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“Let’s go to the palace.” Rowan says, leading us to the waiting Towncar with Ava tight against his side.
Once we’re on the road, she uses a tissue to wipe her eyes. “Seth disappeared, Zee disappeared, they all just vanished?”
My lips tighten, and I look down at my hands. “From what we pieced together, they were only there for one reason—to take Zelda.”
“Do you have any idea what they intend to do with her?” Her voice is just above a whisper, and I hate that I don’t know.
“They took her for leverage, which is a good thing,” Rowan says. “It means…” I watch as he covers Ava’s small hand with his larger one.
“It means they won’t kill her.” Her voice wavers as she says the words.
Bending my elbows, I rub my hands across my face. I’m tired and I’m anxious, and I haven’t slept since this ordeal began. “It would be a lot of pointless effort and planning if they did,” I say.
She blinks rapidly and manages to smile. “So she’s alive, and they want something. We just have to wait and see what it is.”
My brother puts his arm around her again, hugging her close. “That’s exactly what it means. In the meantime, you need rest. You’re still getting over your own injuries.”
Looking up at him, her expression softens. She touches his face and places her thumb on his lips. The familiar gesture causes me to turn away and look out the window. I don’t know how I couldn’t see they were sisters before. I was so blind.
“I’ll be better once I know something,” she says.
“Still, when we get back, I’d like you to go up and rest.” He says gently. “I’ll tell you anything we learn. Okay?”
She smiles and nods as Hajib guides the car through the enormous palace gates and into the circular drive leading to the entrance.
* * *
Once we’re alone in the war room, I rehash what we know bit by bit. After viewing the security footage… Jesus, that security footage. The sight of my Zelda fighting for her life still sends shards of rage ripping through my chest.
We’d gone to Seth’s hotel room and found the entire place scrubbed clean. We tore it apart anyway, looking for anything—a scrap of paper, a notepad, a magazine, anything that didn’t belong. We found nothing.
We went to Frenchman’s, where he’d put up Zelda that first night, but the owner claimed not to know Seth or any of the men in Wade’s group. She insisted she took the reservation over the phone from an American for his sister, and the sister left the next day with another man. A man who she thought looked a bit like me.
No fingerprints, fibers, paperwork, or even scraps of trash were found in the abandoned SUV. It was emptied the same as Seth’s hotel room and left in long-term parking.
No one matching Zelda, Wade, or the large hirsute man from the video passed through airport security that day or the next. Freddie scoured the security footage and found nothing. The port authority had no unscheduled cruises. They even provided the roster of every charter in or out of Tortola for the past two weeks, and nothing.
“God dammit!” I shout, pushing back against the heavy mahogany table. I’m frustrated again that we have no leads. “It’s like they disappeared into thin air.”
Rowan’s voice is even. “When Zee left, she said they’d been planning this for months. She said they had everything in place before they even locked her in that bathroom. They’ve been ahead of us from the start.”
“Now is the time for the succession referendum,” I say, leaning forward in my chair. “The wisdom you showed cleaning out the cabinet after father died couldn’t be more obvious than it is now.”
We’re alone in the ornate cabinet chamber. A heavy mahogany table monopolizes the space, and thick velvet curtains hang over the twelve-foot windows. Our family’s coat of arms stands oversized above the head chair.
“I remember a time when this room was filled with men our father trusted,” my brother says. “Now they’re all trying to seize control.”
“Not all, brother,” I say, rising from my chair. “Have you made any progress tracking down the leak at Occitan?”
I consider how dangerous our position has become. Everyone is at risk, and until we know more, I don’t even want to visit that gorgeous estate on the coast. The first place Zelda and I ever made love…
“No,” he says, anger clear in his tone. “It’s like we’re in the middle of an undeclared war!”
He turns to the window and looks out. His hands are clasped behind his back, and I’m struck by how kingly he appears tonight, trying to solve our problems and protect our country. I wonder if this is Ava’s influence in his life.
A sharp knock on the door draws both our attention. “Come in!” Rowan says.
The large door opens slowly, and Logan enters. He’s carrying a brown envelope, and his expression is grave. I’m on my feet at once.
