A Love that Endures 3 Read online

  Katy was having a hard time coming to terms with so many revelations all at once. And while she felt like she better understood Cassie’s motive, and even her actions over the past five years, she still felt like something else was happening that she didn’t understand.

  She had been reanalyzing years of backhanded compliments and underhanded remarks from her cousin. And, upon closer inspection, it didn’t actually seem like Cassie cared much for her at all.

  Which was quite painful, if she was being honest.

  “I mean,” Katy went on, quietly grateful to have someone with whom she could voice her realizations rather than stew in them while pretending to act natural, “I’m really beginning to think that everything since I’ve met you has been a lie. Cassie’s crush on you. The scandals. The trial . . . I hate even thinking it, but it all adds up.”

  “Maybe since before you met me, too,” David offered cautiously. “I never thought to bring this up before, but I remembered it again recently, since thinking through everything again. Back at Harvard, when I first met you and Cassie. Remember that first night when I helped get Cassie back to your house? I went into her purse to find her ID and an address to take her home. But there was a letter in her purse from Alexei—and it was addressed to you, Katy. I didn’t think much of it at the time because I didn’t know either of you very well, but . . . I think she intercepted some of your communications.”

  Katy frowned and tried to think back. The vividly strange, painful memory was surprisingly easy to recall. “When Al surprised me in Cambridge . . . he said he wrote to me to tell me he was coming. What if she hid that from me, so I wouldn’t tell him not to come?”

  “Which would explain why it looked so fake and dramatic when she chased him away,” David said, his words full of the energy of a new realization. “I remember watching her that night and thinking she looked like she was acting, but not knowing why. Maybe she realized then that it was futile to think you might get back together with Alexei. Because you were too distracted . . .”

  “With you,” Katy finished, her mind jumping to the end of David’s sentence. “That’s why she decided to turn her attention on you next.”

  Her head spun with the implications. It was like she was finally waking out of a long, terrible dream. Cassie had been behind the manufacture of so many parts of Katy’s life.

  And she definitely wasn’t done yet.

  “Did she say anything out of the ordinary at dinner? About the driver or the suggestion to take the long way home?” David gently switched gears, getting back into the present.

  “She didn’t talk much. My parents were the ones who announced that she’ll get a new title after her wedding. Which is really weird, but . . .”

  “Wait,” David said suddenly, jumping into her contemplative pause. “After the wedding? Is that tradition or something?”

  Katy shook her head, confused. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” David replied, “why are they waiting until after her wedding? Why not just give it to her now?”

  Katy blinked. She hadn’t really considered it. “Maybe they had to make it look like a gift, so it wouldn’t be obvious to other people that she was receiving it as payment.”

  Payment for selling me off to a suitor.

  “Then maybe that’s why . . .” David started.

  But Katy already knew where he was going. Her heart beat a little bit faster as the pieces clicked into place. She finished the statement for him. “Why she got engaged so quickly? David . . . I think you’re right.”

  Cassie must’ve been dying to get the new title as soon as possible. Katy still couldn’t quite understand why, though. Why did she need it so fast? And why did she need to get the king and queen to take a long trip, right after her wedding . . . but . . . before Katy’s?

  What had Cassie said about Katy’s engagement? That if Oliver wasn’t right for her, everyone would understand. After all of the pressure she’d put on Katy to stay in this relationship, to forget David and try a new love, why would Cassie suddenly stop trying to convince her to make it work? As though Katy’s marriage didn’t matter to her anymore . . .

  Katy gasped.

  “What is it?” David asked her.

  “David,” Katy began breathlessly. Suddenly, the host of small, strange occurrences was coming together to paint a terrible picture. “What if there’s a reason Cassie wants my parents to go on that drive? But only after her wedding and her title bestowment?”

  David was quiet on the other end, but the tension as he listened was clear. Katy went on.

  “And it’s also why she suddenly doesn’t really care too much if I get married or not. Because she’ll have all she needs. The title, a marriage . . . the only thing in the way of Cassie moving up more in life is . . .”

  Katy didn’t even want to think it. She didn’t want to say it. But the puzzle pieces had all aligned so perfectly that she knew it needed to be voiced. Even if there was a minute chance she was correct.

  “Your parents,” David finished for her, his tone dark. “Because she’ll briefly be next in line for the throne.”

  If something happened to the king or queen before Katy and Oliver’s now forever-postponed wedding, a single Katy wouldn’t be eligible to rule. But Cassie, the newly titled and newlywed duchess of Lorria, would be.

  And suddenly it all made sense to Katy. All those years of her poor, overlooked cousin feeling unwanted by her parents, by power-hungry boys who only wanted to date a princess, by the king and queen who never gave Cassie the type of love or affection they reserved for their only child . . . what if those things had brought out a dangerous desire in Cassie that she would sacrifice anything to fulfill?

  Katy’s thoughts hurtled forward in horrified realization. Cassie had been playing the long game. And if she and David couldn’t come up with a plan fast . . . then her parents might be in serious danger.

  33

  David

  David felt his own pulse quicken at Katy’s obvious distress, but he tried to keep calm and collected for her.

