used me to-“

“Ok, ok!” Drake held his hand up, “I have the general idea. Assuming everything you say is true, you’re innocent of whatever the FBI is after you for and you can do what you claim you can do, if you can get us out of here, past the FBI, past the damn reporters…. Then I can get you out of the trouble you're in.”

Logan’s mouth fell open, “What? How?”

“Doesn’t matter right now. First, we get out of here, then I’ll explain. My only interest right now is in protecting the most important thing in the world to me. I have a feeling you understand what that feels like.” Drake said shooting a meaningful look at Ellie.

Logan followed his gaze, then looked back and nodded.

“First, I need a fucking phone. You guys stay here, I’m going out.”

“What? No!” Riley sounded alarmed.

“Listen, babe.” Drake put his arms around her, “These two are being actively hunted by the FBI and there are paps out there hunting you. I don’t care how well SWAT cleared the area, I can guarantee at least one reporter managed to say inside the lockdown area and is actively looking for you. They’re fucking cockroaches like that, scurrying around everywhere, unseen until they find you. I’m the only one no one is looking for. And I’m also the only one that can make this particular phone call. So stay put, don’t go near any windows. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

6:45 p.m.

He made sure the coast was clear then slipped out of the small, defunct museum and walked down the sidewalk. Every door he tried was locked. He turned to head back to the clothing store they’d come out of when he spotted a man in one of the entryways outside a bookstore, probably hoping to figure out what all the drama was about.

“Excuse me, sir? Could I borrow your phone?”

“I dunno man, it’s about to die-“

Drake flashed some money in front of him and the guy handed over the phone, “Take your time.”

Drake stepped far enough away for some privacy but not far enough to make the guy think he was stealing his phone. He dialed the number from memory, “Are you watching the news right now? That cluster fuck that’s going on in Manhattan….I’m stuck in the middle of this shit show….how is not important right now! I’m with three other people and we need out of here. I need you to tell the FBI to let us through….I’m not asking you to back off an entire federal investigation, just let us through…. Maybe you could do it because I'm your grandson and you trust me….. No, you don't trust me, you have never trusted me, just like you didn't trust my dad… the hell you did! You never thought he was good enough for Mom, a glorified security guard isn't that what you called him?......Your political career that's all you care about….”

He let out a growl of frustration as he decided to play his trump card, “I have the next queen of Cordonia with me, I cannot risk a trigger happy cop accidentally shooting her. I need your help…..yes, that will be perfect!” He agreed looking at his watch, “We’ll be there.”

He pushed end call then dialed Liam’s number. The phone beeped and died in his hand before the first ring. “Shit! Fuck!”

He made his way back over to the guy and handed him the phone, “Thanks.” Liam was probably losing his mind right about now, but contacting him would have to wait. First priority was getting out of this without getting shot at or mobbed by the paps.

7:15 p.m.

He slipped back into the museum, “Ok, we have a way out of here, assuming Logan can do what he claims and get us where we need to be. How well do you know this city, kid?”

Drake and Logan put their heads together discussing where they needed to be and how to get there.

7:30 p.m.

Drake held Riley’s hand as the group snuck through the alleyways to Logan’s car. Finally, they stood in front of the gleaming black Devore GT, repainted from the original yellow and with new plates to throw the FBI off his track.

“The FBI will be in this alleyway in about five seconds. I hope you have a way out of here.” Drake told him.

“Oh, don’t worry. I can get past anything.” Logan grinned.

“I appreciate the confidence but don’t do anything crazy kid.” Drake told him as he and Riley slid into the backseat.

Logan’s eyes flicked to Drakes in the rearview mirror as he smirked, “No promises.”

Then the car took off, tearing down the alleyway, fishtailing around a corner and flying onto the road.

“Drake, I don’t mean to question your abilities,” Riley yelled, “But how the hell is he supposed to get through a FBI barricade? I don’t care how good of a driver he is-“

“We don’t have to get through the barricade, Campbell. We just have to make it to Skyway Tower.”

“How does that help us? Oh shit!” She slid into Drake’s body as the car took another corner at an impossible speed.

