Hey guys, happy April! I hope you're all doing well. Read on for some fun squad shenanigans ;)
Gonna reply to reviews on the previous chapter, thanks so much for the love and to everyone who reviewed!
Guest: Thank you! I'm glad you've enjoyed seeing Lila's development, as it's been really fun to write her character and have her grow throughout the series. And yes, the peanut M&M's was absolutely a Gallagher Girls reference XD
Disclaimer: I do not own the Embassy Row series and all the characters (except for Tanner and Jordan and Alexei's Moscow friends, who are my own creations). They belong to Ally Carter. I am merely using her characters and plotline to create this fanfiction. I have no intention of profiting off the Embassy Row series in any way. This fanfiction is purely for entertainment purposes and would not exist without Ally Carter's wonderful works.
The events that happen in this fanfiction are not meant to be representative of real life. Any similarities to any real-life events or fictional works is purely coincidental and not intentional (with the exception of the original Embassy Row books by Ally Carter since this fanfiction is literally Take the Key and Lock Her Up but from Alexei's, not Grace's, perspective). The character's actions may not always reflect my own opinions or views. Based on what is mentioned or happens in this chapter (spoiler alert), I do not condone murder, blackmail, hurting other people, hacking into technical networks, or food fights.
Content warning: mild to moderate
This fanfiction is rated M, for explicit and suggestive themes (such as mental health and abuse), language, and violence. This chapter contains mild to moderate language, mild to moderately crude banter about relationships, and mentions of murder, plots to hurt others, blackmail, hacking into technical networks, and mental health. Please read at your own discretion.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Friday Night Lights
The squad had gathered in the townhouse for a chill night in. It had been Lila's idea, in an attempt to cheer me up and remind me my friends were there for me. It was nice to have their company but I still couldn't help feeling alone. It felt like I didn't quite belong in their circle, not after everything I had gone through. It had changed me, perhaps for the worse. Never again was I to be an embassy kid. Never again would I live without a care in the world, taking everything around me for granted. Never again would I be totally free to do what I wanted, feeling like the world was at my fingertips.
It was unsettling, knowing I had completely changed while Valancia stayed exactly the same, to the point where it almost didn't feel right for me to be here. Even though it was the city I had truly felt at home in for much of my life, it felt like there was nothing left here for me anymore. Not when all those endless possibilities had been stripped from me, leaving behind a bleak world. It was moments like these that made me wonder if I was better off leaving everything I knew behind in Valancia and moving somewhere else, somewhere I could have a fresh start and completely reinvent myself, now that I was a changed man.
I looked around at my friends, eating Turkish food Noah and Megan picked up on the way here, doing homework, and talking about the day's events and all the latest gossip. Nothing had changed in their lives. Could I really leave them, and all this, behind? It was a raging battle in my mind, to stay or to leave. One part of me wanted to leave, to cut all contact and start over. Yet, another part of me wanted to stay, to continue leading this familiar life. The more I thought about it, the harder it became to decide. Stay or go. Two simple words, but with vastly different outcomes and consequences. One meant freedom but being lonely, one meant familiarity but being trapped. I couldn't decide which one I wanted more.
My phone buzzed with a text. "let me in" It was from Jordan, who had gotten off work half an hour ago. Not a moment later, the doorbell rang. I walked over to the door to let Jordan in.
"How's it going?" Jordan greeted me with an eager guy hug.
"Not too bad. How was work?"
"Man, it was crazy." Jordan shook his head, releasing me. We headed into the kitchen together.
"Yo, what did I miss?" Jordan yelled, announcing his presence.
"Alexei being a party pooper and your pretty face," Tanner quipped, not missing a beat. Jordan just rolled his eyes as he sat down, greeting everyone.
"That's yours," Megan said, sliding an unopened takeout box to Jordan. He opened it and immediately shoved his doner kebab wrap in his mouth.
"Hungry?" I asked, amused. Jordan nodded, his mouth full of food.
"I swear, the night crew is always the worst," Jordan said, taking another bite. "AKA all the uni students getting their pre-game eats before heading off to all the clubs and parties."
"Hey, that's gonna be us next year," Tanner said, elbowing Jordan, who froze mid-chew, his eyebrows shooting up, his eyes widening.
