Page 11 of The Wanted Prince

“Oh, right. I didn’t.” She smoothed down her shirt. “It isn’t us, is it?”

“What do you mean, us?”

“You said something’s happened. Did you mean, do they know?”

I glanced at my phone again and shook my head. If our tryst had got out, it’d be bursting its seams right now. I turned it on its face so it wouldn’t disturb us.

“It’s not your fault,” I said. “I think this is family stuff. And about last night…” Her expression was guarded, and I got to my feet. I took her by the shoulders, pressed our foreheads together. “I wouldn’t push you out like this if I didn’t have to. Carlo’s sending a car over, and?—”

“No, I get it.”

“I’m not sure you do.” I pressed a kiss to her cheek, then one to her lips. “I had the best time last night. The best time with you. If we weren’t who we are?—”

She silenced me with two fingers. “You don’t have to say it. We knew what this was.”

“It’s still sad…”

“No, it isn’t. Last night was great.” She leaned up and kissed me, then turned away. I thought I caught the faint gleam of tears on her lashes, but it might’ve been nothing but sun in her eyes. “Good luck,” she said. “I hope your father’s all right.”

Then she was gone, and I stood feeling empty. I washed my face and dressed in a hurry, and by the time I was finished, my car had arrived. My phone was still silent, and I frowned at the screen. Whatever had happened, I knew it was bad. Bad enough Carlo wouldn’t risk a text to explain. I’d been summoned, I knew, to join the united front. To stand with my family as we weathered the storm. This was more than some scandal, more than just talk. What could it be, if not Father’s health?

I slid into my car with lead in my belly, the taste of acid sharp in my throat.

I nearly collapsed when I saw Father standing, my relief so powerful it left me faint. I started toward him.

“Father, what the?—”

“Alessandro. You’re here.”

“Of course I am. I thought…” I stopped in my tracks. The words died on my lips. Father was looking at me like I’d tracked in dog dirt, and Dom and Carlo were avoiding my eye. It hit me I’d been summoned for something I’d done, but nothing could have prepared me for what Father said next.

“Did you take the royal amulet?”

I gaped at him. “What?”

“Was this, was this caper some kind of joke? I thought you’d matured. Left this nonsense behind.”

“Nonsense, what nonsense?” I tugged on my tie. It felt too tight, throttling my air. “You think I took… What?!”

Father just scowled at me. I cast my gaze to Carlo. He still wouldn’t look at me, but Dom was staring. I stared back at him blankly, my head in a whirl. Someone had taken the royal amulet? And Father thought I did it? Why would I, why?—

“I thought you were dead,” I said. The words came out broken, rough-edged with hurt. “Carlo wouldn’t talk to me, and I thought you were dead.”

Father flinched, looked away, then he sat up straighter. He motioned Ramirez forward, his treasurer. My boss.

“We brought the amulet out last night,” said Ramirez. “The king wore it for his speech, then we took it upstairs. We secured it in the blue wing, in the library vault. Just before midnight?—”

Father half-stood. “Alessandro, this is your chance to come clean. I don’t find this funny, but if you say you were joking, if you return the amulet, we’ll all move on.”

I pressed my lips together, too angry to speak. He was so sure I’d taken it. Convinced of my guilt. He was looking at me like when I was six, and I’d licked the icing off Dom’s birthday cake. But that, I had done, and my crime was clear. I had a face full of icing. A chocolate-streaked shirt. This, this was different because I hadn’t done it. He was willing to damn me without evidence.

Father sighed. “Nothing? All right, then.” He motioned to Ramirez, that he should go on.

“This is you, isn’t it?” Ramirez tapped a remote. A screen behind him flickered to life. I watched myself cross it in grainy lo-def, heading up to the blue wing, the old library. I moved from camera to camera, up the stairs, down the hall. Keyed in my access code and entered the vault. I was in there a minute and then I came out, two boxes balanced under my chin.

A relieved laugh burst out of me. “That’s not last night. That was last week, don’t you remember?” I turned to Father. “You wanted the records, the case files from that time you sued that reporter? I brought them down for you. Remember, last Thursday?”

Father didn’t respond. Ramirez froze the tape.

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