This is hardly how I wanted to spend the evening. Sebastian and I were going over the books for the charity, making sure we’d found all the missing spots in Tressel’s accounting. “You know I’d rather do something else right now, right?”

Sebastian chuckled. “Yeah, me too, but this has to happen. If we want to put an end to Tressel once and for all, we need to settle the accounts for all of it. Blake Security’s forensic accountant is working on it as well, but I want you and me to have a full understanding. I don’t want things to get this far out of hand again, trusting the wrong people. I trust you.”

What the hell was that in my chest? That tightening, the warmth? It’s called love. I nodded. “Yeah, good point.” My phone rang, and a quick glance had me smiling. I picked it up. “Sweetheart.”

I ignored Sebastian mimicking me from his desk. “I thought you were with Jinx. Are you back in the palace?”

Because if she was back at the palace, then I was ditching Sebastian. I’d spent enough time away from Bryna, so if she wanted to hang, we were going to hang.

When Bryna spoke, her voice was shaking. “Lucas, you have to come. He’s here and he says he’s going to hurt Jinx, and—"

“Bryna? What are you talking about? Who’s there?” The moment the words were out of my mouth, the pit dropped out of my stomach. Oh hell, he’d found her. Sebastian stood immediately, pulled out his phone and began talking to someone. “Bryna, is it Tony?”

“Yes. He said if you don’t come—"

“I’m on my way. Stay calm. I’m coming for you.”

“No, don’t. It’s a trap. He wants to—"

It seemed the phone had been yanked out of Bryna’s hand. “My boy. Like your little girlfriend said, I will kill her.”

Fuck. “Tony, you bastard. You lay a hand on her, and I will kill you.”

“Kid, you’ve been threatening to kill me since you were sixteen. Did she forget to mention that I have her little friend too? Pretty blond, short hair, nice rack.”

Oh God, he had them both.

“You have an hour. I want my money kid. As a matter of fact, I want that royal money. I know who you are, and I want what you’ve owed to me all these years. Five million. Wired account. Or your girlfriend and her pretty roommate die. One hour. I see cops, I kill them. You fuck with me, I kill them. Hurry up kid. Clock’s ticking.” Then he hung up.

I stared at Sebastian. “He wants five million or Jinx and Bryna—" I couldn’t even finish the thought. My stomach churned, my head spun, and I couldn’t get enough air. I had to get to her.

The muscle in Sebastian’s jaw ticked. “Stay calm. I already have the Royal Guards on the way to the house. Police as well.”

Was he insane? “No. He said no cops.”

“These men are very good. He won’t see them.”

“Sebastian, that is my—"

“Your what?”

“It’s the woman I love. If something happens to her, I won’t—"

“Nothing is going to happen to her. This time, you’re going to have to trust me. In the meantime, I’ll have the bankers start working on funds. I’ll call Willy.”

“You’re going to pay him? He’ll just come back for more. He’ll threaten everything. This, this is what I was afraid of.”

“And this is what I’ve been preparing for. Together, we’ll fight this. Stay here. I’ll go talk to Ethan and see if we can mobilize rapid response too. They aren’t under purview of the Royal Guard but we can call in a favor. Basically, they’re like SWAT. We’ll get them out unhurt. I promise you.”

He took off running and left me in his office, as if I was going to sit there and let someone else go deal with it. Oh no. Bryna was in danger, and that meant I was going to her. It didn’t matter what it cost me.

My heart pumped erratically as I swerved and skidded on the streets of Pacifica. The roads were familiar now. I’d driven there dozens of times, coming to see Bryna, picking her up and taking her back to the palace. I just had to get to her, and quickly.

When I reached her apartment, I didn’t even bother with finessing into a parking spot. I just went ahead and parked in the fire lane. It was a parking violation, but I had royal plates. I could park wherever I wanted, and I figured this constituted a freaking emergency. I took the stairs two at a time. As I reached her unit, I started banging on the door. Inside, I could hear Tony shouting. “You need to back away from the door. Back away, or I will start shooting.”

I panted as panic started to take over the adrenaline. Overflowing. Overtaking rational thought.

