Taken by Her Prince

Rittenhouse was one of the more expensive parts of the city. There were a few large, high-rise exclusive condo buildings right around the edge of Rittenhouse park, and more than a few expensive restaurants were in the surroundings neighborhoods. I didn’t get up around this area much, since my crew worked a little bit further south, but it was nice to be reminded that there were still genuinely beautiful parts of the city.

Tourists were out, and people were sitting outside of restaurants on padded chairs and stools around metal and wood tables. There were people in the park, sitting on blankets and walking dogs and sitting on the benches that lined the concrete pathways. Buskers sang, did dances, played instruments. There was a group of three guys kicking a soccer ball on the grass, away from everyone else.

It felt like any other beautiful Philadelphia day.

“Drop us over there,” I said to Dino, pointing to the curb across the street from Parc. It was a classic French-style restaurant with a red awning, lots of glass, and lots of gold accents. People were packed around the little tables, and the restaurant itself was packed inside. A waitress with black pants and a white shirt scrambled between the tables, taking orders, carrying empty glasses.

Dino pulled to the side and I got out. Colleen followed, and we stood on the sidewalk together. Dino pulled out and drove around the block, heading to the pick up point.

“Come on,” I said.

Colleen hurried to keep up. I led her down the block, heading north. The bookstore was just across the street in a large sandstone building right on the corner. We crossed at the light and I opened the doors for her as we stepped into the downstairs lobby.

The cashiers were to the right, and the escalators to the upper floors were to the left. The building was broken up into three floors, and the bottom most floor was crammed with tables and merchandise but not many people. I spotted Simon over in the corner looking at a display of calendars, and he nodded at me as I walked to the escalators.

“Is that… your guy?” Colleen whispered as we stepped on together. “I saw him give you a look.”

“That’s Simon,” I said.

“How many do you have in here?”

“My whole crew.”

She stared at me in surprise. “Wait, really?”

I shrugged. “Sure. They’re all here, scattered around, except for Dino. Luca’s upstairs in the cafe with Lorenzo and Davide, and he’s coordinating everything.”

The escalator reached the top and I got off. We stepped out into the main book selling area. The kid section was straight ahead, and to our left was the fiction section, the sci-fi section, the poetry section, and a few of the other smaller genres. I walked over to sci-fi and stepped in the aisle.

“What’s the plan then?” she asked.

“The plan is, we browse and wait for your uncle to show up.”

“Wait— I’m just staying here?” She looked surprised as I reached up and pulled down a copy of Dune.

“That’s the plan,” I said.

“Does he know I’ll be here?”

“No,” I said. “Definitely not.” I flipped through the book with a little smile. I remembered reading Dune when I was a kid a long time ago. It was one of the books that made me decide reading wasn’t totally stupid.

She stared at me for another second then her face hardened. “So you’re using me,” she said. “You’re just trying to piss him off.”

“He’s not going to know you’re here,” I said. “You’re going to hide in the kid’s section and listen to what he says.”

She glared at me for a moment longer then shook her head. “Come on. That’s insane.”

“The deal was, we’d both show up alone. Now, of course that isn’t going to happen. But we have to at least pretend we’re honoring the deal.”

She snorted and snatched the book from my hands as I tried to flip through it again. She shoved it back into the shelf and stared at me, her hands on her hips.

“Listen,” she said. “If you do something to get my father hurt, I’m going to kill you.”

I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head. An old woman wandered past the aisle and shot Colleen an odd look. I tried not to laugh, but I couldn’t quite keep the smile from my lips, which only pissed Colleen off even more.

“I won’t,” I said. “I just want you to hear what your uncle says, that’s all. The guys are here to make sure we’re safe. I’m not going to break any rules.”

She sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “Fine,” she said.

“Good.” I reached out and pulled Dune out again. “So can I read for a while, or are you going to take it away from me again?”

She glared at me then threw up her hands. “You’re impossible. You’re acting like this is no big deal.”