Billionaire's Runaway Princess (8 page)

Marisol
snuggled against Ryan’s warm body as he lay with his face in the pillows. Apparently, this was his preferred sleeping position, as he’d slept that way most of the night. Marisol didn’t sleep. She wanted to spend every waking moment of these hours with him. Soon, she would have to leave and go back to the life that was ordained for her.

The light stole through the windows, and Marisol knew she couldn’t stay much longer. She gave him one last gentle kiss on his temple and silently rose from the bed. She padded across the carpeted floors and opened the door that led away from Ryan. A tear slid down her cheek. What she would give to stay with him forever. During their night of lovemaking, she’d realized she loved Ryan Kelley. No one from this day forward would be able to convince her that what happened last night was sinful or profane. In Ryan’s arm she felt like she’d touched the heart of the Almighty, and that could never, ever be wrong.

Marisol dressed in the clothes she’d come in and picked up the elevator key. She would leave it with Danny, but she couldn’t depart without leaving a note for Ryan. He deserved at least that much for all he had given her. She switched on the household computer and called up the email program.

My Dearest Ryan,

You’re everything a woman could ask for. If there was any other way, I would stay with you forever, but I have to go back to my real life now. I’ll always remember you, and I will alway love you.

Goodbye,

Marisol

She hit send and then closed the cover to the computer. With a heavy heart, she walked out the service door, but to her dismay the elevator wouldn’t open. Thinking this odd, she walked back into the apartment and crossed to the front door. This time, the elevator opened.

“Marisol?” She heard Ryan calling for her, and she hurried into the elevator, her heart pumping in fear. The last thing she wanted was a tearful goodbye scene with Ryan. She was torn up enough as it was. When Marisol hit the lobby, she felt something was off. Danny looked at her with fear in his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Danny?”

Danny’s eyes flicked to the front doors, and there to her horror, she saw at least five police cars, lights flashing. Police officers stood behind the cars, their guns drawn.

The elevator dinged again, and Ryan stood there wild-eyed. He grabbed Marisol.

“What are you doing? Why are you leaving?”

“Ryan, don’t,” Marisol said, but many things happened at once. The door opened, and something rolled on the ground.

“Cover your eyes,” called Danny. A loud bang and a flash of light assaulted her. Men streamed in, shouting to get on the ground. Ryan pushed her down and then covered her body with his. Then she felt Ryan pulled off of her, and she looked up to see a police office putting handcuffs on him.

“Let him go! Let him go!” Marisol screamed, but other officers picked her up, one on each side.

“Is this her?” asked one.

“Looks a lot like her,” said the other.

“Your highness.”

The gravelly voice could only belong to Gustav, her father’s head of security, who had just entered the building.

Marisol looked at him as she shook off the arms of the policemen.

“Gustav, tell them to let Ryan go.”

“Who?”

Marisol pointed to Ryan, who was being restrained by a police officer.

Gustav’s eyes narrowed. “The kidnapper?”

“Ryan didn’t kidnap me.”

“File the charges,” said Gustav, disregarding her words. “I’ll bring the princess’s statement later.” He took Marisol’s arm and pulled her along. She gave one look to Ryan, who turned his head away. His eyes held anger, and she didn’t blame him. She’d gotten him into this mess, but didn’t know how to get him out of it.

***

A line of reporters waited beyond
the police cars. She was assaulted almost immediately as she walked past the line of cars.

“Princess Marisol, can you tell us about your ordeal?”

“Where have you been these past three days?”

“Were you hurt, Princess?”

“Who was the man who kidnapped you?”

The questions were flung at her at random, and she shielded her face from the cameras with her free arm. Gustav opened the door of a black limo and nearly propelled her inside with his arm.  She landed on a seat. Next to her was her father, with Tristan on the opposite bench.

“Daughter, thank God, we found you. Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, Father, but—”

“The man is in custody,” said Gustav from the open door.

“Good,” said King Francois.

“Man?” said Tristan archly.

“No, Father, not good. Ryan has been nothing but kind to me. You must make sure he gets released immediately.”

“And what were you doing with this man?” demanded Tristan. “This man who was so good to you?”

“None of your damned business, Tristan,” snapped Marisol.

“Watch your tongue with me, woman. We’ve been worried sick about you. Your father has been beside himself the whole time.”

“Like you care about anyone but yourself. If you didn’t put your hands up my dress at the reception, I wouldn’t have left in the first place.”

“He what?” Her father’s eyes sparkled with anger.

Tristan’s face turned a particular shade of purple.

