Chapter 12
Rand waited until the door shut behind partner name. “I’m not sure why you’re up here.”
“I needed a little air. Turns out I’m a prisoner.”
Rand gritted his teeth. “Not a prisoner certainly.” But he knew she was correct. He nodded. And it was likely they could be heard.
“Mr. Goldstein was kind enough to show me how I could find some fresh air. I was starting to panic a little bit when I realized I cannot leave.”
He nodded.
She motioned him to come stand beside her and she lifted her phone. Then she showed him while she deleted their texting conversation.
He nodded and did the same. So she had hid the fact that they knew each other. That was probably for the best. He tapped his ear and she nodded.
So he began the most benign conversation he thought he’d ever have with Coral. But she played along and after a moment, it was a game to see how it would be possible to talk about the most boring things alive. “And so I really think it might be useful to harvest more slugs. They might seem a pest to most plants.”
“And incredibly ugly.”
“Yes, that. And also possibly useless in general. But surely this world should have more of them.”
“It’s a cause I’m happy you can get behind.”
“Have you ever considered the amount of time it takes for a windshield wiper to need to be replaced?”
“You know, I never have. I can’t believe it, but it’s true.”
“You must consider usage naturally not just passage of time. It comes down to how many wipes.”
“And is it perhaps related to speed of wiping? And frequency?” She let her hand run down his arm with the barest touch. He caught her fingers when they passed his and snatched them up for a squeeze before letting them go.
“It must be. I’m certain. I think these statistics should be published. It very well could influence my decision to buy a car.”
“I can see why. No one wants to be without a fully functional wiper in the middle of a rain storm.”
“Exactly.” Rand nodded and then checked his watch.
Coral nodded. “So, I think I’m feeling much better. Should we go down for some of those scones you purchased?”
“Yes. They really are my favorite local faire.”
“Then I can’t wait to try them.”
He led the way and then held open the door for her. As she passed, he rested a hand on her hip.
She looked like she wished to turn to him for another hug, but kept walking instead.
When they entered the conference room again, many of the attorneys were already gone. But those present eyed the two of them with interest. Rand would need to stifle those interested thoughts. Neither of them wanted to deal with complications that they could easily avoid. And if Coral had denied any closeness to him, that added something further to be aware of. His law firm in the course of a couple hours had become more than just something he was frustrated by in their stifling of his assisting certain clients. They were now something that he hesitated to fully trust. Or at least he now felt inclined to hide things from them. One did not easily hide things from a law firm, particularly not Goldstein and Smithson. But Coral had set him on this path, not even Coral, the circumstance they found themselves and the odd manner in which it had been handled had set him on a path to at least get some answers before he made solid decisions about his law firm.
And he could not forget, Coral had details about Muskanza. Details he had already wanted to try and discover and now she alluded to the fact that they might be related to the situation.
He and Coral were both interviewed by security. In Rand’s case, they were very interested to know why he had made his way down to Coral’s office. Hopefully she would continue to deny knowledge of why he had gone there. He told them that he had heard the shots being fired from that direction, which is absolutely true and had headed that way. He ducked inside an office when he wasn’t sure he would be undetected. And he was happy he did because she was in need of comfort, all by herself. He told them that he had seen first-hand how the royals’ security details protected them and that this was probably the first time Coral had been in danger without specific assistance. He was glad he had found her.
They seemed to be inclined to believe him. It was all true. So they should. He had just left out the part about her finding his number and texting him. Because she had. But even that detail could have been included. She’d overcomplicated things. Perhaps.
He declined an emotional support therapy session though Coral had not been given the option to decline.
So he found himself back in his office after a very long and strange day. With piles of work still to do, he grabbed an extra laptop and some of his files. He could work from home, or Coral’s home. Had she moved in yet? Perhaps he should have been inviting her to his home.
