Katy blinked.
“I’m sorry, Mama. What were you saying?”
The queen looked mildly annoyed as she realized that her daughter hadn’t really been listening. “I said, Katerina, that it will be strange not flying back to Lorria. After Cassandra’s wedding, that is. Your father and I haven’t driven a distance like that in a decade, at least. But we’re excited for the sightseeing in the Alps.”
Katy shook her head. “Wait. You’re driving back home?” Usually, her mother would be quite dissatisfied with such a “common” form of travel. In fact, she’d heard the queen voice such thoughts more than once.
“Are you listening at all, girl?” the queen replied in mild frustration. She turned to Cassie. “Not sure how you can talk to her when she barely listens.”
Cassie smiled. “I’m sure Katy just has a lot on her mind right now, My Queen.” She cast a furtive smile in Katy’s direction, and Katy wasn’t sure at all what that smile meant. “But yes, I think you’ll really enjoy the drive. Boris and I loved it. The mountain pass is terribly beautiful this time of year.”
“It’ll be a nice change, that’s for sure,” the king added. “Thank you for the suggestion, Cassandra.”
Katy’s thoughts spun around in her head. Cassie had suggested it? But Cassie hated driving just as much as the king and queen always had—a fact she’d made quite clear on numerous long rides to the airport. And her cousin had never, to Katy’s knowledge, had any desire to go on a long drive through the mountains.
Adrenaline crept through Katy’s body. She forced herself to remain calm, putting little tidbits of food into her mouth, though she wasn’t feeling very hungry at all. Yes, this was a strange turn of events, but perhaps not quite as unusual as it felt. Perhaps she was just projecting conspiracies onto everything now.
And then the queen continued.
“I just hope our new driver isn’t a chatterbox, like Edward could be at times. So very dull.”
Katy had to lower her arms under the table so that no one would see the goosebumps that had quickly spread over her exposed skin. Did I just hear what I think I did? “Did something happen to Edward?”
“Oh, you haven’t heard?” the king asked in surprise. “The bastard was stealing right from under us. We found one of your mother’s gems in his things today. He’s probably been pilfering little bits at a time for all these years.”
“Terrible shame,” the queen added. “He was a bit talkative, but he was otherwise a fine driver. It wasn’t pleasant to replace him.”
Alarms sounded in Katy’s mind.
So Edward’s fears came true. Was it because of what he told me and David? And what about this “mountain pass” nonsense? It’s just so unlikely . . . And the timing . . . Could they possibly be related?
Dessert came, and with it, to Katy’s relief, steaming cups of cappuccino. Katy sipped anxiously, trying to clear her thoughts as the caffeine sharpened her mind.
What am I missing? There must be a connection here . . . but what?
What was Cassie’s endgame? Were her parents just as active in the whole plan as David thought? What was happening in Katy’s life that she wasn’t aware of yet? It was still so discomforting, having her intuition on high alert with no real evidence to substantiate the concerns.
Cassie is acting normal, as always. If anything I’m the one being weird. But how could David, Mia, and Edward all have their facts wrong?
David’s important question echoed in her mind. Is there a motive? What does Cassie have to gain?
“Perhaps we should make the announcement now, dear,” the king said softly, leaning in to his wife’s side.
Katy’s ears perked up, drawing her once more out of her head. For once this evening, she didn’t have to try to look interested in the conversation around her.
The queen finished her dainty sip of cappuccino and nodded. “Yes, dessert seems like a fine time to share celebratory news.”
Katy furrowed her brow, looking between her mother and father.
What now?
“Well, Cassandra,” the queen began, looking in Cassie’s direction with a congenial smile. “You’ve grown into quite the woman. And we’re so proud that you’ve found your . . .” The queen cleared her throat. “Prince Charming.”
Boris wiped chocolate ganache off of his upper lip and looked up with a possessive stare.
“And so the king and I have decided to bestow a special gift to you and your beau upon your wedding day. A gift that we wanted to share with you and our darling Katerina in private first. As a family.”
Katy’s heart had begun to thud thickly in her chest. Her nerves were set on edge. She had a terrible feeling about what her mother was about to say.
The queen lifted her half-drunk glass in a toast. The king followed suit, then Cassie and Boris, and then, finally, Katy. She had to work to keep her glass from trembling in her hand. Something was wrong. Every instinct in her body was screaming it.
“To the future duke and duchess of Lorria,” the queen said with aplomb.
Katy’s crystal flute slipped out of her hand.
The glass hit the table and cracked solidly into two. Her drink splashed outward, landing mostly on Katy and the king.
“Katerina!” the queen breathed out in shock at the sudden mess.
Katy’s mind went into survival mode, eking out a response so that she could get away for a moment.
“Oh,” she managed unsteadily, her heart racing. “Clumsy me! I was just so excited to hear the news!”
The rest of the table eyed her as if she had grown an extra limb. She went on. “Pardon me for a moment, will you?”
The horrible culmination of her anxious thoughts and fears had suddenly hit her. And now she desperately needed to talk to David.
