‘Exactly. And I’ll waive my recovery fee in addition.’
The Prince sat up. ‘Well, that shines an entirely different light on things.’
‘I object!’ said the Count. ‘We made a deal. The wedding is planned for tomorrow.’
‘Ah, true,’ said the Prince, stroking his chin. ‘We had a deal. And it would be wrong to not acknowledge that. So I’m giving you an opportunity. Can you match Theo’s offer? No—can you better it? Because there’s already a better offer on the table.’ He turned to address the Count directly. ‘You need to offer more.’
The Count visibly swallowed. ‘Prince Rafael, this is so unfair.’
‘Can you?’
The Count’s voice was getting weaker. ‘We had a deal…’
‘I see. So you can’t. Then I have no choice. Theo Mylonakos, in exchange for two hundred million US dollars, the Princess Isabella is yours.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
IT TOOK SOMEtwenty-four hours before the money transfers had been successfully concluded and they were on the plane and out of Rubanestein airspace. Finally, Theo allowed himself space to breathe.
His nerves had been on a knife-edge ever since that dinner invitation. Ever since finding that report in his inbox, ever since seeing the Princess sat beside an older man that she’d clearly not wanted to have anything to do with, his sickening spidey senses had told him that the Princess had not been lying.
And that Theo had personally delivered her. He might as well have wrapped her up in a sparkly gift box wrapped with a big red bow.
But now the jet and they were safely away. Theo unclicked his safety belt and stood. He needed to walk. He needed to find a way to burn off this nervous energy that had surrounded him for too long.
The Princess he could see was sleeping in her seat. She’d fallen asleep the moment they’d taken off.
God knows what the last few days had been like for her. Afraid of her impending arrival back in Rubanestein. Afraid of the impending nuptials her brother had planned. Afraid the Prince might change his mind again, after he’d agreed to take Theo’s money in place of the Count’s.
She’d had more at stake than he’d ever had, and he knew how nervous he’d been this last twenty-four hours.
He hated himself for delivering her lock, stock and barrel into a marriage she wanted no part of. A marriage she’d warned him was going to happen if he returned her to Rubanestein. And yet, he hadn’t believed her. Even though he’d been swayed, wanting to believe her, she’d then lied to him and that had turned him against her.
He was wrong.
So wrong.
He just hoped that one day, she might forgive him.
An hour later the Princess stirred. Refreshments were served. ‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.
‘Better,’ she said, cradling a cup of tea. ‘Relieved.’ Then she looked up at him. ‘I haven’t had a chance to properly thank you yet.’
‘Don’t thank me. I did you no favours. I should have believed you. There were times I wanted to, but it seemed so mad, so unbelievable that your brother would want to do that to you.’
She smiled. ‘My not so darling brother. I’m sorry to leave Rubanestein and its people, but I’m not sorry to leave him.’ She shuddered. ‘And the Count. You know, I actually believed you were going along with the Prince at the banquet. Do you know how much I hated you in that moment?’
‘I knew. The look in your eyes made that crystal-clear.’
She shook her head. ‘And then you pulled a rabbit out of a hat. Two hundred million US dollars. Where did you even get that kind of money?’
‘The rescue business pays well—so long as you can rescue people, that is. I make it a point of rescuing people.’
‘You save people.’
‘I try to. I made it my job. And when there were too many cases or one person, I expanded my business. Nobody realised how many cases there were. Missing babies. Sons and daughters gone missing. Partners disappeared. Princesses disappearing off the face of the earth.’
She looked up at him. ‘Did you have many princesses disappearing off the face of the earth?’
