Royal Line by Carrie Ryan (online e book reading txt) 📕

I had done that. I had hurt her. And I deserved whatever came next.

I let out a couple of breaths, knowing I just needed to calm down. But I couldn’t. Not when I had fucking hurt her. I knew I couldn’t be with her. It wasn’t smart for either of us. But what I could do was not hurt her anymore.

I didn’t have to push her away because she was going leave anyway. I didn’t have to hurt her to accomplish that.

 She’d realize who I was, and then she’d walk away. I had simply done it first.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

I pushed out of the room and looked around the house. My team was gone. They must be switching out patrols, and I was fine with that.

But where the hell had London gone?

Something was wrong, I thought, the hairs on the back of my neck tingling. I frowned, went out the door, and everything inside me went on alert. There was a large pool of blood around the poolside cabanas, and neither London nor Sparrow was anywhere to be found.

Someone had fucking taken them.

And it was all my fucking fault.

Chapter 16 London

The ones you never saw coming hurt the most.

I awoke to what felt like a mouth full of cotton. My head throbbed and my muscles ached. I tried to blink, but my eyelids were far too heavy. When I tried to raise my hands to rub them, the skin on my wrists felt abraded.

What the hell?

And then in startling clarity, it all came back in a panorama of images just like in a movie. I’d been angry with Kannon. Angry that he’d pushed me away. Angry that he hadn’t wanted me. And then I’d gone running from the house. It was like every other day, but the security gates were open, and Olly... Where had Olly been?

That’s right. Kannon had said he’d gone for supplies. Had he not reset the alarm? That didn’t even make sense. They were all so careful. These three people I didn’t know had decided to protect me, even though they had other things to do, lives to get back to, and I’d put them in danger.

Oh shit. Sparrow.

I’d stormed out of the house, eager to just get some space. I went out and around to one of the guest houses. I figured she could help me with her boss a little bit. And I found her by the pool under one of the cabanas.

Everything started coming back at once. There was a horrendous sticky substance on the tiles near the pool, and her silky dark hair had been matted with it. Oh God, this was my fault. Someone had come to that house looking for me. Instead, they’d found Sparrow, and they’d hurt her. I’d been so preoccupied with my damn love life I hadn’t even noticed her until it had been too late. There wasn’t even time for me to run or scream or do something, anything. I just stood there, staring at her. The woman had become my friend, and I had been unable to help her. Is she going to be okay?

“Uh-uh-uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. The more you struggle, the more the restraints are going to chafe.” I forced my eyes open then, turning toward the voice. That voice, it was all too familiar. It was only then that I realized I was on a plane. A private one. My hands were pinned with zip ties to the seat, and my Aunt Rebecca was lounging on the seat across from mine. “Yes, darling. You never were particularly bright, were you?”

I frowned, trying to understand what the hell was going on. This was my aunt. My safe harbor. The one who’d been there for me after my parents died when I had no one else. Why was she doing this? “Where is my friend? Where is Sparrow?”

“You can stop with that face. Like this is some grand betrayal. And the other woman is being dealt with. Shame she had to get caught up in all of this.”

I tried to form words, but my mouth was having a hard time working around my thoughts. Finally, I managed to mutter, “Why?”

“Sweetheart.” She leaned forward, placing her elbows on her knees and clasping her hands together. I’d never seen her look so free. Her hair was down and loose for once, not pinned back in an elegant chignon or styled in some up-do that was “befitting her age” as she liked to say. Instead it was down and hung around her shoulders. It made her look younger, less matronly, softer. And she had on makeup. Not the usual understated nude lipstick she wore, but bright flamenco red. And she was in a turquoise pantsuit.

She looked ready for battle in the boardroom. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about these things. There are events happening here that are way above your pay grade.”

“I trusted you.”

We all had. Bile filled my throat as I desperately tried to catch up. This woman...this was my aunt? She’d been part of all of this? Oh God, she’d hurt Sparrow.

How had I missed it?

How had we all missed it?

“Well, that was your first error. God, how many times you cried on my shoulder. ‘Oh auntie, my life is so hard. Nobody loves me.’ Do you have any idea how many times I wanted to tell you what a whiny little brat you were being? You wanted Mommy and Daddy back to tell you how loved you were, and yes, that you too could be special. The thing is, you’re not. You’re a tool. And, had everything gone as planned, I would have used you appropriately. But you and your brothers had to entertain other ideas. This has always been your problem. You’re far too independent.”

Who the hell was this woman? “No, this isn’t right. This isn’t you. You don’t even have anything