Katy leapt up and walked with sharp, shaky steps to the powder room in the corner, hoping not to appear as frantic as she felt. Most likely, everyone at the table would simply assume it was to clean herself up. But she made sure to grab her clutch before she went, with a very important device tucked safely inside.
In the bathroom, with a gilt-edged mirror showing her frantic reflection, Katy locked the door and dumped her clutch onto the counter beside the ornate sink. She fumbled madly with her burner phone. Thankfully, David answered on only the second ring.
“Katy,” his voice greeted her. And though she felt an intense relief that he’d really answered, she realized that for once his voice hadn’t calmed her any; her pulse was still racing with the thoughts tumbling around her head.
“David,” Katy breathed out. “Cassie’s motive. I think I found it.” She tried to keep her voice quiet in the powder room, hoping to articulate her thoughts clearly, even though her mind was in disarray. But how to say it? Was she being crazy? Or was her instinct right?
David’s voice was low and intense. “Katy, what is it? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. But . . . there was an announcement,” Katy sputtered. She knew she’d only have seconds longer before Cassie or the queen came knocking. “Cassie’s getting a new title. When she gets married. And I think it would explain what happened . . . what she did to us.”
David was quiet on the other end, as though thinking everything through. Katy could guess what he was trying to figure out.
Lorria didn’t have dukes or duchesses. And the king and queen weren’t ones to invent new traditions. It made zero sense—unless this was a payment for something. She tried to get it all across to David, speaking low and fast. “Lorria doesn’t do minor titles, David. That’s why this is so weird. It’s completely out of character for my parents. What if this was part of a negotiation or some sort of deal they made with Cassie?”
“That makes sense,” David replied. “That would explain why everything happened the way it did.”
Katy breathed out shakily, surprised at how relieving it felt just to be trusted. But her mind was still jumping from thought to thought, racing ahead—and there was someth
ing else that she desperately needed to say. Something that seemed minor, but was too strange, too coincidental to be innocent. She just didn’t have the time right now to work out all of the details.
“There was something else, David. Something out of the ordinary for my parents, and I’m worried that maybe the title . . . Edward . . . the driving . . .”
David’s voice was serious and calm. “Just talk it through bit by bit, Katy. We’ll figure it out.”
But Katy didn’t have time to think it through any further, because there came a rapping at the door.
“Katy?”
Cassie.
31
David
“Last I spoke to the princess, she was trying to find you. I can only assume you’re calling with good news, Señor.”
Sitting in his plush hotel bed, his pressed shirt left unbuttoned in the haste of answering Mia’s call while dressing, David shrugged to himself.
“Well, yes and no.”
Yes, Katy and I spoke. But she thinks that her engagement was negotiated behind her back by her loving parents and best friend. So it’s a bit of a wash overall.
Mia didn’t press for more details immediately. It probably was in her line of work, expecting that all important matters would eventually come to light. Knowing when somebody was about to dump more information for her.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call back immediately, Señor,” she replied. “I’ve had some . . . problems of my own here.”
“Would that happen to involve Cassie’s threats? Or . . . fixers?”
“I can’t say too much on this unsecured line. Tell me, why did you call?”
David didn’t want to share too much over the phone, either. Especially when the content was this delicate.
In the long night after the strange phone call, Katy had only reached out one other time: a text containing minimal info. David had tried his hardest not to worry too much about her, trying to assume that her silence was just an attempt to be discreet, but he wasn’t sure he’d succeeded. So he was focusing on the positives. Now he had a name. And he knew that there was only one person to go to when you needed to find out more about someone.
“I can’t say as much as I’d want to either. Let’s just say that Katy and I need some intel on a new Lorrellian employee. A Dutchman named Horace Jansen.”
“The king and queen don’t often hire,” Mia replied with more than a touch of intrigue in her voice. “What is this man’s role?”
“Driver,” David replied. The word hung ominously in the air after it was spoken, and David got the distinct impression that Mia had the same uncomfortable feeling about the situation that Katy had.
Why a driver specifically? How could that benefit Cassie, if she was truly behind the hire?
“All right, Señor. Do you know for a fact that this man wasn’t hired for due cause? In a normal fashion, I mean?”
David sighed. “Not for a fact. But the princess has some serious doubts about the entire situation.”
David himself wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He hadn’t expected Cassie to act so swiftly in replacing Edward, the longtime palace employee who had just recently earned her ire. Edward’s loyalty to the royals had seemed genuine—could Cassie have truly invented such a credible lie that he could’ve been canned so quickly? And why? Because of his hand in helping Katy find David?
Had Cassie only replaced the driver because of his disobedience to her? Or, like Katy seemed to think, was there something fishier about the whole scenario? Something that they just didn’t see yet?
“All right, Señor. If this employee was hired through falsification, I should be able to find it,” Mia replied. “But in the meantime, don’t be seen with Katy. Your phone still works?”
“It does. And she has a second phone now as well.”
“Good, good. You’ll need to be extraordinarily cautious moving forward. Particularly if anyone has . . . any plans that we don’t know about yet.”
