Page 48 of The Prodigal Prince

“That doesn’t make any sense, does it? What other reason would he have for abducting us?” Though Gray slept, Fiona kept her voice down. She wouldn’t want it to seep into his subconscious, to give him more nightmares than he might already have. Being abducted or missing twice in such a short period of time would have to traumatize him even if he hadn’t really understood what happened the first time.

“I have no idea. Personal vendetta? Maybe he hates HEA TV movies?” Mac finally stopped his pacing and turned to face her, leaning his back against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Or has some deep seated resentment against2 Cool 4 Schooland it’s sequel?” She rested her back against the opposite wall. “That makes as much sense as anything so far. Lefty didn’t say anything that might indicate why they wanted us.”

“Lefty?”

Fiona shrugged. “He seemed to use his left hand more than his right. I couldn’t call him Righty.”

Mac gave a small grin as he shook his head. “What about the other guy?”

“Mr. Villain, though he probably doesn’t deserve the honorific. He should just be...” Fiona stopped herself from saying something more vulgar than she normally would, even if it could probably be excused under the present circumstances.

“Something along those lines would probably be more appropriate.” Mac looked at the door. “Wonder if they’re sitting on the other side. If we could break that door down, we could get out of here.”

“We could try picking the lock first.”

He raised a brow. “Do you know how to do that? I don’t.”

Fiona reached up and took two bobby pins out of her hair. “I learned for a part in a movie a few years ago.”

“You had to pick a lock?” His tone sounded more incredulous with each word. “They didn’t use movie magic to just… leave it unlocked?”

She managed a laugh. “I didn’thaveto, but I learned anyway. Making it look real was important to me. It took far less time in the movie than it did in real life, but I could do it.”

One of the bobby pins was bent into the rake that would move the pins. She bent the looped end of the other one to make a tensioner. After situating the tensioner in the key hole, she looked at Mac. “Do we want to try this? Or should we wait a while longer? If they’re outside, we’ll be caught, and they’ll take away any chance we might have later.”

Mac blew out a breath. “You’re right. For now, we should wait and watch.”

Pulling the bobby pins out of the keyhole, Fiona tried to decide what to do with them. “Hopefully, someone has realized we’re missing already and be looking for us.”

“Unlikely.” He sighed. “I think everyone had already left except a few of the staff members. They wouldn’t expect to see us until morning. It could be a while before anyone realizes we’re gone.”

For the first time, Fiona began to feel helpless. She quickly lost the fight to keep the tears in her eyes. One hot tear after another streaked down her cheeks.

Maybe they wouldn’t get out of this as quickly as she hoped.

Maybe they wouldn’t get out of this at all.

* * *

It tookeverything in Mac to keep his anxiety under control. Once Fiona settled down on the floor next to Gray, Mac returned to pacing from one side of the small room to the other and back again.

He still wasn’t quite certain how these two men were able to get them out of the main part of the gardens and into a secret passage.

“Main part” of the house wasn’t quite the right term. Even though they’d been next to the house, they’d been exploring the far reaches of the maze.

They’d started to turn around for the third time when Mr. Villain grabbed Gray and Lefty managed to herd them into the hidden door before Mac could react. Once inside the darkened passage, it seemed better to bide his time than act given the unknowns. When they almost immediately started down a staircase, he knew he’d made the right decision. He wouldn’t lose any sleep over either of the two men falling down it, but he’d never forgive himself if Fiona or Gray were hurt.

He stopped next to the door and put his ear up to it. A noise of some kind came through, but he couldn’t quite make out what it was. It could be the two men talking, or it could be some sort of audio transmission - a radio or podcast perhaps.

Whatever it was, Fiona had been right when she decided they should probably wait to pick the lock. An opportunity would come. They just needed to be patient.

And pray that someone learned they were missing and started looking. Mr. and Mrs. Batten should notice in the morning. A lot could happen in the hours before then.

The best option would be for the two men to leave them alone until sunrise - as long as they showed up eventually with food and water.

At least the room had a light. There wasn’t a light switch or a way to the light socket so he couldn’t use any of those components as part of some defense.

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