Highness (The Lonely Heart Series) by Latrivia S. Nelson

life. 
    Reorganize?
    Really?
    And what was the rest of the world supposed to do while the Prince figured what his next steps would be?  Whole industries depended on knowing every single move, including RQL. 
    Hannibal was only a step away from producing his very first fully fabricated story just to keep the powers that be off his tail, but he knew that even that would only sate the wolves for only a short period of time. The world needed photos; they needed a story!
    He had been up nearly 24 hours on Red Bull, 5 hour energy drinks, coffee and cupcakes, a combination that did not bode well for his wide and very unsettling gut tucked into black jogging pants and covered by large Lakers jersey.  Cookie wrappers, old canned cokes and pizza boxes lined his office as he had refused to leave the confines of his work space as he relentlessly toiled over the phone.
    His boss had told him that at 10 o’clock this morning; he’d receive a personal visit to find out what new developments had transpired. Normally, such a visit would not have created such havoc for him.  He had been dubbed the golden child of RQL because of his gritty stories on the prince and his ability when no one else could to get the dirt on a man who had been historically the easiest royal to be tracked and ridiculed.  However, now the visit would surely be ball busting. 
    As he glanced at the clock for the hundredth time, sweat beads began to form on his balding red head.  It was exactly 10 o’clock on the dot.  Immediately, the tension in his back rose up his spine and exploded into a headache. 
    “Hannibal,” his editor said, blowing into his office and slamming the latest newspapers from around the globe on the glass table.  “What have you got for me?”  The words were like sharp knives inside of his head. 
    Hannibal turned from his computer monitor reluctantly, feeling emasculated. “Nothing yet, boss.” He looked up at Chief Editor Anna McGregor with hesitation, afraid to make eye contact. 
    While she was a beautiful woman by the societal definition, she was also a fire-breathing dragon from hell that lived and died by the number of online and physical subscriptions, and point of sale magazines RQL sold. 
    Glaring red daggers back at him; she placed her long red manicured claws on the desk and bent closer.  “Do you know why I hired you?” she asked, blonde hair spilling over her shoulders. 
    “Because of my good looks,” Hannibal said with a crooked yellow smile.
    Clicking her nails against the glass, she sucked in a deep breath. “You wish.  I hired you because you can get the dirt on anyone, not just anyone, royalty.  In fact, I’ve damn near given you an entire page in a time when in the world of publishing, that is pretty much an impossible notion.”  Her hunches rose.  “But what am I paying you for lately?  No comment from the soon-to-be-king and photos of the boring brother going to dinners doesn’t sell copies of RQL.”
    “I’ve looked everywhere.  Michael is missing,” Hannibal explained.
    Anna stood and rolled her neck.  “Well, find him…if you want to stay employed,” she said, raising a brow.  Turning on her red back high heels, she stomped out of the office just as she had come, full of fury.  “Or I can always hire someone who can.  You’ve got one week to come up with something that will sell magazines.”
    “I hate that woman,” Hannibal said out loud, when he was certain that she was out of earshot.  “How am I supposed to find missing royalty?”
    Then the idea hit him.
    She didn’t say find him per se.  She said to sell magazines. 
    Looking down at his notes, he came up with the perfect story.  “WHERE IS MICHAEL?”  If the bad boy of royalty wanted to hide, he’d make him work for it.  A nationwide manhunt purporting that he was right here in the states and giving a reward would create a whole new story and give him all the leads that he’d need to actually find the