FGI 4: The Prince of the Deep
المؤلف
F. R. Black
القراءات
2.0M
الفصول
57
Camila is no stranger to blood and betrayal. Her father being Brazil’s biggest drug lord meant she had the finest things money could buy—until he was murdered, at least. But by that point she didn’t really need him; he’d taught her all she needed to know…except about falling in love. Now she’s bleeding to death in a pool of her own blood and there’s a strange man promising to save her life if she signs a contract with Fairy Godmother Inc.…
Chapter 1
Book 4: Prince of the Deep
My father always told me that bad things happen on full moons.
Maybe I should have listened to him.
But as I run down a moonlit alley with three hundred million dollars worth of precious diamonds and the man I love by my side, I can’t help but smile.
“I will get you the biggest diamond ring money can buy, mi reina,” Lucas purrs. My heart swells.
Three years we spent preparing for this job, getting close to a Russian billionaire, attending his extravagant parties and massive orgies, gaining his trust…and tonight we finally pulled the trigger.
This time tomorrow, we’ll be in Paris, sipping champagne and planning our new life together.
We reach a chain-linked fence at the end of the alley, and Lucas grabs my face and kisses me passionately.
“I will give you a boost, cariña. Hand me the bag.”
I smile at him, this man I love so much, my partner in crime. I hand him the bag without thinking.
The knife plunges into my stomach so fast, I barely register it.
“L-Lucas?” I gasp.
“I’m sorry, mi reina,” Lucas says, twisting the blade deeper while cupping my face. “I didn’t want it to be like this…”
“B-but…w-why?” I whisper, feeling cold and lightheaded, blood trickling from the corner of my mouth.
But the shock—the hurt—it already feels distant, somehow. I am fading.
My knees give out, and Lucas slowly lowers me to the ground until I am on my back in a pool of my own blood, staring up at him.
“This hurts me more than it does you, Camila,” he says sadly. And with one final kiss to my forehead…he’s gone.
He betrayed me.
He…killed me.
Tears stream down my face.
What would Papá say if he could see me now?
That I should have seen this coming, that’s what. Love is the biggest trap of them all, and I fell right into it.
The only mistake I’ve ever made—and it’s fatal.
Footsteps. I hear them echoing.
I open my heavy lids as a last flash of adrenaline courses through me.
“E—llllppp,” I try to wheeze out. I’m not sure how much blood I’ve lost, but I know I have but minutes left. I try to focus my vision as I see a tall figure stop in front of me.
“Mister,” I moan. “Help. 9-911!”
He kneels right in front of me. He is very handsome, I realize, with striking blue eyes and blond hair. He tilts his head at me and smiles. “Camila, is that you? Almost didn’t recognize you with the wig.”
I frown at him.
He knows me? And why is he talking to me like I am not dying?!
“Help,” I wheeze. “I’ve b-been s-stabbed.”
The man frowns suddenly and steps back from my pooling blood. “Sorry, these are my favorite shoes,” he says apologetically. He studies me for a moment, then says slowly, “You don’t have to die, if you don’t want to, you know.”
What?
The man reaches inside of his pinstriped blazer jacket and pulls out a piece of paper and a pen. The paper is glowing.
I must be dead already.
“If you sign this contract, my employer will save your life.”
My hands and feet feel numb as I stare at him. “You can save m-me?”
He smiles and studies me. “Of course we can.”
He holds the glowing letter right in front of me. My eyes trace over my full name on the first line. No one knows my real name.
No one.
“Who are you?” I whisper, feeling a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.
“There’s no time for that, I’m afraid,” he replies, leaning closer. “Do I have your permission to help you sign?”
“Yes,” I rasp, curiosity winning out. What do I have to lose? Stay here and die, or sign a glowing contract handed to me by a mysterious stranger? Yeah, not much of a choice, really.
He places the pen in my limp fingers and guides me as I sign. It’s messy, blood dripping on the contract, but it’s done.
“Wh-who do you work for?” I whisper, and I realize there are some questions I perhaps should have asked before I signed a contract. Blame it on the blood loss. “Where are they? When will they—” The man stands up suddenly and touches his finger to his ear.
“Randy, I need an extraction now. This is a code triple X—Medical staff on standby.” He looks back down to me.
My whole body feels prickly and fuzzy, and before I can panic…
“Camila,” he says, “I want to formally welcome you to Fairy Godmother Inc.”
Fairy Godmother Inc.?
The last image I see is that strange man winking at me.
***
“Camila?” A voice echoes, almost angelic. “I do not mean to be insensitive, but we do have to keep a schedule. Can you hear me?”
I open my eyes. Light seeps through.
“Any slower and she’d be dead.”
I blink, seeing faces looking down at me.
“Ahh, there she is. You see? She is not brain dead, like you thought.” It’s the man from the alleyway, standing beside a woman in a white coat. A doctor, from the look of her.
I wait for the catch. The part where he explains I’ve signed over my firstborn, or my soul, or agreed to star in some twisted reality show. People don’t save dying strangers out of the goodness of their hearts.
