Royal Secrets (28 page)

“We already watched a movie.”

“Do you want me to read you a book?”

He shook his head. “I want to play outside.”

“I know, honey, but it’s too wet to play outside. I don’t want you to get sick.”

“Can we go see the horses?” Dante asked, climbing up to sit on the other side of her.

“Maybe tomorrow, if it’s sunny out.”

“What can we do today?” Giancarlo asked impatiently.

“Maybe we can play a game,” Alora suggested as someone knocked at the door.

Dante jumped up to answer it.

“Hello there,” Stefano greeted him before his eyes swept over the room and landed on Alora. “I thought maybe you would all like to walk around the palace for a bit before I have to get back for my next meeting.”

Giancarlo jumped out of Alora’s lap as she nodded. “That would be great. I’m afraid we’ve been spoiled by the nice weather over the past few weeks. The boys definitely aren’t used to staying inside.”

“Boys, why don’t you go get your shoes on, and we’ll find something for you to do.”

“Okay!” Giancarlo raced into the bedroom, followed by Dante.

“Have I ever told you that you have excellent timing?” Alora asked with a smile.

“I gather they were getting a little antsy?”

She nodded. “Oh yeah.”

Stefano moved closer and lowered his voice. “Do you have any religious objection to your children learning how to shoot? We have a firing range in the east wing.”

“I don’t have a
religious
objection to it, but I think they may still be a bit young to be handling weapons.”

“It’s laser, not live fire,” Stefano told her. “I promise, it’s perfectly safe.”

“I suppose that would be okay,” Alora agreed.

When the boys returned, Stefano led them through a maze of hallways until they reached a glass-encased room with targets on the far end. A stocky man stood in what appeared to be a control booth. When he saw them coming, he stepped into the hall to greet them.

“Are these the young men who want to learn to shoot?”

“That’s right.” Stefano nodded. “Giancarlo and Dante, this is Pedro. He is the shooting instructor here at the palace. He trains all our guards.”

“Come this way, and we’ll set you up.” Pedro put a hand on each of the boys and nudged them into the shooting area.

Alora watched as Pedro instructed the boys on gun safety before he helped each choose a weapon. He then taught them how to hold the modified rifles and how to stand. Alora couldn’t help but grin as she watched Dante fire all of his pretend ammunition in a quick burst, while Giancarlo carefully squeezed off one shot at a time.

Pedro set them up for a couple more rounds, correcting them as they progressed.

Alora glanced over at Stefano, who was watching through the glass beside her. “He’s very good with them.”

He nodded. “I thought this would help break up the boredom for them. It’s never easy being cooped up inside when it rains.”

“Especially for those two,” Alora agreed. “I wasn’t sure if we were going to see you today, especially after what happened yesterday.”

Stefano looked at her inquisitively. “How did you . . . ?”

“Enrico got a call from your brother when we were on our way here.”

Stefano let out a sigh. “We lost nine people yesterday, and dozens were injured.”

Alora’s voice lowered. “Tragedies like this are always hard to come to terms with.”

“But you did.” Stefano looked at her intensely. “How is it that you’ve been able to move past everything you’ve been through?”

Something in his stare told her he knew more than what she had told him, that perhaps he knew much more about her than she had realized. Her voice lowered to a whisper. “How did you know?”

“The background check from when you first started working for Janessa.” Stefano reached for her hand. “I look at you, and I’m amazed at how you are with your children, how you are so cheerful around them even though you’re the only family they have left.”

“You’re seeing me as I am now. It’s taken me a long time to get here,” Alora admitted. “Losing my family tore me apart, but I finally had to accept that I’ll be able to see them again someday and that they wouldn’t want me to spend my life pining for them. I do the best I can to live the life they would want me to live.” She nodded at her sons. “That includes helping them learn to enjoy life.”

Giancarlo held a hand up victoriously when he made his first bull’s-eye.

“It looks like they’ve got that down.” Stefano gave her hand a squeeze and nodded at the shooting range. “You know, you can try too if you like.”

“That’s okay.”