He stalled as long as he could, hoping to run into Coral, but she had not yet exited out of the conference room. So he found his way to his car as slowly as possible. It felt like a desertion to leave her in there. But at least the doors were open. She could leave. And perhaps the therapy would be good for her.
His car started up, and he was about to look behind him to back up when Coral hurried out into the parking garage. She looked flustered and unhappy and was searching the garage. He rolled down a window and lifted a hand.
She waved back but ignored him. Then a black sedan pulled up, the kind used by foreign diplomats. He was about to leap from his car and run to shield her. Because those kinds of cars were also used by many other types of people.
But she waved and smiled inside the car, hopped in and they drove off without another look in his direction.
He frowned. And then he pulled out his phone. “Everything alright?” The text he sent might have seemed innocuous to most, even to Coral, but he was partially panicked while waiting for her response. Where was she going? Was she leaving? Heading back home? Were her parents forcing her? Did she need him? Too many thoughts raced through his mind and he had to speed out of the garage before he started to drive himself crazy.
He went home, worked out, changed, collected his things, and still no contact or response from Coral. He had no idea where she lived, no plan or ability to see her tonight unless she responded. It was getting late, approaching half past eight. He ordered the takeout he was planning to bring, had it delivered to his house and then opened up his laptop, prepared to at least get some work done.
Forty minutes later, the food was arriving and he at last got a text.
“I’m on a new phone. Dinner? Meet me here. Last month was magical. Last night even better.”
Then she texted a shark emoji with an address.
He looked it up. A home in a safe neighborhood. He was pretty sure this was Coral and either way, he’d go. “I’ll be there with Thai.”
“Mm. You read my mind.”
He drove slower than he wanted to. He’d suddenly become super paranoid and wondered if people following him would think something was odd if he raced over to a woman’s house. It would be good for Rand to get back to work, in his normal office, doing his typical clients. At least without the high-profile ones, there was very little drama in his daily interactions.
But as he pulled up to the house and the security detail in front was obvious as well as cars around back, he suspected his life wouldn’t be any degree of normal any time soon, at least not that evening.
Two huge muscular men in street clothes answered the door, looked him over and waited. He handed them his ID. “I’m here to see Coral.”
One looked at him twice comparing to his license and then let him in.
Coral called from a front room. “I’m in here.”
The house was charming. It had a foreign feel but was clearly decorated from American stores. Everything about it screamed safe house to Rand. He’d spent enough time in them overseas. Though he’d never seen one in America.
He wondered who owned this one? Coral’s family or some contact in the US?
He found her in sweats, with a pillow in her lap and her laptop open on top. “Did you bring work? Because I’m already swamped with a huge caseload.” She grinned.
“Happy to see you’re feeling better.”
“A bit, yes. And as you can see, father has taken it all into his own hands.”
“I’m happy to see it.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” She handed him a phone. “I’m not allowed to text you anything important unless you’re using this phone.”
He took it, pocked it. “Wow, I suddenly feel very James Bond.”
“Now you’re feeling James Bond? Not a few days ago, or this morning?”
“Well, then too, but I’ve just been officially handed a clean phone I’m assuming.”
“You have. Though no guarantee my father doesn’t read it.”
“What?”
“Kidding. He stopped doing that when I turned twenty.”
Rand half laughed. Then he sat down beside her. “What happened in there today?”
“It was like a scene from an old Communist movie or something. I don’t even know what I think yet. But they had security guys monitoring even my therapy session.”
“Oh I bet that was really relaxing.”
“Totally. Like you know I’m not baring my soul to some thick man in a suit who has an earpiece. It was just weird in every way. But they got my quote stating that I am perfectly sound and will not be having any other issues regarding this particular happening.”
“Ah, so this was all to cover their back.” Something about that was oddly relieving to Rand. “At least that sounds like a normal law firm type thing to do.”
“And not something out of a Tom Cruise movie?”
“Exactly.”
