54 - My Royal Kidnapper

THAYER

“What’s next?” Lud asked.

My gaze flew up to Lucas when he cleared his throat.

“We’re not entirely honest with you. You can’t blame us for protecting our daughter, you know. And we made a promise to Kennedy that we won’t tell anyone when someone’s asks where she is.”

My chest expanded with hope. “Where is she?”

“You can tell her that Lud is very resourceful. Even if she hides in Mexico’s Naica Mine, I will still find her.” Lud managed to lighten up the situation.

“How can we find her?” Ash came and joined us in the lounge.

“I emailed her two days ago, and she called me using a local number there. She said she’s with a guy named Talal.”

“Who the —” I cleared my throat. “Who is Talal?”

“Name’s sounds like Arabic. Middle Eastern,” Ash surmised.

“Yeah. That’s correct. Talal guy is an instructor.”

I chuckled. A small smile spread on my lips. “I know where to find Kennedy. I told her once that we should go skydiving. She said she’s not an adrenaline junkie like me. That explains what she wrote in the note about conquering her fear.”

“It’s easy to find Talal. There’s only one famous skydiving destination in the Middle East," Ash summed.

"Dubai,” Ash and Lud even chorused.

“Can you call the number, please?” I asked Laura.

“You won’t talk,” Ash said to me. “Or you’re gonna ruin the plan.”

I shrugged. “Fine by me.”

“Good. Now let me find Talal on social media.” Lud opened an app on his phone.

Ash turned the laptop on and connected Laura’s phone to it.

Laura dialed the number on her phone. It rang.

My heart pounded.

“Mom?”

I gasped.

Lud groaned beside me.

“Hey, honey,” Lucas started. “When are you gonna come home?”

“Dad, I told you two days ago. I’m still working on something.”

“Like doing that thing. It’s dangerous, Ken. Your mom and I could barely get some sleep.”

“Jeez, it’s completely safe. I promise. And it’s actually thrilling.” Her voice was lively. She seemed excited. “And I’m not doing it alone. I already told you. Talal is good at what he does.”

I groaned. Blood rushed to my head.

Lud shot me a murderous glare.

“So, you’re not coming home anytime soon?”

“Mom.”

I shut my eyes closed. God, I missed her voice.

“I know, honey.”

Ash signal his hand to talk some more so that he could trace the call if she was still in Dubai.”

“About the ring, honey. I still—”

“Mom, you have to send it to him or give it to Alessia.”

I rose to my feet, blowing a frustrated breath.

“I think it’s better if you two should talk and give it to him, Kennedy. You need closure.”

“Mom, I’m not ready to face him.” I felt the sudden change in her tone. She was still hurt. It was painfully obvious, but on the brighter side, she still had feelings for me. I locked my jaw hard and fought the urge not to speak and call her by her name.

Ash gave us thumbs up.

“I just want you to be happy, and you won’t be able to do that until you get closure. And the only way to do that is to talk to him.”

“That asshole— sorry for my language. But that asshole hurt me, and he clearly doesn’t care about me. So let him go to hell. I swear if I see him, I’m gonna knee him is his balls—”

“Ken—” I fought with Lud. He was able to cover my mouth with his hand before I could speak and snatch the phone. Kennedy’s parents yelped in surprise. Ash managed to lock my arms behind my back. I huffed in frustration.

“You’re gonna see her, and that’s a promise,” Ash whispered. But you have to act like a grown-up, for God’s sake. Did you understand me? Nod so that I can let go of your arms.”

“Fine.” I twisted my arms to get loose. “Damn you.”

“Mom? Dad, are you still there? Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Yes, honey. I’m here.” She grinned sheepishly. “Your dad. This silly. You know. I’m—I’m ticklish.”

Ash and Lud held their laughs even Lucas had joined them.

“Ew. Gross. I have to go now. I’ll call you soon. Love you both.”

When the line cut off, Ash closed the laptop. “She’s still in Dubai.”

“How do you like a three-day trip in a Cruise?”

“Are you serious? We’d been planning it for two years now,” Lucas answered.

“Great. Get ready. Call her friends as well.” I took a deep breath. “I’ll make up to your daughter. I promise to make her happy for the rest of my life. I’ll see you in the jet.”

***

We arrived in Dubai. The weather was humid than in New York.

I barely got a nap out of excitement. Ash managed to connive with Talal to change course and bribe him with a free cruise trip. Apparently, he and Kennedy became good friends.

