Johan gripped the steering wheel, forcing himself to focus on his breathing and not the instinct to pull over and lecture Tracy into next Tuesday for her recklessness. Then again, her recklessness had uncovered things they never would have discovered otherwise. Nothing about the situation they were in was good. They’d set out to find Marina, but the more they looked, the more they stumbled across other things that needed investigating. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Marina was involved in something illegal. He wanted to think she was on the side of the good guys, trying to get to the bottom of things the same way he and Tracy were, but his gut told a different story. Too many details that had seemed random up until that point—Marina’s jewelry collection, the way she insisted a little too loudly that she couldn’t stand Lindqvist, and even the way she’d tried to stop the wedding earlier in the summer—were starting to add up.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Tracy said, her voice much calmer than he felt.

He didn’t trust himself to answer. Instead, he turned a corner and drove down the final street before the palace. It was an effort not to slam his foot on the gas out of frustration.

“Okay, obviously you’re upset,” Tracy went on.

His instinct was to deny it, but he couldn’t. So he continued to keep his mouth shut in a hard line.

“Is it about the things we’ve discovered about your aunt or,” she hesitated, “are you mad at me?”

He clenched his jaw, took a breath to steady his thoughts, then said, “I don’t like where this is all pointing.”

“Ah. So you’re mad at me,” she said with a half grin.

They reached the turn into the palace, which gave him a chance to glance quickly at her, his brow set in a firm line.

“You call it taking unnecessary risks,” she said as if he’d given her a full explanation for his mood, “but I call it doing what needs to be done to get what we need.”

“You could have been hurt,” he muttered, driving down the ramp into the family’s parking area. “Those dogs were bad enough, but what if there had been other security measures? What if Lindqvist had had armed guards patrolling the house?”

“Then we would have seen them and asked what was going on,” she reasoned. “The dogs were unexpected, I’ll give you that. But everything turned out all right in the end, and we discovered more important details about Lindqvist and Marina.”

“But things might not have turned out so well.” Just like they hadn’t turned out so great for Viggo after all his carrying on. Until recently, at least. The way he felt about Tracy echoed how he felt about his brother in an odd way. Probably because, though he hated to admit it, a lot of the things he loved so much about Tracy were things he liked about his brother—her sense of humor, her intelligence, and her daring. The instinct to protect her felt an awful lot like his drive to protect Viggo.

He parked, cut the engine, then turned to her, hoping the dimly-lit parking garage made him look even more serious than he was. “I don’t think I could have lived with myself if something had happened to you,” he admitted.

She blinked and flinched back. “Lived with yourself? It’s not as though you pushed me into doing anything. And you certainly couldn’t have stopped me from doing what I wanted to do.”

He huffed out a breath and rubbed a hand over his face. Again, her words reminded him of Viggo. “You’ve got to know your limits, Tracy. It’s fun when we can work together to solve mysteries—”

“Like Bonnie and Clyde,” she interrupted with a grin.

“No, not like Bonnie and Clyde.” His frown deepened. “They were criminals, and didn’t they end up being shot to death by the police?”

Her expression faltered. “Actually, I don’t remember.”

“I like working with you,” he started again, twisting to face her more fully, “but not if you’re going to keep doing things that have the potential to hurt you.” It irritated him how much he felt like he should have said the same thing to Viggo ages ago.

She let out an incredulous breath, just like Viggo would have. “I’m not some inexperienced, fainting violet, Johan. I’ve been around a few times. I know how to take care of myself.” She opened her door and climbed out of the car, slamming it behind her.

Johan scrambled to catch up to her and walked by her side as they reached the door to the palace. “I’m not saying you’re incapable, just that you need to think before you act.”

“I do think,” she snapped, whirling on him as soon as they were in the brightly lit hallway in the family’s private quarters. “I think about the importance of the information that needs finding and what it will mean to everyone involved.”