"Don't remind me," Jordan muttered, as he stuffed a few fries in his mouth.
"Hey, you'll get there too, bro," Tanner said, his voice soft as he looked at me. Had something in my face given me away? Regardless, I shook my head. I had already kissed my uni dreams goodbye and accepted my fate.
"Bro, do you think you're ever going to go back to school?" Tanner asked, taking a bite of his doner kebab wrap.
"Hard to say." I shrugged, picking at my lamb doner and rice. I missed everything about school, even the most mundane things like homework. Before, school had been the one thing that kept me going, the key to getting away from my father and carving out my own path in life. Now that I had been a wanted man and hadn't been to school since the end of my junior year in June, I doubted the school administration was going to let me in just like that. For the time being, it looked like I was left to wallow in my own misery, to bear the burden of my mistakes for the rest of my life.
"I'm sure everything will work out," Megan said sympathetically. I nodded, although I still felt pretty doubtful.
"Whatcha doing there, Ninja Junior?" Tanner asked, leaning over to look at Rosie's phone. "Got a hot date?" Rosie deftly maneuvered away from Tanner's prying eyes, typing furiously the whole time.
"Hmm, I guess they're not here yet." Rosie frowned at her phone.
"Who?" Noah asked, dumbfounded.
"You guys said we could invite anyone so I did. They said they were on their way but that was half an hour ago."
"Who did you invite? Prince T?" Tanner asked sarcastically.
"Who else?" Rosie replied, dead serious. The rest of us stared at her in surprise.
"What?" Rosie said, shrugging as she shoved a few fries in her mouth. "It wasn't like he was going to turn down doner kebab. Besides, he's bringing something you might be very interested in."
"Like what? Love letters from Grace?" Tanner asked.
"You'll see," Rosie said, looking down at her phone again.
"What a tease." Jordan shook his head, sticking a fry in his mouth.
"Not as much as you," Tanner said, making a flirty face at Jordan. Jordan just responded by throwing a fry at Tanner. He screamed as the fry hit him square in the forehead but quickly recovered, throwing another fry at Jordan. Before long, the two of them started pelting each other with fries, yelling about the most obscene things.
"Really?" Lila sighed, looking unamused as she took another bite of her falafel bowl.
"He started it!" Tanner exclaimed, just as he got hit with another fry. I rolled my eyes, knowing this was completely within the realm of the BS I had to deal with when I was with them. Everyone turned back to their food and homework, effectively ignoring Tanner and Jordan.
Just then, the doorbell rang, causing Tanner and Jordan to briefly pause their ridiculous food fight.
"Speak of the devil, he's here!" Rosie shouted, looking down at her phone. I got up to answer the door. Sure enough, the prince was standing there, looking out of place.
"Come in, your Highness," I said, stepping aside and bowing.
"Um, you can call me Thomas," the prince said, shifting from side to side. I nodded, opening the door wider to let him in. We headed into the kitchen, where Noah, Megan, Rosie, and Lila stood up to greet him. Tanner and Jordan barely seemed to notice as they continued their fight.
"Is that normal?" Prince Thomas looked on warily as Jordan flung a piece of meat at Tanner.
"Yup, entirely normal for them," Noah said, unfazed as Tanner launched a handful of fries at Jordan, sending them flying all around the kitchen. "Spend enough time with us plebeians and you get used to the crazy that happens around here." Tanner shrieked as Jordan chucked another piece of meat at him, causing the prince to jump.
"Yup, totally normal," I muttered. As far as I was concerned, nothing was too outrageous for Tanner and Jordan.
"Don't worry, the rest of us are more chill," Megan said, like she was telling the prince a secret. She then glanced over at Tanner and Jordan on the other side of the kitchen. "They're just a bit on the crazy side."
"Hey, I heard that!" Tanner yelled, just as Jordan hit him with a fry, causing him to scream again.
"Anyways, Thomas, do you have it?" Rosie asked, looking the prince right in the eye. Prince Thomas nodded, handing Rosie a small backpack he had been carrying. She opened it up, examining its contents.
"Oh, yes, you delivered all right," Rosie said, in a conspiratorial tone that was much too evil for a thirteen-year-old girl.
"Delivered what?" Noah asked, clueless as usual.
