Page 56 of The Billionaire's Royal Crown

“Sure. And hey, please, please, be careful, okay?”

“I will. I promise. I have wedding planning to get back to, after all.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

After expressing their love for each other, they ended the call. Nate crossed to the couch and eased onto it. “Well, Ellie is staying in Sterling City to help them with the investigation. So, we’ll just have to figure out what we want to do tomorrow morning.”

Stephen slid his eyes toward his brother. “If you need to go back, I get it. I can ask the royals if they don’t mind me staying or just…buck up and head back.”

Nate nodded, torn again between obligation to his brother and desire to be with his fiancée. “Yeah, well, let’s seehow things look in the morning and go from there. Maybe they’ll have this settled.”

“Right,” Stephen answered as a maid entered, announcing that their rooms were ready.

“Thanks,” Nate said.

The brothers climbed the stairs and headed to the spaces they’d stayed in on their last visit to Eldoria. Nate climbed into bed and stretched out, wide awake despite the long day of traveling.

He tossed and turned, rising a few times to pace the floor, phone in hand to call Elena, when he thought better of it.

By the middle of the night, he’d made up his mind. He’d return to Sterling City no matter what Stephen was doing. He needed to be with Elena and make sure she was safe.

After making the decision, he crawled back into bed, finally dozing off. When he awoke, bright sunshine already beamed through the window. He squinted against it, checking the time. He’d slept later than he expected.

He scrambled from his bed to dress for the day. As he pulled a blazer over his shirt, a knock sounded at the door.

He cleared his throat as he crossed to it, expecting to find the queen on the other side of the door. He hoped she didn’t think he would be this lazy normally.

His stomach twisted, turning jittery as he spotted the figure hovering in the hall. Heat washed over him, and he considered slamming the door closed again. “Isabelle.”

“Hello, Mr. Kingsley,” she answered in her pert accent. “Elena told me you were here.”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll bet. I’m sure she called you right away to tell you about it.” His words dripped with sarcasm as memories of being setup by the woman only weeks ago floated through his mind.

“I’m serious. I pose no threat to you despite what may have happened in the past.”

“And why should I believe you?”

“Because I am telling the truth. Call Elena and ask her yourself if you’d like. We’ve had a conversation and put our complicated past behind us.”

Nate crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at her. “Yeah, right. Like I’m going to trust you.”

“You don’t need to trust me, Mr. Kingsley. Call your fiancée and ask her.”

“I will,” he shot back. “Definitely. But not before you tell me what you’re doing at my door first thing in the morning.”

“Well, first, it is hardly first thing in the morning, you’ve slept quite late, and second, the answer is simple. I need your help. Or Elena does. Without it, she may very well lose her crown. And it would be due to her marriage to you. I don’t think either of us want that.”

“No, I don’t,” he admitted. “But I don’t understand what we can do about it.”

“We are going to fight back. I have a few leads. What do you say, Mr. Kingsley? Are you game?” Her eyes sparkled with mischief, though he couldn’t make out if it was because she was lying to him or genuinely hoped to stop her brother’s nefarious plan.

Nate stared at her for another moment, his mind racing. Would trusting her help Elena, or be his biggest mistake?

CHAPTER 15

ELENA

Elena gripped the door handle as she winced, pressing a foot into the floor of the car. If she wasn’t so driven to find information, she’d have rethought this plan. “Maddie, youdoknow how to drive, don’t you?”

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