The Royal Heir - The Valtoria Diaries 2

A cause for celebration

Drake had thoroughly enjoyed watching Olivia's footage of the Bradbella meltdown, so much so that he'd watched it three times now, the third time with Rick as the two of them drank to victory in the Valtorian gardens later that afternoon. The sun was shining now, and its heat had been enough to dry out the wet grounds following the earlier rain shower, so the group had decided to take their impromptu celebration outdoors.

"So that's it?" he asked his friend, who was sipping his whisky contemplatively as he watched Olivia being forced to dance on top of a picnic table by Jones and Maxwell, as Hana observed from a safe distance, holding little Annabelle. "They're gone? They can't come back?"

"They're gone," Rick said. "The information we already held was powerful enough to get us out of the alliance, but when you combine it with this footage, I think you'll find they'll do anything we tell them to now for the remainder of their reign."

Drake leaned back and smiled. "They had it coming." He took a mouthful of his whisky, then gazed across the garden again, making eye contact with Hana who shot him a little wave, then looking wistfully up at Jones, who seemed the freest and easiest she had been since the night her daughter was born. He sighed. "I just hated the whole thing. These people just got to hurt the people I care about and there was nothing I could do about it."

"You did everything you could, Drake," Rick said supportively. "You provided invaluable emotional support along the way."

He shrugged, knowing that didn't count for much. "There's still one thing I can't shake off though. Bradshaw framed Amalas for the drone attack, right? He also implicated Amalas had been tracking us and that was how the press found out about the book signing, yeah? Now we know Amalas found out about the low-level stuff that Aunt Lee did when we were in Texas, and exposed her the night of the ball. Why would she have done that if she'd gone on to work with her? It doesn't make sense."

"I wish I'd been there that night," Rick sighed. "The extra security would have helped, I'm sure. But you're right. It makes little sense. Amalas denied her involvement in both incidents, so I believe that she was innocent of both. And I don't see what your aunt would have to gain from being part of that arrangement, although it seems odd that she won't directly deny her involvement."

Drake was concentrating, zoning out, trying to think back to that dreadful, wonderful night. He was helping Jones when she was completely surrounded by press and paparazzi and terrified. He could hear the shouts of the crazed cameramen, and one in particular. Don't let them get away. I've got a source that's paying me triple rates for photos of the Duchess..

Hell, there was more at play here than Aunt Lee. Who was that source? Did they really want photos? Or did they want to put Jones and her baby in danger? And if so, why? And why was Lee happy to take the blame?

"Earth to Drake." He felt a hand on his shoulder. "What's on your mind?"

"I just feel that all this stuff that kicked off with Auvernal just distracted us from all the other stuff that we need to watch out for," he sighed.

"You're wondering who did tip off the press that night and why, aren't you?"

He nodded. "I can't shake off the feeling that someone meant Jones serious harm that night. Like, maybe it was someone connected with Anton? Maybe we didn't bring them all down after all. And they're still out there, Rick."

"That is one explanation, but there are many others," Rick said. "But, Drake, let me reassure you that Bastien's team have been maintaining a focus on this and some other loose ends that we.. that I need to tie up."