Stealing His Princess Read online

  Stealing His Princess

  Ella Goode

  Contents

  Summary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Epilogue

  Also by Ella Goode

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  Summary

  I went to the Vieth Territory to celebrate a Veith wedding not to claim a consort for my kingdom but what’s a prince to do when he finds the princess of his dreams? Ignore her? Run the opposite direction? No. You grab the glass slipper along with her hand and hold tight. Even if she lives in a nest of vipers, the danger is worth fighting.

  Chapter One

  Sov

  “Here are two contracts for you to sign. The first is for the land deal in Talavia. We were able to secure mineral and water rights as you said we would. The second is for the hydrogen plant. They were agreeable to your terms.” Duncan smiles with paternal satisfaction as he fans out the paperwork in front of me and waits as I read through the documents that I helped write. It never hurts to read them again. When I’m satisfied that everything is as I want, I sign and hand the contracts back.

  Duncan’s stomach grumbles as he bends over my desk to gather up the papers.

  “Haven’t you eaten?”

  “I will soon.” He tucks the contracts away.

  I check the time and am surprised to see it is past eight. “I’ve kept you too long.” I wave him toward the door. “Go on. We’ll finish up tomorrow.”

  “Yes, sir. Before I go, however, you may want to be aware of this.” He slides a thick vellum envelope with my name, Sov Charmont, written in calligraphy. The seal is unbroken, but I can tell by the expression on Duncan’s face that he knows what’s inside. Either that or he’s thinking about dinner. Could be both.

  I tap a corner of it against the table. “Out with it.”

  “I’ve heard that Vieth and Aidon have made an alliance through marriage. I suspect that this is an announcement.”

  “Is that so?” I peer at the envelope and contemplate for a half second whether I’m bothered by this. I think not. “A smart move but one that doesn’t affect us. They’re across the country and largely confined to the East Coast. I don’t foresee them even combined impacting us.” The Vieth orphans run con games, fleecing dumb men of their money, and Aidon’s crew runs all sorts of illegal goods through his territory, taking a protection fee for safe passage. My family business may have been built off of that kind of work years ago, but we’re a wholly legal empire now with branches in Europe, Asia, and India. Vieth and Aidon working together is good for them and bad for their enemies. I don’t consider myself in opposition to them. “I suppose it doesn’t hurt to send them a gift.”

  “I believe they are having a celebration, sir.” Duncan’s stomach grumbles again.

  “I’ll open it tomorrow. Go home now or you’re fired.”

  He bows slightly. “Yes, sir.”

  My body man, Zero, lets him out. I pick up the stiletto perched on its marble hold at the front of my desk and slice off the seal. The cream-colored invitation falls onto the wooden surface. I pick it up and read the missive. You are invited to the yadda yadda yadda to take place in one week at the Grand Centre Ballroom. Please feel free to bring a guest. All weapons will be checked at the door.

  That sounds boring. A guest? I rifle through my mental rolodex. There are plenty of women who would enjoy being my date to any event, particularly one celebrating a wedding. As for me, I can count on one finger how many women I can tolerate for any significant period of time. Young or old, all they want is in my bed and into my wallet.

  I’ll send a gift. I settle back into my chair and make out a note. When I’m done, I send off a request for Duncan to look into an appropriate gift. He texts me back a thumbs-up.

  “I’m done for the evening, Zero. You can go home. I’ll take the elevator upstairs, and I promise not to leave without letting you know. Who’s on rotation tonight?”

  “Daniel and Brown.”

  “Great. I promise not to try to evade them if I run an errand either,” I add since I know Zero won’t go if he thinks I will engage in any shenanigans. He still doesn’t move. I heave a sigh. “I know I snuck out a few times when Dad was sitting in that chair, but since he’s retired I know what my responsibilities are.” They weigh heavily on my shoulders. Dad’s stepping down wasn’t something he’d wanted to do but after an infection got into his eyes and he was forced to undergo a cornea transplant, he’d opted to hand over the reins of this conglomerate. I was more than ready, but I’m sad about the circumstances that led to this. Plus, the men and women I’ve inherited are all my dad’s, so they only remember me as the rowdy young man who liked to drink and party and evade his security detail. I’ll have to gain their trust one day, one deal at a time. I’ve already won Duncan over, but the security team doesn’t trust me.

  I wave to Zero and step into the elevator cab. At the top, my mom is waiting at the door with a drink in hand.

  “Who ratted me out?” I take the brandy and swallow it in one gulp.

  “Duncan, of course. He also said you got invited to a party?” She smiles brightly.

  “No.” I shove the glass back in her hand and start toward my suite of rooms.

  “You haven’t even heard what I was going to say.”

  “I don’t need to.”

  Ever since I sat in Dad’s chair, she’s been after me to settle down, marry a girl, have babies. I’ve tried to tell her that I want to focus on consolidating power, but all she can talk about is weddings and births.

