Becoming His Princess
Book 2 of The Dark Prince Trilogy
By Autumn Winchester
Dedication
A huge thanks to Tee Cullen for sticking with me through all the edits, and reworks.
Thanks to all my readers for reading and leaving me your words to keep going.
Thanks to my son, who is determined to tell the world about my books.
Warning
This story is not for readers under 18. Deals with dark content and sexual matters. Mentions of rape.
© July 2016
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 1
The house was filled with a number of people, most looking through files upon files to figure out where Sarah had come from. There was no luck finding anything on her, or her mother. They had a first name and figured she at least lived in a nearby town. Sarah was officially a missing person, but it would be near impossible to find out where she was missing from without some sort of news conference.
“I’ll send this to the newsroom so it will be posted throughout the country. Someone must know her,” Ryder said after trying to get the girl to talk to him. Sarah had refused to talk to him, as she only wanted Summer or Trent. Summer wasn’t sure why the child was so attached to her but didn’t question it. Trent loved kids, so that made sense there, but Summer was just a stranger to the child as much as anyone else in the house was.
The child refused to let both of them out of her sight at the same time, therefore Summer sat on at the coffee table with a bunch of coloring books in front of the TV. Zinna and Clare had helped Sarah get dressed in a blue shirt that was a couple size too big, and a pair of soft cotton PJ pants. But it worked for the time being.
Kayla had received the test results back, and the DNA didn’t help with figuring out who her parents were, so Ryder was taking the results to run through the FBI database to figure out if maybe her mother was in protective services. Asher was already running it through his own program, but nothing was coming up with a match.
Little Sarah was a mystery It was possible that she was born into this world by a woman who was off the grids and had a similar life as Summer or the other girls had. Sarah kept a strong hold on the stuffed white tiger that Kayla had given her, almost as strong of a hold on Trent when he was near.
The house was filled with a lot of activity as the men went in and out. It made Summer nervous, but she was able to stay in the right mind frame since no one really talked to her, or looked her way. She did her best to concentrate on Sarah, which helped. She knew that if she had a panic attack, Sarah would more than likely follow.
Emma had left, using one of Chase’s less expensive cars to go back to her place, not wanting to put anyone out, or be in the way. Summer and her mother made promises to have more time to talk and get to know one another after things calmed down a little bit. Summer held onto the hope that she could build more of a relationship with her mother in time.
Ryder called in a child counselor, hoping that would give everyone an idea of how the child came to be where she was. And even figure out exactly how old she was since she was a little under-nourished it was hard to tell. Dr. Amy Hamilton had dark blond hair hanging down past her shoulders and a friendly, open-air about her. It was hard for Summer to not feel drawn to Amy herself.
“What’s your favorite color, Sarah?” Amy asked, picking up a color from the box. “Mine is red.”
“Pink?” Sarah asked, her voice quiet as she held up a light blue color. She was nearly sitting on Summer’s lap, being as close to her as she could get. It was impossible for her to get any closer.
“That one is blue,” Amy said, then picked up a pink one. “This is pink.”
“Pink!” Sarah said, seeing the color, her dark brown eyes lighting up.
Amy handed the crayon over to her and Sarah was quick to start coloring with that color, her face filled with happiness.
“I hear you are four years old?” Amy asked. Looking at the child, she could easily be either three, or even six. She was on the small side, but tall, making it difficult to know for sure.
Sarah nodded her head, most likely not really knowing herself.
Amy asked question after question, and Sarah began to answer them as well as she could once she opened up. Summer even asked a few things herself, watching as Sarah took everything in. Most questions dealt with development skills, and from how Sarah answered, she was closer to four than she was three, or even six. She was smart and knew things most preschoolers knew.
Finally, after about twenty minutes of safe questions, Amy asked one of the many dreaded questions. “Do you know where mommy is?”
“Sleeping?” Sarah answered after a few moments of deep thought. “The marked man said she was sleeping, and then he made me sleep.”
“What man?” Amy asked, keeping her voice light and continuing to color so the girl didn’t think she was in any trouble.
“The one that has pictures on his arms,” Sarah answered with a shrug and in a way that meant everyone should know that. “Mommy sleeps, I sleep.”
“You speak well for your age,” Amy commented, which Sarah merely shrugged.
“Mommy said I needed to learn,” she said. “Mommy didn’t want me to be dumb.”
“You are very smart,” Amy agreed. “Do you know where mommy is then?”