  “We need a plan, Katy. As soon as possible. Can you get away to come see me in person today?”

  “I have an alibi. Cassie thinks I’ll be talking to Oliver this afternoon. At least . . .” Katy stopped, and when she spoke again, her voice suddenly sounded strained. “I hope she thinks that.”

  Even with all the accounts he’d heard, it was still hard for David to see Cassie as anything other than Katy’s shorter, crasser cousin. But if all things were considered, if this really was true, then she would have to be almost sociopathic in her ability to outmaneuver and put up a harmless front. And that made David nervous about just how far she’d be willing to go if she thought anyone might have gotten wise to her plan.

  “Do you think you could get out of the palace without anyone noticing?” David asked. “Or for a good enough reason that they won’t question you?”

  Katy’s voice sounded pensive. “Cassie is pretty busy with wedding plans from now until the ceremony. But that doesn’t mean she won’t be keeping a close eye on me.”

  David’s heart momentarily sank, but Katy wasn’t quite finished with her sentence.

  “I’ll just have to find a good time to sneak away.”

  A big smile broke across David’s face. Across from him, finishing up his English breakfast, Marcos continued to look on curiously, though by now David was fairly sure his father could put some of the pieces together.

  There was a pause, as though she were thinking, and then Katy’s voice asked, “Can we meet this afternoon? Hopefully right after lunchtime? I’ll give you more details when I figure them out.”

  “I’ll be waiting for your call,” David replied. And he meant it.

  He had been waiting for her call for over five years now. Another couple of hours was barely anything.

  After the call ended, Marcos raised his eyebrows at David, a little smirk on his face that soon faded to thoughtfulness.

  “So
. . . it sounds like the hard part is done, right? Now that you’re in contact with your princess.”

  David scoffed, though his tone was playful. “You’d think that. But I’m not so sure anymore.”

  “Do we need another plan? One for this, um,” Marcos looked to both sides and then leaned closer to David across the table, “Cassie?”

  “I don’t even know where to begin with that one,” David replied. Everything still sounded so insane—even though now they’d just discovered one very obvious reason why Cassie would be leaning toward, well, toward murder. “Katy thinks that her cousin might be planning some sort of terrible accident for the king and queen after her wedding. And it’s just a couple of days away now.”

  Marcos looked at David with surprise, but not disbelief. “Is this the same woman who cost your homeless friend his job?”

  “Yes. And someone new, too, as of last night. The king and queen’s longtime driver. He helped Katy get away from the palace to find me.” David was pained at the thought. The driver had seemed like a good man, truly concerned about Katy’s feelings and her safety. “It might be related to that, or she could’ve just fired him so she could get a new driver to enact some kind of plan.”

  Marcos nodded. “And this cousin? Is she particularly level-headed? Logical? Tight-lipped?”

  David shrugged and looked back down at his mostly uneaten food. “I knew her in college and she always seemed like a socially awkward hothead. It’s hard to say how much of that was her act. Rufus got canned for overhearing something, so I don’t think she’s as cautious as she thinks she is. But she’s been covering her tracks in regard to a paper trail. We don’t have any solid evidence against her.”

  “Well, how solid does it have to be?”

  David looked up at his father in confusion. Marcos went on, leaning his head in his hand and leveling his stare across the table at his son, his face focused, almost as though he were at a business meeting.

  “This probably doesn’t come as any surprise to you, but we dealt with situations like this fairly often in the, uh, family business.”

  David blinked. Perhaps he hadn’t given enough thought to his father’s previous life of crime. But then again, he didn’t like considering it, for more than one reason. Regardless, Marcos continued.

  “There’s always someone out there with a hot temper and lots of money to buy loyalty. But that’s the thing about buying friends: there’s always someone who can offer more than you.”

  David felt his eyebrows rising. “So you’re saying . . .”

  “If this girl keeps people on her payroll, move them to your payroll,” his father continued with the tiniest of grins. “I can help with the money side of that. Obviously, the princess could help even more. But it’s usually easy. People don’t stick with these kinds of bosses out of loyalty. It’s pure self-interest.”

  David shook his head, thinking the implications through. “But if we fail, then whoever we talk to will go straight to the boss. Cassie. And if she knows that Katy and I are working together, we could possibly both be in danger.”

  “Well, what if you confront her out in the open?” Marcos shrugged, as if it was obvious. “Then she won’t be able to retaliate against you without casting some serious doubts back on herself.”

  David’s eyes widened a bit. “That’s a thought.” Would Cassie be so reckless as to continue her plan if the public had any reason to suspect her? “But we’d need witnesses. People on our side to speak out against her. We just don’t have the evidence . . .”

  “You are the evidence, David. You and that friend of yours from the camp and anyone else she has adversely affected. The more people you have, the stronger your evidence will look.”

  David chewed on his lip. He could see what his father was getting at. And it lined up with what Mia had been telling him on the phone. Didn’t they already have a group of people that could speak out against Cassie? What if they found even more people who’d been unfairly terminated or otherwise coerced?

  “That makes sense,” he said. “But I don’t know if we’d get a chance to confront her in public. No way I’d be allowed anywhere near the palace, even with Katy’s blessing.”

