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Toro, Bergia
Saturday, 30 January, 6:49 p.m.
––––––––
My stomach growled. "Do you think we can order takeout? I'm hungry."
Aidan grabbed my shoulders and pulled me against him. He lowered his mouth to mine. For a moment I forgot we were being watched and what my question was. My boss released his hold on me. "Liam, check the kitchen. We're in for a late night."
I floated towards my laptop. No further activity at Ragnar's fortress. Over the centuries, it withstood many enemy attacks. Lucky for us, we weren't trying to get in with arrows and swords.
"Piotr, Dietrich, whatever, tell me what your daddy did to make your mommy hate him?" I tried again. One day curiosity might put me in danger. I checked his restraints and added another pair of flex cuffs. "Ylva, you can feed him."
Her eyes narrowed when she looked at her lover. "He can eat with his hands behind his back. He destroyed our plan. I told you, let him kill thirty people and then leave evidence."
The device translated the ensuing conversation.
"I grew tired of you and playing this game of yours. You're a despicable woman. I couldn't take faking a relationship with you anymore. While we're on the subject, Ragnar is even more self-involved than you are. He loves talking as if he has been in war or faced real danger."
Piotr turned to me and said in English, "You'll find him hiding in the dungeons. Mark my words, as soon as the first bullet exits a barrel, the prince will hide like the coward he is. Couldn't even take someone's life by getting his precious hands dirty. Look at the way he kills; like a woman."
My offence must've shown; he apologised and continued. "All because Astrid told him he doesn't deserve to be king. Let's not forget when she told him no woman will ever want him. For a royal notch in their belts or the crown yes, but not as a man because he isn't interesting, educated, successful, or brave like Szymon had been by going to war."
"That explains a lot." Oh, the damage parents do to their children. Whether or not intentional.
Liam handed me a plate of leftover lasagne. I ate enough to quiet my stomach's whale call, but not too much to make me sleepy. I had a prince to slay. Everyone else ate in silence. I ended up feeding Piotr. I'm not a monster, and a well-fed prisoner lasts longer.
Szymon placed his plate on the coffee table. "This isn't the life I envisioned growing up. You're right, I should've done more."
Aidan placed a hand under his plate and lifted it to his shoulder. I grabbed his arm. "No, dude. The new queen will end up scrubbing the sauce out of the carpet. Do you want to lose your head?"
My husband lowered the plate.
"I told you she's beautiful, Szymon." Liam bumped his shoulder against mine. "Too bad she won't sleep in your bed."
Marika said something in Russian and Szymon answered her before Liam could. They both laughed. I glanced at Aidan, my full stomach in my throat. What if she turned into a Stein? With her skills we would spend the rest of our lives searching for body parts. Aidan winked and my nausea settled.
Rowan took the plate from my hand. He devoured the remaining lasagne. "My work here is done. Time to tie up the king and princess. Marika, you take it from here. Jay will arrive soon. Sorry, Piotr, Ivana won't be joining you tonight. I tell you what, let's make this interesting. Szymon, how would you like a front-row seat to your son's execution?"
I liked Rowan's way of thinking. Szymon's lack of a more paternal response upon hearing his son is a serial killer, and his daughter a master manipulator, bothered me. Although he asked us not to make them suffer, but it didn't sit right with me. It's not the way a loving parent would react. If someone threatened Ainsley, I'll tear them apart using nothing but my hands and teeth. I'll rather be tortured to death than see my daughter hurt.
"Szymon, I have questions for Ragnar. If he isn't forthcoming with the truth, I have no option but to make him talk. You think you saw stuff during the war, it's nothing compared to what I'm going to do to the person responsible for the deaths of twenty-five innocent people. Victim number twenty-six survived because of Piotr." Another thing which kept me perched on the fence. I hated not knowing which way I would fall when it came to him.
The king stared at all of us. "I knew this day would come. What Mikolaj did left a trail. Too many people were involved. As for Ragnar, growing up he spent more time with Mikolaj than with me. If I hadn't tried to play hero by going to the war..."
I waited; he didn't continue. "Mikolaj groomed all of you to one day take over the true depravity of the crown, didn't he?"
Szymon nodded. "I got away by going to university in Munich, then joining the army, and the war. My greatest regret is that I had trusted Mikolaj when he promised not to expose Ragnar to his dark ways before Ragnar's eighteenth birthday. I had hoped by then my son would be far away from Bergia, and Mikolaj."
Dark ways? Eighteen? Rage coiled inside me and as I leapt forward with my hands extended, ready to throttle the life out of him, Aidan grabbed me by the waist. "Let me go."
"Stand down, that's an order."