“At work,” Sarah said, cocking her head to the side. “But I miss mommy. She always workin’.”
“I know you do sweetheart,” Amy said. “We will find her soon. I’m sure she’s missing you as much as you are her.” Amy paused, letting her words soothe the girl. “Do you know where she works?”
Sarah simply shook her head.
“Do you have a daddy?” Amy asked.
“What’s that?” Sarah asked, her eyes wide in wonder, coloring forgotten for a moment. She had never heard of having one of those before.
“A man, but does the same things to help take care of you like a mommy,” Amy answered.
“No. Boys are gross,” Sarah declared, ending that line of questioning, her face puckered up for good measure.
“What do you do when mommy is home?” Amy asked out.
“Stay in our room. It gets noisy sometimes in the other part of the house. I don’t like it when that happens,” Sarah answered with a scrunched up look on her face.
“Do you know how you got in the shipping container?” Amy asked next.
“He put me in there, saying we were going to play a game,” Sarah said, seeming confused.
“Who is he?” Amy asked out.
“The one that has pictures,” Sarah answered in a way that meant that Amy should have known that.
“What game?” She asked next.
“Hide and seek, silly,” Sarah said. “He likes to play it a lot.”
; They didn’t get much more information than that, as Sarah didn’t seem to know who the man was by name. She wasn’t sure on names, as no one ever called anyone by their given name to the adults’ understanding.
When Sarah got bored of coloring, Summer let the child lead her around the house in search of Trent, Amy spoke to Chase and Ryder.
“It’s possible that the mother doesn’t know where her girl is if she’s working long hours. She seems well behaved and well-mannered to not be loved by a least one parent. Give it a few hours, I’m sure the mother will start looking for her. Then maybe we can figure out how she got where she was,” Amy explained. “I’d be happy to talk to her again, and her mother, when the time comes.”
“Thank you, Amy,” Ryder said before walking her to her car, talking quietly on the way out about possible steps that would need to be taken in the next twenty-four hours.
“What’s the plan?” Trent asked. He didn’t want to see the girl given back to her mother to only end up back in a place she was. From Sarah's description, it seemed like it was a low-income part of whatever town they lived in and he didn't think it was a place to raise a child.
“Wait and see if the mother shows,” Chase said. “It’s all we can do. If and when she does, I will be keeping tabs on her and the child for a while to make sure everything is as it should be.”
“Until then?” Clare asked as she walked up to the two men.
“Let Sarah decide where she would like to stay. She seems to like Trent well enough,” he answered. He didn’t want to keep the child for longer than necessary, knowing he still had his hands full with his wife, and family affairs still. Nothing ever slowed down for the man.
“I’m sure she’d love that. They seem to be attached to one another,” Clare said with a laugh. “Sarah is a sweetie.”
“Calls should be coming in soon since I already emailed the picture to the newsrooms around the state,” Ryder said. “It shouldn’t take too long, but we don’t have anything for a little girl. None of us do.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Trent said. “I . . . I sent someone to pick up a few things and it should be at my house by this afternoon.” He ran a hand through his hair, his expression sheepish.
“Trent, man, you know you can’t keep her,” Asher spoke up, his voice sad all the while pulling Clare against his chest. “She has a mother out there.”
“I’m not letting her go without being in her life somehow. Who knows what will happen if I just let her walk away. And if her mother works so much just to put food on the table, I’m going to help in any way I can,” Trent said with determination. He would do just about anything to get the child and her mother to stay close by somewhere once the mother was found. Even if he had to buy the child’s heart to do it.
“Just let him go,” Zinna spoke up. “Maybe this is his way of making things up for picking the wrong wife to begin with.”
“That’s not helping,” Trent muttered, running a hand down his face. “But I know I did wrong there, but this little girl deserves a better life than the one she has. I’ll help her, and her mother in any way I can.” He would, even if Chase demanded him to stay out of their lives.
“Trent!” Sarah said just loud enough that he could hear. She was attached to Summer, a sheepish smile on her face. Of course, she was leaning against Summer’s leg as she looked up at the big man.
“Hi, cutie,” Trent said, bending down popping knees, to be at her eye level. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for you,” Sarah answered before flinging her arms around his neck, quickly letting go of Summer’s hand in the process. He was quick to pick her up, letting her lean her head against his broad shoulder.