  “There’ll be so many nice young ladies at this event,” she cries.

  I pause at my door and throw her an incredulous look. “The Vieth Orphans are known for taking everything a man has.”

  “You can go far with a smart woman by your side,” she says.

  “I’d rather die a virgin than dip my wick into that poisonous pool.” I wrench open my door and slam it shut. A Vieth Orphan? She’d probably murder me in my sleep. I heard a rumor that one of Aidon’s men got shot in the head after a round with one of Karin Vieth’s women, which is likely why he wanted to have the alliance, but I don’t need someone from the outside to hold on to this kingdom. I need to convince everyone that their prince is worthy of being a king.

  Chapter Two

  Mackenzie

  The hum of bill counters is loud in the room today for some reason. I try to focus my attention back to the spreadsheet I’ve created. I should be lost in my work. Especially with the project Karin has me working on. It’s not my normal bookkeeping I usually do. Karin thinks someone is skimming money off the top, and she’s designated me to figure out who that might be.

  I’m to assess past profits along with some of these businesses' popularity for the past few months. Right now I’m looking at a man who owns a handful of clubs. One of his clubs is at max capacity almost every night now. The Vieth organization gets a percentage of the profits netted. It’s the cost if you want to open a business in the Vieth territory. There are a lot of perks to being under their protection.

  Interesting thing is that neither the profit nor our cut has gone up even though the volume has. That in itself is a red flag. One which I plan on getting
to the bottom of.

  It’s no shock to me that Karin keeps track of how busy some of these businesses are. I know their explanation has been that even though they might be busier, people aren’t spending like they used to. That seems odd to me because I have gone over their paperwork, including the liquor orders with distributors. They have almost doubled. All the distributors were more than willing to share that information to Karin, wanting to be on her good side.

  You have to be real freaking stupid to try and undercut us. I think some think they can get away with it because this organization is made up of all women. With Karin as our boss.

  Karin is a fair woman. If you ask me I’d say she is more than fair. The woman is an angel. An angel of death, but still an angel in my eyes. Of course I’m biased. She saved me and offered me a new future. One that gave me a home, money, and security. Things I hadn’t had at that time in my life.

  Paulina starts to sing softly to herself as she pulls out the cash that one of the machines just got done running before dropping in more money to be counted.

  I’m happy I get to help out in some way with the outer workings that happen here. I’m just doing it in my own dorky way. I’m the odd one when it comes to being one of the Vieth Orphans. Not that any of them ever make me feel that way on purpose. It’s me that puts that on myself.

  “There's a place downtown where the freaks all come around. It's a hole in the wall, it's a dirty free-for-all when they—” I snort a laugh at her song choice.

  “There's a place I know if you're lookin' for a show.” Jewels jumps in and starts to sway her hips. “Where they go hardcore and there's glitter on the floor.”

  “There is glitter everywhere you guys go.” I push my glasses up my nose.

  “Yes, girl,” Paulina says, starting to dance with her. Jewels flicks on some music. Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance fills the room. I’m not even in to women, and I can’t stop watching them dance around the concrete room where they’re working the money counting machine. That is, after all, what Vieth Orphans do best. Seduction. They have a way of drawing your eyes to them. They can be the center of your world if they want.

  Jewels grabs a stack of the money that just got done being counted and starts to toss it into the air at Paulina.

  “That was just counted!” I laugh.

  “Yeah, bitch, don’t throw twenties at me. You know I’m a Benjamin girl all the way.”

  “My bad, girl.” Jewels laughs, and they both keep dancing. They keep getting closer to me. I roll my chair further away from them, only making them give me an evil smirk. It’s pointless to fight this. If they want me to dance, I’m going to have to dance. Lucky me, the door opens and Karin comes strolling into the secure room. It would be easier to get into Fort Knox than it would be for anyone else to get into this room.

  Her presence doesn’t stop the girls; they keep on dancing, but they have a new target now. She folds her arms over her chest. They dance around her until the song finally ends. She shakes her head, but I don’t miss the small smile she gives them.

  “Shouldn’t you girls be working?“ she asks them.

  “Pretty sure this is your fault,” Paulina says as she bends down to pick the money up from off the floor. “You’re the one that taught us all how to dance.”

  True. Even I can dance. It’s part of the training. You never know when you might need to be a stripper for a job. These things happen. At least around here they do.

  Karin lets out a bark of laughter. Her mood has been a lot better with how everything turned out with her daughter Cora. I miss her being here with all of us. It’s strange not having her here every day anymore.

  “Music,” Karin says, coming over to my desk. The girls turn it down as they get back to the machines. “How is it going?”

  “It’s going.” I turn my screen so she can see what I’ve come up with so far. “I’m not done, but I’m getting there.” She reads over my stuff.

