Page 50 of A True King

It’s at this very moment that I realize my one advantage over him. This is my cabin. I know it inside and out. And what Pete doesn’t know is that just to my left is a loose floorboard. Inside it are three things. We each put one in there many years ago, a time capsule of sorts. Auggie put in a hawk feather he found. Anna put in a pillow she spent a summer embroidering. And I put in a stone carving I made. I press one hand against Pete’s throat as my other hand fumbles with the floorboard. I manage to get the board loose while keeping my hold on Pete. Reaching inside, I feel around until I find it. It’s a rather large carving of a hippo. It barely fit between the boards. Grabbing it, I bring it up above my head. Pete realizes too late what I have as I bring the rock down hard against his temple. Twice more and he’s unconscious. I can still see his chest rising, but I don’t spend time assessing his vitals. I have to get out of here and warn the others. I reach into a drawer and pull out the burner phone, turning it on and quickly leaving the cabin. I dial Anna’s number first.

“Hello?” she answers.

“Thank God! You have to get—”

“Where are you? I called and called.”

“You have to get out of the palace? Where’s Logan?”

“We are. Mia called us, well, someone called for her. But we’re all safe. I have Auggie and Kate at a safe house. Dad’s plane is in the air. Jack has team members waiting to get him when he lands. Max and Marilyn have been taken into a safe house by Jack’s U.S. team,” she explains.

“What? How? Where is Mia?” I ask as I start running back toward the house while staying hidden in the forest. I don’t know who I can trust. Is Vince one of them? Is Cain?

“Where are you?” she asks as her voice becomes mumbled like she put her hand over the phone.

“I’m at the Summer Palace. I thought Mia came here.”

“Hold on, we’re—”

I drop the phone as I hear a gunshot ring out. I feel fire erupt along my bicep and look over to find I’m bleeding. Fuck.

I can hear running in the distance. Shit. Pete. I don’t bother trying to find the phone, I just take off toward the palace. Pete knows most of the secret passages, but not all of them. There is one that only my family knows about. My father had it built in secret. He didn’t want anyone on our staff to know it existed. It might be my best chance to hide. I duck into a hidden entrance on the side of the building, praying that I can remember how to get to the secret room, the safe room.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Mia

Dante is the name of my rescuer. I don’t ask until I’m safe atop his horse and we are several miles away from the estate. Dante is a retired teacher who spends his afternoons fishing in the river. He says he lives about ten kilometers from Lara’s property, just outside a small village.

When we near his home and have better phone reception, he hands me his phone and I call Anna.

“Are you safe?” she asks, her voice laced with concern.

“Yes. I came across a man with a horse and managed to forge the river. We just got to his home.”

There’s a pause. “You forged a river?”

“Long story.”

“I’m texting Jack now. He’s en route to you. Christian just called me from the Summer Palace, but we got cut off. He thought you were there.”

Fuck.

“Is he OK?”

“I think so,” Anna whispers but her voice doesn’t sound like she believes it.

I blink, trying to keep my tears at bay as I bounce back and forth with the cantering of the horse. “Where are you?” I ask.

“We’re safe. Everyone is safe. I just…I heard gunshots, Mia. And then he was gone. Jack is closest to you, so he’s picking you up and then going straight there. We have security forces on their way as well.” There are muffled voices in the background. “I have to go. Stay safe, Mia.”

She disconnects, and I take a few deep breaths. Christian has to be alright. He’s going to be fine.

A few more minutes go by and in the distance I see a barn.

“My property is just ahead,” Dante says.

I watch the barn grow larger. When we reach it, he brings his horse to a halt and helps me off.

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