Chapter 11: Take me with you

2019, March 5th

Caines, Terres Somnia (Aaron)

I went to James' newly acquired mansion and searched the Arden mansion; I had gone to a million different places that wouldn't or couldn't tell me if my brother was currently staying there. Henry had men out looking for his sons too, making it even more difficult to try and find James or Zoey. What was the point of being a future crown prince if you couldn't at least find out this much?

Dawn was creeping up on me slowly, as though mocking my tired efforts. I was growing desperate. I was just about to call Henry and tell him about James and Zoey when Jesse received a call.

"We have a live one, Your Highness," said an equally tired Jesse, though he seemed to be carrying his hours better.

After the first two hours had passed without result, I had called in my assistant, Jesse.

Jesse's eyes went wide, shock registering on his face.

"Are you sure about this?"

"What? What is it?"

"Okay, thanks for the info." Jesse hung up.

"Have you found them? What happened?" I was suddenly wide awake and somewhat crazed.

"It's nothing concrete, Your Highness," Jesse said carefully. "A friend of mine that works at Hotel Eleganter Ludo swears that one of the drunken couples that got married last night looks an awful lot like His Highness, Prince James and Lady Zoey. He's sending pictures to me now."

Jesse returned to his phone to flip through the photos his friend had sent to him. I didn't need to hear the words or even want to see the images.

"Bury the photos," I said calmly. "Buy them from the person who took them. Steal his phone. I don't care. Make it go away. This does not get out." I punched the seat in front of me and screamed, "Why did we not find them to be staying there sooner?"

"Forgive me, Your Highness. It would appear that the House of Beaumont owns Eleganter Ludo."

"Why did I not know that?"

Jesse hung his head low.

"Apologies, Your Highness."

"Drive."

By the time Jesse and I reached Elegantor Ludo, the entrance was already flooded by paparazzi. The back doors of the car opened and CC and Bart got in on either side.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked.

"The better question is why are you here?" CC asked.

"What are you thinking of showing up here? Haven't you caused enough trouble?" Bart hissed.

"Calm down, boys," CC said, trying to soothe us.

"He's the reason they're even in there right now. It would serve you right if she married another man. If that man didn't happen to be your ticking time bomb of a brother, I would not even be here."

Bart was really piling it on, but I deserved every bit of it. I was stupid and careless and it might have cost me not only my crown, but the woman I loved. I was such an idiot. Why couldn't I just trust her? Why hadn't I just waited for her patiently?

CC took my hand and said, "Look, we're already working on cleaning this mess up. I spoke to Jimmy and—"

"You spoke to him? That asshole. How dare he take advantage of her like this?"

"You mean by doing exactly what you were going to do to secure the title of crown prince?" Bart scoffed.

"It isn't like that, I—"

"James wants to annul the marriage as soon as possible," CC interjected, raising her voice. "Jesse, he goes home. He does nothing, says nothing and sees no one. Do you understand?"

"Certainly, Your Highness."

CC took my chin between her index finger and thumb and turned my face towards hers.

"Don't do anything dumb. I'm going to bring her back," she vowed.

Elegantor Ludo, Caines, Terres Somnia (Zoey)

"I'm going with you," I said, as James was pulling up the zipper of a hoodie and trying on different pairs of sunglasses.

"This isn't a good idea, Zoey. I am not a good guy. I did not have good intentions when I asked you to marry me last night." James sighed and stopped to look at me. "You deserve more than this. You should marry Aaron and live a good life."

"That's not what you said last night," I snapped. "I know that he loves her." I spat the words out and James froze at them. "I see it in the way that he looks at her sometimes. I've known for a while."

"I'm sure he loves you too, Zoey," James replied in a voice equally as small as mine.

I threw my hands up in the air. "How many women is one man supposed to get to love?" And then more quietly, I said the thing I hated myself for wanting to know, but being too afraid to find out. "He's loved her a lot longer. Do you know for sure that he would've chosen me over her if he had the choice?"

James resumed picking out clothes.

"You don't, do you? That's why you're running away. Just like you told me to last night."

"I didn't say that."

"You might as well have."

"I was out of my mind last night."

"And I've been out of mine for the last three months."

James sighed.

"You don't even know me, Zoey. Last night, I planned to marry you to steal the throne out from under my own brother. The things I've been through, the things I have done. I do what's necessary, no matter who or what gets destroyed in the process. You can't leave the country with a guy like that."

I fell quiet. My mind was racing. It's not that I hadn't gotten chills being around James before. I certainly had seen the way his eyes sometimes became. They were merciless and dangerous.

Satisfied with his appearance, James picked up his passport and car keys and walked towards the door as though about to leave.

"CC and Bart will be here to take care of everything soon, okay? I will send the annulment papers to you as soon as I have it figured out. You just have to sign them and Bart will get them back to me." James opened the door. The manager was waiting on the other side of it. "Have you prepared the back door for me?"

"Yes, Master Beaumont." The manager bowed.

"Good. Prepare the car. I leave in ten minutes."

"Yes, Master Beaumont." The manager hesitated and then turned and bowed. "Lady Beaumont."

James and I exchanged a look as the greeting hit home for both of us. I was the first to look away and smile at the manager. James shut the door quietly. I was looking down at my hands in my lap. He sighed again when my sad voice hit his ears.

"Take me home," I cried.

I hadn't meant to seem so pathetic. I didn't know which version of James I would find this time, but as his back moved away from me and I considered facing Aaron and the possibility that after all he may not love me, I felt every cell in my body call out. I couldn't help but hope that James would do this for me.

Knowing I didn't have a prayer of convincing him, I asked one last time anyway, hoping I would find the guy with the warm, green eyes looking back at me when he turned around. If he turned around.

