A Royal Engagement: The Young Royals Book 1 (31 page)

I tried moving, but
 
my arms and legs were both bound, which sparked panic in me.
 
Being a Princess all my life, the threat of kidnapping had been drummed into me and what I was supposed to do in the event that I was.
 
Panicking was not a luxury that I could afford.
 
I needed to calm down and use my brain.
 
Figure out where I was, who had me and what they wanted.

I took some deep breaths and slowly opened my eyes.
 
The room was dim, but not full dark.
 
It was a small bedroom and I was on a bed.
 
There were no pervading odours, like dust or mildew, and the room was a comfortable temperature, neither hot nor cold.
 
I could hear a voice in the room beyond, but it was too soft to make out the words.

I wiggled on the bed until I could sit up and swing my legs over the side.
 
My hands were tied together at the wrist in front of me, for which I was grateful, and my legs were tied at the ankle.
 
My head pounded with my change of position and I grit my teeth and took a few deep breaths until the dizziness passed.

I tried to think back to what had happened before I found myself in this predicament.
 
I had been at the treehouse, had found the dossier.
 
We'd gone back to Jacob's office and then someone had grabbed me.

Jordan.

It came back to me in a rush.
 
Jordan had grabbed me and forced me a gun point into a secret room and then he'd hit me over the head.
 
Pistol whipped, I thought was the correct term.

It took me a moment to let the reality sink in.
 
Did Carlos know about the secret panel?
 
How long would he wait before coming into the office to check on me?
 
Where did the secret tunnel lead to?
 
How long had I been gone?
 
And what was Jordan going to do to me now?

The thoughts racing around my head triggered an attack of anxiety and my breath started to come in pants and my heart raced.
 
I had no answers to these questions, and no idea how I was going to get out of this.
 
Truth be told, I had never really taken the threat to my life seriously.
 
I was only the spare, and not a very famous one at that.
 
Jacob had always been the main target and although I had learned some self defence and martial arts, it had more been for fitness than because I was afraid for my safety.
 
I had always known that if there had ever been a credible threat, I had a whole bevy of body guards to save me.

Except that I didn't.

Jordan was the perfect person to instigate such an attack.
 
He had unrestricted access to the palace, he was respected and well liked by the staff and I had let him into my inner circle.
 
He also had intimate knowledge of the security of the palace, being that he was responsible for visiting dignitaries and the like.
 
He'd known about the secret passageway when even I hadn't.

He also hadn't given anyone reason to suspect him.
 
Well, not until after he'd overplayed his hand with me.

I only hoped that he was also implicated on the flash drive that I had given to Carlos.
 
The one I hoped he hadn't forgotten about.
 
The one I hoped they would look at to see if they could find any clues as to who took me.

Would they even connect the two?
 
They weren't stupid, but in the first initial panic of me going missing, would they think to look at it?

The only way out of that office without going through the outer office where Carlos had been waiting was through the panel in the wall.
 
Logically that would be where they would concentrate their efforts first.
 
I didn't know where that particular passage terminated, but Benjamin and Von Bartham would.
 
The problem was that Jordan wasn't dumb enough to stay put where ever it was that the tunnel ended.
 
They would need to know who took me in order to find out where I was.

Maybe I could find out where I was and somehow let them know.
 
I had no idea how I was going to do that, not with my hands and feet bound and no access to a phone or internet or nautical flags.
 
I would even use a smoke signal if I could or morse code in a pinch.
 
But I had no way to let anybody know where I was or who had taken me.

The panic gave way to hysteria and I had the overwhelming desire to laugh.
 
I swallowed the bubbling in my throat, knowing that if I gave into it, I wouldn't be able to stop.
 
I took a couple of deep breaths and stood to my feet.
 
The dizziness and nausea from my head trauma took a moment to subside and then I shuffle/hopped across the room to the one window.
 
It was covered by a heavy curtain, which I wrested out of the way to peer outside.
 
It was still dark and I could see nothing beyond the glass.
 
I thunked my head against the glass in frustration.

The door opened behind me, spilling light into the room.

"What do you think you're doing Princess?" Jordan snarled.

I whipped around, barely keeping my balance.
 
"I should be asking you that question," I said back, trying for my best Princess voice.

"I thought you would have figured that out by now," he said leaning against the door jam.
 
He looked me up and down with a sneer. "It didn't have to come to this, you know."

"No, it didn't," I said.

"But you just wouldn't cooperate."

"How is this my fault?"
 
I knew I shouldn't be arguing with him, but I wasn't in control of all my emotions.

"If you had just married me, then we could have avoided all this...
unpleasantness
."
 
He said the word like it tasted bad.

"Unpleasantness?"
 
I couldn't believe what he was saying.
 
He was kidnapping me and threatening me at gunpoint because I wouldn't marry him?

"Don't act so naive Alyssa, I gave you more credit than that."

"I'm sorry I'm not living up to your expectations, but I'm still trying to catch up and my head is killing me."

"Sorry about that," he said as if he were apologising for being late to dinner, "But I knew you were going to scream and I really didn't want to have to shoot you.
 
Not yet anyway."

I took a breath.
 
Talking to Jordan was like scrambling through a maze.
 
When I looked at him, he was my old friend, the guy I had been dating, the guy who had helped me through the tragedy of losing my brother and father.
 
I couldn't reconcile that man with the one who had kidnapped me, who was holding me bound.
 