"Rosemarie explained that you were all looking into … something," the prince started cautiously. "She invited me over for dinner and asked me to bring anything that could prove my mother was involved."
"This looks like more than enough tech equipment to sustain a sketchy underground business," Tanner said, coming up behind Rosie to peer into the backpack.
The prince simply shrugged. "I grabbed whatever I could. Tech equipment seemed like a good place to start." Megan cleared a space on the table before taking the backpack from Rosie, gently dumping its contents onto the table. Tons of flash drives and hard drives poured out.
"Damn, that's something all right." Jordan let out a low whistle. "Definitely proves the princess was up to some sketchy things."
"Wait what?" We all looked over at Prince Thomas, who was understandably confused.
Lila gave the prince her business look. "Look, if you want to leave, you can. What we're doing isn't for the faint of heart. Long story short, your mother has done more than just arrange a marriage between you and Grace."
"Go on." The prince looked pale but stood his ground. I hoped he wasn't going to pass out, especially with how blunt Lila had been back in the Iranian embassy.
"Do you remember the murder of the West Point cadet this summer?" I asked, speaking up before Lila could be too frank. The prince nodded.
"Well, we have reason to believe your mother was instrumental in arranging the murder," Lila said.
The prince furiously shook his head. "How? Why? She didn't even know him!"
"We believe the cadet was mistaken for Grace's brother, who as you know, is the true heir to your throne. It is likely your mother was trying to eliminate the competition, so to speak," I said, trying to keep it strictly need-to-know.
"That's crazy, why would she do that?" The prince's mouth dropped open as his eyes widened. "Especially since Grace is now living with us and according to all of you, she's going to marry me." He had a good point actually.
"Eliminate the male threat to her throne while bringing in the female one to make future heirs and sustain her lineage," Lila said, summarizing it all up.
"In short, a win-win situation for her," Megan added.
"Besides, those aren't the only sketchy things she's been up to. In addition to murdering a cadet and attempting to murder Grace's brother, we have reason to believe she's sent someone to an asylum for threatening to expose her," Lila said bluntly.
"What?" The prince swayed from side to side and I feared he was actually going to pass out. I quickly stood up, grabbing his arm. Noah grabbed his other arm as we guided him over to a chair.
"Head between the knees. Deeps breaths in and out," I said, feeling a sense of déjà vu, remembering how Dominic had guided me through this. The prince obliged, bending over as he attempted to take deep breaths.
"Then something to eat." Rosie slid a takeout box and a can of soda towards the prince. Once his breathing had regulated, he sat up, opening the takeout box. He looked surprisingly like a normal teenager as he cracked open his soda, taking a sip straight from the can.
"Wow, this is good," Prince Thomas said, digging into his doner kebab warp.
"You ever had this before?" Noah asked. The prince shook his head.
"You've never had doner kebab?" Tanner asked, totally flabbergasted.
"It's hard to come by food like this at the palace. My mom is really into healthy eating and eating local Adrian food."
"See, told you he wouldn't turn down doner kebab," Rosie said, glancing at Prince Thomas out of the corner of her eye.
"If you ever want to hang out and eat greasy food, just let us know," Noah said. The prince nodded, spearing a fry with his fork.
"So, Thomas, what's life like at the palace?" Megan asked, making conversation. Thankfully, Tanner and Jordan had calmed down from their fight so we were eating in peace again.
The prince shrugged. "There are rules. It's hard to get out. But it's all I've known."
"Well, you managed to get out today," Jordan pointed out. "Did you have to sneak out or something?"
"It was only because a certain someone bribed with me doner kebab." The prince exchanged a glance with Rosie, deflecting Jordan's question.
"So, Prince T," Tanner stated, in an almost too casual tone. "How's the new girl at the palace? I heard she's looking for company." I gave him a warning look, knowing he was digging for information and hoping to start shit.
Thankfully, the prince didn't notice as he took another bite of his wrap. "She's okay. A bit crazy but she's cool."
"Well, just for your information, she did break up with Alexei here a few days ago so I'd suggest you be careful if you're going to get cozy with her," Tanner commented, a trouble-making grin on his face. "Otherwise, you're going to have one pissed off Russian coming at you." I gave Tanner a death glare, promptly smacking him for his comment. He winced in pain as he clutched his arm. The prince looked at me, eyes widened, mouth slightly open, like he was taking me in with new eyes.
