Free King and Kingdom by Danielle Bourdon Page A

you memorized his number the first night you had it.” Wynn smiled knowingly.
    Chey had to laugh. Wynn did know her well. “Okay, I memorized it.”
    “That means you can call him. Right to his phone, too. No one to route you around and give you excuses.” Wynn gestured to Chey's cell phone with an impatient gesture.
    “I can't just call right now,” Chey said, protesting. If she was honest, her nerves were shot. She didn't know what she would say first.
    “The sooner the better. They have these old sayings for a reason. Now call while I'm here to be your shoulder for support.”
    Chey rolled her eyes and picked up her cell phone. Would she really be able to get through? She thought ahead to the time difference and what Sander might be doing later in the day.
    “Go on. Give him a ring.”
    “Okay, okay. Pushy. Give me a minute.” Chey blew her nose twice more and took a drink from the tepid bottle of water sitting on the end table.
    Wynn watched her like a hawk.
    “I'm calling,” Chey said, picking her cell up off her leg.
    “I know. I'm waiting.”
    “I can feel you staring at me.”
    “If I don't, then you'll chicken out and wait until tomorrow, and then tomorrow you'll talk yourself out of it again because of the time difference or--”
    “Oh my God. I'm calling.” Chey tapped the phone to life and brought up the keypad screen. With her thumb, she pressed in Sander's private number. What was she going to say when he answered? Hi, I think my champagne was drugged sounded melodramatic and desperate. Even if she thought it was true.
    A click on the other end made Chey catch and hold her breath. She didn't realize how much she wanted to hear Sander's voice until the click.
    “ You have reached a number that has been disconnected and is no longer in service. If you have reached this number in error--” Chey hung up before the automatic message could finish.
    “What was that?” Wynn asked, frowning.
    “They changed his number.”
    “Already?”
    “It appears that way.” Chey stared down at her phone. She should have known it wouldn't be that easy.
    “Did you memorize anyone else's?”
    “I didn't. I figured it wouldn't matter if I memorized Mattias's number or not.” They might have changed his, too, just so she wouldn't have access to anyone.
    Wynn leaned back against the seat and withdrew her arm from around Chey. “You can't let that stop you.”
    “What do you mean?” Chey glanced aside at Wynn. The girl had that determined gleam in her eye that Chey usually wore. It was one reason they'd gotten along so well through the years. Each was as stubborn and bull-headed as the other. Today, Chey just felt like a wet rag and wasn't up to her old stubborn antics.
    “I mean you need to take action. Let's go to Latvala. Don't let him get away without trying to save your relationship.”
    Chey gasped. “Are you crazy?”
    “It's the same thing you would tell me to do if the situation was reversed,” Wynn said with a wry twist of her lips.
    Chey realized she was right. It was exactly what Chey would tell Wynn to do. In fact, it was probably what Chey would have considered after another day or two of feeling sorry for herself and her circumstance.
    “We can't just pick up and go to Latvala,” Chey said with a dubious expression. Yet the seed had been planted.
    “Yes we can. I have a passport. As long as you have one, and I suspect you do if you've already been over there, then we just need a flight.” Wynn surged up off the couch and clapped her hands like a drill sergeant. “C'mon, c'mon, c'mon. Let's go, let's move!”
    “They probably took that along with my private phone.” Chey wouldn't doubt it. She got up off the couch however, more tissues spilling onto the floor, and crossed to the small purse that sat next to her luggage. Picking it up, she rooted through, expecting to find the passport long gone.
    Much to her surprise, it was there with her lipstick and other minor belongings.
    “It's