Race for the Throne | Formula One

61. Long Live the Sovereign Princess

My eyes were glued to Alvaro's face. His eyes fluttered, a look of shock etched on his face.

"You-You shot me." Disbelief was evident in his voice.

There was a growing puddle of blood coming from the bullet wound in his chest. I shoved away from him as the blood began to soak into my shirt. Someone grabbed me and pulled me to my feet. Pushing against the chest of whoever helped me up, I stumbled back against a table, doubling over and losing everything in my stomach. My shoulder screamed at the pressure I was putting on it from leaning against the table.

"Kat, breathe. You're alive, you're alive." Someone rubbed my back.

I whirled around. Mateo was behind me, trying to calm me down. Ines had her hands over her mouth, frozen.

I tried to push the hair from my face but yelled out in pain. "Fuck!"

Mateo helped me into a chair. "I have to check your shoulder."
"What about Charles? Is he safe?" I asked.

Mateo looked at me somberly. "He's safe, I should have been watching you. You were the one in danger."

"You were doing what I ordered, my father will see that." I winced as he cut my shirt to get to my shoulder.

He froze, biting his lip, emotions warring across his face. "Your family was assassinated on the way to France tonight. You are the only surviving member of the royal family of Monaco."

Ines gasped, the first sound she made after her scream. I felt absolutely nothing, I was completely numb.

"What?" my voice sounded foreign in my ears.

"I'm so sorry but they're gone." Mateo pressed a cloth napkin to my shoulder to stop the bleeding before taking off his jacket and wrapping it around me.

"I have to get to Charles." I was on auto-pilot.

"Princess, I have to get you to safety. You are the Sovereign Princess of Monaco now," Mateo insisted as he got up to check Alvaro.

My entire body was shutting down. "Tonight is Charles' night. He won, this is the greatest night of his life."

"But it's the worst of yours." Ines grabbed my good arm. "You need to get to safety. Charles will join you as soon as he finds out."

I shook my head, regretting how it jostled my shoulder. "I have to find Charles."

"Please Kat. You have to be safe," Ines begged.

I stood up, swaying on my feet. "As long as Mateo doesn't decide to try to kill me, he'll keep me safe."

Mateo jumped up to steady me. "I failed tonight but I won't fail again. I know you want to go to Charles but you've been shot, you just killed a man, and you're going into shock. As your bodyguard, the one who isn't trying to kill you, I have to advise against it." Mateo tried to get me to sit back down.

The room seemed to turn upside down. "I killed him?"

"Please, you need to sit down. We need to secure the area. I have to call this in, and get someone to close this area off. There's a body here of a man who infiltrated our security so thoroughly that he was assigned by your father himself to protect you. We have to know why he did it and who he was working for." Mateo came back and stood in front of me.

"Do you think Jacques had something to do with it?" I thought back on the texts.

Mateo shrugged. "We won't know yet that's why we have to look into it."

I caught sight of Alvaro's body out of the side of my eye and felt the blood leave my face. "He said he had a sister in France, Lydia."

"That's a good lead." Mateo looked at me appreciatively.

When he looked back at Alvaro, I took the chance to run out the door with complete disregard to my security and my shoulder. Find Charles. Blood was pounding in my ears. Find Charles. My breath came out ragged. Find Charles. My shoulder throbbed with every move. Find Charles.

I stumbled through the paddock, passing people cleaning up the areas. Many people gave me many odd looks but I didn't even register it, I had to find Charles.

"Where were you?" Arthur shouted when he saw me. "You missed the podium!"

I tried to be calm but my voice cracked with anxiety. "Where's Charles?"

"He's doing more media." Pascale looked at me, concern very evident. "Are you well? You're very pale."

I gave a forced smile. "Just going to find Charles."

Hurrying away towards media, each step felt more difficult. It was like I was wading through knee deep water. Charles and Max were in a joint interview.  But when Charles noticed me he excused himself.

"You missed the podium, I looked for you." Charles took in my appearance, concern washing over his face. "Are you ok? What's wrong?"

"Didin't realize I looked that bad," I laughed slightly but it came out more like a wheeze.

He grabbed my upper arms as I swayed. I hissed as he moved my injured arm. He released me quickly.

"What is going on?" he demanded.

"A lot, but tonight is your night," I said adamantly.

Charles tried to lead me away from the media pen to a private spot but he pulled on my injured arm.

"Fucking hell." My voice cracked.

Charles let me go. "Please Kat."

I swayed, blinking, trying to get my head clear. "But tonight is everything you ever wanted."

He grabbed me as my legs buckled. Scooping me up, one arm around my back, the other under my knees. He carried me to his driver's room, acting as if nothing was wrong and we were just two people in love heading off to celebrate his championship win. We passed Mateo who fell into step with us and opened the door to the driver's room for us. Charles set me down on the massage table, keeping his hand on my leg.

"Let me in, please. I need to know what's going on," Charles begged.

Mateo looked at me pointedly. I glared over Charles' shoulder at him.

"It's the best night of his life." My voice was weak. "Can't tell him now."

Charles looked at me in disbelief. "Kat, I only care that you're ok. Please, let me in. Don't shut me out again."

I pressed my lips together as the room spun around me. Mateo sighed and walked over to me, he pulled the jacket back from my shoulder exposing the bright red stain on the napkin wrapped around it.

Charles' eyes widened and he reached for me but pulled his hands back, afraid he'd hurt me. "What happened? How did this happen?"
"They're gone, they're all gone," I choked out.

Without anymore hesitation, Charles reached out and pulled me close to his chest, careful not to hit my shoulder.

"What happened?" he asked, softly. "What's going on? Who's gone?"

There was a banging at the door. "Please let us in!" Max called through the door.

"You can let them in." My voice was muffled by Charles' chest.

Mateo opened the door and Max, Carlos, Lando, Pierre, and Ines piled in.

"Ines told us everything," Lando blurted out. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry."

Ines stared at me, wide eyed, tears streaming down her face. "They just announced it."

I pulled away from Charles. "No."

My body began to completely shut down, I was shaking uncontrollably, everything blurred. I wasn't in control anymore. There were faint voices in the background but I couldn't make out anything that was being said.

My family was gone. They were really gone. They were dead.