by Katee Robert
No, I can’t think like that.
It wasn’t the end. She wouldn’t let it be.
“I’m sorry, Meg. I really am. This wasn’t part of the plan.” Theo checked his phone. “Galen, can you meet the courier in the lobby. He should be here shortly.”
Galen nodded and disappeared down the hallway. Seconds later, the sound of the door closing permeated the apartment. She looked at Theo. “A year from now your brother reaches his majority.”
“Half-brother.” He said it with the distracted air of someone who had to correct people constantly. “And yes, my uncle can’t move directly against me in the meantime, but he won’t hesitate to remove anyone who gets too close. They still think they can draw Galen back into the fold.” He shook his head. “If they took you to Thalania, it might even work.”
“We had sex twice. How does that translate to manipulating Galen or hurting you by taking me? It doesn’t make any sense.” People had sex all the time. Emotions didn’t come into it. She couldn’t claim that rule applied to this situation. How could she be in bed with them and not be affected? But there was no reason for Galen’s father or Theo’s uncle to realize that. Not so quickly with so little evidence.
What evidence could he even have? She didn’t even have evidence that this went beyond an intense physical attraction and what appeared to be Theo’s perverse desire to drop large sums of money on her.
“He must have found out that we shared you.” Something like guilt flared over Theo’s face. “We weren’t as discreet as we should have been in the club.”
Despite everything, her body flared hot at the memory of being caged by Galen’s big body while Theo slipped a hand up her dress. “No, we weren’t very discreet.” She stared. “But that still doesn’t answer my question—why me?”
“That moment in the club was the first time we’ve slipped up since I was exiled. Neither of us has been a saint, exactly, but we’ve been careful.”
She blinked. “So he was going to… what? Send his guys to tune me up a little and see if that pulled you out of the woodwork?” Beat her and leave her to see what she did, who she called. If Galen hadn’t arrived in time, or at all, would Meg have called Theo to warn him?
Yes.
She couldn’t even pretend she wouldn’t have.
Theo would have come to her immediately. She might not know him well in the grand scheme of things, but she knew that without a shadow of a doubt. He would have rushed to her—they both would have. And the end result would be the same.
Thank god Galen was there.
Theo shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now. Galen stepped in and so they know hurting you will draw us out. That puts you at risk, and there’s not a single thing we can do to stop it at this point.” He watched her closely. “We could set you up somewhere for the time being, but I’d prefer you come with us.”
“Come with you,” she repeated. “Where?”
“Overseas. There is a… discrepancy that led to my being removed from my position as Crown Prince after my father died, and Galen and I intend to rectify it.”
That meant absolutely nothing, but she filed it away to deal with later. Right now she cared less about Theo’s exile than she did about her life tumbling into shambles around her. Selfish? Without a doubt. Meg couldn’t bring herself to feel bad about it. “I don’t have a passport, Theo. How am I supposed to come with you out of the country?” As much as she’d always dreamed of traveling, at the current junction in her life, a passport was a luxury expense. Even if Theo threw money at this problem, there will still a waiting period.
“Galen’s taken care of it.”
She blinked. “That seems convenient.” How the hell had he pulled that off? Why had he pulled that off? Passports took time and securing one inside of three days had to be impossible, which meant Galen had done it earlier. Perhaps much earlier. What the hell is going on?
“He likes to plan for every eventuality.” An answer that meant nothing at all.
Yet another thing to file away to deal with later. The weight of all the things she didn’t know pressed down on her, threatening to flatten her to the floor and never let her up. “I’m going to lose everything.”
“No. Never that.” He hesitated, but then his eyes went hard. “We’ve paid your apartment through the next twelve months, as well as the remainder of your tuition.” He held up a hand as she shoved to her feet. “Do not argue with me, Meg. I don’t give a fuck about your pride right now. You’re in danger because of me—because of us—and you should damn well be compensated for us fucking with your life. If everything has to be on hold until I sort out my country’s issues, then I’m going to make damn well sure you don’t suffer more than necessary.”
This wasn’t a fight she could win.
It didn’t seem like she could win any fights when it came to this situation.
The front door thumped open and Galen appeared in the bedroom a moment later, a handful of garment bags dangling from his hand. He laid them on the bed and glanced at Theo. “We leave in ten.”
