Bulletproof Princess

by It Girls

  He planted a kiss on her cheek. Rarely serious, his expression was solemn, his tone hushed. "How is she, Chloe?"

  Chloe glimpsed inside her brother, remembered that he'd grown up with Emma, too, and he was afraid for her. "She's in a coma." Chloe's voice cracked.

  "I'm sorry." Ryan gently squeezed Chloe's arm. "Do they have a prognosis?"

  "It's too early." She should smell Erik's coral roses, but her scattered senses noted peppermint instead, triggering Emma's explaining to Tatiana why she'd stolen her LaBella appointment. I really needed a peppermint foot treatment, and I knew you wouldn't mind. Suspicion flooded Chloe.

  Erik moved to speak to Samantha and Becca, sitting at the far end of the waiting room on a soft, leather sofa. Madison paced behind it, wanting more information and wanting it now, and Porsche sat on a chair looking like a freaked-out zombie, wired and set to trigger. Chloe noticed immediately that Marlena the ferret was not with her, and guessed that the hospital had stood firm on allowing no animals through the door. Alexa and Vanessa flanked her, standing by silently, there for Porsche, if needed.

  Every Rose agent was terrified for Emma.

  Every Rose agent believed the attack was related to the assignment. That Marcus and the Duke were engaged in white-slave trade. And Chloe and Renee suspected that Tatiana had leaked dangerous information to Rubi. Tatiana's absence from the hospital was conspicuous.

  Ryan still wore his tux, Chloe noted. "Weren't you sick?"

  "Yes. But I had to check on Emma." He smiled warmly, and shifted topics. "Did you have dinner? Should I have Perrini's bring something over?"

  "No, thank you. I've eaten." Good grief, it was nearly 2:00 a.m. and he didn't look at all ill. Why had he lied? Couldn't anyone tell the truth anymore?

  Ryan stepped closer, crowding her in an utterly charming way that annoyed her. "We could have dessert. I'm feeling much better now."

  He had to be kidding. That he'd be sexually suggestive now knocked him down a dozen rungs on her "charm and sex appeal" ladder. Gorgeous? Indisputably. But way too self-absorbed, and apparently clueless about where her mind was at the moment. "You're not getting laid, Ryan. Not by me. Not now, not ever."

  He smiled. "That almost sounds like a challenge."

  "It's not," she promised. "It's fact."

  His smile faded and he grumbled. "Why?"

  "Listen, you're adorable, Ryan, but it just doesn't work between you and me."

  He seemed genuinely surprised. "Why not?"

  She sighed. "Because you're a Rose slut, sweetheart," she said without heat. "But mostly because I'm not just another Rose. I've got thorns."

  "God, I love saucy Roses," he said in a deep-throated growl, touching a light fingertip to her Rose pin.

  "Sure you do." Chloe smiled, seeing Harrison return. His expression grim, he motioned for her to join him away from the others. She caught Samantha's eye, gave her a subtle signal to take Ryan off her hands by brushing a hair behind her ear.

  "Ryan, so glad you're feeling better." Samantha snagged him by the arm. "I'm frantic and need consoling. You know I think the world of Emma." She shuffled him over to where the other Roses had gathered, sat down beside him on the sofa and rested her head on his shoulder.

  Ryan Greene was down until Samantha chose to let him get up, and that was that. Chloe had to give it to Sami. When she meant for a man to stay put, she set him up so that he'd have to detach himself from her to move.

  Admiring her, Chloe walked over to Harrison. He led her back around the corner until they were out of sight, then she asked, "What is it, Harrison?"

  "Your wound-licking time is over," he said softly. "That was the Governess calling. She's reclassified this assignment top priority, and she wants you to stay on it."

  The Governess thought all the incidents were connected. So did Chloe. "Stay on what, specifically?" Renee had closed and sealed the investigation before and after Emma's attack. "The white slavery assignment? The Gotham Rose Club leak?" Definitely Tatiana. "Or Emma's attack?"

  His eyes searched hers. "All of it."

  Her stomach threatened to revolt, and she leaned back against the wall.

  Harrison slid a hand into his pocket. "She also wants you to answer only to her— through me, of course."

  The Governess had cut Renee out of the loop? Shock pumped through Chloe and she sought valid reasons for the order, but there could be only one. "She thinks Renee is involved?"

