by S. E. Rose
I recap what happened and send her a photo of the card.
“Hold on, I’m tracing that number,” she says. “And you do know what that symbol means, right?”
“No…” I trail off as I look at it again.
“It’s a symbol of anti-monarchy,” she says flatly. “Interestingly also used by the Farringtons’ private real estate company.”
I look closer, still confused, and I hear Anna sigh.
“Do you remember what year Julius Caesar was killed?”
I’m silent, still processing.
“Christ, Augs. Did you pay attention to anything in school?”
I can’t help the smirk that forms on my face. And even though she can’t see me, I know Anna is rolling her eyes.
“For fuck's sake, you are such a dog. Julius Caesar was assassinated in forty-four BCE. It marks the first significant modern overthrowing of a monarchy. The wreath is representative of the crown worn by Caesar.”
Maybe it’s the cognac but my mind slowly begins to piece together what she’s telling me. And now I’m even more confused.
“But...why in the hell would the son of a U.S. senator be part of an anti-monarchy movement?” I ask.
“That’s an excellent question. I don’t know, but we sure as fuck are going to find out now.”
I grin. “Does this mean we can use your intelligence resources?”
Anna groans. “Yes, asshat, I’m going to call Jack. I think this might just be the tip of one giant iceberg. Don’t do anything until I call you back.”
“Whatever,” I mutter and hang up.
I walk out to the pool and plop into a chaise lounge.
“Can I get you anything?” Franny asks, appearing seemingly out of thin air.
“Just a water,” I say.
He nods and is back in a matter of seconds with water. I take it and stare back out at the pool. I wonder what Kate is doing right now.
Kate
“What’s up?” my dad asks, nudging my shoulder as I stand with my hands on the railing of the yacht he chartered for the day.
“Just thinking,” I answer vaguely, hoping he’ll drop it.
He leans his elbows on the railing next to mine. I look at the hands that are so familiar to me. They say the presidency ages people, and my dad is no exception. His gray hair is more prominent and his skin more wrinkled. But beneath it all, those are the hands that used to toss me in the air and push my swing and hold my hand when crossing the street. I put my hand over his.
“Dad?”
“Yes, sweetie?”
“How do you do it?” I ask.
“Do what?” he says on a chuckle.
“How do you do your job and then come over here and just...be my dad?”
He smiles fondly at me.
“Being your dad is my number one job, always has been and always will be. The other stuff…well, it just fades away when I’m in dad mode. I’ve learned to separate my two worlds. You have to, or it’d be too much for any one man to handle,” he explains. He looks down at me. “What’s with the heavy questions?”
I shrug. “Just curious.”
My dad gives me a pointed look because, well, he knows me. Even though we don’t talk as much as we used to, I’m still his little sidekick, his ice cream tester, his hiking buddy.
I sigh.
“It’s that Prince August, isn’t it?”
Well, shit, the man is nothing short of perceptive. I know I can’t lie to him but I sure as shit can’t spill everything. So, I decide to play along.
“Sort of.”
My dad frowns. “He seems like a nice enough kid, but he has quite the reputation, pumpkin. I would tread lightly.”
I pat my dad’s hand and cross my arms. “Dad, it’s not like I’m gonna marry the guy.” I laugh.
My dad raises an eyebrow, and I know what he’s thinking. “You never know,” he and I say at the same time, quoting my grandmother. When my parents first dated, my dad said something akin to what I just said, and my grandmother answered with “you never know” and it’s sort of become a family saying.
“Just...be careful,” he reiterates and a chill runs through me at his foreboding words.
August
I look down and see Anna’s face on the screen. I pick up my phone.
“Yeah,” I answer.
“Houston, we have a problem,” she says. I almost want to laugh because this saying is one of the many American phrases we picked up at our summer camp when we were kids. Only, I know what she has to say isn’t going to be funny.
“What?”
“Shit just got real, Augs. I don’t have time to explain, but we are aborting your mission. I want you home, now. And I’m getting Kate’s family out of there, too. We’ll regroup when you all get here.”
“All?”
“Uh, yeah, all,” she says.
“Who is ‘all’?”
“Kate’s family just got invited to the Summer Palace. K, see you tomorrow,” she says and hangs up.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” I yell as I throw my phone down. I no sooner throw the phone down when it pings with a text message.
I groan and pick it back up.
Unknown Caller: Meet me at La Petite in thirty minutes. I have information you want.
I stare at the screen. I pull out Jared’s card, but it’s not his number.
Me: Who is this?
There’s no response, and when I hit call, the number chimes with a busy signal. I sigh. Do I stay or do I go?
Chapter Twenty-One
I’m not known for making the best decisions, so why not live up to my reputation? I casually walk inside and see Nico on a computer. He looks up at me.
“I’m going to pack some things and grab a shower. Looks like we are heading home,” I say to him casually.
“Yep, orders just came through. We leave at oh five hundred tomorrow morning.”
