Erik
I’d always loved Monte Carlo, but today I hated it. My wedding day. The day I was breaking the heart of the woman I loved. I was halfway across the world from her, and Sandor had undoubtedly gone to her and given her my gift and the letter by now. It was four in the morning here, but I’d been up all night, and since Las Vegas was nine hours behind us, it was still my fucking wedding day there.
I itched to reach out, call my father or Nick or even Sandor, anyone who knew what was going on, but that wouldn’t get me anything. It was done. I’d made the hardest decision of my life to protect my woman and my unborn child, and now I had to live with it.
I twirled the empty snifter of brandy in my right hand absently, just for something to do, and heard movement behind me.
“Brooding isn’t going to help,” Daniil said. “You’ve done what’s necessary.”
“Knowing I did the right thing doesn’t help either.”
“It should.” Daniil sat across from me. He was still pale and bruised but on the mend. We were staying here at the Charleston in Monte Carlo, in Liz’s private suites. She was in Vegas for the wedding, of course, hiding her own involvement in what I was doing. She’d hated being a part of it, but as a CIA operative, she understood what I was doing and why. She had to go, though, even if it was just for perception. She and Casey were friends, and her presence was expected. She’d been pissed when she left, but we were safe and sequestered in the hotel. It wasn’t open for business, and since her private suite was finished, workers didn’t wander up to this floor. She’d left us well-stocked with food and water, and we had an internet connection, so here we sat in our luxurious prison.
“Erik?” Daniil spoke my name and I realized I’d dozed off. I was going on no sleep for almost forty-eight hours and my body was demanding I rest.
“I guess I’m going to take a nap,” I said, getting to my feet. “Will you be all right on your own?”
“I’m fine.” He waved me off.
I woke to someone shaking me and I rolled over in frustration. “What is it?” I hissed, trying to focus.
“You’ve been asleep all day.” Daniil looked down at me. “And we have company.”
I sat up and stared at Sandor, who looked rougher than I felt. “Hey. You’re back. What’s going on?”
“She’s pissed.” He dug something out of his pocket and tossed it at me.
I raised a hand to catch it instinctively and winced when I realized what it was. Her ring. Fuck. She’d given him the ring and told him to bring it back to me. Not to my father, whom it truly belonged to, but to me. Yeah, my little vixen was more than pissed.
“We did this for a reason.”
“She doesn’t care. She says she’d rather be dead than live without you.”
“She’s hormonal and hurt,” I said, trying to make light of her emotions. I didn’t, I never would, but I had to pretend in front of Sandor and Daniil.
“She’s hurt, upset.”
“What about the guitar?” I asked. “Did she like it?”
“She was in tears, so I’m guessing yes.”
“Sonofabitch.”
“You did this to protect her. It’s not like you don’t love her.”
“I fucking worship her,” I muttered, rubbing my hands down my face. This was such a clusterfuck. I wanted to fly straight to Limaj and pound my fist into Anwar’s smug face over and over until there was nothing left but a bloody pulp. I could almost feel the blood oozing onto my hands as I hit him, see the skin of his face splitting as I continued to hit him. It was a satisfying fantasy, but not satisfying enough and I got to my feet in frustration.
“She said she wants to fight together, that leaving her alone isn’t what you promised.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I demanded.
“Because she shoved this ring in my chest and glared at me until I promised I would,” Sandor growled back.
We glared at each other until I finally backed down because arguing served no purpose. This wasn’t either of our faults, but somehow, I was the one in Anwar’s crosshairs. Deep down, I knew it was because I was the only one who could take the throne from him and he obviously knew it too.
“What are you thinking?” Sandor asked finally.
“Get Nick on the phone for me, will you?” I finally asked. “I need to know if she’s okay.”
He nodded and got on the phone, handing it to me a minute later.
“She’s hanging on by a thread,” Nick said when he answered. “The press is having a field day with this bullshit.”
“As we intended.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know about the wisdom of leaving her at the altar. I mean, she knows you didn’t dump her, but the rest of the world doesn’t, and the headlines are pretty ugly.”
“The uglier the headlines, the more believable it will be to Anwar.” I’d said that to myself repeatedly as we’d planned this, because I hated what I was doing to her.
“Yeah, well, she’s furious, pregnant, and hurting.” Nick sounded frustrated. “And she doesn’t want to talk to me at all.”
“You have to make her.”
“I will eventually, but right now she’s holed up at her dad’s house not talking to anyone.”
I was upset about the whole situation, but that was so like Casey I couldn’t help but smile. She really was a fiery little dragon. “Keep me posted, would you?”
“Of course.”
I put the phone down and looked at Sandor. “Why don’t you go get some rest? I have phone calls to make.”
“Call Casey,” Sandor muttered, leaving the room.
“I agree,” Daniil called over his shoulder.
“You guys are not helpful,” I yelled after them. I didn’t know what to do. I’d done the right thing, I was sure of it, but Casey had taken the anger path instead of the heartbroken one, and I hadn’t anticipated that. With her hormones out of control and a full house at the wedding, I’d figured she’d fall apart. That had been dumb on my part. The woman I loved was no shrinking violet, which made everything that much harder.
My Casey, the love of my life, would not give up on us so easily. Our love wasn’t a fleeting affair or a casual tryst; we were soulmates, the loves of each other’s lives. She would fight for me. For us. For our child. It was the most beautiful thing in the world, but also the most dangerous. Why didn’t she understand that? Anwar was ruthless and wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. As it was, I was worried about him getting to Skye, and who knew what Omar would do if he did. Seeing him at the ball had been jarring and caught all of us by surprise. Casey had to know how dangerous this was.
The best solution would be to eliminate Anwar, but that was no easy feat. I would need an army, probably the whole military, and the support of people who were probably very confused right now. Even if it was possible, it wasn’t a quick fix. I didn’t have a plan, the finances, or the backing to forge a coup like that, even with my father’s help.
I was truly at a loss and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.