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I stared wide-eyed at Raphael’s friend, like he could produce my boyfriend from his back pocket. “Do you know where he is? I’ve been trying to find him.”
“Not sure. All I know is he assigned me shadow duty.”
“I thought you’d be hunting down the photographer?”
He fell into step with me, and we made for the arched exit. It felt strange for Raphael to have just disappeared. Definitely for him to not answer his phone. I didn’t like it. Pausing before we went outside, Jackson explained the crowd of people who’d arrived at the café which was to the far south of the grounds.
My shoulders sagged. “Then it was Johnnie.”
He pulled a face. “It feels too easy. I saw him there, sitting in the middle of it. He was brazen. I’ve only seen pictures of theman, but he was easy to identify. Like he didn’t care if he was seen.”
His phone buzzed, and both of us jumped. He snapped to answer.
“Wait. I’m going to put ye on loudspeaker. Alex is with me.”
He tapped the screen then held it between us.
Valentine spoke. “The gift shop is packed, and your man Will is here.”
My mouth fell open. “Both of them? They were both in on it?”
Another call flashed on Jackson’s screen. A group call from Ben. Jackson switched to accept, keeping it so I could hear.
“Dori and I got the photographer. Straight outside the front gate.”
“Oh my God.” I clasped my hands to my mouth.
Dori chimed in. “I had him on the ground with a knee in his back. For good measure, I shoved his face in the mud. After what he put you through, I wanted to do more, but Ben said I had to chill.”
“What are you going to do with him?”
Ben answered. “He’s broken the law. We’ll keep him until the police arrive.”
Perkins morphed out of the shadows. “May I suggest your team bring the infidel inside? I have a solution.”
Ben agreed, but a cacophony of sound built around him. “Alex? There’s a real crush going on out here. Sorry to say your team leader is in the middle of it.”
“Riss as well? They were all in on it?” I’d expected her to turn up with Sir Reginald, but what were the chances those photographers were at those gates when others had followed real leads elsewhere?
Because they’d been told. By her.
The events of the past several weeks took on a darker hue. Every member of my team had been conspiring against me. Allof them in the pay of who could only be Sir Reginald and for reasons I couldn’t even guess at.
Then the other implications hit home. A crowd outside the gates meant someone would eventually tell my father. I’d left him to make his phone call in private, while I’d tried to find Sir Reginald, but I needed to handle this. I just wished I had Raphael with me.
“I’m going to go out and do my public appearance now,” I told the team. “Jackson, can you come with me? I’ll make it brief so they go away.”
“Actually, I don’t think you will.” A figure stepped into the open doorway, his face shadowed until he shifted into a patch of light.
Sir Reginald had found me.
Jackson muttered something into his phone but didn’t budge from my side. Shock stole my breath. I’d wanted him to come. Riss being here should have been indication enough. Anger cramped my belly.
“You have some nerve talking to me like that,” I bit out. “You endangered my life. You paid someone to drug me. Was it also you who scared me in Ossington? Why bother?”
He dipped his head. “No, Your Royal Highness. You misunderstand. I have merely arrived with your team to return you safely to London.”
The three corrupt bodyguards at different corners of the estate had been my idea, but under his control, it looked like a sting operation so I couldn’t leave.