  Marcos’s eyes were pensive, yet sharply focused. “Didn’t you say there was a wedding coming up?”

  David stared at his father for a moment and then nodded slowly. The idea sparked a dozen others. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to sneak into the catering job personally, but what about Rufus and Edward and maybe some others who had suffered at Cassie’s hands? They’d all have the experience. All they’d need would be some passable documents. Even so, the idea still seemed so far-fetched. Cassie’s wedding would probably be at a very prestigious venue with tight security.

  David’s face must’ve displayed the doubt he was feeling, because Marcos offered one last push, smiling as though they were talking about creating a great new startup rather than catching a con artist at her own game.

  “You just crashed an engagement party. How much harder could a wedding be?”

  * * *

  After lunch, Katy had texted and asked if he would be in his room at a certain time, so he should’ve seen it coming. Still, when he heard a knock at the door and answered it to see the princess of Lorria standing there, David wasn’t quite prepared.

  “Katy,” he remarked dumbly.

  She was in a semblance of a disguise, wearing a dark scarf over her blonde waves and big sunglasses over her unique gray eyes, dressed down in jeans, boots, and a dark blouse. But to David, she was as radiantly beautiful as she had ever been. He always felt that way upon seeing her.

  “Mind if I come in?” Katy had to ask. And David blushed at the fact that he had simply stood in the doorway in shock rather than immediately inviting the love of his life into his hotel room.

  “Of course,” he muttered. “Sorry.”

  When Katy was safely inside the room, she freed her hair from her scarf to let it tumble softly down her back. Then she pushed her glasses back up on top of her head, framing her pretty face.

  David watched, dumbstruck. She was so elegant and graceful in her every movement that he almost forgot the massive uphill battle they were still facing. Instead, he could think only of the thrill of having this woman back in his room again, and, briefly, a passion flared up in him that made him desperately wish they had hours to spend tangled in each other’s arms in carefree bliss.

  Just like they’d done back at Harvard. Very briefly . . . before the scandal had erupted and torn them apart.

  Katy turned back to face David, and he felt his face instantly grow hot. How obvious was it that I was practically drooling over her?

  “Are you okay?” she asked with a playful smile, noticing his lack of composure.

  “Just . . .” David struggled with the words. “Just still can’t believe that you’re here. Back in my life. Just as beautiful and wonderful as I remembered.”

  He didn’t care if he sounded like a sap. It was true. He was madly in love with Katy, and even all the craziness going on around them didn’t make it any less intense.

  Katy’s eyes creased at the corners, a little blush entering her own cheeks. “I can’t believe it, either. I still worry that I’ll wake up from this dream without you.” She played with the ends of her hair nervously, looking longingly at David. But then her eyes hardened over again. “That’s why we have to stop Cassie now, so we know we’ll never be pulled apart again.”

  And just like that, after only a few wonderful seconds of pretending like everything was okay, reality came crashing back down on him. David shook himself from his thoughts as Katy watched him, her steel-gray eyes intense.

  “I think we’re going to need Mia’s help again,” she said, wrapping her head scarf up and placing it on David’s bed. Then she sat beside it.

  David took a slightly nervous breath and plopped down next to her, his heart beating too fast just at their proximity. “I think you’re right. I was speaking to my father e
arlier, and he thinks we should recruit as many victims of Cassie as possible.”

  David expected Katy to respond to this new idea right away—she seemed very focused—but instead she wrinkled her brow and cracked a disbelieving smile.

  “I know we shouldn’t get off task too much. I mean, Cassie’s wedding is literally the day after tomorrow. We have some serious planning to do. But . . . I’m still so shocked that your biological father is here. It’s just so strange. I still remember how excited you were to meet him all those years ago.”

  Just the simple sentence struck a chord within David. It was a nice reminder that even beneath all of the drama and danger they were currently facing, they also had a history of supporting and caring for each other, of knowing intimately each other’s struggles, dreams, secrets.

  “I want to meet him,” Katy continued. “I mean, if that’s okay.”

  “Of course it’s okay,” David said, leaning closer to her. “I’d love for you to meet him. So far, things are going really well. I—I didn’t trust him at first, after what happened with my uncle, but I think he’s a really good guy.”

  Katy nodded along as David spoke. He’d shared an overview of what happened in Brazil with her already, and she had been pained and indignant on his behalf. But David was mostly over it now—and too wrapped up in the current business.

  “And if we can sort out all this mess,” he went on, “then I guess things will be even better.”

  “If,” Katy echoed ominously. But as she turned to face him fully, he saw that her eyes were aflame with passion and hope. “I know we can do this, David. But we need a really solid plan. I can probably convince my parents not to go on this trip without sounding like a crazy conspiracy theorist, but I don’t think I can keep them safe forever. As long as Cassie is free, they’ll be in danger. And I know that they deserve punishment for whatever role they did play in this whole mess, David, but . . . but they’re my parents. I don’t want them to get hurt.”

  David took Katy’s hands in his, turning the slender fingers over, amazed at their softness. “Of course not, Katy. We won’t let that happen. And as for the plan, Marcos actually gave me some really good ideas. And I agree, I think we’re going to need Mia’s help, too.”