by Kat Mizera
Today was Friday and the event would be on Sunday, so we only had two days to finish everything up. There wasn’t a lot, especially since the palace chefs were handling the food, Erik had taken care of the slideshow, and I’d gotten Xander to go pick up the gifts from what I was now also calling Gustafhaven. It somehow fit the house, despite the fact it had been a joke, and now it seemed to stick.
“Mo-om.” Jessie came flouncing in the room, a scowl on her face. “Joss said she’s not dressing up on Sunday. Aren’t we supposed to dress up? I don’t want to be the only one.”
“You won’t be,” Casey said patiently. “You do you and don’t worry about your sister. If she doesn’t want to dress up, she can wear whatever she wants. She’ll be the one who feels funny when she sees everyone else dressed up.”
“She’s so grumpy,” Jessie said with a sigh, sitting next to her mom. “I think she wants to stay in Monte Carlo with Dad. But I want to come here. I don’t know how we would do that.”
“I don’t know either,” Casey said, sliding an arm around her. “But let’s not worry about it until we have to, okay? We’ll talk about all that when you get here for the summer.”
“I’m bored, Mom.”
“Are you?” Casey stroked her hair. “We’ll have to figure something out then.” They started whispering so I left the room and went to my laptop to check the surveillance videos. We all took turns doing it throughout the day because it was better to have fresh eyes. Having just one person staring at screens for hours at a time led to both eyestrain and boredom, so we rotated every hour. Once I was done, I’d take some time to think about Sandor’s Christmas gift some more.
I wore the pink dress on Sunday. It was a little formal, but Elen said they were all dressing up, so it was perfect for the occasion. Sandor was wearing a navy-blue suit with a white shirt, but no tie, and I looked him up and down appreciatively when I came out of our walk-in closet.
“Oh wow.” He turned and reached for me, wrapping one arm around my waist as he pulled me against him. “Buying you this dress is one of the best things I ever did.” He leaned in to kiss me but I moved back, shaking my head.
“I don’t have time to fix my makeup if you mess it up, so you’re going to have to wait.”
“Fine.” He smiled good-naturedly. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes.”
With his hand at the small of my back, we made our way to the elevators and down to the main dining hall. We ran into Daniil on our way in and he smiled at me.
“You look beautiful today, Lennox.”
“Thank you. You look handsome yourself.”
We stepped inside, and while my breath caught a little at the simple beauty of the decorations, I heard Sandor’s sharp intake of breath. He and Daniil were both focused on the easels all over the room, with pictures of their parents, Vardan, Krystal, Uncle Isak and Aunt Klara, and the other three cousins who’d perished in the explosion as well. Everything was subtle, because I knew Sandor wouldn’t like anything over-the-top, but the pictures were striking and he turned to press his lips to my cheek.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “This is beautiful.”
“You’re welcome.”
We moved into the room to mingle as everyone arrived, and Sandor held on to my hand, making it abundantly clear we were together, a couple.
“I wanted to thank everyone for coming,” Sandor finally said, after everyone had gotten a plate from the buffet. He hadn’t wanted to use a microphone or anything, he just wanted to talk to his family and the people closest to him, like this was much more informal than it actually was. “But first, special thanks to Lennox, whose idea this was and who made it happen for our family. Thank you, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart.
Oh boy, my insides instantly turned to goo. He’d never called me sweetheart before, not that I could remember, and now he’d done it in front of everyone. I was a little self-conscious, but everyone in the room looked happy. For Sandor, for me, for us. Which made me pretty happy too.
“So, you all know me, and I hate being the center of attention, but I just wanted to take a minute to explain why we’re here. When my parents, my brother, and the others were killed that day, our country and our lives were immediately sent into turmoil. Erik and Casey were planning their wedding, and we didn’t want to let what Anwar did ruin that for them, so we took the path of least resistance, planning a small tribute to our lost family members at the wedding, but as we all know, the wedding never happened. And accordingly, neither did a funeral or true memorial service. We glossed over it, focused on staying alive and trying to do what we could to thwart Anwar’s attempts to ruin our family’s legacy.”
