CHAPTER 1 #2
"What the hell," I said, my voice rising, "are you talking about? My parents are Bob and Linda Montclair. They adopted me when I was two years old. They are my real parents. They're the most honest, loving people on the planet."
"We're not suggesting anything negative about them," Captain Steiner said quickly. "But we need to explain the situation. Privately."
Derek stepped forward, his face twisted with anger. "That's it. I don't know what kind of scam you people are running, but you need to leave. Now. Before I call the real police."
"The real police," Lieutenant Commander Vasseur repeated slowly, "would be very interested to know about your tax evasion, Mr. Williams. You have several years of unreported cash transactions. We did our research. Quite a paper trail."
Derek's face went white. It was glorious. Like watching a balloon deflate in slow motion.
"How did you get that information?"
Vasseur pulled out his phone. "Excuse me for a moment."
He stepped away from the counter and made a brief call in what sounded like a French with a German accent. Meanwhile, Derek was practically vibrating with rage. Or maybe fear. It was hard to tell with him.
"I don't care who these people think you are," he snarled at me. "You've got exactly two minutes to get rid of your friends here, or you're fired."
"I can't control what they do," I protested. "I don't even know why they're here."
"Two minutes, Montclair."
I wanted to throw my apron in his face and walk out. But thirty thousand dollars a year was thirty thousand dollars a year. I needed this job, even if it meant dealing with Derek's power trips and impossible customers.
Lieutenant Commander Vasseur returned to the counter, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "Problem solved."
Derek's phone started buzzing. He glanced down at the screen, and his expression shifted from anger to confusion to something approaching panic. It was like watching someone realize they'd accidentally sent a text to the wrong person, except worse.
"What?" He answered the call, listened for about ten seconds, then looked up at us with naked shock. "I'm fired."
"Effective immediately," Vasseur confirmed. "Princess Bettina of Valdoria has just purchased this establishment. It's now closed for the day."
The café went dead silent. Even the espresso machine seemed to pause in surprise.
Princess. Princess Bettina. Of Valdoria.
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. This was impossible. This was insane. This was also, I had to admit, kind of amazing if it meant Derek was finally getting what he deserved.
Derek looked at me like this was somehow my fault, then grabbed his jacket and stormed out without another word. The door slammed behind him hard enough to rattle the windows.
Captain Steiner turned to address the remaining customers. "Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the inconvenience, but this establishment needs to close temporarily due to an emergency. The establishment will reopen tomorrow under new management."
People started gathering their things and filing toward the door, shooting curious glances back at us. Some looked annoyed, others seemed fascinated by the drama unfolding. Within a few minutes, the café was empty except for the three of us.
Captain Steiner flipped the sign on the door to "Closed" while Lieutenant Commander Vasseur did a quick sweep to make sure we were alone.
"So," I said finally. "Princess Bettina. That's supposed to be me? And I'm rich enough to buy a coffee shop?"
"That's who you are," Captain Steiner said gently. "Your birth name is Princess Bettina Elena Margot de Reina, heir to the Duchy of Valdoria. And if you claim your heritage you can buy as many coffee shops as you'd like."
I started to laugh again. The whole situation was so ridiculous that laughter was the only rational response.
Either that or crying, and I'd already used up my crying quota for the week dealing with Derek.
This was either the most elaborate prank in history, or I was about to have the weirdest Tuesday of my life.
"Right. And I suppose you have proof of this completely insane claim."
Captain Steiner reached into her laptop bag and pulled out a coffee mug. My coffee mug. The one I'd been looking for all week.
"We borrowed this a few days ago," she said. "For DNA testing."
"You stole my mug."
"We borrowed it."
"And did what with it?"
"Ran a genetic comparison against samples from the Valdorian royal family. The results were conclusive."
I stared at the mug in her hands. It was definitely mine: chipped handle, faded logo from a band I'd seen in Portland last year. "You've been watching me. For days. Taking my DNA without permission."
"We've been searching for you for almost twenty years," Lieutenant Commander Vasseur said. "Since you disappeared."
"I didn't disappear. I've been right here the whole time."
"You were kidnapped from Valdoria when you were eighteen months old," Captain Steiner said. "Your grandmother, the Duchess, has never stopped looking for you."
My knees went weak. I grabbed the counter for support.
"My grandmother is dead," I said automatically. "Both my grandparents died before I was born."
"Your adoptive grandparents, perhaps. But Duchess Margot de Reina is very much alive. And she's been waiting to meet you."
This was too much. All of it. The stolen mug, the DNA tests, Derek getting fired, mysterious European royalty. My brain was starting to short-circuit from information overload.
"I need coffee," I said.
It was the only coherent thought I could manage. When in doubt, make coffee. It was a simple equation that had gotten me through every crisis in my life so far.
I turned to the espresso machine and started pulling shots. My hands moved automatically: grind, tamp, extract. The familiar routine was comforting, even if nothing else in my life made sense anymore.
"What are you doing?" Captain Steiner asked.
"Making my specialty café mocha. If you're going to blow up my entire existence, the least I can do is caffeinate properly for it."
I heated milk with Madagascar vanilla and Ceylon cinnamon, added Belgian dark chocolate syrup, and finished each cup with hand-whipped cream dusted with raw cocoa powder. It was comfort food in liquid form, and right now I needed all the comfort I could get.
"Sit," I said, carrying the mugs over to the corner table where Captain Steiner had been conducting her surveillance. "Both of you. And start from the beginning. What happened to the real Princess Bettina?"
