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“I’m going to check the cameras,” Anna says to us as she heads toward her room, no doubt hacking our security system from her computer.

I walk toward the conservatory with Jessica in tow. Jackie and Bethany are sitting at a bistro table sipping coffee. They have out computers, and I can see a calendar open on one of them.

I clear my throat, and they turn around. “Have you seen Kate or Ashlyn, this evening?”

Jackie frowns and stands, followed by Bethany. “No,” they say in unison before sharing a look.

“Shit,” I mutter. “Do either of them have any friends that they would go see?”

Jackie shrugs. “Yes, but Kate wouldn’t go do that, not under the current situation.”

Bethany taps her foot, deep in thought. “Will,” she says dryly.

“Oh, yes, that nice young boy she met,” Jessica says from behind me. “I haven’t met him yet. But he’s been traveling around Europe. Maybe he’s here. But they know better. They wouldn’t leave without you both.”

Jackie and Bethany exchange another look, and Jackie rolls her eyes. “Unfortunately, they would.”

Jessica looks a little shocked. Clearly, those two keep Mom out of the loop. I wonder how much she knows about her husband’s politics if she’s this clued out about her own children. She’s nice enough but seems a little caught up in her own world.

I’m about to suggest we call Ashlyn when Anna bursts through the door.

“We have a major problem,” she announces, looking at all of us. “Study, now.” We follow her down the hall. Christian, who must have just arrived, my father, and the president are already in the study, they turn to us as Anna enters.

She doesn’t say a word, just walks over to my father’s desk and presses a button. The giant screen on the wall appears from behind wooden panels. Anna sets her computer down, and after a few punches of various keys, four video feeds appear.

“Here,” she says, pointing toward the first one. It shows Kate and Ashlyn leaving the palace about two hours ago. “And here,” she says again, pointing to the second video. It’s a square in the small village nearby. I can see two figures that look like Kate and Ashlyn enter the square and look around. Ashlyn runs out of the screen. Anna points to the next one. Ashlyn is being held by someone, a man. But it’s the last video that has my blood going cold in my veins. It’s Kate, lying limp in the arms of a man, and not just any man, Jared.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

Kate

My head kills.I groan as I try to move but I can’t. It takes me a good ten seconds to realize that my wrists and ankles are bound. I open my eyes slowly. I’m lying on the floor of a bedroom. I can’t tell what time it is as the blinds are drawn, encasing the room in only the dim light of a side table lamp.

I look up toward the bed and see Ash. I go to cry out but realize there’s tape over my mouth. I struggle on the floor. She doesn’t move. Tears sting my eyes. Why’d I agree to go with her? I should have made her stay. And why are Jared and Bill here?

I crane my neck to see if Ashlyn is breathing, just as panic starts to set in, her foot moves. Tears fall faster down my cheeks with the relief that washes over me. But that is stymied when I look at the door and see Jared sitting in a chair in front of it.

“Long time no see,” he says to me as he stands and walks over, crouching down. The smell of his cologne fills my nostrils and makes me want to vomit. Memories of that last night with him, of him hitting me, come crashing back, and I feel myself tremble.

He runs a finger along my leg, and I jerk back the best I can manage. He sneers as he leans closer.

“I think you’ll want to play nice,” he murmurs, looking at my sister. I cringe.

He looks back at me. “Daddy is not going to be happy with you, breaking out of the palace at night by yourselves…tsk, tsk. It’s a good thing Bill and I were there.” His smirk makes me whimper; it’s the smirk of a madman.

I can see Ashlyn’s foot twitch again, but her eyes haven’t opened yet.

“Don’t worry, she’s smaller than you, it’ll take longer for the drugs to wear off,” he says, reminding of my pounding headache that I’d quickly replaced with the numbness of absolute adrenaline when I saw him. “Now, can you be a good girl? I’ll take this tape off if you’ll stay quiet.”

I don’t have any leverage to argue with him, so I nod.

“Good girl,” he says as he rips the tape from my mouth. It burns where I’m sure he ripped off some skin, but I keep quiet as I lick my dry lips. It’s then I notice he’s holding a bottle of water.

“Take a sip,” he says. I shake my head. He snarls. “It’s not laced with anything.” He stuffs it between my lips, and I’m forced to swallow the liquid. It’s cool and doesn’t taste of anything. I pray he’s being honest.

“Why?” I ask quietly after he pulls the bottle back.

“Oh, my dear Kate, you never were all that quick on the uptake,” he says as he lifts me up and leans me against a wall.