He paused, looking at me for a moment. “It wasn’t until I met Lennox that I realized just how much not saying goodbye hurt me, hurt my brother and sister, probably hurt all of us. So today we’re going to do that, but this isn’t a funeral or a wake. This is a celebration. It can never be the celebration it was supposed to be, but it’s going to be our way of saying goodbye, remembering Isak, Klara, Harold, Miriam, Vardan, Krystal, Rafael, Yolanda and Yusef. Let us raise our glasses to them.” He lifted his flute of champagne and the rest of the room followed suit.
“All right. Now, let’s eat, and when we finish, there’s another surprise.”
I sank into the chair beside him. We were sitting with Daniil, Elen, Erik, Casey, Nick and Skye. Sandor, Daniil, Elen, Erik and Skye were what was left of the cousins in the royal family and Sandor seemed relaxed, leaning back, one hand casually slung across the back of my chair as we talked and laughed. They were a great group and I was grateful to be part of them now. My life had changed so much in the last few months and it would probably change even more in the months to come. Sandor had been talking about renovating Gustafhaven and us moving there at some point. He hadn’t used the L word again since New York, but that was okay. I was happy to be taking the emotional parts of our relationship slow since everything else had moved along at warp speed.
“So…will there be a wedding soon?” Skye asked.
I nearly choked on the sip of coffee I was about to take, glancing at Sandor in what had to be wide-eyed horror.
He just smiled, though, giving his cousin a wink. “Don’t rush us, Skye. We’re trying to rebuild a country here.”
Undaunted, Skye raised her eyebrows. “What does one have to do with the other?”
“Oh, don’t put him on the spot.” Erik winked at me. “They’ll get to everything when they’re ready.”
“Oh, you’re no fun.” Skye was gracious enough to let it go but Sandor didn’t seem put out, reaching down to squeeze my leg under the table.
The rest of the event went beautifully. There were tears and laughter as we opened Vardan and Krystal’s wedding gifts, reading the cards from friends and family. Some of the things were generic—a sterling silver picture frame or an imported embroidered tapestry—but others were movingly personal. There was a framed photograph of Vardan on a horse, winning a polo championship in college, which Sandor said he would hang somewhere in Gustafhaven. There were other gifts with special meaning, from friends who’d obviously taken great care with their wedding gifts. Elen and Daniil took many of them, while Sandor only chose a few. It was emotional for him, and I watched him struggle throughout the morning and early afternoon. He still didn’t like to let his emotions show, but he came close today, which made me happy.
As we walked back to our suite, he was more affectionate than usual at the palace, holding me close against his side until we were alone. Then he sank onto the couch, pulled me onto his lap and buried his head in my chest. He didn’t say anything, but he was so quiet, clinging to me as if his life depended on it. I gently stroked his hair, pulling it free of the ponytail at the nape of his neck, letting my fingers run through the soft locks.
“I can’t thank you enough for today,” he whispered. When he lifted his head, the emotion in his eyes almost brought tears to mine. “It nearly gutted
me, but I needed it, I needed to be able to say goodbye.”
“Of course.” I cupped his face with my hands, staring into those startling blue eyes I loved so much. “I’d do anything for you, Sandor. You’ve made my life so much better just by being in it, so if I can do that for you, even in small ways, I will.”
“Small ways?” He shook his head. “This was huge, baby. I can honestly say no one’s ever done anything so thoughtful for me. I love you, Lennox.”
“I love you too.” My voice was probably a little shaky, because those three words turned my heart inside out. It was so much more emotional than anything I could have imagined and when he kissed me, the passion was tempered by his soulful touch, the way he showed me his heart. Nothing had ever rocked my world like Sandor Gustaffson telling me he loved me, and though our bodies yearned for something more, our hearts kept our kisses lighter, almost chaste, as we let emotion override passion for the first time since we’d met.