  "That's for you to find out."

  Renee rushed past them, heading for the door.

  "Renee?" Chloe called out after her. "What's wrong?"

  "Walk with me," she said. When Chloe caught up, she went on. "Haley's throwing a fit, and I need to get home. Preston is just beside himself."

  "What's wrong with her?" Renee's daughter was a handful.

  She shrugged, seemingly undone. "She's not adjusting well to her father's return home. It's been just the two of us for such a long time, and her friends were such bitches about Preston being in prison. I keep telling her he was innocent and his damn family was responsible, but she won't hear any of it." Renee stepped outside. "It's like a war zone, Chloe."

  The valet drove up in Renee's silver Mercedes. "Here you go, Mrs. Dalton-Sinclair."

  "Thank you." Renee slid in behind the wheel. "Keep me posted on Emma. I'll be back as soon as I negotiate a peace accord at home." She stomped the gas.

  She hadn't slowed down long enough to do what she should. "Seat belt," Chloe called out.

  Renee waved and kept driving.

  Chloe turned and saw Franklin with Julio near the valet's desk. Franklin looked furious.

  "It's all right. Don't be upset," Julio said so softly Chloe barely heard him.

  "Bitch."

  Chloe turned to Harrison in shock. "What's that about?" she whispered.

  "I don't know. But I suggest you phone Renee and ask her."

  Franklin's driver pulled up and he and Julio got into a dark-green limo. When the driver put Julio's wheelchair in the trunk, got in and closed the door, Chloe dialed her cell phone.

  "Yes?" Renee sounded really harried.

  "It's me, Renee," Chloe said as she made her way back to the waiting room. "Did you know Franklin and Julio Greene were at the hospital?"

  "I saw them not long after Emma's ambulance arrived. Why?"

  "What were they doing here?" Chloe asked.

  "I heard Julio was having severe muscle spasms. It happens whenever he gets too tense."

  He hadn't seemed tense, but Franklin had. "Renee, have you and Franklin had some kind of falling out?"

  "It's impossible to argue when you never speak, darling."

  Disappointment washed through Chloe. She knew Renee far too well to deny knowing she wasn't telling the full story. "Why would he call you a bitch behind your back?"

  "I don't wish to discuss it." Sadness crept into her tone. "There's nothing to be done for it now. Believe me on this."

  "I see." Even more disappointed, Chloe tried to hide it. "Well, I just thought you'd want to know."

  "Thank you, darling." The phone clicked in Chloe's ear, and she turned to Harrison. "She won't discuss it."

  "Not good news." He looked out into the darkness, quiet, still and thoughtful. The street lamps splashed amber light on the cars parked in the lot.

  "I don't want to do this, Harrison." Chloe tucked her phone into her Gucci handbag. "Renee, the Roses— these women are my friends. Renee's treated me better than my own mother. I don't want to pry into their lives like some paparazzi zealot."

  "They have to be investigated. There's a leak, Chloe."

  She lifted a hand. "It's Tatiana."

  "Can you prove it?"

  "She's not here." In Chloe's book, that said it all.

  "That's not proof." He sighed. "Don't you realize that not knowing for fact jeopardizes every Rose agent and every assignment? These people— your friends— could be killed."

  With Emma clinging to life by a thread and Jack drugg
ed to the rafters, how in hell could Chloe not realize it? But, damn it. Why her? Why did she always get the dirty work? With Erik, who appeared to be involved in this up to his royal neck, and Jack and Renee— people she loved? It wasn't right or fair, and she was so tired of her life not working out right or fair.

  "Whether or not you realize it doesn't matter," Harrison said. "You can't let more women end up like Emma. You have to investigate. You've got no choice really."

  Chloe let out a frustrated breath. "Emma's in a fricking coma, Harrison. Don't you see that I'll be next?" Chloe shook. "She was good at this. I'm not."

  "You are good, and you have a good partner."

  "Who?" If he said Tatiana, Chloe would just shoot herself here and now and call it done.

  "The Governess has ordered me to assist you," he said. "Not as your handler, but as your partner."

  That news made her feel surprisingly better, but she still hated the situation. Staring out into the night, she scowled.

  "Rein in your enthusiasm, okay?" His voice reeked of sarcasm. "I can take your lip bumps and your sweet charm, but these bursts of wild joy at partnering with me just deflate me."