Summer let Chase wrap an arm around her waist, bringing her closer to him. She couldn’t help but stand on her tiptoes, pressing a small, short kiss to the Prince’s cheek, causing him to beam and herself to blush. She made sure to not overthink things anymore, knowing she’d never get anywhere in life if she kept it up.
“What do you say you stay the night at my house, sweetie?” Trent asked Sarah, his eyes wide with hope looking at the child.
“Mommy?” she asked, tilting her head.
“She can come when she’s done working, but she’s super busy right now,” he partly lied to her, knowing it would be easier to keep Sarah content. He was surprised that she wasn’t as upset about being away from her mother as it was. If she worked a lot of hours, Sarah could easily just be used to her mother being away a lot.
“Ok!” she replied, not bothered. “You funner than that man.”
“What man?” Trent asked.
“That mean one that hits, and makes me do things I don’t like,” Sarah answered, her face sad.
“What does he make you do?” Clare asked.
“He says I can’t be loud!” Sarah said, sounding outraged.
Trent held in an amused laugh. “And what else does he do?” he asked.
“Be grumpy,” Sarah answered with a pout. “He plays with needles all day and night!”
“Does mommy play with needles?” Chase shot off, knowing what she was talking about even if Sarah didn’t.
“No. She says they are icky,” Sarah proclaimed. “I’m not to touch them.”
“Your mommy is very smart,” Trent said with a small smile.
Shortly after, almost everyone had left the house knowing there wasn’t much else they could do until something showed up. Zinna and Ryder headed home. Asher and Clare went up to the apartment space, where he was going to keep running his program to see if anything would pop up. Trent took Sarah to his house, hoping that she would be able to find something to play with in the stuff he had picked up.
Peter and Jack left, saying they were going to drive around, just to see if they could figure out where the girl could have possibly come from. As the shipment container had been sitting there for about half an hour before the men arrived to sort through it.
Summer and Chase, finally alone, for the most part, made their way to the kitchen. A few guards stood outside, making sure no one got in just to be safe. Chase planned to make a fast lunch and then spend some time with his wife.
“How are you holding up?” he asked, setting a grilled cheese in front of her before taking his own seat.
"Okay," she said. She was ok, even better than just a few days ago. She could be better, but she knew she wanted to live. She now knew that whatever life brought her, she wanted to be with Chase.
Summer wasn’t exactly ready to face the whole Princess role, knowing that she would be well known since her husband was. Maybe in time, she would adjust. Summer was more than okay, content, to be in the shadows for now. As long as Chase was there to hold her hand and keep her safe.
“Good,” he said, knowing there was more to her answer than she was letting on. “In a few weeks, I need to take a trip to New York. I’d very much like you to come.”
“Sure,” Summer said with a smile.
“Really?” Chase asked surprised. He was not expecting her to answer right away, let alone with a smile.
“Yes, Chase,” she laughed. “You are stuck with me,” she joked.
“Hey, now, Princess!” he responded in humor.
“I love you, Chase,” she said, giving him a loving look. She would never get tired of saying it, and he’d never get tired of hearing it.
“And I love you, Princess,” he said before leaning over, kissing her lips softly.
Summer closed her eyes as his lips met hers in a gentle, loving manner. She wanted more, but he pulled back before that could happen. She smiled at him sweetly, her lips still tingling. They would make it.
Together.
Nothing would dare stand in their way. She may have a lot to learn, but together, they would be the Prince and Princess, making a difference. Summer was determined to become the wife Chase needed.
Chapter 2
“Summer!” Sarah exclaimed when she saw Summer and Chase enter the living room. Sarah bounced up
off of Trent’s lap and wrapped herself around Summer’s legs. She was dressed in a Sofia the First dress that was purple and had sparkles on the bottom tutu part. Her black hair was pulled pack into a messy lopsided ponytail. She was clean and looked much better after a good night's sleep. She looked adorable, actually.
“Hi,” Summer said as Chase gave them a sweet smile and went over to talk to Ryder.
Clare was already sitting on Asher’s lap, snuggled against him almost as if they were one person instead of two. She seemed to be wherever he was if there wasn’t something for her to do. The look on her face radiated happiness. Summer wished she could be as open with her feelings to Chase, but that thought frightened her more than it should.
Hand in hand, Sarah led Summer back to the couch. Once she sat, the child took a seat on her lap, content to snuggle and watch TV. Luckily, Summer sat next to her husband while Trent stood, giving them both more room. He didn’t want to set the skittish girl off, even if she was getting stronger.
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