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“Sam!” the duchess cried as she flung her arms around me. “Oh my God, when Kris and Adam told me that you’d been attacked, I—” She sniffled, delicately wiping the tears away from her eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay. That must have been terrifying.”
“It was,” I admitted with zero shame. “But Liam and Charlie knew exactly what to do.”
“Nobody was hurt, right?”
“Charlie was grazed by a stray bullet, but it’s nothing too serious. I patched him up as best I could.”
Arianna took my hands in hers and gave my fingers a squeeze. “Thank goodness you’re all so capable. I don’t think I’d be comfortable holding my gala without you.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You’restillgoing to hold your gala?”
“But of course! More than a hundred potential investors will be attending.”
Charlie frowned at this. “Your grace, with all due respect, I think you should cancel the event.”
“The venue’s already been rented out,” she said, an edge to her tone. Arianna probably wasn’t used to people telling her what she could and couldn’t do. She was royalty, after all. “My planners have already started decorating and arranging tables!”
“You can always ask the venue for a refund,” Adam said.
“You don’t understand. I have too much riding on this networking gala.”
Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose, his irritation mounting. “Your grace, this is your safety on the line. We have yet to identify your attackers or their motives. You need to be reasonable.”
“I refuse to be intimidated by…whoeverthis is,” the duchess firmly stated, a hand on her hip. “This is the whole reason why I hired Grand Paradise Security. I hate to be crass, but I’m paying your team a significant sum to ensure that everything goes smoothly.”
“Ma’am,” Kris said firmly. “As your head of security, it’s my responsibility to run threat assessments. I strongly suggest that you cancel your gala. The risks far exceed the benefits.”
“You strongly suggest,” she echoed, a touch indignant. Arianna was still every ounce graceful and elegant, which made her come across that much more powerful. “But you’re not ordering me to cancel the gala, am I correct?”
“It is not my place to give you orders, your grace. You’re still the client.”
“So, at the end of the day, what I say goes, correct?”
I shivered. Arianna reminded me so much of a lioness, fierce and strong when she wanted to be. I wondered what her upbringing was like, being raised in the Coselian court. Her way with words was stunning. By turning everything into a question that Kris couldn’t deny, she had full control over the conversation.
“You’re correct, your grace,” Kris said. I could detect a tinge of bitterness in his words, though he did a very good job at hiding it.
“I will host my gala,” Duchess Arianna said with an air of finality. “This thing I am trying to do is too important, with global implications, to cancel. We need clean energy to save this planet and I will not be threatened out of looking for a way to source it.” Her expression softened slightly. “I’m not unsympathetic, but this is exactly why I hired you in the first place.”
“Your grace—”
“The gala is still on for Valentine’s Day. I won’t hear another word about it.” With that, the duchess turned sharply on her stiletto heels and climbed up the spiraling staircase, disappearing upstairs.
A tense silence fell over us. Nobody was sure what to do or say. It was Charlie who trudged off first, headed toward the elevator while grumbling under his breath about needing a drink.
18
Charlie
Iordered a shot of brandy for my raging headache at the hotel’s restaurant bar. It wasn’t even ten in the morning yet, but I couldn’t care less. I needed something strong to take my mind off of things. It took a lot to piss me off, but Duchess Arianna’s refusal to abandon ship was what did me in.
This was getting dangerous. Far more dangerous than any of us could have ever predicted. It was one thing to have some rabid photographer yank Sam around like some sort of ragdoll. That I could deal with. Liam trained her well and at the end of the day, her life wasn’t at risk. But ramming an SUV into us and shooting at us like we were target practice?
Hell no. Unacceptable.
It was getting out of hand. A sane person would call it quits. A logical person would cancel their stupid networking gala out of the need for self-preservation.
I want out.
