Page 73 of A Valiant Prince

“Pete reaches for his earpiece, and although sensing it, Anna spins around. “You cannot tell Victor or Marcus or Gregor! They are in on this. There may be others. You can tell Jack, but that’s it, for now,” she says as she turns and heads back down the stairs.

As if a switch has been flipped, Pete looks at a wide-eyed Lucas, nods, and starts down after Anna. Lucas looks at me. “You heard her. Let’s go,” I say to him as he follows Pete with me right behind him. We all bolt to a tinted-window SUV parked and jump in, it’s like a scene out of a movie as Pete radios the front gate. The gate flies open as we speed down the drive. Two guards clear traffic as we pull out and start making our way toward the hospital.

Pete has Jack on speakerphone as he winds around the narrow streets of the city center.

“Ross,” Jack answers.

“Jack, you need to get to the hospital, now,” Pete says.

“What’s wrong?” Jack answers, his voice taking a serious tone.

“Jack, it’s Hans. I ran the search. I found emails. It’s him,” Anna says loudly, almost too loudly for the small confined space of the vehicle.

“Anna, that’s a pretty major accusation. Are you sure?” Jack responds.

“Damn it! I am one hundred percent positive,” she yells. “Will you just believe me?”

“Jack, she’s right. I read the email. He gave instructions to M about his plane. No one else would know that information,” I say as I grip Anna’s hand in mine and squeeze it.

“Shit. OK, I’m on my way. Don’t do anything until I get there, understood?” Jack barks.

“Jack? Victor, Gregor, and Marcus are all part of this,” Anna says.

“Anna, we’re already investigating those three. But Hans…” He trails off.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have believed it myself, but there’s no way it was Sebastian or Sten. Not with the information he gave M. I’ll show you everything later, right now, we have to get to the hospital. As of yesterday, Hans thought Aunt Lara was going to die. He had no reason to do anything else with her, but now…we have to get there,” she says.

“Pete, are you alone?” Jack asks.

“No, Lucas is with me,” he says.

“I’m sending men to the hospital now. Don’t go up until they get there. Use the back way,” Jack instructs. “I’ll be there soon.” And with that he hangs up, leaving the vehicle in utter silence as Pete steers us through the back streets toward the parking garage of the hospital. We manage to sneak in alongside some other cars. The fact that we arrive in just one vehicle doesn’t tip off the paparazzi like we did when we rolled up in a caravan.

Once inside, Pete pulls us into a back hallway. “We’ll wait here,” he says.

“No, we are going up now!” Anna demands.

“Your Highness, it is not safe. You heard Jack,” Lucas says.

“And Jack isn’t your fucking princess, I am, and I demand that we go see my aunt, right now!” she yells and stamps her foot. If we weren’t in such a fucking messed-up situation, I would say she looks downright adorable and sexy as hell all at the same time. But the look on her face tells me now is not the time to mention this.

“Anna, you heard Jack. We wait here,” Pete says.

“Fine,” she says. “I have to use the bathroom.”

Pete sighs.

“I’ll come with you,” I say to her. She gives me a look, but I’m not sure why. Pete follows us down the hall, and as we approach the elevators, the doors open and she pops inside. I manage to get in before they close, but Pete does not. The last thing I see is his shocked face.

“What the fuck are you thinking?” I yell at her.

“Save it. I’m not waiting for Jack and his minions to arrive. We don’t have time,” she says as the elevator stops and the doors open. I follow her as she strides down the hall to the guards standing outside Lara’s room.

The guard puts out a hand. “You can’t go in there,” he says.

“Well, I’m Princess Susanna of Norddale, and I will go in there,” she says to him. He doesn’t lower his arm.

“Fuck it,” I say as I push past him and open the door for Anna. The guard looks at us with wide eyes.

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