Page 103 of Stolen Princess

“You agreed to meet me. And you’re as involved with this as I am.”

“I thought she’d finally be dead!” the woman yells. “You should have killed her years ago. I understand why you wanted to keep her. You felt like she should have been your daughter and not Marie’s. I get that. Sort of. He was a bastard, but I’m not going to argue my former husband with you again. But the time for that has long since passed.”

“Marie stole him from me, and I stole the girl from her. You know what he made me do. You remember how it all happened.”

“Yes, and he snuck it past me with her. Snuck it past both of us.”

“Which is why I deserve her.”

“We shouldn’t be discussing this in front of him.”

“Wait,” Sven cries, terror in his voice. “What are you doing? This wasn’t our deal.”

Bang.

I start and bump my forehead on the door, which makes it rattle. I wince, both from pain and hoping neither of them heard that.

“Better. One problem solved.” The other woman is as cool and collected as it gets. “Desta was yours. Now she’s a problem we need to get rid of.”

“Anyone who knows about her is dead. Other than us.”

“You’re assuming my children haven’t been notified.”

My mother scoffs. “Who was going to tell them? The thief evading the law? Desta, who wouldn’t know how to search for them, let alone find them? And it’s not as though they’d believe her anyway, even if she tried. No. Besides, you spoke to your sister yesterday and said nothing seemed out of the ordinary.”

“I don’t like it. I don’t like any of this. No one can know I’m involved.”

“No one knows. I killed your husband. He more than had it coming for all that he did to us. I helped you with Brea so no one would know the truth about her. Our deal was that if I stole Desta from Marie, she was mine to keep.”

“I’ve helped you all these years too. Don’t forget that. Without me, none of this would have been possible. We need this taken care of, and both of you need to go. This place isn’t safe to stay, and frankly, it’s disgusting. Plus, there’s now a dead body in it.”

“I agree we need to leave here, and I’m glad he’s dead. I was going to kill him myself in the morning. But I can’t bring Desta back to the cottage.”

“Why not? The man who found her there is dead. No one else knows about it, and it’s not searchable.”

“I won’t be able to keep her there anymore.” Antonia makes a displeased noise before she emits a loud, tired sigh. “You’re right. I’m going to have to kill her. Or talk to her first, maybe. I don’t know. But I want Marie dead. I want every possible loophole closed, including Marcella.”

“Marie, we can handle, but how do you expect me to get to Marcella? The filthy trash is engaged to Rowan and living in the palace. In these months, no one has found you. Your aliases are working, and I’ve had the record of your fingerprints wiped from the system. Kill the girl and leave the country. It’s your best option.”

“What about the tiara?”

I don’t stick around to find out about the tiara. I don’t care about it enough. I have to get out of here, and I have to do that now or Antonia will kill me. I scan the bedroom, searching for something, anything that will help me, but my legs are sluggish and uncoordinated, and I trip over a lamp cord as I race for the window.

The lamp comes crashing to the floor. Fuck!

Before I can figure anything out, the door bursts open, and there is Antonia and another woman who looks familiar. Her features are regal and her clothes expensive. She eyes me with brutal disdain.

“Well. You look like your father, don’t you? You have his eyes.”

My father? The former king?

I hold out my hands to them and take a step back.

Antonia eyes me, and I swear I see regret in her features. “My girl. Don’t be alarmed.”

“Where am I?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she states. “I’m not going to hurt you.”