Chapter 27
EDDIE
Bash was gone, but so was my phone, along with my laptop and any other means of communication with the outside world. I searched my guest room, but I knew the second I’d stepped inside and discovered my laptop missing from the antique desk. They’d been brutally efficient, as usual.
I straightened my shoulders and stepped back outside.
“Where is Special Agent Puller?” I asked the British security officer who’d replaced him outside my door.
“Agent Puller has been reassigned, Your Highness,” came the crisp, professional response that told me absolutely nothing while making it clear that further questions wouldn’t be welcome.
Reassigned. As if the man I loved was a piece of equipment that could be simply moved from one post to another when it became inconvenient.
“And might I enquire where my phone is? My laptop?”
The man at least had the decency to look a little perturbed at that. “Those were removed on your father’s orders, Your Highness.”
“And I assume I’m not supposed to buy new ones?”
He looked away. “You’re to be confined to your room for now, Your Highness.”
I was a true prisoner now, then.
I spent the next hour pacing my room, my mind racing through possibilities and scenarios.
Where had they taken him? Back to Washington?
To some other assignment? Had he been dismissed entirely?
The not knowing was perhaps the cruelest part of my punishment.
I could accept losing my title, my money, my place in the family, but being cut off from any information about Bash felt like torture.
A soft knock on my door interrupted my spiraling thoughts.
“Come in,” I called, hoping irrationally that it might be Bash, that this was all some elaborate misunderstanding.
Instead, Charlie slipped inside, closing the door behind her softly.
And before I could even say anything, she hugged me.
It was so unexpected, so rare that it took me a second to relax and hug her back.
I couldn’t even remember the last time she and I had shared a moment like this.
It might have even been at Mum’s funeral, and wasn’t that a horrible idea?
“How are you holding up?” she asked when we let go.
“You heard?”
“Father informed me, but I’d already gathered as much from the sounds of shouting coming from Uncle Henry’s study. I take it things went badly?”
“They could’ve gone better,” I said, attempting lightness and failing completely. “I’ve been confided to my room. I’m surprised they even let you in.”
She waved her hand. “I told Father I would try to reason with you, so consider yourself reasoned with.”
“Thank you.” I bit my lip. “They’ve taken Bash. I don’t even know where he is.”
“On his way back to the US.”
My eyes widened. “How do you know?”
She shrugged. “I called in some favors. They drove him to the airport and his private plane is taking off right about now. According to the flight plan, they’re heading to Asheville, North Carolina.”
He was on his way to his parents. Relief flooded me. He was safe, and he would be with people who loved him. Not that I had seriously considered the possibility he might disappear for real, but one never knew. The king certainly had his ways… and plenty of connections to make it happen.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice rough with emotion. “Thank you for finding out.”
She nodded, then pulled something from her pocket, handing it to me. A phone. “It’s secure, untraceable.”
I stared at the device as if it were a lifeline thrown to a drowning man. Which, in many ways, it was. “Charlie—”
“You need allies, Greg. And you need them fast. Father and Uncle Henry are planning to announce your engagement to Margaret next week, regardless of your objections. They think that once it’s public, you’ll be too embarrassed to back out.”
The casual cruelty of it took my breath away.
They were going to force my hand by making my refusal a public humiliation for an innocent woman.
“I told them I wouldn’t do it, and I won’t.
They can announce it publicly, but they can’t make me go through with it.
I’ll refuse. I will cause that scandal, believe me. ”
“I know, and I fully support you. But you can’t do it alone, and there’s only so much I can do to help you.” Charlie sat down across from me, her expression serious. “Who do you trust completely? Who would help you without question?”
The answer came immediately. “Floris, Nils, and Tore.”
“Call them. Tell them what’s happening and see if they have any suggestions. I’ll be back in about an hour for an update, okay?”
I nodded.
She kissed my cheek. “Hang in there, Greg.”
I waited until she’d left, then retreated to my bathroom, which was the farthest from the door, so the security officer wouldn’t be able to overhear the conversation.
My hands were shaking as I dialed Floris’s number. Not only was he closest in terms of literal distance, but he was also super practical and level-headed, two traits I desperately needed right now.
