Chapter 33 – Rowan
ROWAN
“No one knows who they are or what they do,” Gabe tells me as he gets back in the car and starts it up. “But the neighbors who called the police were scared. I know that much. They didn’t answer many questions, and their eyes kept shifting about. She said she wished she hadn’t called the police.”
“Interesting. So they’re likely drug dealers, mafia, or professional thieves…”
He nods, his dark eyes shifting about as he puts the car in drive and takes us out of here. “One of those would be my guess.”
“Lovely. They’re smart, but not smart enough if Marie was able to break in, get into their safe, steal whatever she wanted, and leave without being caught. We have her fingerprints, but that’s only because we have them from the cottage. Otherwise, they’d be useless to the police.”
“Yes.”
I stare out the window, lost in thought. “What we need to figure out is how they got the crown and how she knew they had it. Was this a recent theft or something they did before? And why now? The onesie and the blanket were mentioned in the news, so she must know the investigation was reopened.”
He rubs his jaw. “She would have needed money after taking Desta, and keeping it would have been a liability. But these people are in their early thirties and were kids when Desta was taken. Truth be told, I don’t think anyone would want to be in possession of Princess Desta’s tiara, considering she was stolen. ”
“Yes, except it’s priceless.”
“It still shocks me that your mother handed it over to her without even seeing the princess.”
I’ve thought of that too. She went alone to meet her. No security. No safety provisions. Things could have been done. Arrangements put in place to follow Marie after. None of it makes sense.
“Is there a way to trace these people’s phones? Find out more about them?”
We come to a stoplight, and he rests his forearms on the wheel. “I looked into their phones. They’re burners, so untraceable. The house is rented and not owned by them. They own a private software company that doesn’t produce any software and has no clients. They’re shadows.”
“Can we put a team on them? Something inconspicuous, obviously.”
“That’s my plan, sir, but I’ll be honest and say I’m not sure what information we’ll get that they’re not willing to let people know.
That said, they obviously feel invincible since they’re throwing another party tonight and the police didn’t do anything with the house or even question them all that much. ”
I rub my stubbly jaw. “I suppose. Either they knew it was Desta’s tiara or they were clueless.
No way to know. That aspect aside, how did they get it, and how did Marie know they had it?
The tenants said nothing had been taken but never opened the closet in that empty room when the police were with them.
They had no clue if it had been robbed until we discovered it and the police told them, but I’m sure they likely suspected or at least worried about it since nothing else was taken. ”
“They didn’t want the police to know about the safe or what was in it,” he agrees. “These people are running something illegal. I have to believe if you obtain something like a priceless tiara, you know what it is.”
I nod. “I’d say so too. They held onto it and put it in a safe for a reason and didn’t mention it to the police.
” The village sprawls around us as we enter, winding our way toward the hotel, but I’m too lost in my thoughts to see any of it.
“They’re too young to have had anything to do with Desta’s disappearance.
It was a big risk for Marie to go in and steal it back. Why would she do that?”
“Maybe she knew exactly who these people were.”
My brows furrow at him. “Meaning?”
“Meaning they don’t handle matters like this through the police. They handle them privately.”
“If they know who stole it. The police aren’t revealing Marie’s name or that fingerprints were lifted. They could be clueless.”
“If we’re lucky, they are.”
I sigh and sink down into the seat. “Imagine if she’d been caught. If the police had arrived faster. We could have her. Finally have answers. It was a dumb thing for her to do, but I’m so grateful she did.”
“It was worth the risk for her, despite her carelessness. Maybe she needs the protection, and that’s why she went for it?” he muses, and my head swivels over to him.
“Protection?”
His eyebrows lift. “Yes, sir. The Eye of Egypt is in it.”
“What?”
“The Eye of Egypt. You’ve never heard of it?”
I shake my head, but his incredulous face isn’t comforting.
“It’s a famous stone that the ancient Romans took from there centuries ago.
It was said to have powers of luck, protection, and prosperity, giving great fortune to anyone who possessed it.
It was owned by Messalina herself and stayed in the country after her execution.
