Stolen Crown by S. Massery
Aiden
“I thinkGemma is leading us on a wild goose chase,” Luca says at one point.
She’s slow-crawled through dangerous parts of the city, gunned it onto the highway, bounced from one borough to the next. We’re in Queens now, close to where her father was killed. I can’t imagine she would want to revisit that.
“You might be right, but I can’t just—” I can’t sleep until I know she’s home.
Dawn is coming soon. The glowing clock on the dash is no longer the only light. The sky is beginning to wake up, too.
“Let’s just confront her,” Luca suggests. “Tell her to go home. You already got your dick wet. Surely you can restrain yourself this time.”
I snort. “Asshole.”
“Sure,” he accepts. He hits the gas, then glances over at the moving dot on my phone. “We’ll cut her off.”
I grunt my acknowledgement.
The only thing I can think of is that she’s trying to drive me crazy.
“Besides, the faster we nip this in the bud, the sooner I can go get my own dick wet,” Luca grumbles. “Ames is going to be pissed that I stayed out all night.”
“She’s probably enjoying not being smothered in her sleep.” I laugh at his expression. “What? We shared a room on vacation, remember? Your snoring is horrible.”
He punches my arm. “I don’t snore. I was twelve.”
“Right.”
He glares at me. “I don’t.”
I chuckle. “Just keep telling yourself that, bud.”
“Fuck off.” He rolls his shoulders back and accelerates down a narrow street. We come out at an intersection, and he slams on the brakes.
Gemma’s car’s headlights blaze into us, and she slows to a stop.
Satisfaction at catching the cat rushes through me, and I climb out.
Luca grabs my arm. “Remember, be cool.”
“Obviously. Just going to tell her to go home so we can all get some damn sleep.” I jerk out of his grasp and walk to the driver’s side of the car. It’s dark inside, and I rap my knuckles on the glass.
She rolls it down painfully slow.
“Game’s up, Gem.” I lean down—and reel back.
Amelie smiles at me, then raises her phone. A flash blinds me.
“Surprise!” Her voice is way too happy about this.
I have to resist reaching through the window and throttling her. Instead, I plant my hands on the top of the door and lean farther in, ignoring that she seemed to have just taken a picture of me. “Where the fuck is she?”
She shrugs. “Somewhere far, far away. Tell me, what were you tracking? Her phone? Her car?”
I grunt and shove away, going back to my brother. He’s staring at me with concern, and I hook my thumb back to Gemma’s vehicle. I can’t help but feel smug when I say, “Your problem, not mine.”
He climbs out, his expression confused… until he gets up to the window, anyway. Then disbelief. I lean against the door of Luca’s car and wait for the show. The yelling, or whatever else might happen.
Instead, he just hauls Amelie out and wraps his arm around her shoulders, cinching her to his side. He guides her toward me.
“You take Gemma’s car, I’m taking Amelie,” he says gruffly, glancing down at his wife.
She’s got that smirk in place, like she knows she got away with something—either that, or she’s happy Gemma escaped.
I put my arm out, barring them from passing. “Where did she go, Amelie?”
Her cool expression breaks. “I really don’t know, Aiden.”
I try to see past what I want to be the truth.
“She’s not lying,” Luca says. He shoves my arm. “You’re sleep-deprived and going to drive yourself fucking nuts. Go home. Go to sleep. Worry about Gemma in the morning.”
That’s not going to happen.
I retreat back to Gemma’s car and slide into the driver’s seat, grimacing when my knees hit the steering wheel. Short girls. I adjust everything, then rest my hand on the gear stick. The interior smells faintly of cigar smoke and the light floral scent of her soap. The rest of the car is spotless, like she was never really in it at all.
It fits with her narrative. She’s never got to spread her wings in a way that let her drive where she wanted to go. And now she’s stuck yet again—wait.
With Colin in charge, maybe he’d follow his father’s line of thinking. Get her out of the city and join the rest of the women in her family. It would keep her out of the way.
And Amelie just helped her escape.
Suddenly, nothing is more important than finding her. Not my father, not the missing shipment or the war that’s looming over our heads.
I grit my teeth as new fury washes over me. I inhale sharply, trying not to completely lose my mind. The princess has escaped New York City. But Colin West knows where Gemma is, and I’m going to drag it out of him.
Even if it kills him.