“Got it.” Theo motioned at the garment bags. “Pick something to wear and pack the rest in the bag in the closet. No arguing, Meg. We don’t have time for it. You can file your deferment paperwork online once we get to our destination.” He followed Galen out of the room and shut the door softly behind him.
“You son of a bitch,” she snarled under her breath.
No, he might not have intentionally put her in this position, but he sure as hell was enjoying playing god with her life. Turning her into a kept woman, a plaything for him to cart around with them as they pursued this discrepancy. She marched over to the three garment bags and unzipped them one after another. Two sundresses that flirted between innocent and sex appeal. A maxi dress with a deep diving neckline. And a pair of designer jeans with a plain white T-shirt. All in her size. She looked at the price tag on the white shirt and cursed. Of course it was designer, too. Why not? He wasn’t exactly the kind of guy to pop into Walmart and buy something on clearance.
Sending them back was the smart thing to do. If he was telling the truth about paying her rent and tuition, then she was already in a hole of owing him that she’d never climb out of. Adding clothing she never would have paid this kind of money for on top of it?
She should demand they stop by her place.
Meg stopped short and closed her eyes. Galen thought there were men watching her apartment, which meant going back there put them in danger they wouldn’t be in otherwise. All for the sake of her pride.
It’s not pride when he’s the one in the wrong.
It didn’t matter. She’d find a way to pay him back or convince him to let her stop somewhere that was more in her price range, like a Salvation Army. Meg cursed again and yanked Theo’s shirt off. The dress she wore to bartend was ruined, otherwise she’d have put it back on.
As she lifted the jeans and shirt from the bag, she caught sight of a lingerie bag tucked behind it. Meg shot a glare at the door and dug into it. Lace panties in nude and red and bright pink—enough to last her a week without laundry. Bras to match, as if a matching set was really a priority right now.
They were nice though…
No, Meg. Use only what you have to and stash the rest so he can return it.
She grabbed her old bra and a pair of pink panties and pulled on the new clothes. Since they didn’t have time to fight about it, she stashed the rest of the clothing in the bag Theo had indicated, pausing to ensure that all the tags were still attached. She hooked the bag over her shoulder and headed out of the room.
Exhaustion weighed her down, but Meg kept her spine straight and her chin high. Life kicked her in the face all the time. There was no reason to be surprised it’d delivered a particularly devastating blow just when she was so close to achieving her goals.
So close that you were never going to be able to make that tuition payment on your own.
So close that deferring was already in the plans even bef
ore shit hit the fan.
A year would not make a bit of difference. She wouldn’t let it.
Just like she wouldn’t let herself think too closely about what it would be like to spend time in close quarters with Theo and Galen in the intervening time.
Oh god, what am I doing to do?
Theo didn’t draw a full breath until the plane touched down in Germany. It seemed counterintuitive to fly closer to Thalania and his uncle’s reach, but the next step in their investigation lay in the area. They couldn’t afford to put it off, especially now that Meg’s safety hung in the balance.
The woman in question hadn’t said two words to either of them the entire twelve-hour flight. She curled up in her first-class seat, wrapped the provided blanket around herself, and from all appearances, she passed out cold.
Now, she stepped into the cloudy German morning and blinked. “Frankfurt,” Meg said as if tasting the idea.
Galen rented them a car and then they were off, driving out of the city and into the country. Meg sat in the passenger seat, eyes straight ahead as if she didn’t trust herself not to stare at everything like a tourist. So prideful, his princess. She would start a fight before she’d admit that she’d never been out of the country, or that she’d desperately wanted to travel growing up. He’d bet good money on both being true.
Theo leaned up between the front seats and pointed at rows of vines growing up an absurdly steep incline just off the Autobahn. “Grapes for wine. I would think white, since that’s what this region is known for.”
Tension kept Meg’s shoulders so tight, it was a wonder she didn’t shatter. “I didn’t ask.”
“Come now, princess. I know you’re furious at me, and rightly so. I fucked up. But what’s to say you can’t enjoy this opportunity?”
“I can think of a few things,” she muttered.
She wasn’t ready. He couldn’t push this, no matter how viciously the guilt ate away at him. Theo made people happy. It was what he was good at, and it had the added bonus of bringing them around to his way of thinking and accomplishing his goals. He charmed and joked and occasionally threatened, and the path paved itself before his feet.