“It might be totally unrelated to the firm. I’ve been talking to the guys. And they don’t see any correlation yet.” She shifted her laptop. “Maybe I just need a week with nothing happening.” The laptop showed a paparazzi type buzz channel with lots of pictures of Coral. Entering the Palisades, in the car entering the front gate of Nico’s property. And one, he zoomed in on. “What is this?”
“Oh, that’s just you and me.” She sighed. “But you can’t tell it’s you.”
He rotated his shoulders. “And this happens to you? Every time you leave the house?”
“Well, not every time. No one has any public idea I’m here in America. And they didn’t see me at the hotel I was resting at on the same island. There are ways.”
He turned the laptop back in her direction and lifted his out.
“Hey, I’m sorry you’re dragging into my public affairs.”
“Oh, that? No big. Like you said, they can’t see me.”
Coral pointed to something behind Rand. “No, but now we get to have this conversation.”
An eccentric looking man sat down on a sofa across from them. His hair was bald except for the longer part on top which he had died one streak a bright white tinged in purple.
Rand crossed an ankle over onto his knee. “Excellent. It’s been a long day of conversations. Let’s get this one going.”
Coral laughed at him. And he shifted so that their shoulders were touching.
“This is Frederick. He’s someone who works with our family and helps manage some of our public relations here in the United States. As you can imagine there aren’t many times when we have PR crises over here but it’s been known to happen. And he wanted to make sure we both understand some of the rules going forward.”
“Rules?”
Coral widened her eyes for a brief moment and then nodded.
“Excellent.” Rand turned to Frederick. “Good to meet you. I’m Rand McCarthy.”
“Yes. Don’t worry about doing too much by way of introduction, we’ve done a thorough background check.”
“How thorough?”
“We know everything, even the name of your bear you slept with.”
“I…”
Frederick raised his eyebrow. And then Rand dipped his head. “Pookie Bear is free game I guess.”
Coral rested her forehead on her hand.
Rand picked up her hand and laced his fingers with hers. “So, what do you need to know?”
“It’s more a matter of what you need to know.” Frederick cleared his throat. “We’re going to need to monitor Coral’s activity carefully. We need to be aware of all public appearances and follow her private actions as well. She will have a detail with her all the time. But the king has agreed to make them invisible. The longer she can live here and no one knows she’s here, the better. That being said, we don’t want people discovering her. Is that clear?”
“Yes. I understand.”
When Frederick didn’t look convinced, Rand continued. “I don’t have anything to gain from her being seen or known and followed by a bunch of photographers.” He shifted. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t do that to her.”
Coral nodded. And Frederick lifted a stack of papers. “We’re going to need you to sign a non-disclosure.”
“Which I have to send through legal at work. But I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”
“Thank you.”
He waited. And Frederick kept his eyes glued to Rand.
“Is there anything else?”
“We can’t help but notice your presence at all of the dangerous events the princess has been a part of recently and we know about your case being stolen from the airport.”
He waited.
“If this association is shown to be a danger to her, we will curtail activities.”
Coral squeezed his hand. “Frederick, you can’t curtail my activities.”
He grimaced. “I know honey. I just can’t stand all this I’m hearing. My princess in danger? Did we not keep you perfectly safe all through law school? And invisible too? And now, it’s a mess.” Frederick eyed Rand like he was certain it was Rand’s fault.
“I’m sorry all this has happened to her. I’ve been doing my best to keep her safe. If that’s any consolation.”
Frederick eyed him a moment more.
“It’s true; if it wasn’t for Rand, I might not have been as safe as I’ve been. It’s not his fault. He could say the same about me. Everything has been more dangerous since I entered the picture for him too.”
Frederick frowned, but then he stood. “What you need to know is in this packet.” He handed Rand a thick stack. “Basically, you clear all activities with me. I don’t care if you think no one will see you. I need to know about it.”
Rand wasn’t sure he was serious, but Coral nodded like this was a normal request so he agreed.
As soon as Frederick left the room, Coral called out. “Close the door, please.”
Some grumbling followed, but the door was shut.