"You are the real Princess Bettina," Vasseur said, accepting his mug with a nod of thanks.
"Fine. What happened to me twenty years ago?"
Captain Steiner wrapped her hands around her mug and took a careful sip. Her eyebrows rose slightly. "This is excellent."
"Thank you. Now talk."
She set down her mug and looked directly into my eyes. "You were kidnapped from the palace gardens during a party. By the time security realized you were missing, your kidnappers had vanished without a trace. No ransom demands. No political statements. You simply disappeared."
"Are you saying my parents," I stopped and shook my head. "My adoptive parents kidnapped me?"
"Bob and Linda Montclair are good people," she said quickly.
"From what we've been able to determine, they had no idea about your true identity.
They were told you were the child of a teenage mother who couldn't care for you.
The adoption was handled through a third party, completely legal on their end. "
"But not legal on yours."
"No. Not legal on ours."
I took a long drink of my mocha and tried to process this information.
Mom and Dad were my parents in every way that mattered.
They'd raised me, loved me, supported my dreams even when those dreams changed every six months.
The idea that they might be innocent victims in some elaborate kidnapping plot was almost harder to believe than the princess thing.
"So what happens now?" I asked. "Do I get a tiara and a pony?"
Lieutenant Commander Vasseur still didn't crack a smile. This guy was fun at parties, I could tell. "You come home to Valdoria. There are obligations you need to take care of."
"What kind of obligations?" I said suspiciously.
Captain Steiner and Vasseur exchanged another one of those meaningful looks. The kind that said they were about to drop another bomb on my already-exploded Tuesday.
"Perhaps," Steiner said carefully, "we should let your grandmother explain the situation herself."
"My alleged grandmother."
"Your grandmother," she corrected firmly. "Duchess Margot has been waiting twenty years to see you again. She's not going to wait much longer."
There was something in her tone that made my stomach clench. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Vasseur said, "that if you don't come willingly, there will be consequences."
"For who?"
"Whom," Vasseur corrected.
I resisted the urge to flip him the bird.
"For the people who raised you."
The temperature in the café seemed to drop ten degrees. "Are you threatening my parents?"
"We're explaining the reality of the situation," Captain Steiner said. "International law is very clear about kidnapping cases. If you refuse to return to Valdoria, your adoptive parents could face charges."
"They didn't know," I said, my voice rising. "You just said they had no idea."
"That's not how the law works," Vasseur interrupted. "Ignorance isn't a defense. They harbored a kidnapped child for twenty years. That's a crime in most countries."
"Including this one," Steiner added.
I set down my mug carefully, my hands shaking. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. Mom and Dad were the most innocent people on the planet. They volunteered at animal shelters, donated to food banks, and had never even gotten a speeding ticket.
But then I thought about what had just happened. How quickly the Valdorians made Derek disappear. How easily they'd purchased an entire café without blinking.
"You bought this place," I said slowly. "Just like that. One phone call."
"Yes," Captain Steiner said carefully.
"How much did it cost?"
"Does it matter?"
I looked around the café: at the expensive espresso machine, the prime location, the steady stream of customers that had been filing through here all morning. This place had to be worth at least half a million dollars.
"It was my money," I said slowly.
"Only if you return to Valdoria with us."
"You dropped half a million dollars without breaking a sweat," I said. "To have a private conversation with a barista."
Neither of them denied it.
"So here's what's going to happen," I continued, feeling steadier now that I understood the power dynamic. If they could throw around that kind of money, they could do something useful with it. "You want me to come to Valdoria. Fine. But I want something in return."
"What do you want?" Vasseur asked.
"My parents have a mortgage. You pay that off, and I'll get on your plane tonight without making a scene."
Captain Steiner and Lieutenant Commander Vasseur exchanged glances.
"Done," Steiner said.
The speed of their agreement told me everything I needed to know.
Whatever they wanted me for in Valdoria, it was worth a lot more than a mortgage payment.
I was already wondering what else I could have asked for.
A car. A boat. A small island. I already had a coffee shop.
I suppose I shouldn't get too greedy. Paying off my parent's house and having this place of business was worth listening to a Duchess, even if I still didn't believe this was actually real.
"There's a private jet waiting at Portland International," Vasseur said. "We need to leave within the hour."
I pulled out my phone and stared at the screen. How do you explain that their entire life is about to be turned upside down because of a crime they didn't even know they'd committed? How do you call your parents and tell them you're secretly European royalty?
"Can I at least call my parents and let them know what's happening."
"Of course," Captain Steiner said, her voice gentler now. "But we do need to leave soon. There are people in Valdoria who have been waiting a very long time to meet you."
"We will be in Valdoria by tomorrow morning."
I looked around the café that had been my second home for the past three years.
The espresso machine I'd learned to operate.
The tables where I'd served hundreds of customers.
The little corner where I'd done homework between shifts, dreaming about finishing my degree and maybe opening my own place someday. It was now mine.
"Do I have time to pack?"
"We've taken the liberty of arranging for your belongings to be shipped to Valdoria. You won't need anything immediately. Appropriate clothing and necessities will be provided upon your arrival."
"Of course they will."
I stood up slowly, my legs still unsteady from the morning's revelations. Princess Bettina Elena Margot de Reina. It didn't even sound real. This couldn't actually be happening, could it?
I untied my apron, folding it neatly on the table next to my empty mug. Then I picked up my phone and dialed my parents' number.
Time to say goodbye to the only life I'd ever known.
At least I wouldn't have to deal with Derek anymore. Every cloud had a silver lining, right?