“Ah, baby, you’re beautiful.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “I’d love nothing more than to spend the rest of the day making love to you, but we promised we’d take the kids snowmobiling.”
“That’s right.” I moved off his lap. “That’s okay. I’m dying to get out of these shoes and this dress. Jeans and a sweater sound heavenly. I also have to get through that stack of mail Chains sent me.”
“What kind of mail?”
“I had my mail forwarded to the Westfield office address. Just random stuff, like reminders to renew my driver’s license, the occasional bill. Almost everything is paid online now and I don’t have a lot of bills, but you never know. And there was a stack this time, so Axel brought it when everyone got here.”
“Tonight should be mellow,” he said. “We’ll spend a few hours outside the city with the kids and be back by dark, so we can designate tonight sit-by-the-fire-cuddle-and-get-some-work-done night.”
“Sounds perfect.” I pressed my lips to his. “You feel up to a little friendly competition?”
He arched a brow. “A challenge, milady?”
“Absolutely. How about—” I was cut off as Sandor’s phone rang. He glanced down and frowned.
“It’s Erik. Hold that thought.” He picked it up on the second ring. “What’s up? What… Are you sure? Yes, of course, I’ll be right there.” He practically jumped to his feet.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, stepping out of my dress while we talked, instinct telling me something was wrong and I needed to change quickly.
“They can’t find the kids. They’re all gone.”
37
Sandor
I changed into jeans and a Henley, because if there was a problem, I couldn’t do anything in a suit. Lennox changed just as quickly, while I repeated what Erik had told me.
“Casey went looking for the kids, to tell them to get ready to go snowmobiling, and Luke, Leni, the twins, Maddie and Megan were gone. Sasha said last she saw them they were going to play video games, but they’ve checked everywhere and they’re not in the palace.”
“Did they check surveillance at the exits?”
“Joe’s doing that now.”
We both stuffed weapons into our shoulder holsters, pulled on hoodies and ran out, skipping the elevator and taking the stairs down to the ground floor. We raced to the communications center and found Joe shaking his head.
“They left out the back entrance.” He pointed to a monitor where he’d pulled up the video. “Xander’s heading down to talk to the guard at the back gate but the last glimpse I had of them was them walking through the gardens on the south side of the property.”
“What the fuck did they think they were doing?” I demanded. I grabbed my phone and called Luke, but it went right to voicemail.
Erik burst into the room, his eyes wide. “Did you find them?”
“Not yet. Call Leni,” I told him. “She’s attached to you, so she’ll probably answer.”
Erik did as I asked, but when her phone went to voicemail as well, he gave me a look. “Do you think…”
“Don’t say it,” I snapped. “Let’s not panic. They could still be on the grounds. The woods out back are pretty dense, so they may have been playing around and gotten separated, lost…”
“I’ve got men searching,” Joe said. “So far, there’s no sign of them.”
“Fuck.”
“I think they went to town.” Casey came out from behind Erik. “They’ve been complaining about feeling cooped up, like they’re prisoners here.”
“It’s Sunday afternoon,” Erik said. “The Christmas markets are in full force in the center of Hiskale, not to mention the shops. Everything is open because it’s the last weekend before Christmas.”
“We need to split up and scour the area,” I said automatically. “And no, you can’t join us.”
“The fuck I can’t.” Erik narrowed his eyes. “I’m just as skilled as you are at—”
“It’s not about skill, it’s about safety. I can’t protect you if I’m searching for them, and you’re a target, no matter how much you try to pretend you’re not.”
“Fuck.”
Erik and I glared at each other until Casey put her hand on his arm. “He’s right.”
“What if they took the SUV?” Joe suggested. “They can ride with Jonas while they search. With the windows up, no one will know who’s inside. That way they can be nearby when you find them.”