“Look, you’re here for me. The money is coming. It’s being wired as we speak. And with me as a hostage, you’re guaranteed a way out of here. If anything happens to her or Jinx, you’ve got a one-way ticket to the dungeons.”

Inside I could hear Jinx say, “See, I told you there were dungeons.”

And then I heard a thud of some sort. Oh God. “Hey, don’t get nasty. You want me, it only works if they’re unharmed.” I said a million prayers to every deity I could think of that I wasn’t even sure I believed in. All I cared about was Bryna being okay. Safe. Unhurt. I’d always known my past would come back to haunt me. I just hadn’t thought it would be like this. I’d done everything in my power to avoid her paying the cost, but maybe it hadn’t been enough. “Come on, what do you say? I’m the one you want anyway. What better bargaining chip is there than an actual prince?”

“Lucas, don’t you dare.”

Bryna’s voice was muffled by the door, but I knew that there was no way she wanted me sacrificing myself to save them.

“Yeah, I know. But, better you safe than anything else.”

Tony yanked the door open, gun raised and pointed. He did a quick sweep of the hallway and made sure that no one else was with me.

“You came alone?”

“You said I had an hour. I’m buying you time by giving you me as a bargaining chip. With me as your hostage, they’ll have to comply. They are obligated to. No BS, no nonsense. I’m the prince. They’ll have to give you what you want.”

Inside, I could see Bryna. She was shaking her head. Tugging furiously at the ropes on her wrist. I shook my head at her. “Bryna, relax. I know what I’m doing.”

“Stop it, doofus, he’s just going to kill you.”

“Yeah well, if you’re safe, that’s all that matters.”

Okay, that was meant to calm her down, but it had the exact opposite effect because she just stomped harder. She and Jinx. Except, Jinx had a—what was it? Was it a knife? She inclined her head at me, and I could see that she was almost free.

Okay, so no matter what I did, she’d get Bryna out of there.

“You want to be free, take me. Walk away. Leave this place. You can go wherever you want and wait for your money.”

“I swear to God Lucas, if you do this…”

I ignored her and shook my head. I kept my gaze on my stepfather. “What do you say? Offer expires in thirty seconds.”

He glanced at me and glanced back to the girls. And then with his gun pointed at me, he stepped out and closed the door behind him. “Okay. Let’s go.”

I could no longer see Bryna, but they should be safe. Jinx would be free in seconds, and they would get to safety. I just hoped that my brother was able to get his people to her. Tony and I were ending this once and for all. And it wouldn’t be at Bryna’s expense.

He led me down the stairs and around the back of the building. The pit fell out of my stomach when I saw the dingy Oldsmobile. I knew what he’d want.

“You know the drill, kid. Get in.”

“You really think this is necessary?” The trunk of the car was always his favorite way to transport me from job to job so no one would ever see us together.

“No, but this shit is fun for me.” He handed me a black bag. “Now put this on.”

Thirty minutes and a mild panic attack later, the car stopped. I could hear the trunk of the car opening. There was a familiar sound too. The ocean. We were on an island so that wasn’t’ a surprise. The surprise was how close it sounded. Through the bag, I could smell the saltwater.

Tony yanked on my arm. “Come on asshole. Gotta stash your sorry ass so no one knows where to find you.”

I ripped the bag off my head. “Fuck you.”

He laughed as he shoved me toward the caves near Jack’s beach. That was the reason I’d heard the water. We were on the cave cliffs above the beach. Just one problem; The beach in this area was mostly secluded thanks to warning signs and barricades on the road warning about unstable rocks in the caves, so no one would happen by us.

Rumors were that the caves had been pirate hangouts back in the day. Get your shit together. Figure a way out. Bryna will be safe by now.

“You know kid, you always were an idiot. With them, I would have settled for the money. Now that I have you, I want the money and your head.”

“You can have whatever you want.” I put up my hands. “As long as she’s safe.”

He rolled his eyes. “God, it’s like I never taught you anything. Never ever fall in love with the mark.”

“And that’s what you don’t get. Bryna was never a mark.”

I gave him my dangerous smirk then delivered a jab to his nose before struggling with him, the two of us eventually tumbling from the cliff and landing in the water.