PART 1 — THE WOMAN THEY DIDN’T INVITE
At 8:14 on a Saturday morning, I was standing barefoot in my kitchen in Virginia Beach, drinking coffee from a chipped Navy mug, when three black SUVs stopped outside my townhouse.
That was the first sign something was wrong.
The second was the man who stepped out wearing the dark ceremonial uniform of the Royal Protective Service of Bellgrave.
I knew Bellgrave mostly from news clips.
Old castles.
Lakefront palaces.
A royal family Americans pretended not to care about while secretly reading every headline.
And, unfortunately, my younger sister.
Madison Bennett had spent the last three years living there.
According to my mother, Madison was engaged to Prince Sebastian Laurent, second son of King Richard Laurent.
According to Madison, there was no reason for me to attend the wedding.
We had spoken about it only once.
Six months earlier, she had called me while I was stationed overseas.
“I just think it’ll be easier if you don’t come,” she had said.
“Easier for whom?”
“Olivia, don’t make this dramatic.”
That almost made me laugh.
Madison had built her adult life around making things dramatic.
She had been the pretty sister growing up in Michigan—the one who knew how to walk into a room and make everyone notice.
I had been the awkward older sister who joined ROTC, cut my hair short, went into the Navy, and somehow ended up commanding maritime rescue operations.
