Page 28 of The Valiant (Spy Girl 4)
"Is my brother dead?" I ask in a monotone voice, feeling like all the emotions have been sucked out of me.
"No, he got nicked with a bullet and crashed the motorcycle, but he's fine. Where are you?"
"I think I'm at the home of Marquis Dupree, somewhere outside of London. You'll find nine dead, the eight nuclear backpacks, and a map marked with eight European locations--none of which are Montrovia."
"Huntley, are you okay?"
"I'm not dead," is all I say before hanging up.
I don't look at the carnage I'm leaving behind. I don't worry about things like fingerprints or DNA samples. The British government is free to let the world know that the illegitimate nineteen-year-old daughter of reclusive billionaire Ares Von Allister did their work for them.
I'm not dead, I tell myself again.
I move through the house, making my way to the garage when I find keys lined on hooks, including one marked as belonging to a Ferrari.
Pretty fitting for Ares Von Allister's daughter.
I arrive at the airport, find my plane, ditch the car, and stumble aboard. The small crew of two pilots and a steward greets me.
I tell them to take off.
We touch down in Montrovia three hours later, and I race to the docks, taking the tunnels into the palace.
Me: The spotted dog needs his tail wagged.
A few moments later, Lorenzo is in the tunnel, and I'm frantically pulling him to my lips.
He runs his hands down my face like he can't believe I'm here.
"They told me you were probably dead. I have been inconsolable," he says, holding me close and stroking my hair.
"I didn't die," I repeat the mantra that's been running through my head from the moment I realized I didn't get shot. I didn't die.
"What happened? Ari told me you were kidnapped--"
"It's a long story, and I've tried to keep you out of this side of my life because it hasn't been pretty."
"You must tell me."
I shake my head. "You are all the pretty in my life, Lorenzo. Do you know that?"
He sits on a bench in the tunnel. I quickly straddle him, deeply kissing him and arousing us both. Then we passionately and frantically consummate our love.
After, he's holding me tight and kissing the side of my face. "I want to marry you, Lee."
"I want to marry you, too," I say dreamily.
He's practically aglow with happiness, but there is a devilish grin on his handsome face as he gets our clothes situated, and then he picks me up and carries me out of the tunnel.
"Where are you taking me?" I laugh.
But he doesn't reply. Just stops in front of the Royal Vault, presses his hand on the panel, allowing us entry, and sets me down inside.
"Would you like to pick one?" he asks.
I shake my head in disbelief.
"Very well then," he says, taking my face in his hands and kissing me again. "Although I did not plan to consummate our love until after I proposed, you should know that I have been preparing for this moment for quite some time. That afternoon when we dined on my yacht, we were in the midst of the Grand Prix excitement, and the world was moving fast around us, but I only had eyes for you."
He gently kisses me, retrieves something from a case, and then comes back to the center of the room, dropping to one knee in front of me.
"This ring was worn by Montrovia's Queen Amalia Serafina Vallenta. She lived a long, rich life, and in her journals, she speaks of the love she shared with her king. Although, at that time, most marriages were arranged, her husband, Alberto, met her at a garden party and was smitten. They went on to have six children and loved each other dearly for sixty-three years before Alberto passed.
"I've chosen to give you the ring he gave her because I want that for us. Insomuch as love grows in you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul. When I spoke those words to you, I didn't realize that your love would become the beauty of my soul.
"Will you marry me, Lee?"
When the world goes kaboom, keeps playing through my head on repeat.
"What are you thinking, my sweet?" Lorenzo asks, standing up and taking me into his arms.
Tears fall from my eyes. I close them, wishing I could forget the many things I'd seen and done since I left Blackwood. But, if I did, I'd have to forget the beautiful man standing in front of me.
"My last two missions have been pretty rough on me, both physically and mentally. I was trained to do things a certain way. Specifically, to kill without emotion. But I've failed at that, Lorenzo. We didn't discuss it, but I can't marry you if you don't know everything."