I hated Caines. Everything about it was foreign and had been a difficulty for me. All I wanted was to go back to Rosa, where things were safe. There was banging on the door. James pulled back a little on the doorknob in his hand.

"My apologies, Your Grace," said an anxious, young voice. "Forgive me, Your Grace, a thousand apologies. I had no idea things would blow up like this."

James opened the door fully and pulled the bell boy standing on our doorstep into the room.

"Why were you at my wedding?" James demanded. "I never asked for you to be there."

Fear was now swimming in the tears filling the bell boy's eyes. "I'm really sorry, Sir. A friend of mine asked me a few hours prior to be on the lookout for Your Grace and the Lady," he said shakily, his eyes darting to me.

"What friend?" James asked, subconsciously forming a fist with his right hand.

This only served to terrify the bell boy even more.

"What friend?" James screamed, slamming the door shut with his fist.

"James," I yelled.

James whipped his head around to face me. I mustered up all the strength and courage that I could manage and went up to James as fast as my nervous feet would allow me to. Then I did something that surprised us both. All the while keeping my eyes on him, I took his hand with both of mine and opened up his fist, sandwiching his hand between both of mine.

The bell boy watched us with sparks of fear in his eyes. I wanted to keep looking as the darkness retreated and gave way to those too beautiful eyes, but the bellboy was shaking now.

I turned to the bellboy and said, "Tell us what you know."

The bellboy fumbled in his pocket and brought out his phone. He held it out to James, who promptly snatched it up.

"I took some pictures of the wedding last night," the bellboy muttered nervously. "I sent them to my friend Jesse, Prince Aaron's driver, but I never thought it would end up like this, Your Grace."

The bellboy was boarding a runaway train now. After what he did, surely Aaron wouldn't call the press, but if not him, then who?

"Jesse said he'd pay good money for someone to find you, Your Grace. Only now it's this big mess, with the paparazzi out front and King Henry at reception demanding to see you and the manager says I'm going to lose my job and I thought I should come up to see Your Grace and say how sorry—"

"What? Henry is here? Why didn't you lead with that?" James flared up again, and the bellboy shrieked back.

I felt James squeeze my hands hard, so I squeezed back with all my might. This seemed to get him to calm down again.

"Thank you Ren," I said, glancing down at the bell boy's name tag. With one hand still holding his, I took the phone out of James' hand. "That will be all. Have the pictures sent to the number I added to your phone and then delete them. Once you leave here, you can tell the manager that His Grace does not wish to see you fired."

"The hell I don't."

"You will not be fired," I persisted, giving James a stern look. "But consider this a warning. This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated at Eleganter Ludo."

Ren bowed dramatically several times over, alternating between James and I. "Thank you, Your Grace, thank you. I am eternally in your debt."

After Ren left, James turned his ire on me. "Why did you let him off like that?"

"Showing kindness to your employees will make them want to help you in the future should the need arise," I replied, holding my head up high, like this was the most obvious thing.

As James moved to turn away from me, I tugged at his big hand with my small ones. "Take me with you," I begged him again.

"No," he said firmly, pulling his hand out of mine. James took his phone out and made a phone call. "Are you in the building?"

"No. Getting into this circus just got that much harder. Your father is here," Bart answered.

"Bart?" I asked.

I would know that voice anywhere.

"Zoey?"

"I'm leaving. Make sure you get to her before my father does," said James, and then he promptly hung up.

"They won't get here in time," I said, thinking fast.

"Bart and CC are both plenty resourceful. They will get you out," James countered, pulling the hood of the hoodie over his head.

"Yes, everything you've heard is true," I yelled after his once more retreating back. "If you leave me here, I will go out there and tell them last night I married the lost prince of Terres Somnia."

He turned back to me, his eyes ink black once more. "Don't, Zoey." Even his voice was coming out low and threatening. "You can't come back from this. You can't imagine the ramifications of bringing me back as a prince of Terres Somnia."

My knees were buckling, and I was sure I would cave in the end, but I'd hold out as long as I could. Nothing could be worse than being left behind. James had just about reached me when his phone rang. He watched the laboured rise and fall of my little frame as he answered.

"What?"

"Get out, get out now. Father is coming up to the room. He says if the rumour is found to be true, he will take matters into his own hands and strip you of title and fortune for acting against the crown," CC warned, her voice urgent.

"Acting against the crown? I have half a mind to show him acting against the crown." James was past anger now. He was an erupting volcano.

"Jimmy, please. There's no time for this. Just go."

"Shit," James roared, ending the call abruptly. He gripped my hand tightly and started heading for the door.

"What's going on?"

"You're getting what you want. You're coming with me."

There was no longer anger, not a flicker of kindness in his face. He was moving like a man whose life depended on escape. There wasn't time for protest, but could I trust the man who was crushing my hand in his to protect me? Would he take me home like I'd asked him to? Or did he have a different plan for me?

We had gotten to the back door of the hotel without incident, but our victory was short-lived, as we were soon discovered by paparazzi. James got into the car, not missing a beat, and threw open the passenger door after starting the car.

I looked between his emotionless face, and the mob of reporters headed our way. It was now or never. Would the running ever stop? Should I just give up now? I wasn't even sure who I was meant to be running from at that moment.

James revved the engine angrily and said, "Get in the damn car, Lady Beaumont."

I knew at that moment that he wouldn't leave without me. I saw it and the weight on my heart lifted. That reassuring smile lighting up those two green eyes. I would've given him my soul when I saw it. The door closed, and we sped off just as the mob was upon us.

"Thank you," I said softly, looking out my window, a feeling of relief and safety washing over me.

He didn't say a word for some time, just watching the road pass us by.

My restlessness soon quieted and my hands went limp in my lap. He looked up to find me yawning.

"Reckless woman," he said in reproach, as he let himself spare me a gentle smile.