Page 122 of Ruthless
“I arranged for the plane to take off as planned. Prior to that, we pre-recorded the Mayday message as well as my voice. The pilot set the autopilot and parachuted to safety. The plane crashed into the sea a few moments after the pre-recorded Mayday message played. I chartered another plane, and while all this was happening, I was traveling in the opposite direction with my family.”
At some point, both she and her father had sat down and were staring at the phone he’d placed on the table between them. She knew Gideon held her hand and was beside her, but the shock was so astounding, she felt numb.
On one hand, she applauded the ingeniousness of her brother to carry out such a farce in an effort to protect his family. On the other hand, she was furious that he had put her father and her through the trauma of believing they had lost him and his entire family.
“Why are you just now calling?” Gideon asked. “The news of what’s happened here has been covered all over the world.”
“I cut off all communication with Ile de la Lune. I trusted my family, but I didn’t know if their phones were bugged. When I saw the news reports that the threats were neutralized and that Alex was dead, I was headed back home. Then I heard that you were going to have a press conference. I knew you were likely going to name Lina your successor.”
She and her father exchanged a look with each other, and it might’ve been the most profoundly telling look either of them had ever exchanged. His told her that he was proud of her for stepping up for her family. And hers was a look of immense gratitude that it was no longer necessary.
Tearing her gaze from his for a second, she glanced at Gideon, gave him a wink, and then turned back to her father with a brilliant smile. “I believe you’re going to want to edit your speech, Papa.”
Grabbing the hand that Gideon wasn’t holding, he kissed it and said, “You are my beloved daughter, and I couldn’t be prouder of you.”
* * *
Going from being center stage to an audience member was surreal. She and Gideon had quickly left her father’s office so the king and his speechwriters could prepare a brand-new announcement.
Thankfully Gideon agreed to stay in the wheelchair and she stood beside him in the corner of the largest ballroom in the castle watching and waiting with the rest of the public. Eve remembered that, as a little girl, she had been required to briefly attend whatever ball was being held. Even though the glittering dresses and sophisticated people had fascinated her, she couldn’t wait to be allowed to leave. As an adult, she would likely have enjoyed a ball here, but only if she could be just Eve Wells and not a member of the royal family.
Gideon had once told her that life had a way of giving you exactly what you wanted, and she believed no truer words had ever been spoken. This was what she wanted.
The ballroom was packed with reporters and all the members of Parliament, along with their spouses. The rest of the audience consisted of employees, staff, and members of the general public who had likely arrived hours earlier in the hope that they’d be able to snag a seat at the event.
She’d spotted Ash, Serena, Liam, Jazz, and Xavier near the back. When Ash spotted her and Gideon, she had given him a big smile and a thumbs-up. He and the team would learn soon enough what had happened. But what she couldn’t wait to tell them was that once Gideon was well, they would be returning to OZ.
The chattering in the room stilled to a mild hum as her father walked out onto the stage and stood behind the podium. She had read his previous speech and knew he likely hadn’t changed a lot. He would be reassuring the public of the strength of their country and that the monarchy was still in capable hands. After everything that had happened, everyone needed to hear those words. How he would explain that Nicolas and his family were still alive she didn’t know. Politics and word salads were not her forte.
What she did know was that her father would not mention his daughter. She would be able to slink back into obscurity without anyone being the wiser. Something she would definitely change going forward, though, would be her communication with her family. Nicolas had made her rethink her relationship with them, and she would make sure that they never doubted her commitment again. Alexandre had done his best to destroy them, but he had not succeeded.
“Thank you, everyone, for coming.”
As the king offered the reassurances his people needed, Eve’s gaze roamed around the room to see how everyone was absorbing his words. She saw rapt attention, more than a few nods, the occasional headshake. Others were using their phones to record the speech, and she saw at least a dozen or so typing madly away on their phones.
She was about to turn to Gideon and ask how he was feeling when she saw a short, squat figure out of the corner of her eye. It struck her as strange that Louis Fournier, her father’s private secretary, was in the audience instead of behind the scenes. She remembered he hadn’t been there when the king had explained to his cabinet that Nicolas was still alive and that Eve would not be announced as the future queen. She hadn’t given Louis’s absence much thought.
But now, the oddity of his appearance in the audience bothered her greatly. Why was he standing in the back, close to the exit, when it was his job to be as close to the king as possible?
She took a step forward and then stopped when she spotted something in his hand. She and Gideon had made too many of the devices for her not to recognize what it was and its significance.
Everything suddenly became crystal clear.
She stooped down to Gideon and said softly, “Weapon?”
Proving he was the perfect partner in every way, he didn’t question her. In a slick, invisible move that would make a magician proud, he slid a gun from the holster beneath his jacket and passed it to her. She wasn’t even going to wonder how he’d managed to bring a gun into the castle, she was just profoundly grateful he had.
She casually made her way to the traitor, knowing Gideon was right behind her. Taking down a man with a detonator required stealth and skill. Taking one down without anyone seeing what was happening required something more.
If the explosion was strong enough, it could kill not only the king and his cabinet, but also many members of Parliament in the first two rows.
Eve was five seven, but with her four-inch heels, she was almost half a foot taller than the much shorter, portly Louis.
As she got closer, she saw that the small, square contraption in his hand had a silver ignition switch. These kinds of devices were simple to make, but in an amateur’s hand, they could also be decidedly volatile. If the switch was sensitive or had been ineptly made, any quick motion might set it off. However, she had no option but to try. Delaying to see what he planned to do could be disastrous.
Coming up behind him, she pressed the gun to the small of his back and said softly in his ear, “Hand it over slowly, Louis.”
Louis froze and then began to shake. The hand holding the detonator trembled, and it was all she could do not to grab the device from him. If she did and the thing had a hair trigger, her father and many others might die.