Nope, the ring with its enormous silver-white diamond, all ten-plus carats of it, and two smaller baguette diamonds lying on the band was still right there in the middle, and nothing else. “Don’t you like it?”
Dree looked down at him over her fingers that covered her mouth. She whispered, though her voice was muffled by her hands, “It looks like an ice cube.”
Maxence poked the ring. “It’s quite warm right now. Can’t imagine why.”
“It’s too big, Max. I can’t wear a ring that big!”
“Why not?”
“Because it’ll tear my non-latex gloves when I’m at work, that’s why. And because I might accidentally break huge windows with that enormous thing. And because I would probably lose it!”
Maxence was positive this was some sort of non-billionaire mindset he couldn’t quite understand, but he would bring her around eventually. “Why don’t you wear it right now, just as a test drive?”
Dree’s left hand drifted from her mouth and hovered, fingers spread and trembling like a starfish that had suddenly found itself flying through outer space. “You’re sure it’s okay?”
Maxence slid the ring onto Dree’s finger. “I’m positive.”
The nobles and aristocrats of Monaco were quite undignified as they applauded.
“I’m glad I didn’t lose it,” Dree said, admiring the flawless Cartier ring on her finger in the light from the chandeliers. “I’m surprised it didn’t fall out of my bra while I was break-dancing across the warehouse while I was kidnapped.”
He laughed and hugged her, and then he kissed her again because they could.
Camera flashes flicked in the crowd around them.
Her smile brushed all the thoughts out of Maxence’s mind.
Maxence took Dree into his arms and kissed her again, savoring the moment even though they had the rest of their lives.
Out of the corner of his eye, Maxence saw Prince Jules fiddling with the doors.
If he wanted to leave, fine. The meeting would be calmer without him there.
The doors didn’t open, though.
Beyond that door, Max’s Rogue Security operators were waiting, so he had no worry that Prince Jules would somehow abscond with anything important.
Max had everything that was important in his arms.
On the far end of the room that opened to the covered walkway outside, the doors flipped open and smashed against the walls.
Maxence looked up. Dree twisted in his arms to look behind her.
Sunlight and soldiers poured into the throne room.
Alexandre vaulted into the crowd, running to get to his wife.
Maxence jumped in front of Dree and crowded her back against the wall.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Coup
Dree
Dree grew up in the Old West, where pickup trucks have gun racks and gun racks hold guns. Her daddy had a gun safe bolted into the studs in the living room, and a fun afternoon’s recreation involved plinking soda cans off a ridge. Her people talked about guns like techie teens talked about graphics cards and video games.
The mercenaries entering the throne room—for they wore no national insignia—were carrying Heckler & Koch HK416s, the official rifles of the French military.
Monaco’s military, La Force Publique, carried American M16s.
They weren’t in the official government chain of command.
The armed people skulked into the room, watching their targets through their sights with their weapons in firing positions.
Most of them had laid their fingers along the stock of their rifles, at the ready but not about to fire.
A few had curled their fingers around the triggers.
This was a massacre in the making.
Dree hit the deck, lying flat on the dais.
She reached out to grab Maxence’s shirt as she fell, but he was already following her down.
He landed on top of her and struggled to cover more of her body. Dree wiggled, reaching into the pocket of her sundress.
Her fingers found the small, smooth disc of the key fob from Rogue Security.
She pressed the button again and again.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Coup d’état
Maxence
Marie-Therese’s armed militia fanned out around the room, rifles held in the firing position.
The nobles fell to the ground, cowering. Only Lady Valentina stared a gunman directly in the eyes as he aimed his rifle barrel at her face.
Maxence berated himself.
He should have known better. He should have known what Marie-Therese might do.
When the prize was over a billion dollars of tangible assets and untold amounts of intangible wealth, plus control of a sovereign government and land, there were no rules.
Marie-Therese was playing to win, and she was playing only for herself.
And thus, nothing was beyond her. No crime was inconceivable. No atrocity was beyond her grasp. She would burn Monaco to the ground if she couldn’t have it.
Because if she won, no one could touch her for anything she’d done to win. For her, it was absolutely all or nothing.
She would be the sovereign head of a country, a dictator for life. Even the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where war criminals and authoritarian dictators were put on trial for crimes against humanity, would have no jurisdiction because Monaco had signed but never officially ratified the treaty.
If Marie-Therese won the throne, she could literally shoot every Monegasque citizen in the head, and no one could prosecute her for it.
But why would she kill the people of Monaco when she could reduce their living standard to the bare minimum? She would have forty thousand serfs to do her bidding, whether it was to wash her feet or to transport street drugs through her harbor so she could take a cut of the profit.
Maxence had been playing on Monaco’s side, trying to win for the people of Monaco, not for himself. He couldn’t scorch the earth.
Maxence covered Dree, who was wiggling underneath him.
He thumbed the key fob from Rogue Security in his pocket, pressing it to alert Magnus Jensen and the other Rogues.