“That’s all well and good,” Johan argued, “but I just watched you break into a house, set the alarm off, then nearly get mauled by vicious dogs before just barely escaping. It wasn’t worth the risk.”

“Who do you think you are?” She narrowed her eyes. “My dad?”

Johan flinched. There was something more than just irritation behind the accusation. They’d never talked about her dad, but he sensed he was a big influence in her life. “I’m someone who cares deeply about you and doesn’t want to see you get hurt.”

She snorted and turned away, marching down the hall toward the wing where the reception was taking place. When he caught up to her, without looking at him, she said, “We found out a lot of valuable information by breaking into the Lindqvist house. Marina and Lindqvist are together. They were in Côte D’Ivoire a short time ago. Storm Holdings has dealings in Côte D’Ivoire. Now all we have to figure out is what the connection between it all is. Maybe we should go back to Marina’s apartment and look through her things again.”

Johan grabbed her arm before she could peel off down the side hall that led to Marina’s apartment. “We’re going back to the reception,” he said in no uncertain terms. The way she glared at him made him worry that she would stomp on his feet to get him to let go of her. “Someone else might have information. Mack and Gloria were headed to the police station, after all.”

She let out a breath and relaxed by a hair. “I guess.”

Her answer didn’t put him at ease. “Why is this eating at you so much?”

Her eyes flashed as she said, “Other than the fact that a member of your family who has knowingly tried to stop your mother’s wedding might be connected to the man who kidnapped Dr. Hayes, and who could also be involved in potential illegal activity with a holding company secretly selling illegally drilled oil to African nations?”

“It’s personal.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized there was truth to them. “You’re invested in this investigation because it’s personal to you somehow. Why?”

“I care about your family,” she said, not meeting his eyes.

“Try again.”

She snapped up to meet his eyes with a glare. “It’s your family, and I care about you.”

Of all the times for her to express her feelings like that. He shook his head. “I care about you too, which is why I can’t let you charge around recklessly anymore.” He shifted his weight, letting her go but wanting to reach for her and hold her. “Things between us have been great, Tracy. You feel so right by my side. I don’t want to lose that. I want more of it.”

A sudden guilty look came to her face as she glanced down. “I know. And it’s what I want too.” She peeked up at him. “We haven’t really talked about where things stand between us, have we.”

“No, and I hate to say it, but now is not the time.” They shared quick, weak grins. “We won’t ever get the chance to take this to the next level if you die in some high-speed car chase or fall to your death while searching for a scoop.”

“I’m not searching for scoops,” she said, half irritated, but half deadly serious. “I’m searching for the truth.” She hesitated, then said, “The truth matters to me.”

Again, Johan had the feeling there was much more behind her words. If it weren’t for the ticking clock in the back of his head, he would have set everything else aside, pulled her into his arms, and asked her to tell him what was behind the tension rippling off her. Instead, he said, “Come on, let’s get back to the reception and see what everyone else has found out.”

Tracy relaxed a bit as he took her hand and walked on through the palace halls. The afternoon had worn on in the middle of their search, and when they entered the ballroom, the reception was wrapping up. Late-afternoon sunlight streamed in through the windows. It was easy to spot the cluster of the royal family in the thinning crowd.

“There you are,” his mother said as Johan and Tracy made their way over to them.

“Did you find anything?” Alek asked, still in take-charge mode.

“Yeah,” Johan said. He took a breath to gather his thoughts. “Marina and Lindqvist are definitely still together.”

“Was she over at his house?” his mother asked, her brow raised in shock.

“No,” Tracy told her, “but a lot of her clothes and things were.”

“She must live there at least part of the time,” Johan went on. “Or at least that’s what it looks like.”

“I never noticed,” Marcia said, looking stricken. “I mean, there’s a lot about my father that I don’t know. Our paths didn’t cross much, even when I lived with him. But you’d think I’d have noticed that he had someone else over in his wing of the house with him so much.”