  “All right. Keep at it. Don’t forget tomorrow. I’d like everyone to be there.” Karin gives me a pointed look, already knowing that I normally don’t go to social functions or dip out early if I absolutely have to go. “And to stay longer than ten minutes. It’s a celebration, after all. Not only for my daughter, but with Aidon at our side it makes us all a little safer.” Well, crap.

  “Okay.” I get the message.

  “Good.” Karin winks at me before she’s back out the door. It shuts behind her, and a few seconds later you hear the locks being put back into place.

  “Ha! You gotta hang all night.” Jewels says, wrapping a stack of money in a band.

  “I hang all the time!” I do. It might be only around here, but still. I have a beautiful condo but it can be lonely so a lot of times when I’m done for the day, I’ll linger around the warehouse. A couple times a week I’ll even crash in my room here. We all have one but most also have places in the city too.

  “You never come out.” Paulina plops down onto my desk. “Don’t you get horny? I mean, men are the worst most of the time, but I like the D.” She lets out a long sigh.

  “I hear that,” Jewels agrees.

  “Of course I get horny,” I admit, my face filling with heat. “Just never seen a man I wanted to have solve the problem for me. Plus I’m not sure they want to solve it for me.”

  “You’re so full of shit. Trust me, they’d solve it.” Paulina pulls on one of my curls. “Let us doll you up. Please!” I’ll never understand their obsession with always trying to dress me up.

  “Please!” Now Jewels is at my desk. “It will be so fun. Let us show you how much they will be itching to fix the problem.” They both stare at me, their eyes begging. It might be fun to try and be sexy for a night. I need to get dressed up anyway.

  “Okay,” I agree, making them both let out small screams as they start dancing around again.

  I already know I’m in way over my head. Still, what really could go wrong?

  Chapter Three

  Sov

  I take a small contingent of 40 with me to the celebration. An advance team has gone ahead to scope the venue and ensure my safety. I arrive with Zero and the rest of the retinue including my butler, two valets, a secretary, press officers, military liaison, twenty-four bodyguards that work in groups of four, a personal chef, and one doctor who carries a supply of my family blood should a transfusion be necessary along with other assorted staff to assist the staff. A small crew, really.

  The Palace Hotel is nice, if a little dated with its twenty-foot-deep purple velvet curtains and gold tasseled embellishments. My father would love this while my mother would take one look and haul ass to the nearest Four Seasons Presidential Suite. It’s too dark, too masculine for a woman’s sensibility. Everything about the Palace invokes the old boy’s club. The discreet reception desk is clad in mahogany. The floor is a rich cherry wood. The furniture is all over-sized and leather. If I listen closely, I can hear the creak of old bones and the snick of a match against the strike plate. The smell of stale cigar smoke filters by.

  The side of Zero’s nose lifts.

  “You smell it too?” I lift my chin toward the bar area off the lobby.

  He grunts in response. Zero’s nickname doesn’t come from his fighting abilities, but how few words he feels the need to speak. Good thing we’ve been together for a long time and I can decode the different sounds he makes. This one is This place is bullshit and makes my skin crawl.

  “Sir, your rooms are ready.” A soft-voiced Vieth woman bows slightly as she hands me the key. Zero glides to intercept her and pockets the access card himself. The woman gasps lightly and stares up at the large man through a veil of unusually long eyelashes. To my surprise, the back of Zero’s neck turns red. He pivots sharply away from the danger encased in a tight red dress and snaps his fingers. Everyone gets into place around me, and we move forward, a blob of humanity forcing everyone else aside until we reach the elevator bank. I’m sure it looks showy and powerful, but for a second I allow myself t
he fantasy of what it would be like to be alone, checking in to the hotel, carrying my own bags up to a small room that is big enough for just me. That vision exists in my mind’s eye for a half second until my mother appears with a frown wondering when I’m going to settle down. The room should have a king size bed! It should be a suite! With a cradle in the next room! Think of the succession!

  I close my eyes and settle into the back of the elevator car. The crown is heavy, but it’s mine, and I need to take good care of it.

  At the top floor, another set of dangerous Vieth women are there to greet us, only this time it is the most dangerous—Karin Vieth herself.

  I wave Zero to the side and stride forward, taking the older woman’s hand between my own. “Karin Vieth, what an honor you do me.” I bend slightly in recognition that this is her territory, and while my security staff has swept the rooms and I have brought my own chef along with all my own ingredients, it’s still her home, and she has the advantage.

  Whether she would try to kill me now that she has an alliance with Aidon remains to be seen. Seems stupid to me, but Ashford trying to kill both Aidon and Karin by setting the two upon each other was also stupid, and yet he still did it. Last I heard, his bones were burned in the furnace of Aidon’s basement while Karin and Aidon were merrily dividing up Ashford’s territory.

  “It’s my honor, Your Sovereign. I hope your parents are doing well.”