The doors they were behind rattled, but a chain bound the handles together.
On the other side of the throne room, Marie-Therese strode in and surveyed the nobles cringing on the floor.
Behind her, her mercenaries locked that door and threaded another rattling chain through those handles, too.
Underneath him, Dree whispered, “It’s like the massacre of the Nepali royal family you told me about.”
And the Russian Tsar Nicholas and his family, and Alexander I of Serbia and his wife, and that was just in the last century.
Royal families knew how royal families die.
But Maxence wasn’t going to let that happen to Dree.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
CLICK HERE TO GET REIGN (Max #5) NOW.
Or listen to the Reign Audiobook. Wow.
Don’t miss the exciting conclusion of the Billionaires in Disguise: Maxence series, REIGN.
For one moment, Maxence had everything he wanted. The love of his life, Dree Clark, had said yes, Monaco was secure, and his future was clear and bright.
For just one moment.
Now, Maxence stares into the darkness of the barrel of an assault rifle hovering inches from his face, and he prays he can save Dree’s life.
“Run,” he tells her, but she won’t leave him.
Maxence thought he would REIGN in Monaco as the sovereign prince with Dree by his side, but now he’s fighting for both their lives.
Don’t miss the steamy, exciting conclusion of the Billionaires in Disguise: Maxence saga!
Oh, and you know how you think you know what the tattoo on Max’s back is? Yeah, that’s not it. There’s a reason he said that, though.
CLICK HERE TO GET REIGN (Max #5) NOW.
Or listen to the Reign Audiobook. It’s amazing.
A NO
TE FROM BLAIR
Thank you so much for reading ROYAL (Billionaires in Disguise: Maxence #4). There’s only one more book to go in the series, and I’m so excited to get it to you!
I do hope that if you liked this story, you’ll leave a review. Reviews help authors and other readers.
I also hope that you’re enjoying Maxence and Dree’s story, and I can’t wait for you to find out the end in REIGN, Max #5.
Maxence’s story is the third in the overall Runaway Billionaires series. The first two men, Casimir van Amsberg and Arthur Finch-Hatten, have already had their stories. I have loved writing about these three guys so much. I just love writing in the overall Billionaires in Disguise world.
If you’re new to my books, the Max series is part of the overall Billionaires in Disguise (BID) world. Each individual mini-series stands by itself, so look for the “Book #1” in each set. Some are collected in boxed sets, so keep an eye out for those collections. I’ve written over 30 books in the greater BID universe and have no intention of stopping anytime soon, so you have lots of books to fall in love with!
Here’s a list of the #1 books in each mini-series.
Working Stiff ~ Working Stiff Audiobook - Casimir van Amsberg, Max’s buddy the prince
Stiff Drink ~ Stiff Drink Audiobook - Arthur Finch-Hatten, Max’s English buddy who is not just an idle, rich nobleman.
Every Breath You Take - Alexandre Grimaldi, Max’s cousin who’s #3 in line after Max, this is his story.
Once Upon A Time ~ Once Upon A Time Audiobook - Flicka von Hannover’s story. Bodyguard romance
Billionaires in Disguise (Wulf and Rae) - The first BID book that I wrote, kind of the lynchpin in the middle.
Falling Hard Do you like your romance a little . . . darker? This one is painted in the darkest shades of grey.
What A Girl Wants - The first of the Rock Stars in Disguise (RSID) series, but there’s a point where the RSID plotline intersects with the BID plotline. You’ll see.
Dragons & Magic - Do you link your romance heroes hot? Like, really HOT? Like, really-really-okay these guys can actually breathe fire. PNR.
The chronological reading list is here at my website, https://blairbabylon.com/reading-order/ . Really, each of the mini-series can be read by themselves, so you don’t have to worry about doing it perfectly. But if you want the best, total experience, check out that reading order and start with Working Stiff ~ Working Stiff Audiobook .
If you want to know when I publish a new book or have a sale, sign up for my newsletter at https://blairbabylon.com/book-boyfriends-bulletin/ .
I also have a Facebook reader group, Blair’s Babes’ VIP Room, where we have fun and talk about books. I hang around in there and answer questions. A couple of times per year, we have an “ABA,” or Ask Blair Anything, but I reserve the right to waffle if there are spoilers involved. I also do giveaways. My reader group gets the best prize boxes. We talk about a lot of books in there, and other authors drop in for their giveaways. It’s a fun and positive place.
Make sure you’re signed up for my MAILING LIST so you’ll know when I have a new book out! Mailing list subscribers get FREE access to special epilogues and books that there’s no other way to get.
Remember to read the conclusion to the Billionaires in Disguise: Maxence series, REIGN!
CLICK HERE TO GET REIGN (Max #5) NOW.
Or listen to the Reign Audiobook.
Copyright © 2021 by Malachite Publishing LLC
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Royal: A Royal Billionaire Novel (Billionaires in Disguise: Maxence Book 6) Page 18