Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90855 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90855 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Which is stupid, she told herself. Keeping her out of trouble was why the prince had left her in the first place.
She had to be imagining things.
That was the only explanation—-
Until the day she was about to leave the bookstore and she received a text from an unregistered number.
Don’t act like you’re shocked. There’s a guy in a gray shirt outside the store, and he’s Davos’ man. Don’t let him know you’re on to him. There’s a van across the street. Get in that.
Fawn’s fingers tightened around her phone.
Right.
Don’t look shocked.
How could she do that when she was actually shocked?
Fawn took a deep breath, telling herself it was time to prove to the Prince of Darkness that she could do what was needed in order to remain by his side.
Pushing the door open, she stepped out of the bookstore and in the corner of her eye, she saw the man in gray straighten.
Please God.
She started to cross the street.
The man started to follow.
She tried to walk just a bit faster, and when the man started to quicken his steps as well, panic gripped her as she remembered all the evil things that the Greek tycoon was capable of.
Beatrice Crichton beaten to an inch of her life—-
Nick Christakos raped—-
Keanne Summer almost kidnapped—-
Fawn broke into a run.
The back doors of the van flung open, and a woman reached out to her, crying out, “Come quickly!”
Oh, thank God!
As she reached for the woman’s hand, she heard the man behind her shout anxiously, “Angel!”
What?
Fawn’s head snapped back, unable to believe she had heard the man use the prince’s name for her. At the same time, the other woman hauled her inside while her companion jumped out, pointing a gun straight at the other guy.
A shot rang out.
Fawn screamed.
The last thing she saw just before the killer pulled the doors of the van shut was the man in gray falling to the ground.
The woman in front of her clucked her lips. “You probably know by now, but just in case shock’s stopped your brain from working – that man we shot was your security from Reid Chalkias.” Crazy black eyes laughed at her. “And I’m Tic Tac Toe, the person Davos hired to play with you.”
****
When the private jet owned by the prince’s family landed in Miami, the prince immediately received word that Igor, who had flown in a few days earlier, wished to come aboard.
Sensing that something was amiss, the prince gave his permission and remained in the jet, waiting for his right-hand man to join him.
“Anything wrong?” Payton Malcolm asked grimly as he came to stand beside his son.
“I’m not certain,” the prince said reluctantly.
When Igor was aboard, the prince only had to take one look at the older man’s face—-
“No.”
The prince staggered back.
“What’s wrong?” Payton swiftly caught hold of his son’s shoulders just as his wife rose out of her seat and rushed to the prince’s side.
Seeing the way her son’s face had whitened, Enid demanded anxiously of Igor, “What is it?”
“It’s a...friend of your son, milady.” Igor’s face was stoic, but his voice was heavy and strained. “She’s been abducted.”
The prince sucked in his breath.
Abducted.
He strove for calm, knowing that he would be of no use to Fawn if he went berserk.
“The GPS trackers?” he heard himself ask. The day Fawn had become his lover, the prince had several secretly installed on her belongings: one on her phone, another on her engagement ring, her favorite school bag, her favorite shoes – all the things that she frequently used.
“We’ve already started tracking.”
“Good.” He swallowed. “Everything should proceed as planned.”
A moment of silence, and then Igor asked tensely, “Even the parties, sir?”
“Even the parties.” The prince nodded jerkily. “Everything should proceed as planned.” The parties, the women, all of it had been planned to make Abraxas Davos think twice about his involvement in Beatrice Crichton’s disappearance—-
And now he had another reason to do them.
“Hire all the women you can for tonight. I want to make it seem like I’m partying so fucking hard they won’t be able to reach me—-” His lips twisted. “As long as they’re unable to tell me she’s under threat, they won’t have any choice but to keep her alive.”
Igor’s frown eased a little. “Understood, sir.”
“That should give you and your men enough time to track her down.”
When Igor left, the prince looked at his parents.
“It’s unlike you to not help in the search,” Payton said quietly.
The prince’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “This is how I’m helping, Father. The moment they’re able to contact me—-”
If something happened to Fawn—-
“Oh, sweetheart.”
The prince broke down, and Enid’s own tears ran down her face.
Reid might be strong and powerful now, but he was and would always be her son, and it broke her heart to see him in so much pain.
“So many people have already died because of me, Mother,” the prince said dully. “If I lose her, too—-”