Flight by Neil Hetzner

CHAPTER FOURTY-NINE

  Charlie Chapfallen

  Unbonny Prince Charles.

  Smirking at him.

  The money is gone. Joshua Fflower’s trillions are going elsewhere. The last swirl of an enraged father’s willful pen. Gone to every kind of mundane goodness. Distributed like indulgences to shorten the time in whatever the old man’s purgatory might be.

  With the money, goes the power. Poof.

  Oh, not all the money and not all the power. Adanan still has his billions and he still shares the presidency with Illiya. That hasn’t been taken. Yet.

  But.

  The real money and the real power are gone.

  As his wife is gone.

  Because Jack had decided to tell his mother why he himself felt that he had to go. From accomplice to traitor.

  And the girl, who had cost him the money and power and his wife and his son, she, too, is gone. Not a sighting since Schecty’s men were plucked in Mudtown.

  No crown. No throne.

  All because of the girl.

  Was he wrong to have gone after her?

  Hindsight was hindsight.

  He needed to look forward.

  Much was gone, but not all.

  What was left must be his.

  He would not be Prince Charles. He must be king even if it be as ruler of a much smaller realm.

  But for that to happen, Illiya had to go.

  It would take some time and deep thinking to decide what kind of go would be best. But, patience was a virtue. And, patience would be repaid.