I still had an argument with Ash and Lud regarding the plans. Since Kennedy cursed the hell out of them when they first took her, they came up with another plan. Ignoring my ideas, they said that mine was too dangerous. Yet, here I was, just roofied my woman and waited for her to wake up.

She was a lightweight. It quickly kicked in, and I was expecting her to get up soon.

“Boss, we’re ten thousand feet high,” Talal informed me. “So far, so good.”

“Like we agreed. You will jump and follow us.”

“Got it.” He gave me thumbs up.

It was about time. Kennedy stirred, froze for a while. She must have been trying to remember what happened before she passed out. She rubbed her eyes and looked around.

She just called her friend and thought Talal was still her partner. Again, she was going to hate me for doing this. But this could be a whole lot of fucking fun.

“Sorry, darling.” She froze again. She must have recognized my voice right away. “Talal is preoccupied at this moment.”

Her reaction was humorous.

I chuckled. “Ready to jump?”

She turned to face me. She was wearing gloves, but I still felt her touch on my face. I leaned in, closing my eyes. “God, I miss you.” My voice deepened.

“Asshole! Not again! Not again.” She tried to get up, but she wouldn’t be successful if we wouldn’t do it together.

“Easy. Easy. We’re up, darling.”

“What the hell are you doing there?” She searched for the locks that were connected to my gear.

“I won’t try that if I were you, darling.”

“Stop! Stop calling me that name. I despise it!” she barked.

“Get ready in thirty seconds!” Talal called out again.

“Talal! Get me out of this asshole in an instant!”

“He won’t dare do that,” I said calmly.

“Talal, please?”

“No can do, Kenny. We just sealed the deal.” He grinned before he put his helmet on. “Get ready in fifteen seconds.”

“We’re ready.” I securely wrapped my arms around Kennedy.

“Wait. Wait. I’m not ready!” Kennedy started to panic.

“Just put your goggles on, darling. I’ve got you.”

“I’m not gonna jump with you. I trust Talal than you, bitch.” She reminded me with my word. My chest squeezed a little. Fuck it. A lot.

“You’re safe with me, Kennedy. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Your promise means nothing to me anymore.”

“For now. Let’s go. You have comms. Just pressed it if you wanna talk. Okay?”

“I don’t have!” she yelled back as we ready ourselves. The back of the plane ajar.

I pressed it for her. “Can you hear me?”

She turned around. Her eyes were wide with fright and excitement mixed together.

She looked fantastic. God, she looked gorgeous.

My lips spread wide as we jumped together, and she didn’t even notice until she looked around and the air rushed around us.

She turned her head to me. Her mouth formed an O-shaped, her eyes widened even more.

“Oh, my God!”

“You still trust me, darling,” I said calmly to her comm.

“I can hear you.” She laughed out loud. Of course, she could. While she passed out, I attached a comm for her. It wasn’t usually used because they’d been taught signals while in the air.

We were freefalling a little slower first for a few seconds until it would be one-hundred twenty mph.

We were still ten thousand feet up, according to my altimeter.

“Spread your arms, darling. Then we will dive down.” I held her arms. “Can you still hear me?”

She gave me an okay sign. Good.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Not a good time, Thayer! Not when we are up here in the sky!”

“Give me another chance.”

“No freaking way!”

“You took off my ring, and I wouldn’t accept it.”‘

“Not my problem.”

“I sincerely apologize. I would ask for your forgiveness, even if it would take all my life as long as we are together. I love you, Kennedy.”

“Just shut up! Shut the fuck up, ass prince! You hurt me.” I could feel the emotional turmoil in her voice.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t care anymore!”

“Let me prove it to you. Let me make it up to you.”

“Didn’t I just tell you to shut the fuck up? Wait. We’re less than ten thousand feet. Thayer, shouldn’t you deploy our parachute now?” At least she was still paying attention.

“Marry me?”

“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me! This is not a joke, Thayer!”

“Nine thousand, darling!”

“No!”

I waited. “Check your altimeter, darling. Marry me.”

“Asshole! I know you won’t allow yourself to get killed by a faulty parachute.”

“I’d rather die than not being with you.”

“Are you fucking serious right now?”

“Dead fucking serious!” I said firmly. “Seven.”

“Wait, why are we in the ocean? Where are you exactly taking us?” She pointed at the cruise. “Are you trying to let us drown?”

“I can swim. 6.5.”

“Thayer, deploy it, please?” Her voice started to shake. On the other hand, maybe we should just land on the water, but she would hate me more.