“You left? On your own?” Marisol had never seen anyone so indignant as Tristan Vattakov. “How dare you? How dare you embarrass all of us?” He raised his hand, and she shrank into the seat as she anticipated the blow.

Before the strike could land, her father caught Tristan’s hand mid-air.

“Get out of this car, now,” he said in deadly quiet voice.

“But your daughter—”

“Deserves better than you.”

“But the trade agreement—”

“Is off. Your father represented to me that you were ready for marriage, but your behavior, including the assault on my daughter, shows me otherwise. No trade agreement is worth the unhappiness of my daughter. So get out now.”

Francois Duvaingnon didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t have to, because his words come out cold and harder than if he had yelled.

Tristan blanched. “My father will hear of this outrage.”

“He most certainly will,” said the king. “Gustav, show Prince Vattakov the way out.”

Spitting protests, Tristan left the limo.

“Driver, the hotel,” said the king.

Marisol’s father wrapped his arms around his daughter.

“I’m so sorry, Marisol,” he whispered. “I should have known that someone like Tristan Vattakov was no good and certainly not worthy of my daughter.”

“Father, I’m the one who should be apologizing. I’ve let you down. And now, because of me, our country will suffer.”

“Shush, daughter. You’re with me, and you’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

“But you don’t understand. They arrested Ryan. The police think he kidnapped me. He’s in a lot of trouble because of what I did.”

“Well, if he knew who you were and didn’t do anything to return you to me, he should be in trouble.”

“Father, no. You do not know this man. He is good and kind. He volunteers his time at a homeless shelter He—”

But her father’s phone rang, and he answered it.

“Yes, yes, of course. No, no more public spectacles. A hospital would be just that. Find a physician to come to our hotel.” He ended the call.

“Physician?” said Marisol.

“I want to make sure you’re in good health, daughter.”

“But I am. Nothing bad happened to me, father, I swear.”

“Your promises do not mean much to me right now, Marisol. You’re my daughter, and I love you, but this whole mess involved three law enforcement agencies and the United States government. They will want detailed answers from us for the time, energy, and expense they put into searching for you. I cannot simply say my twenty-one-year-old daughter ran away because she didn’t like the man she was to marry. It is an embarrassment all the way around, not just for you, but for our country. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Yes,” said Marisol, shrinking into the seat of the limo at the weight of her father’s condemnation. “But Ryan—”

“Should have known better that to get involved. Now he will have to suffer the consequences for that.”

Marisol hung her head. She’d messed up badly, spreading a trail of destruction from Dalaysia to America. And the worst of it was she’d hurt the people she loved in the process.

***

After
the physician left, Marisol found her father on the sofa in her suite, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was something she rarely saw, but when she did, it meant he was deeply troubled.

“Father?” she said. Trepidation was in her voice.

“Marisol,” he sighed. “Did I not raise you better? Where have I failed you?”

Immediately, Marisol went to him and threw her arm around his neck.

“You have not failed me ever,” she said.

“I must have. The physician…”

Marisol’s blood ran cold. The doctor was kindly but thorough. He’d also promised he won’t report to her father her intimate details.

“Understand it wasn’t what he said. It was what he didn’t say. Marisol, I’m not a stupid man. Was it this Ryan you keep speaking about?”

“Yes,” she said softly.

“Why? It is a sin. A mortal sin, Marisol.” Instead of being angry, he was sad and resigned, like he had failed in some way.

Marisol hated to see her father so distressed, but could what she had to say make things any better? She didn’t think it would, but maybe it was some time for some truth. If there was one thing Marisol had learned in the past few days, it was that living a lie only hurt.

“Why?” she said. “Because I love him.”

“How do you know that?” her father demanded. There was some anger in his voice now.

Marisol kneeled on the floor in front of him and looked into his eyes.

“Because, Father, I feel it in my heart. Mother once told me she loved you the moment she met you. Didn’t you feel the same? Didn’t you know? How could it be any different for me? Why aren’t my feelings as genuine as yours were for Mother?”

Marisol had never seen her father cry, except at her mother’s funeral, but now her father’s eyes filled with them.

“Oh, Marisol. Of all the words that you could have spoken, those are the hardest.”

“Father.”

“No, hush. I’m a selfish man. I have sinned too, sinned against you for my selfishness. I knew you could never love Tristan, and in the meanest part of my heart, I gave you to him because I know you would have returned to me.”

Marisol stared at her father, shocked at his confession. Never in her life had he done anything but show her love. The incident with Tristan was an aberration, something she couldn’t understand. Now she did, and all she wanted to do was burrow her head intp his shoulder.

