Page 11 of Palace of Betrayal

Roberto ushered everyone from the room, leaving the three family members to come to terms with the accident. Or was it more than that? After all, The Grace was his yacht.

Four

Her first sign something was wrong came from the sudden bustle about the gardens and grounds as she made her way back from the olive groves surrounding the palace. People dropped their heads and avoided eye contact as she walked past. Hushed voices and quickened steps caused an uneasy feeling to fill the pit of her stomach.

Her palms itched in sudden apprehension or maybe foreboding that something had happened, and it was bad.

Catching the eye of a housemaid as she rushed past, Bebe called to her. “Excuse me, is everything okay? Has something happened?”

That was when she noticed the girl had tears in her eyes. “It’s not my place.”

Bebe touched her arm. “Please?”

“The yacht. There was a fire. They’re all dead.”

“Who?” Bebe felt adrenalin kick in at the news and knew she’d been spot on. The shit was hitting the fan.

“All of them. His Highness Prince Alain and all his friends.”

“Oh, my. I’m so sorry.”

Shock at the turn of events had her mind spinning in a hundred different directions as scenarios played out. Bebe let the girl go and she rushed off as the household went into what was obviously a pre-arranged plan she assumed was protocol after an event such as this.

She thought of the man she’d watched with Leo last night and shook her head. He’d been a prime candidate for this auction. Then there was Atticus, another person of interest. More importantly was the knowledge that the yacht belonged to the prince, and he was known to use it often.

Was he the target and if so, was it because of this or was there more at play than she realised? Bebe shook her head. Either way, people had lost their lives and it was incredibly sad for all who loved them. At times like this it was hard not to feel guilty for the lives she’d taken in her line of work.

She hadn’t grown up dreaming of becoming an assassin for want of a better job description. She’d wanted to be a doctor, for goodness’s sake, to save lives, but life had other ideas for her. An image of her older sister came to mind along with the familiar ache in her chest at the loss of such a beautiful person. The ache, compounded by the guilt over not being able to help even though that was her sole purpose in life, almost choked her.

Shaking the depressing thoughts away, Bebe made her way to León’s apartment to wait for him there. He’d no doubt be longer than expected and she didn’t mind, she could do some work on her laptop. Anyone watching wouldn’t be able to see what she was doing if she sat outside in the sunshine, and she could read through the background checks again.

Roz had sent detailed dossiers through to the encrypted laptop on every single person, even Leo. That way anyone, who by some miracle got past the encryption, wouldn’t know he was in on this with them or that the leak was even remotely linked to the palace. Bebe had only given them a cursory glance before she’d been thrown into this melee, so now was as good a time as any to fix that.

As she sat down with a bottle of water and lifted the lid on the laptop, the door to the luxury apartment opened and León walked toward her. He looked handsome as hell, even with the frown and grief darkening his stormy green eyes.

Standing, she had the urge to offer him comfort. Even knowing she needed to keep some distance between them didn’t stop that feeling. “I just heard. I’m so sorry, León.”

With his hands on his hips, he looked like a man ready to go to war as he dipped his head. “Thank you.”

His lips were tight as he spoke as if allowing more emotion to escape would be too much. She understood that grief had to be processed in a person’s own time. He clearly wasn’t ready yet and she instinctively knew he needed to fix this and find the culprit. She could help with that.

Sitting with her back to the wall of the balcony, she motioned for him to do the same. “Sit. Tell me about it and let’s see if we can figure out if this is connected.”

Her sweep of the balcony at six had shown it to be bug-free, giving them another space where they could talk as long as they were careful to be quiet and aware of their surroundings when they did.

León seemed to pause before he did the same, strategically making sure his back was to the opposite wall. She knew he was special forces and that his actions were as ingrained as hers were, but their paths couldn’t be more different.

“I don’t have long. My father was very shaken by the news, as was Uncle Alwyn. I’m not his biggest fan, but Alain was his only child.”

“I can’t imagine how hard this is. Nobody should bury their child. It’s absolutely horrendous.”

León was tense, she could feel it coming off him in waves and wished she could do more to help him. Her traitorous brain told her exactly what would relax him, but she shut it down. Sex would only help in the short term. Long term it was a horrible idea.

“Do we know what happened to the yacht?”

León looked toward the sea, which shimmered in the distance as if he could see the answers, but he shook his head. “No. As of right now, all I know is there was an explosion and everyone on board was killed.”

“Perhaps I can do some digging while you do whatever you need to do here.”