Page 327 of Reign

I glance at it in the mirror. He had no reason to come here. I gave him enough work to keep him busy for the rest of the afternoon.

My driver stops near the front entrance.

Rafael is out of his vehicle before I am.

He walks directly toward a package sitting beside the door.

A medium box. Brown paper. The shape and size are familiar enough to irritate me before I reach it.

“I thought you were handling the little stalker,” I say. “She’s still sending books?”

“I am handling it.” Rafael bends and picks up the package.

“It doesn’t look handled.”

He tucks the box beneath his arm. “Don’t worry about it, boss.”

“That instruction becomes less reassuring every time you give it.”

He turns back toward his vehicle before I can ask more.

I let him go.

For now.

One of the guards stands inside the foyer.

“Where’s Elena?”

“In the pool, boss.”

Naturally.

I head through the house, already anticipating the satisfaction of finding her beside the phone she deliberately ignored.

The sliding glass doors are open.

Warm air rolls into the house, carrying the faint scent of chlorine and flowers from the garden.

Her phone lies on the nearest lounge chair beside an abandoned bottle of coconut water. My message is still glowing on the screen.

“Princesa?”

No answer.

The pool is quiet. I look toward the deep end.

Elena is sitting on the bottom.

Her knees are bent in front of her. Her arms rest loosely beside her legs, and her dark hair floats around her head.

She isn’t moving.

For one impossible second, neither am I.

I don’t remember crossing the patio.

The water closes over my head as I jump in fully dressed. My shoes drag beneath me, my clothes turning heavy immediately, but none of it matters.