Page 3 of Royally Knocked Up
“You’re isolating me so I won’t cause you any trouble.”
“Well, yes, I’m doing thattoo,” his father said. “You’ll be able to come back for the coronation. But for the moment, I need you out of Luria.”
“So I’m supposed to go up there and rot.”
“You’re supposed to go up there andwork. There will be plenty to do.”
“You’re making a servant of me?”
“Enzo, please refrain from the dramatics. I’m hardly asking you to clean the toilets. There will be very dignified work for you — work that requires a member of the noble family. But you’ll find out more upon your arrival. For now, I suggest you go and pack your things — unless you really do intend to force me to banish you.”
A banishment would not be a good idea, and Enzo knew it. Still, he couldn’t resist getting one last jab in. “If you think me having a few drinks at a bar is a scandal, how do you think the people of Monteverde would react to their king banishing his own son?”
“It wouldn’t look good,” Enzo’s father said evenly. “I would be forced to let the people know exactly what my reasons were — why it was so difficult for me to have you here. And once I’d done that, it would be a huge barrier to your ever coming back and being part of the palace life again.”
“I don’t know what makes you think I’d want to, after this treatment,” Enzo grumbled.
A part of him squirmed uncomfortably. Hehadforgotten most of what had happened last night. He didn’t think anything too crazy had happened, but there was always the possibility that it had. That was probably what his father was really worried about — not what had already been uncovered, but the potential for something worse to come to light.
It was an uncomfortable thing to have his father tell him that he was such a burden that he had to be sent out of the capital.
But Vista Piccolawasa beautiful place, up in the Alps, near Monteverde’s border with Switzerland.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
“All right,” he told his father. “I’ll go.”
CHAPTER 2
HAILEY
The airplane touched down in Monteverde, and Hailey sat up and stretched. It had been a long flight from Baltimore, and she had never been able to sleep on planes. Now she was going to have to meet with her client without having gotten any rest.
It didn’t help that she still didn’t know who her client was. Apparently this job was so confidential that she couldn’t even be told the details until she had signed a non-disclosure agreement. And according to the person who had contacted her, that agreement needed to be signed face-to-face.
This is all going to be a waste of time if they tell me what the job is and I decide I don’t want to do it.
As a private investigator, Hailey was used to a degree of mystery surrounding the jobs she took. This wasn’t the first time she had been required to meet with someone face to face before accepting a contract — far from it. Itwas, however, the first time she had been asked to fly to a foreign country without the slightest idea of what she was in for, or even who she would be employed by.
She thought she might receive answers once she was off the plane, but fortune wasn’t on her side. She found herself greeted by a man who wore a dark tuxedo and — for some reason — sunglasses indoors.That’s a bit much, she thought. Secrecy was one thing, but this was ridiculous.
The man held up a digital device withH. Joneson the screen. She approached him.
“I’m Hailey Jones,” she said.
“Follow me please, Ms. Jones.”
“Do I know who you are?”
“My name is Romano. I’ve been hired by your employer to bring you to him.”
Hailey hesitated, though she didn’t want to show how off-putting this all was, so she kept her face neutral. “Very well,” she said at last. “Lead the way.”
She was led through the airport. She followed in silence until Romano took the turn that would lead away from the signs pointing toward baggage claim, toward the outdoors. “Hold on,” she objected. “I have a suitcase.”
“Your suitcase has already been collected. It was given to our people as soon as it was unloaded from the plane.”
She stared at him. “Whoareyou?”
