1. Troy

"Do you have all the details?"

If you call a message with an address and no information about the client "all the details," then yes. "I do."

"And the pin?"

I self-consciously reached for the key-shaped pin on the lapel of my designer jacket. "I thought we'd changed them to those magnetized ones. Do you know how exclusive this coat is? Now it will have a hole!"

"Why are you so grumpy today, boss? I thought you liked taking jobs from time to time so you can remember what it's like to walk among the normal people."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't like surprises, and correct me if I've mistakenly received the wrong file, but I don't even have a first name or what they want from us."

Veronika tapped away on the other side of the call. "Let me double-check this for you, boss."

"Troy. How many times have I asked you to call me by my name?"

"You get more annoyed when I call you boss," she replied.

I sighed and waited for the information while weaving through Westville's sleepy streets to the coffee shop where I was meant to meet the client. At least there was little chance of bumping into someone I knew in the mostly residential area away from the university campus.

"Sorry, Troy, this record is sealed."

"It can't be sealed from me. I built the goddamn program."

"Then you should know what sort of clients have this privilege and how many steps it takes for them to be vetoed by Elite before they get to this stage."

"Fine, but I'm not babysitting the son of another senator through a charity dinner. I thought that's why they hired security."

She chuckled on the other side. "Guys like that don't know how to blend in. You sure can fill out a nice suit and look cute in photos with your blond hair and pretty blue eyes."

"Well, I'm not doing public engagements, so if this is what they want, you'll have to find them someone else."

"Let's start with meeting the client and go from there, okay?"

I sighed. "Yes, boss."

Her laugh made me smile. "Now that has a ring to it. Speak later, Troy."

I crossed the road to get to the coffee shop on the corner. The place was cute, with metal tables and chairs outside and flowerpots everywhere. It had a European vibe that reminded me of spring in Lydovia.

There was no line to be served, so I eyed a free table and went straight for the barista.

"Good afternoon, and welcome to Café au Lait. What can I get you?" The barista had a slight accent and a warm smile.

"Can I get a large latte, please?"

"Of course. Anything to eat? I recommend the croissants. They're made with butter our baker imports from France, and they're delicious."

I smiled. "Maybe another time."

While she prepared the drink, I scanned the room for my client but didn't see anyone wearing a pin matching mine. I always liked being the first to arrive. It gave me the chance to get used to the surroundings and prepare to meet the client.

"That's a pretty pin," the barista said as she took my card for payment.

"Thanks."

I grabbed a table by the window and waited, occasionally rubbing my finger over the textured key pin on my lapel.

Elite Connections. We matched desires and exceeded expectations. That was the goal that drove us forward and made us ridiculously successful and wealthy for a mostly unknown toddler company.

We owed our success to anonymity. You couldn't offer a concierge service to the wealthy without discretion.

And the need for anonymity had brought me to meet my new client here. I didn't know anything about the client, but Veronika had at least honored my one request for a discreet location.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out to see my brother's name across the screen.

"Hey, Wren, what's up?"

"Hey, how's my favorite little brother?"

"Hmm…that sounds a lot like you're going to ask a favor."

He gasped. "It hurts that you'd think that of me."

I chuckled. "You're right. If you needed something, you'd get Tom to call me instead."

There was a short silence on the other side before he continued, "I just wanted to see how you're doing. I missed seeing you when you came home for the holidays."

My brother had married Tom seven years ago, just before Christmas. I never thought I'd see my former pro-football player brother back in Chester Falls or married to the sparkliest, funniest, and kindest man imaginable.

Tom was also the designer of my jacket, and he'd kill me if he saw the hole caused by the pin.

"How was the vacation, by the way? I missed hanging out with little dude."

"You know those amazing inventions called airplanes? You can use one to come home more and hang out with your nephew. He misses you too."

"And he said that with the five words in his vocabulary? He's the smartest almost-one-year-old kid in the world."

"Hey, he is the smartest kid in the world. His other dad makes sure of it. Anyway, the vacation was amazing. You know we always like to visit Lydovia in the winter, and it was a chance to hang out with our friends. Although, now that Alexi is in the US, we might see more of Charlie and Kris."

Ahh, so there it was. He was calling to check up on Alexi, not me.

There were eight Ivy League colleges on the East Coast, all fit for royalty and within a couple of hours of Chester Falls. He could have been close to his grandparents and the place he called his second home, but no, Alexi Maxim, Prince of Lydovia, had to pick my college.

"If you're hoping to get any dirt on Alexi, you're shit outta luck," I said.

"Why? You're not hanging out? I thought you were friends."

I ran my thumb over the handle of my coffee cup and stared at the foam on top of the coffee. "We're friends, of course we are." We'd been friends since we'd met at my brother's wedding, but we'd drifted apart, mostly because of me.

"What aren't you telling me, Troy?"

"Nothing. I literally have nothing to tell you. I'm busy with classes, and he's probably busy with his classes too, so I haven't seen much of him."

Wren let out an audible breath. "Can you please just…make sure he's okay? His dads are worried he'll struggle to adjust to life there and make friends."

"I'll reach out. You can tell Charlie and Kris that their son will survive the big, bad American college experience."

"Thank you, Troy. How's school?"

"Keeping me busy."

"Okay. We'll talk soon. And call Mom. She keeps complaining you never call her."

I laughed. "I called her last week."

"I'm paraphrasing by saying you're her baby, and she worries you're not eating properly while you're at college and when is your master's degree over anyway so you can come home."

"Wren…"

"Don't shoot the messenger."

"Fine. I'll call her tonight."

I put my phone away, feeling all kinds of guilty for the secrets I was keeping from my family. Sometimes, I felt like I was two different people living two different lives, constantly swerving, praying they didn't collide.

There was nerdy Troy, who lived with his nose in front of a computer screen. The Troy who loved going home to Chester Falls and just hanging out with the family. And the Troy whose quasi-best friend was a prince a few levels down on the succession line for the throne of a European country.

That Troy didn't leave his best friend to fend for himself. Or stayed away.

The problem was that Troy was in direct conflict with the Troy who had started a billion-dollar secret company with his college roommate.

I glanced out the window only to see the very person I'd been avoiding.

My hands went straight for the pin on my jacket. I removed it and put it in my pocket just as Alexi walked into the coffee shop.

He looked around and was startled when he saw me. I smiled and waved. There was no way I could meet the client now.

I dropped Veronika a short message to cancel the appointment with the client. Thank fuck they weren't on time, or that collision I was working so hard to avoid would have happened.

While Alexi got his drink, I allowed myself a good look at him. He was so far from the boy I'd met years ago. He'd grown almost as tall as me and had filled out in all the right places.

His cheeks had the same pretty blush. He had the same green eyes and cute freckles over his nose.

When he looked again in my direction, I had to remind myself he was off-limits. We were from different worlds. He was royalty, and I was just Troy—Elite or no Elite.