Page 63 of Palace of Betrayal

Leo got up in Brody’s face, his feet planted wide, his fist clenching with anger that the CIA officer had let this happen when he could’ve told someone sooner. Could’ve stopped it from happening. “You bastard. You let them take her as bait.”

“We need The Collector.”

Leo was seconds from punching James out when Roz stepped in behind Brody James, followed by Kanan, Alex, and Evelyn.

“They don’t know who The Collector is. None of them have met him or have even spoken to him.”

Brody placed his hands on his hips and squared up to Roz, making Kanan growl and move to block him. “How do you know he isn’t lying?”

Roz put a hand on her husband’s chest and smiled at him, and it completely transformed her into a different woman. “It’s fine, K.” Looking back to the CIA officer she glared at him, her eyes flinty. “Mr Wojcik barely had the capacity to say his own name, so he wasn’t going to waste his breath lying to me. Neither he nor Atticus have met or spoken to The Collector. I do, however, have the details of the auction and the bid item they’re going after.”

“And?” Leo didn’t give a fuck about any of that right now. There would be time later when he had Bebe back where she belonged beside him to go over the other details. “What about Bebe? Does he know where she’s being held?”

Roz glanced at him. “She’s a mile out to sea on a yacht called The Triumph.”

Leo cocked his head to Brody James, accepting he’d told the truth. “We need to board that yacht. Right the fuck now.”

“It will blow our cover.”

The spook was pissing him off, now. “There’s no we. You’re not a part of this and are trespassing on foreign soil. So I suggest you shut the fuck up or you’ll be joining Wojcik in the dungeon.”

James leaned toward him, chest out as if he was ready to go to war and wouldn’t back down. Leo stood his ground. He had more skin in the game than anyone else in this room.

“This is a matter of national security, not some romance novel you’re playing out here, Prince.”

James was asking for a punch in the face and Leo was happy to supply it. His fist shot out and caught the man in the jaw. Brody charged at him with a growl and took him to the ground, his back hitting the edge of the antique coffee table and smashing the fine wood with his weight.

Rolling, Leo held his hand to James’ throat as he let fly with a punch to the nose. Twice more he laid into him before the bastard flipped him and got the advantage. Leo went to block a strike when James was hauled off him by Alex and Kanan.

“Enough!”

Kanan helped him from the ground as the two men heaved in a breath from the exertion. His lip was bleeding, and he wiped the blood with the back of his hand before locking eyes with the man who’d let Bebe be taken as bait and was still trying to use her for his own gain.

“You two, calm the hell down.” Roz glanced at the King. “If I may?”

His father nodded and held out his hand for her to take the floor.

“This is what’s going to happen. Alex and Evelyn will stay here and guard the King because we have no idea if The Collector has eyes here we don’t know about. Leo, K, and I will take a boat as close as we can to the Triumph and board the yacht. James, you can come if you’re prepared to follow orders. If not, you stay here.”

“You can’t trust him,” Leo shot out, no sympathy for the man as he held a hanky to his bloody nose. If he’d had his way, he’d have done a fuck of a lot more damage.

“If he goes off-book, I’ll shoot him myself.” Roz glanced at James who nodded his understanding. “Good, when we have Bebe back safe and Atticus secured, we’ll do what we can to keep the auction on track and under our control. Mercy and the others need more time to dig in on their own situations. I understand we want The Collector, but this won’t be a short operation. We need to play smart, not fast.”

Leo agreed, and if he wasn’t so invested personally would’ve thought the same thing. But right now, all he could think about was Bebe. He knew she was capable and smart, strong and resilient but she was also human, and humans got hurt and felt pain and he could hardly bear it. “Fine.”

“Where is your armoury?”

“I’ll show you.”

Leo led the way toward the armoury, the palace deserted except for a few members of staff cleaning the wood on the large double banister.

Kanan walked beside him shoulder to shoulder, Alex on his other side. “I get it, man. Loving a woman like the ones we do is tough. Having them in danger, no matter the fact they could outgun, outfight, and outmanoeuvre us, goes against every instinct we have as protectors. Let me say this from experience though. If you love Bebe like I suspect you do, then don’t crowd her. Let her be proud of who she’s fought to be and don’t stifle her. She won’t thank you for it.”

“What if I can’t accept that?”

They stopped at the door to the armoury and Alex lifted a hand to scratch at the back of his neck. “Then you need to let her go. You love all of her or walk away, man, because it will poison what you have if you force her into a box she doesn’t fit into.”

Leo nodded knowing he and Bebe had a lot to discuss. “Let’s get her back so we can decide together.”