David nodded once to himself. He was feeling similarly vulnerable. Could Cassie’s plans have gotten even more nefarious?
He shook himself out of his dark thoughts enough to hear Mia finish. “I’ll call you at this number as soon as I find out more. In the meantime, take care of yourself.” She added in a low voice, “And the princess as well.”
When the call ended, David continued to sit on his bed for some time, awash in his thoughts.
Katy’s strange call the night before had unsettled something deep within him, something that he still couldn’t calm or reason with. And, worse yet, before she’d been able to tell him what was fishy about the whole scenario, Katy had been interrupted by a knock at the door.
Then David had heard Cassie’s voice before the line went dead.
They had barely had any communication since. David had been starting to fear for her safety when she finally sent that quick, confusing text which had prompted an immediate call to Mia, who’d finally called him back.
“New driver is named Horace Jansen. Dutch.”
David knew that they needed to find out as much about this man as possible. What he didn’t quite understand was: why?
Why was Cassie willing to sell out her cousin’s future and possible happiness for something as useless as a title? The woman already had money and prestige. What could a title possibly change?
A knock came at the door, and David leapt off the bed. He didn’t bother to button his shirt before flinging the heavy door open.
But it wasn’t Katy. David’s face fell.
“Gee, I know I’m not much, but try not to look so disappointed,” Marcos ribbed him.
In spite of his turmoil, David managed a soft chuckle as the tall man walked into the room. He liked his father’s goofy, playful sense of humor. Especially since it seemed so at odds with his imposing stature and intense features.
In any case, it was nice to have someone around to talk to when he was feeling alone.
“I’m sorry. I was hoping you were Katy,” David replied. He resumed buttoning his white shirt. He had only told his father the very basics of his reunion with Katy the night before, and only because Marcos had stayed up at the hotel to make sure David got back from the homeless camp safely.
“Have you spoken to her again?” his father asked.
David shrugged. “I think she’s indisposed. Or maybe she’s afraid to reach out.” He looked up to make eye contact with the man who really did look like an older, taller version of himself. “The cousin I told you about? Cassie? Katy thinks she might have something planned that we don’t yet understand. Something possibly involving her parents.”
Marcos’s eyes widened as he took in what David was saying. But then he seemed to sink into thought.
“Are you worried about Katy’s safety? Now that she’s playing a double agent?” Marcos asked.
David blinked. “I hadn’t really considered it like that . . . but yeah. I am.”
“Well, your girl, is she a good actress?”
David flashed back to Katy’s drama club days. He could still see her so vividly as they flirted through their first scene together, in full view of the entire room. He remembered Katy saving a mediocre one-act play with a hilarious performance. He could still hear the passion in her voice as she talked about her love of Shakespeare.
“Actually, yeah. She’s an amazing actress,” David replied fondly.
Marcos cocked his head to the side. “Maybe you should worry more about yourself, then. Sounds like she can handle it.”
David smiled. Maybe Marcos was right. Katy wasn’t exactly a damsel in distress. She was a smart, capable young woman who was coming to some hard truths with grace and poise.
He still couldn’t quite believe he was lucky enough to have her. But with all of the suspicion and uncertainty dangling over them, he didn’t have the time or luxury of just appreciating her renewed presence in his life.
Because, if Cassie still had something planned, then maybe it wasn’t safe yet.
/> “Well, no use waiting around in here to hear from her, eh? Why don’t we go get lunch, David? I could go for something suitably British.”
David sighed. His father was right. He was going to lose his mind if he had to keep sitting in his hotel room and worrying about the woman he loved.
Good actress or not . . . I just need her to call.
* * *
David glanced around the pub to make sure no one was staring at him too intently. The headlines about the palace party crash had been dwindling off amid the constantly renewing rush of the modern news cycle, but David still felt very exposed and recognizable in public.
He had steered his father toward a place where they could get a more traditional English breakfast, and he was now anxiously enjoying his father’s company as he awaited word from Katy. But the wait was ruining his appetite. His own fry-up was mostly untouched, and the toast was growing soggy from prolonged contact with beans.
“Now that I know we can, maybe one day I’ll take you back to Bahia for a vacation. You can try the food there, as well. I can show you my favorite places from growing up.”
David looked away.
“I mean,” Marcos quickly clarified, “just you and me. No, uh, less savory family members there to bother us. Assurances or not, I’m not willing to put your safety on the line like that. Or reintroduce you to people who wronged you so.”
David forced a smile and then began to rub the back of his neck. As he looked around the room, noticing one particular patron who was eyeing him a little too curiously, his phone began to buzz in his pocket.
It wasn’t Katy.
“Mia?” David answered quietly at the table.
Mia gave no prologue. “Horace Jensen, Señor. I’ve found out who he really is.”
David felt his stomach churn with anticipation. Mia’s voice was heavy, as if the news that she was about to impart was shocking.
“He’s a driver, all right. But he’s a stunt driver, not a chauffeur. It looks like he worked on a few feature films in Bollywood before moving to Lorria just a few months ago.”
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