“All right.” I blew out a breath. “I’m taking Lennox, Xander, Logan, Axel and—” I cut off as my phone rang and Mr. Kreshi’s number appeared on the screen. “Mr. Kreshi, what can I do for you?” I was probably a little abrupt, but I didn’t have time for anything else.
“The man.” He was whispering. “He’s here. The man in the picture.”
“Jesus fucking Christ. Thank you.” I disconnected and started to run. “Omar is in the café on the square.”
We took one of the palace SUVs and I broke all kinds of laws as we sped into town. I parked around the corner from the café and we separated. We each went in a different direction so both the front and back of the café would be covered and Axel would be at the wheel of the SUV in case we needed to chase him that way. I was desperate to catch Omar, but even more so now that I was worried about the kids. If Omar had somehow grabbed them… I couldn’t even think about it.
I pulled up the hood of my sweatshirt and kept my head down as I walked on the sidewalk to the café. I didn’t want him to run if he was still there, and there was no way to know. It was busy, people bustling about, but I didn’t see anyone that could be him as I scanned the room. I spotted Mr. Kreshi and hurried to his side.
“He left,” he said quietly. “About five minutes ago. He went north. He was on his phone and seemed agitated about something. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you, my friend. Call me if you see him again.”
I went outside in frustration, letting everyone know what was going on since we had our earpieces in.
“I’m heading toward the Christmas market,” Lennox said in my ear. “Casey thought they might go that way so I’ll start with the southernmost edge and go north.”
“I’ll take the SUV,” Axel responded, “and drive to the north end and head south. We can try to hit them on both sides.”
“I’ll be on foot a few minutes behind Lennox,” Xander said. “On the opposite side of the street.”
“I’m going to take the east side of the street and check every shop,” I added.
“I’ll do the west side,” Logan chimed in.
“Everyone stay in touch,” I said, moving down the street.
The local stores were mobbed with last-minute shoppers. The economy had perked up so people were spending and from what I heard in snippets of conversation, we had tourists. I heard English, French and German, which would’ve been a great thing had I not been scared shitless.
How had this happened? Had the kids been lured away? Didn’t any of the guards question where they were going? Did we really have trait
ors on staff? It was mind-boggling to me and I struggled to make sense of it, but I had to focus. This wasn’t the time to freak out.
Part of me felt guilty because I’d been in a love-induced haze for weeks now, my focus shifting back and forth from my security duties to Lennox, and mostly on her. I’d never done that before and it bothered me that something like this had happened on my watch.
“You need backup?” A voice spoke behind me and I stared at Erik.
“You can’t be here.”
“The fuck I can’t.” He had on a hoodie I’d never seen before—with the Sidewinders logo on it—and a baseball cap on his head. He didn’t look at all like a king and if it hadn’t been so serious, I would have laughed.
“Where’s Casey?” I asked automatically.
“Still in the SUV. Jonas is circling the adjacent block and will be nearby if we need him.”
“Let’s go then.” We picked up the pace and I threw some money at a street vendor selling sweatshirts, yanking off my own and putting the new one on instead. I dropped mine in the trash since I didn’t want to carry it, and we took a sharp left, going down a side street. We came out on the other side and walked down and around to the back of the café, just in case Omar was somehow casing the joint or had sensed we were coming. Or, of course, if a traitor had told him.
“You armed?” I asked Erik.
He smirked. “Seriously? Of course I’m fucking armed.”
“I’d prefer we take him alive, but at this point, I just want him gone.”
“I hear that.”
“Listen to me.” I turned to him. “I understand why you’re here, but you have to think about everything. If something goes wrong, you need to bail and get to safety. You understand?”
Erik gave me a look. “You didn’t leave a dead man on the side of a mountain twelve years ago, so that dead man is never going to leave your side when the chips are down. Now shut the fuck up and let’s find either Omar or the kids.”