  "I'm sorry. It's not you, it's the situation," she said. "Be honest. You could care less whether I'm glad or sad to be partnered with you. Keep it real, Harrison." She needed real.

  He pressed a hand over his heart. "That's not true, Princess. I'm delighted to put my ass on the line when the woman watching my back doesn't want to be there."

  "Oh, lighten up. I won't let anyone hurt you." She'd already disarmed one guy who'd fired on them. Well, fired on her.

  "Glad to hear it." Harrison's sarcasm faded and his tone turned dead serious. "Because I've got a bad feeling in my gut about this assignment."

  She lifted her chin to look him in the eyes. "Why?"

  "I don't know." He cupped her face. "But I'm afraid that before it's all over, you're going to wish you really were the bulletproof princess."

  Icy chills shot up her back, and she feared he was right.

  "Come on," Harrison said. "Frank is waiting outside to take you home."

  Chloe protested. "I can't leave."

  "Emma's protected, Chloe," Harrison said. "Her family is here, and there's a police guard at her door. They'll call if you're needed."

  "But Jack…"

  He stilled. "Oh, I see."

  "No, you clearly don't," she countered, walking back to the waiting room. "This is professional. I want to hear what he says happened."

  The head nurse for the ICU unit came out through the double swinging doors into the waiting room. Conversation ceased.

  "Dr. Scoffield asked me to tell you that Emma is critical but stable. He wants all of you, except Emma's parents, to go home and not return until noon tomorrow. If there's a radical change, we'll call one of you and you phone tree the others."

  The nurse then walked over to Chloe. "Mr. Quaid is awake, Princess Chloe. He wants to speak with you."

  "I'm coming in, too." Harrison stood up.

  "No." Chloe looked up at him. "I need to do this alone."

  "You're not objective."

  "Harrison, I'm going in there alone."

  The nurse ended the debate. "Only one visitor at a time."

  Harrison didn't look happy about that, but he stopped arguing and sat back down.

  "Let's go," Chloe said.

  The nurse led her through the double doors into the unit. They swished closed behind her, and she went into a small glassed-in room. Jack lay against the sheets, watching her.

  Her heart thudding, she stopped beside his bed, fighting the need to touch him, hold him, feel his heartbeat against hers. "You okay?"

  He nodded. "They're keeping me overnight for observation."

  "In intensive care?"

  "It's easier to guard Emma and me if we're together," he said. "She needs ICU."

  Chloe checked to ensure their privacy, then turned back to him. "Jack, Renee said you're FBI. Why didn't you tell me?"

  "It was too dangerous. I would have told you once this case was over. I'm sorry."

  "What happened in that hotel room?"

  He rubbed at his forehead. "When I got there, Emma and Tatiana were out on the floor. They'd both been beaten."

  Surprise ripped through Chloe. "Tatiana was there?"

  He nodded. "Emma wasn't breathing, Chloe." Fear flickered through his eyes. "I tried mouth-to-mouth and got a pulse. The next thing I knew, I was waking up here."

  Lip film. "Where did Tatiana go?"

  "I don't know," he said. "She was breathing, but out cold. Emma looked bad, Chloe." His voice caught. "But Tatiana looked even worse."

  Clearly, they'd discovered something and were following it up. But the only way they'd go to that room is if someone lured them there. "Why did you go there, Jack? Were you with them?"

  "No. They were out when I got there. The door was open, and I walked in and found them." He shuddered. "I got a tip from Rubi Cho. She said if I went to that room, I'd find three missing women. I asked how she knew that, and she said she'd gotten an anonymous call. She'd go herself, but they told her they'd have people watching. If anyone but me showed up, the women would be moved and never found. So I went."

  Force is the only way Rubi would turn over a hot tip, but she could also verify part of Jack's story. Chloe dipped her chin. "And the brunette in the bar? Who was she?"

  "The sister of one of the missing women," he said. "The bar at Hollow Hill was the last place she knew her sister had been. She'd met a man there for a job interview, so we were checking it out."

  Oh, no. Too familiar. Way too familiar. "What kind of job interview?"

  "An escort. No prostitution— her sister was adamant about that. Just straight escort work."

  Chloe's heart beat harder, faster, and she tilted her head. "Why did you lie to me about going to London?"

