Page 64 of Trapped with the Undercover Prince

“It takes a badass to recognize a badass.”

She blinked. “Did you just call your mother a badass?”

“Shh, keep your voice down. She hates it when I call her that.”

Anna’s eyes were smiling now. “You’re making that up.”

He put his free hand in the air. “I swear.” Then he leaned close and whispered, “After my father passed away from a heart attack, she became the backbone of the family. Of the country really.”

They walked into a large room with a fireplace at one end and bookshelves all around. Zar’s sisters, Jean Paul, Nicolas for the Royal Reapers, and the defense secretary of the government, General Phillipe Blanc, were clustered around a long table filled with paper reports.

General Blanc stared at Anna.

“She’s staying,” Zar told him before he could make the suggestion out loud. “She’s been injured by these people repeatedly.”

The man said nothing, but he did stop giving her a death glare.

“It has to be an inside job,” Jean Paul said. “Someone with access to the garage.”

“Only trusted people had that kind of access,” the queen said. “You truly believe someone we trust has been attempting to assassinate members of the royal family?”

“How else could they plant bombs in restricted places?”

“These are anti-immigration activists, right?” Anna said. “What do they want?”

“They’re more like white supremacists. They don’t like how many refugees we’re taking in from war-torn parts of the world. Syria, Myanmar, Yemen,” Zar’s oldest sister said.

“Their demands have always been the same,” Nicolas said. “The total shut down of refugee immigration. They claim the refugees are taking away jobs, straining the country’s social supports, and making the country less safe.”

“That’s hypocritical,” Anna said, disgust wrinkling her nose.

“Could they have radicalized someone in our employ?” Zar asked.

“That,” Nicolas said slowly, “is one possibility.”

No one said anything for a long moment.

“I want fresh background checks done on everyone who could have had access to the garage where the car with the bomb in it is kept,” the queen ordered. “If you find anything that isn’t as it should be, interview them. I want to attend the interviews.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” several people said at once.

“I want this cleared up quickly, gentlemen.”

Another round of nods and quiet promises to keep her up to date. Most of the government and law enforcement people left.

“Zar, what is this all about?” The queen gestured at Gabby, and his sister pulled out her phone and showed him a photograph of Anna and himself. He was on one knee and had both his hands on her body. He did not look like a man who was keeping a polite distance from the woman who was obviously crying.

Above the picture was a caption that read: Prince Proposes. American Physician Says Yes.

“I’d like an explanation,” his mother said again, giving him her I’m disappointed stare.

“He wasn’t proposing,” Anna answered before he could. “He was making sure I didn’t fall on my face.”

“Why were you in danger of fainting?” Brigette asked.

“I’ve had a couple of...panic episodes today. That one was from too many strangers crowding me.”

“Panic episodes?” the queen asked.

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