The king swallowed hard. “Now you tell me you love a man, and I face what I fear the most, losing the only other person I love. Can you forgive me for being so selfish, for loving you so much I couldn’t bear to let you go?”

“Oh, Father, you cannot lose me. Not ever, but I will be very angry with you if you don’t make things right with Ryan. That is the least we can do for all the trouble we have given him.”

The king wiped his eyes with his hand and gave Marisol a little smile.

“Get dressed, daughter. We will go find your Ryan and make things right with him.”

“
Are
we ready?” King Francois said to Gustav.

Marisol stood behind her father, dressed in a proper suit of royal blue crepe, and a felt wide-brimmed hat of the same color. Her secretary, Countess Guerin, stood behind her, attired in a black wool suit. Pressed all around were Gustav’s security team in black suits. It was all properly royal.

“Yes, your Grace.”

“And damage control.”

Gustav gave a sly smile and handed a tablet to her father. He looked at it and chuckled.

“The print edition, Gustav?”

“No. Not yet, your Grace.”

“Too bad. I should like to have had a copy of it under my arm when we go to the courthouse.”

“What is it, father?” she asked.

“Take a look for yourself.” Her father handed her the tablet. On it was a picture of Tristan, looking very drunk, being taken into a London police station. Several women were in handcuffs also trailing behind him. The caption read:

Ukraine Prince Arrested on Drug and Prostitution Charges

“That was the reason he was late for the reception. Vattakov assured me it was a misunderstanding, but Gustav, after his investigation, found otherwise.”

“You didn’t leak this to the press?” She gaped at her father, not quite able to believe he’d done such a thing.

“Let’s just say I refused to pay the photographer not to publish this picture, but now no one will question why we pulled out of our contracts with the Vattakovs.”

“And look at this, your Grace,” said Gustav. He swiped another page with a different newspaper headline that read:
Indicted Vattakov Prince Disinherited.

The king nodded. “He brought shame to his position and his family. King Vattakov’s younger son will be a better choice to rule their country.” He turned to Gustav. “Have we determined where Ryan Kelley will be arraigned?”

“Yes. The drivers for the cars have the address, and I have relayed your request for Mr. Kelley’s release through our embassy. They have not replied.”

“Well, let’s go embarrass them, shall we?”

The entourage made a very public exit out of the Grand Wedgewood Hotel, where a mob of reporters stood. Immediately ,they shouted questions.

King Francois raised his hands. “My daughter has a statement she’d like to make.”

The reporters settled down and waited expectantly for Marisol to speak. Just as she was taught in speech class, she threw back her shoulders and held her head high.

“I want to apologize to my father, to the citizens of Dalayasia, and the good people of New York and the United States for the concern I have caused all of you. It was reckless and irresponsible of me to take time to explore this beautiful city of yours without properly notifying my father, His Highness King Francois, or any of his advisers. One hopes that my youthful indiscretion will be forgiven in time.

“I didn’t expect to have caused such an uproar or cause so many people so much trouble. I want to thank all the people I have met on my tour of the city, who have displayed only the kindness and generosity that the American people are known for. In particular, I apologize to Ryan Kelley, owner of KelTech Corporation, for the trouble I caused him for being my guide and protector during these past three days.

“At this moment, he is being held by authorities under the misunderstanding that he committed crimes against me. He has not, and I call for his release immediately. We have dispatched lawyers to plead his case, and we understand he is going to be arraigned today. We’re going to the courthouse to support his cause and to secure his release. Thank you for your kindness and understanding.”

Her speech concluded, Gustav’s security pressed around them. They made their way to their waiting limos, while reporters shouted more questions after them.

***

There
were more reporters at the courthouse, and even news trucks lined the street. Marisol, her father, and their entourage walked up the steps, security doing their job to keep the reporters and public away from the royal family of Dalaysia. At the security station, there was an uproar over the armed men, but eventually, especially with the intervention of one of the lawyers they’d hired, they gained entry.

Soon they were in the proper courtroom. Marisol spotted Cheryl and Peggy sitting in another row. “Father, invite them to sit with us. That’s Ryan’s mother and sister.”

Her father sent Gustav, but they shook their heads.

“No,” said her father, “this will not do.” He walked the few steps to where Cheryl and Peggy sat and spoke to them. Marisol didn’t hear what he said, but King Francois was very charming, and soon she saw Ryan’s mother and sister follow the king back to his row.

“Hi, Cheryl,” said Marisol.