"See what I mean? Don't piss him off, especially by getting involved with Grace," Tanner emphasized. I just gave him a pointed look, hoping I wouldn't have to injure him further.
"In any case, I don't think there'll be many opportunities to get together with Grace," Prince Thomas said, surprising us all. We turned to look at him. "She's always off doing something in the palace. She met with my grandfather this morning. I think the two of them are up to something."
"Like what?" Noah asked.
"Well, Grace gave my grandfather this box, which apparently used to belong to us. He's been in his office making phone calls all afternoon and my mother has been acting equally weird. Always on her phone, hiding away, being secretive." The rest of us exchanged a glance. That didn't sound good, at least about the princess. But as for Grace, did that mean she really had a plan after all, despite saying otherwise last night? It still hurt for me to think about her, coming up with her crazy schemes, knowing that despite everything that had happened, some things about her hadn't changed one bit.
"I mean, my grandfather's commemoration gala is tomorrow evening and as per my mother, that's also when Grace will be making her official palace debut," the prince continued.
"Say what?" Tanner exclaimed, speaking for the bewildered group, before glancing at me. "Did your girl agree to this or was she roped into it?" I just shook my head, meeting Megan's eye. Things were much more dire than we realized.
"I wish there was some way we could get in touch with Grace and see what's happening in the palace," Megan lamented, putting her head in her hands.
"Do you want me to ask her?" The prince spoke up. We all looked over at him, surprised.
"I mean, if you could," Megan said. "We'd really appreciate it. We don't really have a way of getting in touch with her at the moment."
The prince nodded. "I'll do my best."
"So now what?" Noah asked.
"First, we look through all these drives." Megan grabbed a flash drive at random and plugged it into her laptop. It was password protected but she ran it through a program that let her bypass the password and access the drive's contents. It was all Word docs, dating back years. Megan opened a few at random, scrolling through their contents.
"They look like… journal entries?" She turned the laptop to face us. I quickly scanned them, not quite believing what I was reading.
"If you mean ramblings of a potentially deranged person, then yes," Jordan uttered, breaking the horrified silence that had fallen among us.
"Dude, your mother sounds seriously mental," Tanner said. The prince just stared at Megan's screen in shock.
"Hold up," Noah said. "Scroll up." Megan did as was told. Noah scanned the text over and over.
"So what I'm getting from this is that Princess Ann ordered the murder of Grace's mother?" Noah asked skeptically. We all took another look at the screen.
"Sure sounds like it to me," Lila said bluntly.
"But Grace's mother was one of her friends," the prince argued.
"And the mother of the true heirs to the throne," Lila pointed out.
"It finally makes sense," Megan breathed, staring into the distance. The rest of us looked at her expectantly. "Grace's mother went to Binevale to visit Karina a few years ago. Shortly after that, she passed. It's too much to be a coincidence." I had to agree with that.
"So let's say it's not a coincidence," Jordan said. "What could have caused the princess to kill her best friend?"
I thought back to the way the princess, my mother, and Grace's mother had sat together, heads bent close as they whispered fervently. I thought about the basement of Caroline's shop, filled to the brim with all sorts of newspaper clippings and stray pieces of paper, detailing the long-buried truths of Adria. I thought about the backpack we had looked through on the train ride from Paris, which still sat in my bedroom. "I believe Grace's mother had discovered the truth and was set to reveal it but the princess killed her to stop it from happening."
"But why?" The prince asked, shaking his head.
"You know what they say," Lila said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." This was seriously making me question if the princess had truly been friends with my mother and Grace's mother or if she had always been out for cold blood. I shivered at the thought of the princess so heartlessly turning her back on her friends, solely for her own personal gain. And it had likely been going on for much longer than we had realized. How long would this continue to go on? How many more people would be hurt because of the princess? As much as it pained me to think about Grace, I feared for her, living at the palace where the princess would have infinite time and opportunity to hurt her. Despite my need to do something, anything, to protect Grace, I felt like we were fighting a losing battle. How could we possibly keep Grace safe when we didn't even fully understand what was going on?
"Yo, what's this?" Tanner asked, mousing over something on Megan's laptop. Sure enough, one of the many complex programs she usually left running in the background was flashing with a notification. It was her phone tracking program, showing a new text to Princess Ann from an unknown number, sent seconds ago.
