And Dree. She might be chartering a helicopter to come and find him, but he hoped she was somewhere safe instead.
And his school buddies both married recently. Casimir already had a toddler daughter, and Arthur’s wife had just been delivered of their first child, a son.
They were moving forward with their lives.
Dree Clark’s sweet face rose in his mind. Her look of utter horror in Nepal when she’d come roaring back to find him after he’d had a minor motorcycle accident had floored him.
She would miss him if he died on this ship in the middle of the sea, and he already missed her.
God, he couldn’t die, notnow.
Pirate Flag Guy turned to the other man Maxence recognized from Monaco’s secret service. “Is this true what he says?”
The man shrugged. Maxence vaguely remembered him standing in some doorways, but he wasn’t one of the elite team who guarded Max personally. The guy said, “His parents died a long time ago, and he isn’t married.”
Michael Rossi chimed in, “Prince Maxence said he was going to leave Monaco to be a priest. That’s why he’s not married.”
A few of the other pirates shifted, and Maxence watched them get very,verynervous with the thought that they had kidnapped and were threatening to killa priest.
Max smiled gently at them, crafting an almost saintly expression, and his heart opened with his words. “It’s true. I’ve already been ordained as a deacon. I took the sacrament of Holy Orders several years ago. I’ve worked at churches in Kinshasa and Lagos.”
Those couple of guys looked at each other and then back at Maxence, profoundly uncomfortable.
Ah, another point of connection. He had religion and Africa now.
Maxence drew a deep breath, feeling the turning point in the mob.
They were watching him, their attention as palpable as the sunshine on his bare shoulders and the metal deck under his bare feet.
Max spread his arms, feeling energy flowing through him, like light gathered from the sun and radiated through his heart. “So, what are you going to do with me? No one’s going to pay you to get me back alive.” He gestured toward Quentin Sault. “Unfortunately, eitherDead Eyesvastly overestimated my value, or he miscalculated the political situation in Monaco,or he tricked you.”
Maxence had put all his conviction into those last few words.
Three guys seized Quentin Sault’s arms.
Quentin scowled at the guys hanging on his arms. “What the hell are you doing? We have a deal. This is my operation. If you want to get paid anything at all, I’m the one who will pay you.”
It occurred to Max that he could merely outbid Quentin Sault. No matter who was funding Sault, Maxence would have Monaco’s entire treasury in his pocket when he got back to his office.
However, that strategy was likely to break down in quibbles over amounts and mistrust.
It was better if hepreachedto them.
Maxence certainly looked like one of them, lean from hard work in Nepal and Africa, wearing rags, and his tanned skin covered with tattoos on his arm and back. He turned his arm so the tattoo he shared with Arthur and Casimir faced out, and he turned so that his extensive backpiece was visible to the crowd of sailors around him.
The sunlight burned hotter on his back as the black tattoo ink of the broken angel wings’ shattered feathers soaked up the warmth. The tattoo inked into his skin might convince them more than mere words.
Maxence inhaled, filling his body with the energy he needed. The deck rocked under his feet. Sea and salt saturated the air. “Why did you betray me, Quentin?”
Sault strained against his captors, trying to break free.
Max turned to Michael Rossi. “I saw you with Prince Jules at the Sea Change Gala. Are you part of his security force now?”
Michael Rossi stared at the sunlight blazing a silver trail on the Mediterranean waters around the ship and didn’t answer.
So, yes. Jules Grimaldi was paying Rossi, and Rossi had conspired with Quentin at the gala.
Jules Grimaldi had compromised the entirety of Monaco’s Secret Service.