“You aren’t afraid, are you?”

She heard the challenge in his tone and recognized the gauntlet he had thrown. Unable to resist, she nodded. “Maybe I’ll give it a try.”

Pedro printed out copies of their results, and the boys came out waving them like they had just gotten straight As on their report cards.

“Signora DeSanto would like to try as well,” Stefano said.

“Do you already know how to shoot?”

Alora shot a smug look at Stefano before nodding. “I know the basics.”

“This way, then.” Pedro helped her select a weapon and then stepped aside.

She lifted the rifle, adjusting her stance for the weight difference between a fully loaded weapon and one equipped with laser. Then she set her sights, took aim and fired methodically until her laser ammunition was expended. Once the round was finished, she set the rifle back in the rack and walked back into the hall, where Stefano was waiting with Dante and Giancarlo.

“Didn’t you want to try another round?” Stefano asked.

“No thanks. I think that should do it.” Alora shook her head as Pedro came out of the control booth with a printout. He looked at her skeptically, and then he handed her the report. She didn’t have a chance to look at it before Stefano took it out of her hand. His eyes widened, and Alora fought back a grin when she saw what he was staring at. A black target was dotted with white spots where her shots had landed, a single shot at the bull’s-eye surrounded by seven other shots so the target resembled a daisy.

“Did you do that on purpose?” Stefano asked. Even though he was quite certain she had worked for the CIA, he suspected she had worked in an administrative capacity. He hadn’t considered that marksmanship would be one of her skills.

Alora shook her head and gave him a blank look. “I’m sure it was just beginner’s luck.” Then she turned to Pedro. “Thank you for teaching the kids. They really enjoyed it.”

“If the sun doesn’t come out tomorrow, bring them back, and we’ll go a few more rounds.”

“I doubt I’ll be able to keep them away.”

Chapter 36

Stefano walked into his father’s office and saw Martino sitting stiffly on the couch beside Garrett. Janessa and his father were seated in the chairs across from them. “Have we had any success?”

“We have.” Garrett nodded. “Luigi took the bait. The hidden cameras caught him planting the evidence in Martino’s private quarters not ten minutes after I told him what we were looking for.”

“The police are bringing him in now,” Martino added. “He thinks they are escorting him to the palace to deliver the evidence to Prince Stefano. I guess he’ll find out soon enough that he’s really being taken to the police station here in Calene.”

“I’m sorry we had to put you through this, Martino,” Stefano said apologetically.

Martino gripped his hands together. “I appreciate that your family went to such lengths to clear my name.”

“We never believed you were guilty,” Stefano assured him before turning his attention to his father. “Now that we’ve proven that Luigi was behind the fraud at the chateau, perhaps it would be wise to allow Alora access to the other bank accounts we were concerned about this morning. It would be nice to know if the two situations are related, and we can’t be sure that Luigi will be forthcoming with information.”

King Eduard glanced over at Martino briefly and then nodded. “Go ahead and send for her. Make sure she has everything she needs.”

“I’ll have her work out of my office.” Stefano looked over at Garrett. “Let me know if you find anything else out.”

“We will.”

* * *

“What exactly am I looking for?” Alora asked as she took the seat in front of Stefano’s computer.

“Any correlations between the information you found earlier and these accounts.” Stefano handed her a list of a half dozen bank accounts.

She read the owner information and then looked up at Stefano. “You think your uncle is behind the missing funds?”

“That’s what we need to find out,” Stefano said stiffly. “We certainly don’t want to accuse him of any wrongdoing without proof.”

“Okay.” Gone was the man who had kissed her in the moonlight. This man was all business, coated with a layer of impatience. Swallowing a sigh, Alora keyed in the code to allow her access to the accounts. She focused on the information in front of her and jotted down a few notes on the pad of paper Stefano had given her.

Stefano’s phone rang, and he settled down in the chair across from her and started talking about some details for the upcoming legislative session. She tuned him out as she focused on the information in front of her. She noted the source of the various incoming funds and then started on the expenditures. Only twenty minutes later, she circled an account number and looked up at Stefano, who was currently reading through a thick report.