“Don’t give yourself a hard time,” Viggo said, sliding a comforting arm around her shoulder. “You’ve had other things to worry about.”

“There’s a connection between the two of them and Storm Holdings,” Johan went on.

“Storm Holdings?” Dr. Hayes asked, a little louder than Johan was comfortable with. The frown he wore hinted that he’d heard the name before.

“Do you know something about it?” Tracy asked.

He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve definitely heard the name before, but I don’t know anything about them.”

“When have you heard the name?” the queen asked, clutching his arm.

“They’ve been mentioned a few times on the ecology reports I’ve seen.” He jerked straight, blinking as though someone had just shone a light in his eyes. “Wait a minute. They were on the report that I showed to Marina back in March.”

“What did the report say?” Tracy asked, leaning toward him.

She wasn’t the only one. A zip of electricity had rushed through their group. It didn’t matter that the band was still playing or a few inebriated party guests were still having loud conversations nearby. The entire royal family was suddenly focused on Dr. Hayes.

He rubbed his forehead as if trying to jog his memory. “The report was about leakage from oil rigs in the Baltic and North Seas. Most were well within normal bounds—if you can consider any sort of oil leakage normal, which I most certainly don’t. The damage to fish habitats is—”

“Could we discuss the habitats later?” Alek interrupted.

“Oh. Right. Sure.” Dr. Hayes nodded, shaking himself. The queen patted his arm to encourage him to go on. “I took that report to Marina, saying that the government needed to do more to catch and penalize the worst offenders in order to protect the environment. She’s the one who has the power to take care of those things, you know, as your closest advisor.” He smiled at the queen. “At least, she did then. I guess that’s my job now.”

“But what did she do about the report you showed her?” Alek steered him back on track once more.

Dr. Hayes turned to him and shrugged. “Nothing, as far as I know. Which I thought was odd. You’d think she’d care about Aegirian waters and want to protect the nation’s commercial fishing interests, even if she doesn’t care as much about the environment as she should.”

“She does,” Arne said, ever Marina’s defender. “So why would she ignore a report like that?”

“She hasn’t been receptive to any of Dad’s suggestions about the environment,” Cassandra said. “I’ve been hearing about her indifference for years.” She sent her dad a fond look.

“Well, clearly she has something to do with Storm Holdings, considering all the papers we saw in her office,” Tracy said.

The queen and Dr. Hayes, as well as Viggo and Marcia, turned to her in surprise. Johan realized they hadn’t been there for the earlier conversation.

“We found financial statements for Storm Holdings on Marina’s desk,” Johan said. “The company is doing very well selling oil to African nations. I haven’t seen anything about them in the Department of Trade and Commerce, though.”

“Then the company must be in violation of Aegiria’s trade regulations,” his mother said.

Johan nodded. “The company could be illegal.”

“But how can you have an entire illegal company?” Cassandra asked, shaking her head. “Aren’t companies, like, public? Don’t they have to be registered and licensed or incorporated or something?”

“The company itself could be incorporated abroad,” Johan explained. “But all foreign corporations who want to do business in Aegiria have to be registered. Especially something like an oil company drilling in Aegirian waters.”

“Okay, but don’t you guys have records of all the oil rigs in our waters?” Arne asked, still on the defensive. “How can an illegal company drill oil in Aegirian waters and sell it under the table without anyone knowing about it?”

“Is there such a thing as an unregistered oil rig?” Cassandra asked.

“I doubt it,” Johan answered, even as Dr. Hayes tilted his head to the side and frowned as though thinking of something. “The Department of Trade and Commerce keeps a close eye on all of that.”

“It has to be something else, then,” Tracy said, her shoulders slumping. A moment later, she regained her energy and turned to Johan. “If we could just—”

“Lindqvist has escaped.”

The call came from Mack as he and Gloria rushed across the room toward them. The conversation stopped abruptly, and all eyes turned to them. A pair of formally-dressed Aegirian policemen followed several yards behind.