He answered on the second ring, his familiar Dutch accent comforting. “Who’s this?”
“It’s me, Floris.”
“Greg? Everything okay?”
“I need your help.” The note of desperation in my voice must have been impossible to miss because he immediately picked up on it.
“What’s wrong?”
So I told him everything.
Floris listened without interruption until I finished, and then he was quiet for a long moment. “Right then. I’m coming to get you.”
“Floris, I’m at Sandringham House, with the king. You can’t just show up here.”
“What will they do, refuse me entry? I’m a prince of The Netherlands, one of your closest allies. I’d like to see them try. If they do, I’ll create a diplomatic scandal so big, no one will even remember your cousin’s name.”
My head spun. Could this work? “And then what?”
“I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon for an official friendly visit between two princes who have a well-established friendship. I’ll make sure to run into some press to have my pictures taken so it’s all public. And then I’m walking out of there with you.”
I shook my head, even though Floris couldn’t see it. “They’ll never let me leave.”
“They won’t be able to stop me from leaving. And if you happen to leave with me…” He paused, and I could practically hear his grin. “Well, they can hardly manhandle a visiting prince in front of witnesses, can they?”
The audacity of the plan was breathtaking. And it might actually work. “Floris, if you do this, it could cause an international incident—”
“Yeah, yeah. I don’t think it will, but even if it does, I’ll clear that on my side of the North Sea.
It’s about time someone reminded your uncle that modern royalty is supposed to be about service and duty to our people, not about controlling every aspect of our personal lives, and the Dutch will be all too happy to be of service there. ”
I laughed despite it all. “I almost want to see those headlines.” Then I sobered again. “Thank you, Floris. I owe you.”
“Nah, you don’t owe me jack shit. This is what friends do… even princes.”
After hanging up with Floris, I called Nils and then Tore to update them as well.
Both reacted with similar outrage and immediately offered their support.
Nils promised to make public statements about royal autonomy and modern relationships if needed, and Tore offered political asylum in Norway if things went completely sideways.
The loyalty and immediate support from my friends were overwhelming and exactly what I needed to believe that fighting back was possible.
I wanted nothing more than to call Bash, but I didn’t know his number off the top of my head, and I had no way of getting it without access to the Internet. Besides, his phone might very well have been confiscated, too.
Charlie popped back in an hour later, as she had promised. She handed me a familiar burgundy red document. My diplomatic passport.
“How did you even get this?”
“I told you. I have connections. Not everyone agrees with what’s happening here, Greg, and I knew who to ask to retrieve this.”
Connections indeed. Maybe my sister wasn’t as proper as I had always imagined her to be.
“Floris is coming tomorrow,” I told her. “His plan is to walk right out of the front door with me.”
Charlie chuckled. “I’ve always liked him. And that’s exactly the kind of bold move that will work. Father and Uncle Henry won’t dare create a scene with international witnesses present.”
“And after that?”
“After that, you go to America. You find Bash.” She stood up, smoothing her skirt with practiced efficiency. “And you find happiness.”
The next twenty-four hours passed with agonizing slowness. I maintained the pretense of compliance, attended the mandatory family meals, nodded along with discussions of engagement schedules while privately counting down the hours until Floris’s arrival.
He appeared at teatime on Thursday, sweeping into Sandringham with casual royal confidence. To anyone watching, he was simply a young prince paying a friendly social call on his friend. No one had a clue of the rescue mission he’d planned.
“Gregory!” he exclaimed warmly when he was shown into the drawing room where I was suffering through tea with my father. “How wonderful to see you. America must’ve agreed with you because you look great.”
That might’ve been the very first lie I’d ever heard him speak as he was not known for his tact.
Dutch directness was a thing, but I loved him for it.
And he delivered his words with such practiced sincerity that I almost believed them myself, even though I knew I looked like I hadn’t slept in days, which was accurate.
He extended a hand to my father. “Prince James, it’s a pleasure to see you again. I was in the area and thought I’d stop by. I hope you don’t mind the intrusion.”