I nod and head into my room. I search on my phone and find La Petite. It’s a coffee shop. It looks small. I must have passed it a million times but never noticed it. I shut the door and walk over to the balcony. It has steps down to the garden. I take them, following a heavily vined trail along the side of the property, hoping I don’t run into any of our security guys.
When we were kids and would come here to visit, we used to use this route to go down to the beach when we were supposed to be studying or doing anything but going to the beach. Halfway down the brick wall, there’s an opening but it’s covered by shrubbery and vines. It likely just filled in over time but unless you are a nosy kid that shimmies under bushes, you’d never know it. I just hope I’m still slim enough to squeeze through the opening.
I find it and push the bushes back, smiling. It’s still here, and I’ll just barely fit through. I make it through and head down the wall to the neighboring property. It’s owned by a movie star, but she’s never there. I pop out farther down the street and walk to La Petite.
My phone pings with a text message. I look down and smile. It’s from Kate.
Kate: I hope you are having a good day.
Me: It’s been interesting.
Kate: I hear we are going to the Summer Palace.
Me: Word travels fast
Kate: Everything OK?
Me: I…hope so
Kate: That doesn’t make me feel better
I’m about to reply when I see Kate’s name on my phone. Shit. I answer her call.
“Hey.”
“Where are you?” she asks. I realize she must hear the street noise. I’m torn. I don’t want to tell her anything, but I also don’t want to lie to her. It’s a new concept for me. I’ve never had trouble telling a small white lie to a woman. I decide to not lie but not go into specifics either.
“I’m taking a walk.” Hell, it’s the truth.
“A walk?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Auggie, what’s going on? How was this morning? What happened? I’m dying over here. I need to know,” she says. I al
most laugh because she sounds ridiculous.
“It was interesting. I can’t explain it now. We can talk tomorrow,” I say as I approach the small coffee shop. “I gotta go. See you tomorrow.” I hang up and stare at the sign in the window which reads “fermé.” I frown.
I’m about to leave when my phone pings with a text message.
Unknown Caller: Meet me around back.
I don’t like this, and I’m about to say, “fuck it” and hightail it out of here, but like a moth to a flame, I’m drawn toward the alley next to the shop.
“I’m a fucking idiot,” I murmur to myself as I walk along the side of the building. There’s a small courtyard in the back. I can see the figure of a woman sitting at a table, but her back faces me. As I walk around the table, I freeze. I know this woman. Liza. She worked at the Summer Palace until about six months ago.
“Liza?” I ask, confirming that it's really her.
She looks up at me. She’s pale. She looks…scared. She nervously looks around her and then back to me.
“Please have a seat, Your Highness,” she says, her voice barely a whisper.
I slowly take the seat across from her, my back against the wall of the courtyard. I frown with confusion. I don’t understand why she’s here and what she thinks she knows, which can’t possibly be much of anything.
She leans towards me, her eyes glancing around once more. I’m not sure who she expects to come waltzing in here. “You’re in danger, Your Highness,” she says quietly.
My frown deepens. “What do you mean, exactly, Liza?”
She squirms in her chair and reaches into her pocket. She lays a business card on the table, a business card that I am now very familiar with, a business card belonging to Jared Farrington.
I pick it up and look at it and back at her. “Why do you have this?”
She looks down and bites her lip. “Because…I work for his family now.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kate
I stare down at my phone in disbelief. Did Auggie just hang up? What the fuck? My gut tells me something is wrong. And my gut is never wrong. I take a breath and text him.
Me: Please call me back when you can. I just want to know that you’re OK.
“Hey,” my sister says as she walks up behind me.
“Hey,” I reply. I stick my phone in my pocket and turn to look at her. I admit it’s good to see her. When you go through the public scrutiny we have as teenagers, it forces a tight bond.
“You seem distracted,” she points out the obvious.
“Just a lot going on,” I say as I look at her. She looks good, happy even. Her hair’s a little longer than the last time I saw her. She looks a little older, more mature.
“So, how’s school?” I ask.
“Good. Busy. You know,” she says in such a typical college student way that it causes me to laugh.
“You gonna intern this summer?” I prod.
She nods. “Yeah, I mean, it’s sort of expected.” She has a point.
“How’s the social scene?”
She shrugs. “Nothing crazy.” She bites her lip, and I know there’s more to that story.
I raise an eyebrow and she giggles. Damn, it feels good to hear her so light-hearted. We may be super different, but I do love her.
“OK, so I did just meet this one guy, Will,” she says.
“Oh? Do tell?”
She rolls her eyes. “He’s over here visiting family. He goes to Princeton, and he’ll graduate in May.”
“What’s his last name?”
“James.”
“That’s cool. What does he study?”
“International relations.”
“Do you have a photo?” I ask.
She shakes her head. I find this odd because I feel like everyone takes photos of each other all the time, but maybe if they just met…my mind wanders to Auggie and I realize I don’t have a photo of him either.
“Kate?” My sister’s voice brings me out of my thoughts.
“Huh?”
“What about you?”
“Me?” I ask.