He wrapped his arms around her, “It’s ok, I’ve got you!”

“Logan, watch out!” Ellie yelled, as she took in the fact that they had pulled multiple SUV’s across the road to block them.

“Hold on!” Logan called out as he pulled the emergency brake and turned the wheel, spinning the car 180 degrees to head back the other way.

“Now we’re going the wrong way!” Drake yelled.

“I said hold on!” Logan yelled back, turning down an alleyway and speeding up.

They zoomed out the other end, the car going airborne for a moment as they hit a speedbump. He navigated the Devore down the street for a short distance then pulled the wheel sending them careening off the road and into a giant concrete box culvert.

“Fuuuuuuck!” Drake had one arm around Riley and one firmly grasping what his father had always called the oh shit bar. “This is a bad idea!”

The car sailed out the other end of the culvert, flew down the empty street and spun to a stop in front of Skyway Tower. Logan grinned back at him, “You were saying?”

“Ok, everyone into the building, now!” Drake ordered without bothering to answer Logan. The kid could gloat later. Right now, he had to get them all out of there.

In the lobby, Drake flashed his credentials and the group was waved through security. He led them to the elevator bank, then pushed the button for the roof.

“What are we doing on the roof?” Riley asked him.

“Getting the fuck out of here.” Drake answered smugly.

“Huh…how?” Ellie asked.

“Helicopter.”

Logan visibly startled, “But my car-“

“Don't worry we'll get it back. Or I’ll buy you a new one, whichever.” Drake assured him.

“You’re just gonna buy me a devore GT? That thing is custom built-“

“Whatever you want kid, I’ll pay for the customizations, hell, I’ll throw in some upgrades, make it even better! How’s that?”

Logan started at him in astonishment, “Who are you?”

“Your new best friend.”

8:15 p.m.

Drake helped Riley and Ellie climb into the helicopter then waited for Logan to get in before entering the chopper himself. He made sure everyone was properly buckled in and passed out helmets. Once everyone was settled in, he gave the all clear to the pilot.

“Hold on.” He said into the mic built into the flight helmet.

As they lifted into the air, Riley asked, “Where are we going?”

“My grandfather’s. Settle in, it’s about an hour and half flight from here.”

10:00 p.m.

The helicopter set down on the helipad at Senator Franklin Grant Throckmorton’s private residence in Alexandria, Virginia.

A tall man with dark brown hair, greying around the temple, was waiting for them at the edge of the pad. Drake introduced him as his grandfather.

Franklin’s eyes ran over the group, “Neither of these women are Madeline Amaranth.”

“I never said it was Madeline.”

“You said you had the next queen of Cordonia with you-“

“Yes, and I did, I do. That's a factual statement, there are details you're not privy to, old man. You think you know everything, but you don’t!”

“Drake, I think the least you owe me is an explanation for-“

“Nice to see you too, grandfather. We’re fine, by the way, thanks for asking!”

“I can clearly see that you’re fine, Drake. You’re being dramatic.”

“Do you see why I don’t come visit?” Drake growled, reaching for Riley’s hand on instinct.

“He did just rescue us, babe. Maybe we could go inside and explain everything to him?”

“I…you…fine, ok.” He heaved a great sigh as he raked a hand through his hair.

“I like her, whoever she is.” Franklin said, “Come on then, the house is this way.”

10:10 p.m.

They were all seated in a large living room, decorated with plush white couches and black tables with gold accents. Franklin’s wife, Sara, had met them at the front door. She smiled at everyone, her blue eyes crinkling at the corners. She ushered them into her home then disappeared only to reappear with a rolling cart full of sandwiches, fresh fruit, iced tea and chocolate cake. Riley hadn’t realized how ravenous she was until she’d been presented with food. She hadn’t eaten since lunch.

Franklin remained standing, “So, anyone want to explain-“

“Frank.” Sara laid her hand on his arm, “It’s late and they’ve been through an ordeal. Let them eat and get some sleep. You can get all the details in the morning.”

“Of course, dear.” Franklin broke out in the first smile Riley had seen on him, his demeanor softening instantly.

“Is there anything else I can get for any of you?” Sara asked the group.