“Lindqvist has escaped,” Mack repeated when he reached the group. “And it looks like Marina helped him.”

“What?” the queen clapped a hand to her chest, gaping in horror. “Marina?”

The policemen caught up to the group. “It’s true, Your Majesty,” one of them said. “Lindqvist escaped from his holding cell, and according to surveillance video, Princess Marina was the one who unlocked the door and escorted him out.”

“She couldn’t,” the queen gasped. “She wouldn’t.” She teared up, and Dr. Hayes pulled her into his arms to comfort her.

Arne was oddly silent, looking stricken and betrayed. The rest of them wore looks of fury and determination.

“That settles it, then, if all her clothes in his closet didn’t settle it already,” Tracy said. “Marina and Lindqvist are definitely still involved.”

“She must be protecting him,” the queen said through sobs. “That’s the only explanation. She wouldn’t help a criminal to escape otherwise. She wouldn’t protect the man who attempted to hurt my Willy if she wasn’t motivated by emotions of her own.”

Part of Johan wanted to believe his mother, but he’d seen too much in the last few hours to accept that explanation without question. Judging by the looks his brothers and their girlfriends were exchanging as his mother went back to crying on Dr. Hayes’s shoulder, none of them believed it either, not even Arne.

“Your Royal Highness.” The second policeman stepped closer to Alek. “We need to stay on top of this. The airport and port authorities need to be alerted and…and so does the public.”

“Can’t it wait?” Arne pleaded. Emma had taken hold of his hand and now looked as though she was ready to hold him back from doing something he would regret.

“It really can’t, Your Highness,” the policeman said. “This is a serious situation.”

“Give us twelve hours, eighteen tops,” Alek said, checking his watch. “It’s just after nine p.m. Give us until nine tomorrow morning to see if we can solve things on our own before alerting the public.”

The policemen winced, exchanging doubtful looks. “We really can’t delay an investigation like this, Your Royal Highness,” the first policeman said.

“I insist,” the queen said, straightening with a sniff. The policemen looked uncertain, but the queen said, “Give my sons until tomorrow morning to locate my sister and her….” She pursed her lips. “I’m sure they can deal with the situation delicately. The royal family might not be able to avoid scandal indefinitely, but at least we can be seen to be taking things into our own hands instead of condoning or supporting my sister in any way.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the policemen said in unison, equally doubtful.

The queen glanced around at her family. “That doesn’t leave you much time. You have to find Marina and try to talk sense into her and get to the bottom of things tonight.”

“We will, mother,” Alek insisted.

“We’ve already searched Lindqvist’s house,” Johan said. He turned to the policemen. “I’m sure there will be more information there that you can uncover.”

“I’ll take you there,” Marcia said. “I’ll help you find anything you need to know.”

“You can search Marina’s apartment too,” Tracy said. “We’ve already found evidence there.”

“We can help with that,” Kristoff said, glancing to Cassandra.

“We’ll check the airport to make sure they haven’t tried to sneak out of the country,” Mack offered.

“And we can check the marina to make sure they don’t take a boat anywhere,” Johan offered.

“And I can try to contact Aunt Marina through a couple other channels I know,” Arne offered, looking more upset and downhearted than anyone but their mother.

“Good.” Alek nodded. “We’ve all got a job to do. I’ll stay at the palace and coordinate our efforts with the police. If Marina and Lindqvist are out there, and they are, we’ll find them before dawn.”

Johan glanced to Tracy. She had a light of excitement in her eyes that turned him on, but that also filled him with dread. He could see it now. She was going to try to pull something, to run off half-cocked and get herself in trouble. Whatever the fire was that drove her to discover the truth, as she’d put it, it would lead to no good. Unless he did something about it.

“Let’s go,” he said, taking her hand and jogging off with her as the entire family set into motion.