“Yeah, are you seeing anyone? Mom said you are spending time with a prince,” she asks, looking around like it’s some sort of state secret.
“I wouldn’t call it dating, but yeah, we’ve hung out a few times,” I admit.
Ash grins. “How fucking cool would it be if you married a prince? That’s like some real-life Cinderella shit!”
I give her a “really” look. “It’s not like we are destitute. Shit, we lived in the White House for Christ’s sake.”
She laughs. “Fine, but still, it would be so lit!”
“Right…lit.” I roll my eyes. My sister and I are only four years apart, but we might as well be a hundred years apart.
My mom walks into the room, interrupting our sisterly chat. “You two should get packed. I think our plane leaves at five thirty tomorrow morning.”
“Ugh! Seriously? That’s like so early!” my sister whines.
“Well, at least it means we’ll have most of the day free. The palace is beautiful. We could go horseback riding?” I suggest.
My sister stops mid-whine and looks at me. “Really? They have horses?”
I grimace remembering my ill-fated ride with Auggie. “Yep,” I say, pressing my lips together to keep from saying more.
“Sweet! I’ll go get packed,” she says as she stands and heads out of the room.
My mother sits down across from me. “Do you know what’s going on?” she asks me.
I shake my head because I don’t really know what’s going on, not completely anyhow.
“Is something wrong?” I ask her, prodding her for information.
“I…don’t know. Dad wouldn’t say,” she admits, folding and unfolding her hands, a nervous habit she never lost even after seven years in the public eye.
“I’m sure it’s nothing, then,” I state. “Dad would tell you if it was something serious.”
She gives me a pointed look. “Would he?”
I know Dad shares many things with Mom, but I’m now left wondering what he doesn’t share.
Chapter Twenty-Three
August
“Liza?” I urge her to continue.
She places her shaking hand on the table and looks into my eyes. “I…don’t know everything. I mean, it doesn’t make sense, so I know I must be missing some things. At first, I thought they were just talking about politics and elections. I didn’t really pay much attention. But then…I heard Chris’s name. Something about…letters of patent. But it wasn’t until I kept hearing your name that…well, I started to listen more. Whatever Jared says he is, says he wants…he’s lying. It’s part of a plan to do something else, to…change something else.”
“Liza, I don’t understand.”
She shakes her head and her lip trembles. “Me either. Like I said, I only hear parts. Jared…he’s always going off and coming back. I see him meeting with people with briefcases and then the briefcases are gone. Whatever they are doing, it’s not legal.”
“Who is ‘they’?” I ask.
“The senator and Jared, and I think the senator’s brother and nephew too. There are a few others as well, but I don’t think they are related to them.”
“Others?”
She nods. “They…come to the house and have meetings, but it’s not about the senator’s district. Staff are never allowed in his study when they meet. I only overheard them because the dog got loose, and I was chasing him around the house. He got into the study through a doggie door and the senator called for someone to remove him. I closed the door, but the doggie door was still ajar, and I heard them say something about setting a trap and that they had the funds and that whatever it was they were going to do would eliminate their issues. But I think they were talking about people, not issues like platforms or whatever.”
“Was Jared there?” I ask.
She nods again. “Yes, and his cousin, Bill, and his uncle, Su
llivan, and some guy, I think his name is Trent.”
“Are you here because Jared is here?” I ask her.
She nods. “They brought me and one other staff member to handle the household while they were in Europe. This is just a vacation this week. In a few days, we go back to Norddale.”
“Norddale?” I ask, recalling when Jared showed up at our party. “How long are they staying there?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. We’ve been over here for almost a month now.”
“Liza, how did you get my number?” I ask her.
She looks down. “I overheard Jared say he was going to bump into you. It just sounded…wrong. So, I called Tessa, and she gave me your number.”
Tessa. God love the woman, but seriously? She could have told me. Tessa is like another mom to my siblings and me. Hell, she was our nanny for many years. Tessa and I would have a long conversation tomorrow, but now I needed to figure out what Jared was actually up to.
Liza looks around again. “I should go. I told them I was going to get souvenirs for my niece. They’ll start to wonder if I don’t hurry back.”
I nod. “Is it your number that you’ve been calling me from?”
She shakes her head. “I bought a cheap phone over here.”
“Good. Text me from it if you hear anything else.” I stand and start to head back down the alley, but I turn back to her. “And, Liza, thank you.”
She nods. “Your family was always good to me. I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to them, especially you.” She says the last part quietly, and it’s then I realize she must have a crush on me. Shit, well, that can’t be dealt with right now.
“I appreciate that,” I say as I nod and walk away. I’m left with more questions than answers. What business would Jared’s family possibly have that would involve us? And why has he been here for a month? My heart thumps as I think of Kate. Has he been watching her, too?
Kate
Auggie hasn’t returned any of my texts and I’m starting to get concerned. I’m lying on a bed, staring at the ceiling when my phone vibrates with an incoming text.
Auggie: Sorry, had a situation
I sit up and read his message again before replying.