"He knew what Mikolaj would subject his son too. He didn't stop it. Ragnar could've gone to boarding school in far far away land. Nothing! What kind of father allows a paedophile access to his children, knowing that Ylva would be raped, and Ragnar groomed into being just as deprived as Mikolaj?"
Ylva laughed, the sound bitter and filled with contempt. "My father tried. Ragnar got on a train and came back. What you don't realise, although Ragnar isn't a rapist and hated Mikolaj as much as I do, Ragnar fed on the fear of the victims. He loved it. After he told me I stopped screaming. I stopped fighting and I would just lay there with my eyes closed and wait for whoever to be done."
Bile rose in my throat and I allowed myself to feel empathy for the young girl Ylva had once been. "Ragnar watched?"
Ylva nodded. "When he went to university he kept flunking out because hosting extravagant sex parties was more important than learning anything which would better equip him to run this country. Don't you understand? Everything I did is for the people of Bergia."
I placed my hands at my sides; the empathy evaporated. "Twenty-five people didn't have to die for you to make a point. Instead of getting Piotr to help Ragnar murder innocent people, you could've killed your brother. You play this game very well, princess, but not good enough."
Szymon's eyes fixed on me as I moved around the room. Perhaps he worried I would defy Commander Walker's earlier order. "Your Highness, you knew what your son is capable of, yet you chose not to protect anyone against him. You're as despicable as your forefathers, Szymon. No amount of bravery on the battlefield can ever overshadow the veiled evil inside you." I tapped a finger to my mouth. "No, let me rephrase: you're a coward. A true ruler won't let anything, or anyone, stand in the way of doing what's right. You'll watch when I make your son bleed and Marika will cut your throat if you as much as breathe wrong. All the presidents of your neighbouring countries are ready to take over Bergia. If you think about it, there's no need for kings and queens when people can elect their own leaders. In case you haven't heard the word before – democracy. It's not perfect, but it's better than what your family has done for the people of this country. Tonight, we'll right the wrongs of the Steins."
The front door opened and Jay walked in, while Rowan and Liam tied up the king and princess.
I glanced at Piotr, defeat visible in his eyes. "I'm sorry you won't get your revenge."
"Let me go with you, I can help. You're outmanned, outgunned, and you don't know the layout of the castle. Take me with you. I'll show you where Ragnar will hide."
"No can do, desert-man. You and mommy have your own mission and I won't let it interfere with ours. To be frank, I don't trust you. Let's not forget you helped murder twenty-five people."
Aidan repositioned his thigh holster as he came to his feet. "You're the head of the Neo-BSS. The twenty plus individuals at Ragnar's castle are under your command. Sorry, son, but you're not going anywhere. You recruited them, trained them, taught them everything Ivar, Ivana and your years in the Wojska Specjalne taught you. Your adoptive parents gave you an out, an alternative life to the one Ivana indoctrinated you with. You made your choices, Piotr, and you'll carry the consequences."
"Neo-BSS?" Szymon asked, and I was grateful he did as I didn't have a clue what Aidan referred to.
Aidan let out a deep breath. "Szymon, in order to govern a country, one must know everything, anticipate anything. If you hadn't assassinated the BSS, you would know about the Neo-BSS's existence. You command an army and a police force, yet you never considered forming a new secret service. Perhaps the best thing I can do for the people of Bergia is to put a bullet in your head. You're incompetent, spineless, and as self-involved as every other member of your family. It sounds to me Katja was the only person worthy of being in a position of power. Why didn't you investigate her death? You could've exhumed her body and proved she didn't die from natural causes."
I slipped my hand into Aidan's. "Are you sure we shouldn't borrow a tank from Szymon's army? It will make it easier getting into Ragnar's fortress of perversion."
"We discussed this. Your plan B isn't mine." Aidan pressed his lips to my hair.
Ylva shook her head. "How can you people be so calm when you're about to die?"
"We're all about to die if you want to get philosophical about it. Don't worry about us, princess. We're not the ones who will die tonight." Aidan placed his arm around my shoulder. "Szymon, old friend, if your name comes up even once as we keep digging into the paedophile ring, I promise to come visit you again. I don't care about any political or international fallout. What we did to Max Jefferson, aka Oleg Petrov, will look like a children's birthday party compared to what I'll do to you."
I wrapped my arms around my husband's neck and stared up at him. "Dude, you just used one of my sayings. How is it even possible to love you more than I already do?"
"Wait until you hear what I plan for phase two."
Before we left, Ylva asked to speak to me in private. I refused to be alone in a room with her, on account of how badly I wanted to snap her neck. After she pouted for a full minute, she told me the true depth of the relationship between Mikolaj and his grandson.