I didn't know which way to go, to appeal to the Jordan I knew or to treat him like a rabid dog.

"Jordan," I said, pitching my tone low and calm, "My head really does hurt and I would dearly love a hot cup of tea and to sit down."

He looked me over for a minute before giving me a sharp nod.
 
He strode over and picked me up, putting me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carrying me out of the bedroom and into the light.
 
The room we walked into was a combined kitchen, dining, lounge room and I recognised it.
 
It was one of the hunting cabins that we had in the woods along the lake.
 
There were three in all and they were all exactly the same in layout and decor.

Jordan put me down on a chair at the table and busied himself in the kitchen making tea.
 
The cabins were normally stocked with the bare essentials - nonperishable food stuffs and basic bathroom toiletries - but Jordan seemed to have spent some time stocking this one.
 
Would somebody have noticed him bringing food out here?
 
And did that mean he was preparing to stay a while?

The dossier I had found in the treehouse was sitting on the table and I tried surreptitiously to bring it towards me so that I could have a better look though it.
 
I flipped the cover over and looked at the photograph on the first page.
 
It was an official photo of Jordan's father, the Major General.

I read the words of the report, not comprehending them at first.
 
The General was in debt up to his eyeballs and to some very shady characters if the report was to be believed.
 
His estate was mortgaged to the hilt and his retirement fund had made very little dent in the amounts owing.

The General had been keeping his head above water by taking money from certain interested parties to block bills in the House of Lords.
 
Unfortunately for him, the money was drying up and he would soon have to make good on his loans.

I turned the page to see the Police Chief staring back at me.
 
He was implicated in taking bribes to quash arrests or to look the other way when certain titled men were caught in a compromising position.

Jordan's hand came down hard on the file and dragged it away from me.
 
He replaced it with a mug of tea and then stalked to the other side of the table to take a seat.
 
He closed the folder and watched me as I tried to pick up the mug with my tied hands.

"I have been looking for this damned report for months," Jordan said, self deprecatingly with a rueful shake of his head.
 
"Where the hell did you find it?"

"In the treehouse," I said.
 
I didn't see any reason to lie, there were no other secrets hidden there, well, not that I knew of.

"The treehouse?" Jordan quirked an eyebrow at me before shaking his head.
 
"Your brother and that damned treehouse.
 
God, I hated that place."

This was news to me.
 
Jordan had seemed to love it, he had been with Jacob and Will every time they'd climbed into the cubby.

"Will and Jacob never did like me.
 
I knew they only tolerated me being around them because of the position my father had."

I kept my mouth shut and sipped my tea.
 
I wanted him to talk, I wanted him to spill his guts to me and hopefully it would distract him long enough so that someone would find me.

"I tried everything to make them like me, but nothing I did was good enough."
 
He smiled and it made me uncomfortable.
 
There was something about his eyes that made me think that Jordan was a little unstable.
 
"But look who has the upper hand now," he went on, "I do.
 
I'm the one in charge now."

Jordan's phone rang and I jumped, spilling hot tea on my hands.
 
Jordan didn't even notice my squeak of pain as he got to his feet and answered his phone.

"Yes father," he said and my heart sank.
 
The General was involved and that could only mean bad things for me.
 
"I have her, here with me," Jordan said and then I watched as his face turned white and his mouth twisted into a scowl.
 
"No," he growled into the phone, "I've got this handled.
 
I know what I'm doing."
 
He listened for a bit, his jaw working and his eyes getting darker, his eyebrows lowering in a frown.
 
"Shut up!" he suddenly screamed into the phone.
 
He jabbed his finger at the screen and then threw the phone against the wall.
 
I watched, dismayed, as it shattered, leaving no hope for me to use it to contact someone.

Jordan paced angrily, his jaw set and his lips pressed together into a thin line.
 
His fists clenched and unclenched as he made his way across the small room.
 
When he turned back towards me, his eyes looked wild; red rimmed and wide.
 
Up until now I had thought that because I was with Jordan, he wouldn't really hurt me.
 
We had known each other for years, he'd kissed me just days ago.
 
Looking at the man before me now, I was afraid.

"Sit down Jordan," I said tremulously, "We can work this out.
 
It's not too late."

He stopped and stared daggers at me.
 
"You don't know what I've done, Princess," he said with a chilling laugh.

"Whatever it is," I tried, "I can help you.
 
If you take me back now, no one will even know I was gone.
 
You've still got options."

He just shook his head and went back to his pacing.
 
"It's too late.
 
It's too late."
 
His pacing became more agitated and his hands went to his head and he gripped his hair.
 
His foot caught the leg of the coffee table and he tripped.
 
He got up and kicked at the table, sending it towards the wall.
 
It stopped short before hitting it and he walked up to it and began kicking it harder, smashing it to pieces against the wall.

That small bit of violence seemed to switch something on in him and he systematically went around smashing things, taking his anger and frustrations out on the furniture and anything breakable he could get his hands on.
 
He threw lamps and vases, he used the fire poker to attack the bigger pieces of furniture that he couldn't otherwise lift.

I scrambled from the chair, falling painfully onto the floor.
 
I pulled myself along the wooden floorboards and into the kitchen area, taking cover behind the counter while Jordan rampaged through the rest of the cabin.
 
I huddled in the corner, praying for rescue.
 
Everything I'd learned about defending myself, fled as fear invaded my mind.
 
Jordan was out of control.