It’s a forty-carat flawless emerald. Your mother had it fashioned into Desta’s tiara. ”
I stare at him. “She didn’t mention it to us when she told us she gave the tiara to Marie. I didn’t realize that was the primary stone in the picture. Sebastian’s crown has a flawless diamond. Mine a ruby. I never thought about it.”
He’s quiet for a minute as we get closer to our hotel. “It’s priceless, and yes, the diamonds and other stones are rare, but that emerald has as much power and lore to it as the curse itself. If you’re at all superstitious in that way.”
A shiver runs over me.
I didn’t use to be. I never believed in any of it before. Nor did Sebastian. Not even after our father was murdered and Desta taken. We were young and believing in such a thing felt like believing in our own inevitable untimely demise.
Then Nora dropped out of the sky, and our worlds changed. Even more so when Samil attacked Bellamy and Sebastian. Since then, it’s been one thing after another. A darkness we can’t escape. And it feels like only the beginning.
Honestly, it feels like it’s been coming for Bellamy.
After dinner, I call Sebastian, and the two of us talk for the better part of an hour. He vaguely remembers hearing about the emerald but didn’t realize it was in Desta’s tiara. It’s creeping us both out, but one thing is for certain: Marie is still around, and she’s not done.
It has me questioning who Marcella is even more.
I wasn’t going to call her tonight.
I said a lot of things to her last night, and I’m already putting myself out there too much with her.
I know she won’t call me. I know she won’t tell me her secrets, even if I suspect part of her wants to.
Sebastian told me about the rug and how she fired three people today.
I was shocked he did it that way, trusting her to that extent.
“What if she works for Marie?” I questioned him.
“It’s a possibility, but why would Marie risk anything inside the palace? And why now? She doesn’t know we know about her.”
I step out onto my balcony and sit in the lounger. I pull out a cigar and light it, puffing black smoke into the sky. “I don’t know. The questions are mounting one by one.”
“One thing at a time. The cameras didn’t get any visual on Marie, so we’re forced to go by her old employee picture. With that, Javier is calling in favors and likely breaking laws I don’t want to know about. He has a hundred kilometers periphery from the break-in home on any public cameras.”
“Except the facial recognition is reading a face that’s twenty years younger than it is now and taken from a picture that’s twenty years old.”
I take a smooth drag and blow out two smoke rings.
“It’s a long shot. The truth is, we’re going to have to get lucky like we did with the fingerprints. I’m not saying we give up this chase, but I don’t want this to consume you more than it already is.”
“I want that tiara back. I want that emerald.”
“It’s not going to break the curse.”
I close my eyes and nod. I know that. But I still want it back.
“What do I do about Marcella?” I ask, changing the subject. “Should I confront her? Tell her that I know she’s Ella, and see where the chips fall?”
“I don’t know. At some point, if she won’t talk or lead us to her true intention for being in the palace, we have to detain her. I know you care about her, and I don’t take that lightly, but I know you understand what I’m saying.”
“I do.” I take two more puffs and stub the burning end into the ashtray. The moon is high in the sky, the hour nearing midnight, and all I want right now is to see Marcella’s pretty face. “Why couldn’t I have fallen for a Bellamy? Someone sweet and easy—”
He chuckles. “There’s nothing easy about Bellamy.”
“There is, though. The only reason she was difficult was because you were a beast and worked so hard to resist her for as long as you did. Marcella warns me off at every turn, yet she talks to me, sleeps with me, teases me, and gets vulnerable with me. I see so much when I look at her. I don’t want to stop.
I don’t want to go back to how my life was before. ”
“But her warnings have meaning behind them.”
“Yes.” I stare out at the small village sprawling around me, most of the lights in the buildings and homes out. It’s quiet and dark and peaceful. “That’s what I fear. Her warning is real. She told me the night at the wedding that she wasn’t safe. So why can’t I do the smart thing and let her go?”
“Because she’s under your skin and you don’t think she’s dangerous.
Maybe I’m daft, but I don’t see it either.
I didn’t with Charlotte, though. Not until it was too late, so perhaps our instincts are off.
I have an attendant on her, and her face is set up to trigger notifications in our system.