  He looked directly into her eyes. "I had no choice."

  Surprised, she asked, "Who took the choice from you?"

  His eyes plead with her. "I can't tell you that."

  Still, she pushed. "How do you know about the Duke?"

  "Rubi Cho told me about him," he said.

  Another surprise. "How does Rubi know about him?"

  "Tatiana told her the Duke was going to kill her. Kill Tatiana, that is."

  Oh, God. Chloe couldn't begin to think of all the challenges that implied. Not here and now. "Why?"

  "Because she knows who he is."

  "Does Rubi know his identity, too?"

  "No."

  "Do you?"

  He sipped from a glass of water at his bedside. "I can't prove it, Chloe. But I've come to believe that Harrison isn't working for the Duke— he could be the Duke."

  "Why?"

  "He makes sense," Jack said, setting his glass down. "Unfortunately so do a few other people."

  "Like who?"

  "Ryan Greene, Brit Carouthers, and…" Noting her expression, Jack let his voice trail.

  With the citing of each name, the fissure of fear in her opened wider. He knew too much to just be FBI. "Who the hell are you, Jack? Who subcontracted you? Renee?" She'd known him and been friends with his parents for years.

  He flatly denied it. "No."

  He had the perfect career, the perfect background and bloodline and family. Renee probably groomed him just as she had Chloe. "I don't believe you."

  "I swear it, Chloe."

  The truth dawned. "Oh, God." It fit perfectly. Made sense— and it explained why, back when Marcus had sacrificed her to the mob, Renee had turned to Jack to get Chloe out of the assassin's line of fire. "You're not the Duke."

  "No." He frowned, angry that she'd even think he could be.

  "You work for the Governess." Just like Harrison.

  Jack reached for her hand, held it in his and squeezed. "Trust me, Chloe," he whispered. "Please. I don't want to lose you."

  Trust him? Now? After he'd lied to her? True, she'd not told him everything, inc
luding that she was a Rose agent, but she'd never lied to him. She'd not disclosed things, but he'd known it. On those, she'd asked for his trust. He'd lied to her deliberately, and only when she'd caught him red-handed at it had he asked for her trust. "I wish I could, Jack." Tears welled in her throat. She'd wanted this man and cared about him for most of her life. "Haven't we already lost each other?"

  He didn't answer.

  A tear rolled down her cheek. She ignored it. "You know trust is an issue with me, and you know why." After Marcus, Jack couldn't not know it. "I love you, Jack." The truth in that terrified her. "But if I forgive you for breaking my trust, then I also forfeit my self-respect. That's what forgiving you costs me." She stroked his hand, lifted it to her lips, her tears flowing freely down her face to his knuckles. "Ask me," she whispered against his hand. "If you ask me, I'll do it."

  Pain lashed his face. He stilled for a long, tense moment, then brought her hand to his lips, kissed it and let go.

  She waited, watching him, and he closed his eyes.

  Her heart shattered. Partly in gratitude, and partly in mourning, she swallowed silent sobs and walked out of ICU and then out of the hospital.

  Frank waited at the curb, and she got into the car. "How did you know I was coming out?"

  "Jack called," he said, his voice gruff. "You all right?"

  "I will be, Frank. I need to go home and sleep awhile, I think." She sniffed. "Pass me a tissue, please." She reached through the window between them.

  Frank slapped his flask into her hand. "Have a toddy, Princess. It'll help you sleep."

  Until she got some rest, her mind was going to stay mush. So she removed the top and took a swallow. It burned going down her throat. She took another. "What is this?"

  "Whiskey, girl."

  "Whiskey. Okay, then." The third swallow didn't burn anymore, but she had a little buzz going. "Strong stuff."

  "Yep, pretty much."

  She leaned back on her seat and thought through her situation. Jack had done the right thing. Whether or not he'd done it for the right reason, she had no idea, but letting her go was hell for him. His pain was raw and honest; no one was that good an actor.

  The thing was, she could love or hate this new world of deception, but it was her world now. It lacked safety nets and mentors. It lacked everything familiar to her, and fear of it kept her nearly numb. Never before had she not known what to wish for. But this time, her success meant that someone she personally knew and likely cared about was guilty of horrific crimes. And her failure meant the Duke could murder her and Emma and all the Rose agents, one by one.