But he just smiles at me and helps me sit up. My head is dizzy. I’m in some sterile hospital, everything almost blindingly white with virtual technology. I hear a beautiful electronic woman’s voice in the background.
“What happened? Where am I?” I whisper, my heart thudding.
“Great questions,” the man says. “You were just in surgery, and it went very well.” He winks at me. “As for where you are… Well, welcome to the FGI headquarters! You can call me Pierce.”
Surgery. The word jolts through me, and instinctively, I grab my stomach where the knife was sticking out. No pain. Nothing physical, at least.
But the memory comes flooding back—Lucas’s betrayal. The image of him standing over me as I was bleeding out in that alleyway. He knew. He’d known the whole time what he was going to do. All those years we worked together, all those plans we made for our future.
Three years. Three years of my life wasted on someone who could look me in the eyes and twist a knife deeper.
My throat tightens. He is probably on a one-way flight, sipping champagne paid for with my blood, laughing about the stupid girl who fell for his act.
I thought I was smarter than this. Papá would have been so disappointed.
I swallow hard, forcing the grief and rage down into a tight knot. “FGI?” I ask.
“Fairy Godmother Inc.,” he says. “The keeper of balance in the universe.”
I look at him like he is crazy, which, I am beginning to fear, he might be.
“I am going to be blunt because I think you can handle it,” he says. “You are not currently on the planet Earth anymore. You are now in the fifth dimension and employed by Fairy Godmother Inc. For the next three months, you will be living on another planet as one of our agents, on a mission to restore the balance of good and evil before it is too late.”
I snort.
Yep. Definitely a nutjob.
Pierce gives me a pointed look. “This is real, Camila. This is an opportunity that will never come again in your lifetime.”
I look around, then back at him. “This is insane. You’re insane.” I try to swing my legs off the bed, test if I can stand. “I need to—I need to get out of here.”
“And go where?” Pierce asks calmly. “Back to Earth, where Lucas left you to die? Where the Russian billionaire you robbed is probably already looking for you?” He takes another drag of his cigar. “You signed a contract, Camila. Your old life ended in that alley.”
The words hit like a slap. Because he’s right. Even if I could get back to Earth, what’s waiting for me there? A target on my back and a partner who betrayed me.
I take a breath and think. The facts are stacking up. I was bleeding out in an alley minutes ago—there’s no way any ambulance could have reached me in time, let alone performed surgery this advanced. And that glowing contract. My real name.
None of this should be possible, but here I am, alive and whole. Either I’m in a psych ward hallucinating, or he’s telling the truth.
Pierce studies me for a long moment, then nods to himself, as if I’ve passed some invisible test. “Most people panic at this point. Start screaming, demanding proof, threatening lawsuits.” He lights a cigar, taking a slow drag. “But you’re different. You’re already calculating the angles, aren’t you?”
He’s not wrong. My mind is racing—not with denial, but with questions. With possibilities.
“Why me?” I ask. “What do you want from me?” I look around the sterile room. “And what exactly did I sign?”
“Tell me, Camila,” Pierce says, smoke curling from his lips. “How do you feel about games?”
I watch him carefully. “Depends on the stakes.”
“The highest.” He leans forward. “You’ll be given a new identity and sent to another world—one very, very far from here. You’ll compete against five other women for a single prize.”
I close my eyes.
This is crazy.
“Compete for what?” I ask.
“True love.”
I open my eyes to stare at him. “True love?” The words taste bitter. Like what I thought I had with Lucas?
I want to vomit.
Pierce doesn’t miss a beat. “True love’s kiss keeps the universe in line. It changes the hearts of powerful leaders, creating ripples that maintain the equilibrium between good and evil.
“We need you to change the heart of a very powerful man. To make him fall in love with you.”
“So this is like The Bachelor, or something? Some twisted dating show where we all fight over the same guy?”
“More or less.”
“I don’t want a man.” The words come out sharper than I intend. “I don’t know if you noticed, but the last one tried to kill me. So no. Hard pass.”
Pierce shrugs and waves his cigar dismissively. “They all say that at first. Haven’t met one yet who didn’t change her tune.” He takes another drag, his eyes glinting. “Besides, I’ve done my homework on you, Camila. I know what you really want.”
I narrow my eyes. “What does that mean?”
“Wealth without the stealing. Fame without the hiding. A life where you don’t have to pretend to be someone else just to survive.” He pauses, letting the words sink in. “Everything your father gave you, and more—all of it legitimate. All of it yours.”
He pauses, watching me. “We’re offering you the chance to make a very wealthy prince fall in love with you. To become the queen of a faraway world.
“There’s a catch, of course,” Pierce continues. “To stay in this world and claim your prize, you must make him fall in love with you. Real, genuine love—not just attraction or infatuation.”
Love…
That’s a mistake I won’t make again.
Never.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t sucker some poor prince into falling for me, does it?
I meet Pierce’s eyes and give him my most genuine smile—the one that’s gotten me into penthouses and private collections. The one that makes marks think I’m trustworthy.
“True love,” I say smoothly. “Consider it done.”