“I think I found what you’re looking for.”

“Already?”

She nodded. “At least one of these accounts is transferring money to a numbered account in the Cayman Islands. It’s the same account as the one the embezzled funds were transferred to.”

“Is there any way to identify who owns the account?”

“I seriously doubt it’s your uncle. He wouldn’t have a reason to siphon money out of his own accounts, especially since he’s the sole owner of this one. That means you’ve got two logical scenarios.”

“Which are?” Stefano prompted.

“Either Prince Elam has been paying Luigi for some reason, or they’re both sending money to the same person.”

“Do you think this has anything to do with the bombing yesterday?”

“I don’t know. It depends on what your uncle has been paying for.” Alora shook her head. “I’m afraid all I can tell you is where the money came from and where it went.”

“That’s a lot more than what we started with,” he told her. “I’m going to give my father this latest information. Hopefully he’ll be willing to bring Elam in now for a little heart-to-heart.”

“Do you want me to keep digging and see what else I can find?”

Stefano nodded. “I’m sure we’re all especially interested in that numbered account in the Caymans.”

“I’m not promising anything, but I’ll do what I can.”

* * *

When Stefano entered his father’s office once more, Martino was no longer present, and his mother now sat on the couch beside Garrett.

“Did you find Alora?” Janessa asked.

Stefano nodded. “She’s still looking through Uncle Elam’s bank accounts, but she’s already linked money transfers from one of his personal accounts to the same account the embezzled funds were sent to.”

“Are you sure?”

Stefano nodded.

Eduard reached for his phone and immediately called his brother. Stefano expected his father to demand that Elam come to the palace immediately, but to his surprise, he issued an invitation for him to join them the following evening for the council dinner, along with a request to meet with him following the event. He hung up and looked at Stefano. “Have Alora gather as much information as she can. I would like her to join us at the meeting with Elam.”

“I’ll extend your request.” Stefano thought of the last time he had made arrangements for Alora to join him for a social event and glanced over at Janessa. “Any chance Alora had you pack something suitable for her to wear to the council dinner?”

Janessa shook her head. “I’m sure I can find something for her to borrow.”

“Nonsense,” Marta interrupted. “We can’t have her settle for a borrowed gown. My designer is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning to meet with Janessa and me about her wedding dress. I can have her bring something from her shop for Alora.”

“We’ll need to let Signora Vorneaux know that Alora is LDS too. She won’t wear anything sleeveless either,” Janessa told her.

“I’ll call her and make the necessary arrangements,” Marta promised.

“There is one more thing we need to discuss.” Eduard focused on Garrett. “We are concerned that someone is gathering information on our family, potentially damaging information.” He hesitated a moment as though searching for the right words. His voice was tight when he continued. “Your brother and I feel that it would be best if you announce you have converted to the Mormon Church.”

“What?” Garrett’s eyes widened. “I thought you wanted me to keep that private as long as possible.”

“I did, but there is evidence that someone may be trying to undermine the very fabric of this monarchy. Coupled with the terrorist attack yesterday and the possible vulnerability of my brother, if all our secrets came to light at the same time, the media could be used to turn our citizens against us or at least cause enough confusion that we would be vulnerable.”

“I don’t understand.” Garrett shifted forward in his seat. “My baptism doesn’t matter in the overall scheme of things. I’m second in line to the throne. Stefano’s future family will be the concern of the kingdom.”

Stefano looked from his brother to his father, the unspoken question visible in his father’s eyes. He looked around the room at the people who were most important to him. They were all here except for Alora and her children. He drew a steadying breath, and then he spoke to Garrett. “My sons will never rule.” Regret filled Stefano’s voice. “Yours will.”

“What?”

“I have Merid’s syndrome.” He started to say he would never have children, but the image of Giancarlo and Dante flashed into his mind. The clarity that he could be a father even if he couldn’t have children in a traditional sense gave him a feeling of comfort. “I can’t ever have a child who will be of royal blood.”