Page 123 of Ruthless

“I didn’t want to do this. They made me.”

“I believe you, Louis. I know you’re a good man. But you’re going to have to hand me the—”

She didn’t know if he dropped it on purpose or if he was too terrified to continue holding on to it. All she knew was that one second, he held the detonator in his hand, and in the next, it was falling to the floor. Her heart dropping, her breath stopping, she reached out to grab the box, already knowing she would be too late.

A second before it would hit the hard granite floor, Gideon’s hand was there, catching it.

“Let’s get out of here,” Gideon said.

Her father was in the midst of announcing that Nicolas and his family were still alive. The room went wild with applause and shouts of happiness. In the uproar of the celebration, Eve pushed Louis out of the ballroom. Gideon rolled right behind them, the detonator held gently in his hand.

The cheering audience was none the wiser.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Saint Joseph’s Hospital

Marseille, France

“So, when are you guys coming back?” Ash asked.

“As soon as Gideon is well. Three months, hopefully.”

“Or less,” Gideon added.

He grinned as Eve rolled her eyes at him. To see her so relaxed and joyful went a long way to making him feel better. All the worry, anger, and sadness had disappeared.

They were back at the hospital, talking to Ash on the phone. He and the team were already headed back to Montana.

Gideon had kept his promise and returned to the hospital. Perhaps not as soon as he’d intended, but there had been extenuating circumstances that had prevented a timely exit from Ile de la Lune.

Louis Fournier was in custody, along with three palace guards and one of Louis’s assistants. Louis had sung like a bird, identifying all the inside people he had worked with. His claims that he’d been blackmailed were believable. Louis apparently had a nasty gambling habit and owed millions of dollars to various entities. Those debts had been bought up by an anonymous buyer, and he’d been told to either plant the bomb and kill the king, or he and his family would die.

Once Gideon and Eve returned to the castle after Gideon’s official release from the hospital, they would begin an investigation to discover who was behind the blackmail. They still believed all of this was connected to the people who’d funded Alexandre’s misdeeds. And all signs pointed to the Wren Project. No matter what and who these people were, with Gideon, Eve, and the rest of the OZ team after them, they were going down. It was just a matter of time.

Eve had also told her father that she would be spending the next few months vetting every single person within the castle. Security in the past had been lax, and everyone had become too complacent. Gideon knew his girl. She would do whatever it took to make sure her family stayed safe.

“Thanks for inviting us to your little soiree, Eve,” Xavier said. “You people know how to throw a wild party.”

“Thank you all for coming. Even though it wasn’t quite what you thought it would be.”

“Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but in my opinion, it turned out perfectly,” Serena said.

Her statement was followed by five shouts of “Hear, hear!”

“Thank you, guys. Love you. See you soon.”

The line went dead. Eve met Gideon’s gaze and smiled. He took her hand in his and kissed it. “It was quite a day.”

“Yes. It’s not every day that a girl gets engaged and takes down a bomber within the same hour.”

“Not to mention losing the title of queen,” he said quietly. “Does that bother you?”

“In no way, shape, or form. I could not be happier that Nicolas and his family are still alive and that he will be my father’s successor.”

“Still, you would have made an incredible queen.”

“I’d much rather make an incredible OZ operative.”