"Your brother told me not to ask you about it."
"I was sold to a very bad man."
"Sold?"
"Yes, by Intrepid in disguise. The man, who we call the Moneyman, bought girls, used them sexually, and kept them in cages. My experience was nothing compared to the horrors those girls had been through. When I was there, one of the girls was killed. Men hurt her, Lorenzo. Badly. Then they threw her dead body in the trash. It upset me, and I took it out on the Moneyman."
"Did you kill him?"
"Tortured him actually. Not that it took much. He was quite weak. He brokered the deal between The Priest and whomever had hired him. He gave up the name of that man very quickly--Marquis Dupree."
"I know that name," Lorenzo says.
"Billionaire philanthropist who ran a pharmaceutical company. Although British intelligence has suspected him of criminal drug activity for years, they were never close to proving it.
"The man who was my target for tonight runs an organized crime syndicate that traffics drugs and weapons and is suspected of handling the dirty side of Dupree's business. I was supposed to simply get the man alone and then steal his phone and computer.
"Although we thought I was just crashing a simple birthday party, it was actually the exchange point. A team of eight gunmen came in and shot everyone, except for me and my target, who rabbited. The nuclear backpacks were sitting under the gift table. The men took them and me, assuming I was the target's girlfriend. They put a hood over my head, and I went willingly. I couldn't let them get away with the nukes.
"We were involved in a high-speed chase with a motorcycle, which I was pretty sure was being driven by Ari. They were shooting at him and said they took him out. I thought he was dead. But I spoke to Intrepid and know that he's fine.
"After that a police car chased us, and another car collided with us, but somehow, they escaped and went to Dupree's home. He shot most of his own men for screwing up, and then he had a gun to my head. There was nothing I could do." Tears fall as I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. "When he pulled the trigger, all I could think about was you."
"He pulled the trigger?"
"Yes, but at the last minute, he moved the gun and killed himself."
"Huntley, my dear"--he tightly hugs me--"you must have been so afraid."
"What I felt most was regret. I used to do all this for my mom. Then, it was for myself, but now, it's all for you. For your country. For our future. You're the dream that won't die, and I am very much in love with you, Lorenzo."
"As I am with you, my darling, thus my proposal." He holds the ring up between us. "And you haven't given me an answer yet."
"That's because I found this." I pull out the ring I took off Dupree's hand and show it to Lorenzo.
"Where did you get that?" he asks. "I've seen a ring like that before."
"Yes, me, too. The night of the Queen's Ball. Here. In this very room."
Lorenzo leads me to the ring, still holding my hand. He lifts the glass case and takes it out.
"What do you know about it?"
"Just that it's very old," he says, "but let's find out for sure." He retrieves a small leather-bound ledger from underneath the case. "Each piece has its own record. This ring was first worn by Lorenzo the Magnificent, the first king of Montrovia." He flips a few pages and then says, "This is interesting. It show
s all the dates it's ever been worn. It appears to have been worn by every king since."
He flips through pages and pages and pages, and when he gets to the last one, he says, "Except for my father. The last entry shows it being worn by my uncle Alessandro twice before he died."
We both outwardly shiver.
"That's exactly how I feel. And it's why I can't say yes to your amazing proposal even though marrying you and becoming your wife is something I greatly desire."
"Why you?" he asks, looking defeated.
"Why me what?"
"Why do you have to be the one to save the world?"
"Because, if I don't do it, who will?"
"That's exactly my point. If our world is going to end, I want to die happily with you in my arms. Say you'll elope with me now. We'll go aboard the yacht, and once at sea, the captain will marry us."
He puts the ring he tried to give me earlier on my finger. A ring with a rich history.
And it looks beautiful.
I wish I could tell the ring that its happiness will be wasted on me. But I want the fairy tale.
"Yes, Lorenzo, to all of it."
We're barely out of the vault when he texts the captain, telling him to rouse his crew. When he ends the call, we run hand-in-hand through the tunnels and down to the docks.
