"Don't you dare! I'm pregnant and the baby belongs to Leonardo!" Olivia cried.
Leonardo laughed. It was a low bitter laugh. He moved behind Candace and joined in the conversation between them.
"Olivia. If I couldn't even get it up while I was unconscious, how do you think I could possibly get it up while I was awake and aware that you are not my woman?"
Olivia was beyond reasoning. She continued to cry out the same words over and over again as she rubbed her still smooth stomach.
"This is our baby! You are the baby's father! Our baby!"
"I never slept with you beyond the one night that you drugged me. I'm a doctor, Olivia. Give me some credit for at least knowing how babies are created." Leonardo scowled.
"You are the baby's father. Everyone knows that! Even your father!" Olivia began to scream wildly. "Don't you dare deny or reject your own blood!"
Leonardo's aqua eyes glazed over. He had completely tuned out her screeching maniacal screams. At that moment, he was not the physician, trying to save lives. He was an Erenveil Prince, seeking justice for himself.
"For the crime of willfully drugging a member of the royal family, you are hereby sentenced to being incarcerated within the royal dungeons for the rest of your life, however long you are allowed to live." Leonardo began to intone.
"What??? No!!! How dare you! I am your wife!"
Leonardo narrowed his eyes. He wasn't done yet.
"For the crime of sexually assaulting a member of the royal family, you are hereby sentenced to death AFTER you have given birth to your bastard child."
Olivia's eyes began to grow wild.
"You can't do this! I am the Princess of Laroche Gardens! My father will not allow this!" She screamed.
Leonardo gave a bleak chuckle. "What goes on in a warship is determined solely by the Captain's orders. No one can interfere with ship justice."
Olivia laughed. "More the fool you. Captain Hemming's not going to do anything to me."
Leonardo sneered and waved a hand, making contact with the Captain of the Alpha Vetiver Hospital.
"Your Royal Highness." An older male in a captain uniform appeared on the virtual monitor.
"Hemming. Take Princess Olivia Faraday into custody until I return."
"Sir—" Captain Hemming's eyes darted back and forth between Princess Olivia and Prince Leonardo.
"Yes—yes Sir." He nodded.
Leonardo turned a burning gaze at Olivia.
"Listen up, and listen well. I am Leonardo, the Third Prince of Erenveil. On that ship, I outrank the Captain."
"In fact, I outrank everyone in Erenveil except my three older Crown Prince brothers." His fangs began to grow with deep anger. "No one can protect you."
As Olivia was taken away by two of the onboard royal guards, screaming and yelling, Leonardo turned back to the ship Captain.
"Hemming."
"Yes Sir."
"That is your child she is carrying."
It was not a question. Leonardo was stating a fact.
He had seen the way Olivia looked to Captain Hemming, pleading for help. He had also seen the Captain, furtively looking back and forth, unable to do anything for her but desperate to save his child still inside her.
For a moment, the Captain's eyes darted about like a frightened bird, but then his body drooped in defeat.
"Yes Sir."
"You cannot save Olivia. If you want to save your child from certain death, do not allow her to leave the ship until I return."
"Yes Sir." The man nodded and disconnected from the call.
For a moment, everyone in the room could barely breathe. No one wanted to be the first to say anything.
Suddenly, Candace threw her arms into the air and jumped onto Leonardo. He barely had a chance to catch her when she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
"Woooottt!!!" She screamed, making his ears ring with the sound. "You did great!!! I'm so proud of you."
Leonardo laughed, trying to keep his balance. He felt Lucas and Jason steady his back from behind to keep him from falling backwards due to her sudden onslaught.
He reached out with hesitant hands to pat her back. It suddenly felt as if he'd grown a huge love wart on the front of his body.
"So what's our next step?" Jared asked.
"We have to go back to the Alpha Vetiver Hospital." Candace insisted with anger simmering in her hazel eyes. "I am not going to let that woman have a chance to escape. She needs to pay for her crimes."
She turned back to Leonardo. "Love. You have to contact your father and tell him what happened. Do it now while we are all still here with you."
Leonardo looked around at all his brothers. They all nodded in agreement.
"Call Dante and Slate. They need to be in on this conversation as well." Byron chimed in.
It didn't take long for all seven brothers to be part of the 3D conversation within their hotel room around the seating arrangement by the large windows overlooking the glittering city lights below.
As the 3D visual of the Emperor winked into view, the brothers ceased their light banter and turned to their father with varying emotions flickering amongst themselves.
"Harrumph. All you boys are together for this call? I must say I am surprised. Has something major occurred?" He turned to Candace. "Do you have a major happy surprise to tell me?"
Candace wrinkled her nose. What in the world was he talking about?
The brothers roared with laughter. They had already told the Emperor about the Avgo situation, but apparently he seemed to be rather confused about it all.
Leonardo cleared his throat.
"Father. I want to let you know that I have placed Olivia Faraday into custody on my ship. Within the next few days, I will transfer her to the Erenveil Royal Dungeon where she will remain until she gives birth to the child she is carrying."
"Wait wait." The Emperor held up his hand. "Are you referring to your wife, the little butterfly Olivia? That cute little girl with the black and yellow wings? That Olivia?"
"Father, I am talking about the Princess Olivia Faraday from Laroche Gardens." Leonardo clarified.
"Son. What the hell are you talking about? She's your wife. You can't throw her in the dungeon."
"Watch me, Father."
"Leo. She's pregnant. Even if you don't like her very much, which I have no clue why not because the girl is stunningly gorgeous, why would you put her in—"
"She drugged me and assaulted me Father." Leonardo cut into the Emperor's rambling. "And the child inside of her is not even mine."
The Emperor grimaced. "How do you know it's not your child? Don't you have to wait for the fetus to be a bit older before you can determine who the father is?"
Leonardo chuckled. "We don't need to go through all that. I never slept with her. She got her sperm donor elsewhere."
"But—but she insisted that she slept with you!"
"Father," Leonardo rubbed his face. "Why would you believe in her and not your own son?"
"Leo, I am not saying you're lying to me, but I am curious as to why she would lie to me. There were quite a few people who saw you and Olivia share the same bed."
"Yes." Leonardo nodded with grim savagery. "Those were the same people who hauled me off to bed, drugged and unconscious. They were the same people who stripped me naked and put me on the bed for her to pose with."