However, if push came to shove, it was my job to step in front of the bullet meant for the powerful patriarch. And I’d proven my worth several times and had scars to prove it.
Incidents that Emmeline likely had no knowledge of.
What lingered in my mind and would for a long time was that I hadn’t been with Baptiste on the day he’d been gunned down outside the restaurant. If I had, I was certain the man would still be alive. My guilt was compounded by knowing just how close Emmeline had been with her father.
Little had she known, she’d been in more danger over the years than she had any true understanding of. Baptiste had learned to confide in me over the years. Not because he’d expected me to have answers to his issues, but so that he could feel confident sharing his fears and trepidations freely without fear of being labeled weak.
Powerful men who wanted to keep their kingdoms were never allowed to display weakness of any kind. I’d been made aware of several extortion and kidnapping attempts, even when threerival families had come to Baptiste with proposals for alliances to keep violence at a minimum.
Including the marriage of the beloved Prince daughter to some moronic thug.
Those had been the only times I’d expressed my obvious anger. At first with physical reactions, which Baptiste had noticed. Then when asked my thoughts, I’d let him know exactly what I’d thought.
With various animated, nasty words.
I remembered him laughing, telling me I’d make a fine husband one day.
Why the thought was sticking in my mind I had no idea. Along with knowing we were both in significant danger, I felt the same guilt I’d experienced when Baptiste had been shot and killed.
Being in this position was my fault.
Mine alone.
I had a bad taste in my mouth and an utter determination to get us the hell out of this mess.
No matter what I had to do.
First things first.
Get to the airport.
At least with the weapons the assassins had used, we had enough firepower to keep us safe. As long as the motherfuckers didn’t send an army after us. That also remained to be seen. The men had been very organized. I’d had a fleeting thought they hadn’tknown my identity until the pilot had gone missing. Maybe that’s one reason so many of them had been sent.
My reputation was being able to handle myself in very precarious positions was well known.
The pilot hadn’t answered my calls and I’d stopped trying. It was entirely possible he was hiding, incapable of answering his phone and to continue trying would only place his life in harm’s way.
Forced to use Uber, which wasn’t the best idea, I was further reminded that I’d placed our lives in the utmost treachery. There was no backup or protection. We could be sitting ducks.
If the pilot was alive, the issue with the passports could be handled. If not, I couldn’t fly a goddamn plane and we wouldn’t be able to get on a commercial flight for several reasons.
Moving anywhere outside the country was a no go without decent planning, which we’d yet to have time to do. I hadn’t even made the time to contact Alexander and wouldn’t until we were either safely on the plane or found another way of getting the hell out of the city.
That’s when things would get dicey. We’d need backup and the timing to get soldiers here would give a huge window for the enemies to hunt and kill.
I would not allow that to happen.
“The pilot is dead. Isn’t he?” Emmeline asked, keeping her voice down.
“We don’t know that.” I glanced out the window, shifting my gaze from one side of the vehicle to the other. While the driverdidn’t seem to be paying attention, I wasn’t taking any chances. We could trust no one.
There was no doubt in my mind that the five assassins weren’t the only ones. Whoever had planned the attack had covered all the bases. They would attack again.
There’d been no time to search the streets for a possible getaway vehicle. For all I knew, the assassins had come on foot from a distance, others lingering in the shadows.
The driver had just turned on a side street when a civil police car flew by with their lights on. While there was no way of knowing the police had been called to the rental house, my gut told me they had.
I turned toward her, also keeping my voice low. “Come avete fatto ad affittare la casa?”