“Hello, your Highness.”

“Please, Cheryl. It is always Marisol to you.”

“Thank you.”

“Have you talked to Ryan?”

“No,” said Peggy. “He only got the one phone call, and he used it for his lawyer.”

“I’m so sorry about all of this,” said Marisol.

“You needn’t be, Marisol,” said Cheryl. “I warned him from the beginning there could be trouble.”

“What do you mean?”

“He knew all along who you were. Remember when I told you he had a crush on a girl he never got over. That was you, Marisol. I think he had it in his head that if he got rich enough, he’d be able to meet you. Well, he got rich, but never did anything to meet you. He was always busy with work. And then you showed up in front of him.”

“All rise,” said the bailiff. “The Honorable Jorge Vasquez presiding.”

Marisol rose and sat with everyone else, thinking it reminded her a little of mass. The judge looked at something on his desk and shook his head.

“It looks like we have celebrity case here in the courtroom today. I will remind all here that I tolerate no disruptions in my courtroom and anyone who does that will be removed immediately. And just to make our day easier, let’s dispense with that case first.

“Ryan Kelley vs. The State of New York, aggravated kidnapping,” spoke the bailiff.

Ryan was ushered in, looking disheveled in his gray sweats and black t-shirt.

A lawyer moved and stood next to Ryan. “Justin Potts, attorney for Mr. Ryan.”

“Mr. Potts. I’ve not seen you in my courtroom.”

“I’m a corporate lawyer, your honor, but seeing the speed with which this was brought to arraignment, we had little choice.”

“Any member of the bar. Mr. Ryan, how do you plead to the charges?”

“Not guilty,” said Ryan. His chin was held high, and though Marisol couldn’t see, she imagined there was defiance in his eyes.

“Recommendations as to bail.”

“Excuse me, your honor,” said the lawyer sitting next to the king. “I beg the court’s indulgence. I’m Attorney Porter Shulman, here to present an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Ryan Kelley. The family asserts that no kidnapping took place. The alleged victim, Princess Marisol, will testify she wasn’t kidnapped. She stayed in Mr. Kelley’s apartment of her own will, and was in fact given access to a car that took her wherever she wanted to go.”

The judge sighed. “I see. Princess Marisol, I’ve watched the newscasts, like everyone else. What possessed you to leave your family like you did?”

“Your honor, it was a mistake, but I had a great curiosity about my mother’s family and wished to meet them.”

“I see. And did you?”

“I cannot meet those who are no longer living,” she said sadly.

“I see. Given the facts, I’m dismissing all charges.”

“Your honor,” said the prosecutor. “Mr. Kelley knew the NYPD was looking for the princess.”

“So? She is of-age, is she not? She says she wasn’t held against her will. You have no case, George, so let’s drop it and move on. Mr. Kelley, you’re free to go.”

“Thank you, Marisol,” said Cheryl, giving her a quick hug.

Ryan pushed down the aisle to get out of the courtroom and caught Marisol’s gaze, but turned his head. Cheryl and Peggy pushed out of the aisle, straining to catch up to Ryan. Marisol felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at her father.

“Well, don’t just stand there. Go get him.”

***

Gustav
and four of the security guards followed Marisol in the hall. Reporters jammed themselves in front of Ryan, who was desperately trying to get away from them. Gustav made a hand motion, and two of the guards broke away and shepherded Ryan in the opposite direction of the door, while Gustav opened and closed doors down the hallway until he found what he was looking for. The security guards ushered Ryan into the room, and Gustav motioned for Marisol to join him.

The security guards withdrew, and Gustav shut the door, leaving the two alone.

“Hey,” said Marisol.

Ryan turned his head toward her, anger flashing in his eyes.

“What is this? Am I under arrest by your government now?”

“No, I just want to talk to you, Ryan.” She trembled under his angry gaze, but she had to make things right with him. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry about what, Marisol? Leaving me in the morning with a dear john email?”

“I had to do that.”

“Really? Is that all I meant to you—a quick fuck, and off you go?”

“No!”

“Couldn’t wait to get back to Vattakov?” He spoke the name with disgust.

“It’s not like that!”

“Admit it, you left so you could go marry him.”

“Yes,” she said trembling. She’d never seen Ryan angry before, and it hurt her in ways she couldn’t describe.

“That’s all I need to hear. Good-bye, Marisol.”

Ryan rushed through the room like he was on fire and tore open the door.

“Wait!” called Marisol.

But Ryan didn’t wait, and he was gone when she rushed to the door and looked down the halls.