She’s in her room, and in the three days you’ve been gone, she hasn’t gone anywhere she shouldn’t or done anything she shouldn’t. ”
“That’s a relief.”
“Call her and see what she’s doing. You won’t be able to sleep until you do.”
He’s right, and I disconnect the call. She may be under my skin, but this Marie thing has me spooked. The tiara has me spooked. And there’s a woman who promises me she’s dangerous.
I press her number and video call her.
This time, she doesn’t make me call her three times. She picks up on the second ring, her sleepy face front and center on my phone.
“Couldn’t stay away, could you?”
I chuckle, smiling like the fool she makes me. “Me? You’re the one who picked up.”
“Because I knew you’d keep calling until I didn’t.”
My finger runs over my screen. “Smart girl.” Why do I feel better when I look at her?
When I hear her voice? Why does my world fit and my insides click into place when that happens?
She’s going to ruin me for any future I might have otherwise had.
It’ll always be her. No matter what. Even if she betrays me, I’ll still want her. How fucked up is that?
“I already used your vibrator tonight, so no show for you.”
My lips twitch. “Believe it or not, I was calling to talk, not video fuck you. Did you think about me while you used it?”
“No,” she answers quickly, and I frown before I can stop it.
She giggles. “So down bad, Your Highness.”
She has no idea.
“You did, didn’t you?”
She sighs, but she’s smiling, her expression light and sweet. “I might have.”
“Then I’m sorry I missed it.” I walk back inside and over to my bed to sit on the edge, my elbow on my thigh, the phone in front of my face. “I’m coming home tomorrow.”
She sucks in a breath. “Your Highness, we need to talk.”
I nod. “We do.”
“Then you know we have to stop this. I realize I’ve said that a hundred times, and each time I give in, but I…I can’t do it anymore.”
“Because you’re starting to have feelings for me?” I don’t know why I ask her. It won’t help me. Or maybe it’ll be everything I need to know.
“Because we both know this isn’t going to end well. We have something. I won’t deny that. But I have to start thinking about my future and what I have to do for that.”
“You’re telling me I don’t enter into that equation.”
She laughs. “You’re the prince of Messalina, and I’m a palace servant. I think we both know what this is and what this isn’t between us. There is no glass slipper. There is no happily ever after. It’s not a fairy tale.”
She’s likely right, but that doesn’t stop the way my stomach knots, and my chest feels like someone is poking it with a million needles. This isn’t the kind of feeling that will dissipate with time or be eased with alcohol or placating words. This is heartbreak, and it sucks.
“You could choose me,” I say, the words escaping, but I don’t retract them either.
She releases a shaky breath and looks up at her ceiling, away from me. Her chin quivers. She feels this too.
She clears her throat and returns to the camera. “I can’t. I don’t want to.”
“Yes, you do. You’re a terrible liar.”
“Please don’t make this worse. Please let me say goodbye.”
I don’t want to. Goodbye is final. Forever.
“You’re not going to tell me your secrets either then,” I surmise.
“The world’s not so black and white. My story isn’t a good one.
I’m not a good person for you, Your Highness.
The best thing I can do for you is to let you go.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to let me.
” She sniffs and wipes under her eyes and nose.
My girl is crying. She’s breaking before my eyes, but she’s still telling me goodbye.
“Marcella, the glass slipper will fit. There is a chance.”
She sobs and bites into her lip to stifle it as tears drip from her eyes.
“Please, Rowan. Please. I don’t want to hurt you.
Not any of you. I don’t care about you that way.
Not at all. For me, it was sex. I’m sorry if I made you believe otherwise.
We had some fun, and now that’s over. Let me do the right thing for once. ”
I blink, my stupid eyes burning. She’s lying, and I don’t know why. It’s insanely obvious. You don’t cry if you don’t care, and she always fights her tears. Always. But she’s more than crying. She’s distraught. It wasn’t just some fun. It was a hell of a lot more than that.
I wanted to be her hero. The one who saves her from whatever it is that’s haunting her and holding her captive. Maybe she’s right, and I need to listen. But I already know that’s impossible. She can say whatever she likes, but we both know the truth. And that’s the one I’ll stick to.