Page 74 of Rogue Royal
“Please come with us.”
The two police officers came forward, one pulling out handcuffs.
“Is that really necessary, Commissioner?” King Andrew frowned.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Douglas swallowed and glanced at Mav. Mav’s face had drained of all colour, but Freddie was there, holding him up. He met Freddie’s gaze, and Freddie nodded once, flicking his eyes towards Mav. Douglas felt better knowing Freddie would keep an eye on Mav. Whatever the hell was going on, he hoped they would sort it sooner rather than later and, with any luck, with no damage to his relationship with Mav.
The cold cuffs clinked closed around his wrists behind his back, and his mind raced, trying to figure out what was happening.
As they marched him past his father, the man reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “Eric, stay with him. Douglas, remember, not a word until someone is with you. Understand?”
Douglas nodded and stepped out the door, unable to stop himself from glancing back once more to Mav. Would Mav believe his innocence?
****
Chapter 25
Maverick
Mav watched as they took Douglas away, the king closing the door with a grimace toward the remaining occupants of the apartment. After they left, he stared at the door as if it was some sort of joke, and Douglas would fly back through it shouting, “Surprise!” He didn’t, though, and it wasn’t a joke.
Freddie’s hand squeezed his shoulder. “Father will sort this out, Maverick. I promise he will. There is no way Douglas did this.”
Mav didn’t reply. His mind was whirling with thoughts, images and conversations, parsing through every interaction they’d ever had, checking every bit of information he knew, then double-checking it.
He rounded on Freddie. “He didn’t do this. We need to find out who did.” He brushed past the heir to the throne and stalked to his desk, opening his laptop and sitting in front of it.
“What are you doing?”
“Researching. We need to figure out who had enough motive and opportunity to frame Douglas for this. This Umar guy? Was he the one who had the lesson with Douglas earlier?”
When Freddie stayed quiet, Mav glanced up and raised an eyebrow. Freddie worked his jaw from side to side, then nodded. “He was. I haven’t seen the evidence, but apparently, Umar’s wounds were lashes of broken skin that hadn’t been cleaned or cared for.”
Before Freddie had finished talking, Mav was shaking his head. “No way. Douglas would prefer to have taken the lashes himself before leaving a sub in that condition.”
“I agree,” Damon said.
“That makes three of us.” Freddie stepped closer and clenched his hands. “Someone is setting him up, and I want to know who.”
“My boss is likely to have a grudge, but I doubt he could’ve set this up so quickly. Also, I’m not convinced he knows about the royal family’s involvement in the club.” Mav rubbed his forehead, a headache forming—from the stress, no doubt.
Damon nodded. “Yeah. I’d have made a bet on Talon doing it, but how can he do it from behind bars?” He glanced at Freddie, who shrugged.
“There has to be someone else we haven’t thought of,” Freddie said.
In the silence that followed, Mav grabbed for a thought just out of reach. When one of them went to talk, he held up his hand, closed his eyes and tried to grasp it. Excluding the clash with the media after the picture of Douglas with his pants down in an alley, there had been another altercation Douglas had told him about, but what was it?
Mav tapped his index finger against his forehead in a rapid beat. Something had happened at the club. Well, nothing had happened, but he’d argued with someone. He stopped tapping.
“His cousin!” Mav stared at Freddie. “He’d had an argument with his cousin at the club. Something about staying away from his sub and not interfering. I can’t remember the name of the guy. Douglas said a server pulled him away, pretending there was an issue, and Douglas could get away from the guy.”
Freddie and Damon shared a look. Freddie crossed his arms. “We have many cousins, Mav. At last count, it was something like seventeen.”
“How many are men?”
Frowning, Freddie gazed out of the window. “Ten if you only include the ones who frequent the club.”
