Page 52 of Palace of Betrayal

The two men who’d sidled up behind her grabbed her roughly by the upper arms and hauled her forward to face the man in charge. “Who I am doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you do as I say, or Prince León will die a horrible death.”

Bebe leaned back, wanting as much space between her and this horrid man as she could get. An ache hit the back of her throat as she thought about Leo and his safety. That had to be her priority now. She could work on an escape plan afterwards when she got where they were taking her. If they wanted her dead, she’d be dead by now. This was her chance to learn more and gather information.

No, they needed something from her first and her acting compliant would give them cause to believe she wasn’t as deadly as she might have been painted. “Okay just don’t hurt him. I’ll come with you.” Bebe added an extra wobble to her voice to give the impression of fear when all she wanted to do was rip their throats out with her bare hands.

The leader angled his head to the house. “Hurt him? I expect our Prince is getting his cock sucked by the very talented Miss Vos about now.”

Not an image she needed in her head, right then or at all. She knew they were taunting her, trying to break her spirit, and she wouldn’t let them see how much the words impacted her.

Keeping silent as she was dragged to the back of the house and toward a blacked-out transit van, Bebe was surprised they didn’t put a hood over her head, but then realised it was because they didn’t expect her to leave alive.

A clue at least to their intentions if not their motive.

Her knees hit the hard metal of the van as she was shoved forward onto her belly. A body pressed into her back, the disgusting human grinding his hard cock against her ass as he pulled her arms behind her and zip-tied them so tight her skin pinched painfully. A hand curled over her ass in a caress that made her stomach roil with bile. She was going to slice this motherfucker up for touching her.

“Hey, Denis, we don’t have time for fun. Let’s go.”

The man shoved her forward and her chin scraped against the floor as the door shut behind her and the van was thrown into darkness. Bebe blinked, trying to adjust her eyes as she listened to the two men argue outside.

“Don’t use my name, dumbass.”

“What do you care? She’ll be dead in twenty-four hours anyway.”

“Yeah, well, the man I work for is more careful and won’t appreciate you being so careless.”

“If the man you worked for was any good, we wouldn’t be here helping you out, would we?”

That second voice was the man from Proenia. So, he’d been sent to help the man here get the job done. The bickering continued for a few moments as they got in the front seats before the vehicle started up and moved away.

Bebe tried to keep track of the turns as they drove, knowing it would be useful when she got away, and she would. She’d been in worse situations than this and walked away.

As she lay there waiting to see what would happen, her mind went over the conversation she’d heard between the two men.

If the man from Proenia was here to help, that meant whoever was after the gem was failing in some way and her guess was they were close to revealing the identity of the traitor. The success of the second auction depended on the first, so the second auction was Proenia and whoever was involved with that had sent people to ensure this one worked out.

They’d got it wrong about the auction invitees being isolated and not knowing about each other. They knew and were in contact. Bebe didn’t know what that meant right now but it was food for thought for when she got out of there.

The vehicle stopped and she stilled, listening for signs of where they were. The sea. She could hear the ocean and smell the salt. Scrambling to her knees she waited as the men exited the vehicle and the door was thrust open. Blinking, she tried to look around, but the sun was bright as they grabbed her by her hair wrenching her neck back.

Bebe fought the desire to head butt the asshole and whimpered in pain because damn, hair pulling hurt like a bitch when it wasn’t done in a sexual way.

“Now, bitch, you’re going to walk toward the boat I tell you to and climb aboard without making a fuss or I’m going to make a call and have Prince León’s throat slit. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” God, she was going to make this bastard pay when she got free.

“Good.”

Hauling her from the van he steadied her on her feet and threw a jacket over her shoulders to hide the fact her arms were bound. They were at the marina. She could see the manager’s office not five hundred feet from her, but she didn’t dare make a move yet. The tarmac beneath her naked feet was warm and rough as she walked between two of the men who’d taken her. The leader in front and a man behind her made it difficult to see much of anything.

Boarding the large yacht, which she couldn’t see the name of, was tricky and she almost lost her balance a few times before her upper arm was grabbed painfully hard and she was wrenched inside the main cabin.

“Quit fucking around, bitch.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for the inconvenience of nearly falling on my face because my hands are tied.” Bebe bit her lip at her outburst with fear in her voice to give the impression she was terrified for her life.

“Oh, this one has more fight than I thought.”

The steps down to the living quarters were steep but she managed to stay steady as she was shoved into a bedroom with a double bed, a beautiful teak wood dresser and wardrobes, and a desk and cream chair by a small round window.