"u said u had 2 meet me." I immediately tensed up, a pit of dread building in my stomach. That didn't sound good.
Sure enough, the princess replied not a moment later. "yes. How soon can u come?"
"as soon as u need me" The reply came seconds later.
"Guys," Tanner choked out, looking around at the group.
"Eyes on the screen," Jordan whispered, his voice shaking, just as the program flashed with another notification.
"can u come now? Much 2 discuss about K + G 4 tmrrw"
"omw. Be there soon"
"Good. Come around the back. U know where" Then, everything fell silent.
"Okay, what the hell was that?" Noah exclaimed, equal parts shaken and furious.
"Bro, that is some sketchy shit," Tanner said.
Megan shook her head as she looked at the texts. "I feel like something big will be going down at the gala tomorrow."
"You got any ideas?" Rosie asked.
Megan looked down in defeat. "Grace has already covered all the big things this summer. I don't know what else could possibly go wrong, aside from something so bad that none of us could even imagine it happening." I had to agree with her.
"So now what?" Noah asked. "Any way we can possibly stop a deranged royal, no offence –" He glanced over at the prince, "– from following through on a vague plan?"
"Thomas, can you keep an eye on Grace during the gala? Make sure she doesn't leave your side. If she needs to use the washroom, make sure Lila, Rosie, or I go with her. We can't risk leaving her alone," Megan said. "Besides that, I'm not sure what else we can do to keep her safe."
The prince nodded. "I can totally do that."
"In the meantime," Megan continued, "I'll do my best to look through all the flash drives and hard drives before tomorrow night. I'm not sure how much more we'll find but it's got to be worth a shot. Either way, we'll need all hands on decks tomorrow night because something tells me the person behind the unknown number will be there. I assume everyone's going?" She looked around at everyone, who all nodded. Then her eyes landed on me and her face fell.
"I wasn't invited," I said simply. "No longer an embassy kid, remember?"
"That's too bad. The rest of us are going," Megan said sadly. Noah and Rosie nodded in agreement.
"And I'll be on catering," Jordan added. "We'll find some way to sneak you in as part of the catering team or something."
"Him on catering?" Tanner snorted. "No way." I just shot him a look. If things got desperate enough, then I'd take any job I could find, including catering.
"I'll see if I can put in a good word with my mom," Prince Thomas said. I looked at him, surprised.
"Would she really want me there?" I asked, skeptical.
The prince shrugged. "If anything, it'll make it easier for us to keep an eye on things. And for you to, you know, see Grace."
"Are you trying to be the wingman for Alexei and his girl's reunion?" Tanner asked, eyeing the prince suspiciously. The prince just gave him a funny look.
"Long story short, are we trying to get Grace and Alexei together again or are you going to have those royal babies with Grace?" Lila asked in a very Ms. Chancellor-like tone. It made everyone quiver in fear but especially the prince, given that Lila's fierce gaze was directed at him.
"Nope, I'm good," the prince said, holding up his hands in surrender. "I'll see what I can do." Did I really want to get back together with Grace? Not right now, not when she had taken my heart and shattered it into a million pieces. But did I like the idea of Prince Thomas cozying up with Grace and leading a royal life with her? Not really. At the moment, I wasn't sure which idea I liked more.
"You better. Because let's face it, Grace is going to get someone in the end, regardless of what happens," Tanner said, looking right at me. "For your sake and everyone else's here, let's just hope it'll be you."
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm aiming to get the next chapter up the weekend of Apr. 29 and 30 (working around my call schedule for my next rotation).
So the squad knows stuff is going down soon. Who do you think is behind the unknown number? What do you think happens next? We're getting closer to getting back to the original book's storyline so stay tuned for many exciting chapters!
Update (Apr. 30): Hey guys, so it's Apr. 30 and the new chapter isn't up yet. My apologies, as I ended up getting super busy with lots of little things that required my attention (like work, family issues, and personal things, like looking for apartments) and haven't had as much free time as I would have liked to edit the next chapter. It is almost ready though and should only need 1-2 more quick rounds of edits before it's posted, which I'm hoping to do within the week. Thank you for your patience and understanding and I'll see you shortly with the next chapter.