Until last year, when everything he thought he knew turned out to be false. Until he was stripped of his rank, his very identity, the only home he’d ever known.
It was a lie. It had to be.
But he’d seen the paperwork, all presented with a little smirk from his uncle Phillip while Dorian lurked in the background. The dates didn’t line up. Theo knew his mother was married to someone else before she married his father. Everyone knew it, and half the country had been scandalized by the whole thing, but eventually the love match won over even the most traditional citizens. How could it not when Theo’s parents looked at each other like the sun rose and set in their spouse’s eyes?
Ten years together was nowhere long enough.
“Theo.” Galen spoke softly, as if he knew the direction Theo’s thoughts had taken. “We’re here.”
They’d left the Autobahn while Theo was thinking dark thoughts, and now they wound through narrow roads encroached by a forest that felt the same way the ones in Thalania did. Old, full of magic and other fanciful things he’d long since outgrown. They weren’t that far from the Black Forest, and it was all too easy to imagine the thick tangle of trees held all sorts of monsters just out of sight.
They were more likely to be monsters of a human variety than witches and curses.
Galen took a turn onto a road so narrow, if another car appeared they’d have to careen off the road to avoid a head-on collision. Deeper and deeper into the trees they went, until yet another turn brought them to a giant iron gate. It was old and rusted in some places, a plant that looked like ivy climbing over part of it, giving the impression of a location forgotten by time. Theo took it in and then looked at his friend. “Atmospheric.”
Meg leaned forward and peered out the windshield at it. “Are you about to tell me that this is owned by a reclusive billionaire who happens to suck people’s blood and has an aversion to the sun?”
“Everyone knows vampires populate Wall Street, not mansions hidden away in the foothills of Germany.”
Theo swallowed a laugh, but his chuckle escaped at the flabbergasted look on Meg’s face. She pointed at Galen. “You made a joke.”
“It’s been known to happen.”
She twisted to meet Theo’s gaze for the first time since they left New York. “He makes jokes?”
“Sometimes.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice to a mock whisper. “Don’t let Galen fool you. He’s an asshole and a badass, but he gets off on surprising people.”
She gave a half smile. “And here I thought he got off on watching.”
Heat shot through him, but Theo had enough control not to let it show on his face. The fact Meg was making even the smallest joke was progress that he refused to endanger. He hadn’t bargained on Galen’s father finding out about her existence so quickly, but ultimately it changed nothing.
He wanted Meg.
They both did.
And, damn it, she wanted them.
If they could all get out of their own way long enough to let it happen. She was a perfect fit for him and Galen, and time would only prove that.
He just needed to give them both time to come to terms with it. Galen was too stubborn by half and he’d spent so long denying himself the things he wanted, it was pure habit at this point. He wanted Meg, and so he refused to go after her. If Theo didn’t love the bastard so much, he’d kick his ass until the truth penetrated that thick skull. Galen deserved everything, and if he wouldn’t take it for himself, then Theo would just have to take it for both of them.
Meg…
Meg was a surprise. Every time he thought he knew how she would react, she did a one-eighty on him. Her reaction to the money was expected. She had more pride than anyone he’d ever seen, and Theo hadn’t thought she’d take his strong-arming money on her gracefully.
He just hadn’t expected her to kiss him in the midst of their argument. To take her pleasure even while denying him the possibility of a future.
Their Meg had a mean streak that he couldn’t help but admire. She was no wilting flower in need of protection, at least not when the obstacles she faced were of the more mundane variety. No one could stand against Phillip and Dorian, though. Not without a whole lot of help and some big guns to back them up.
Theo climbed out and unlocked the gate, waited for Galen to pull the car through, and then relocked it behind them. He barely got the door of the car closed behind him when Meg turned fully around in her seat to face him. “This isn’t some contact’s house. This is yours.”
“Not mine.” He had to fight to keep the sorrow from his voice, even after all these years. “It belonged to my mother a long time ago, passed down in an unbroken line from when her people first settled in the area.” One of the few remnants he had of her, though she hadn’t come back to this house after she reached adulthood, so it held no memories for him to cling to even if he were so inclined. “She grew up here.”
Meg turned back to stare at the house emerging from the trees. The area had long since overgrown, giving the whole property the feel of a place forgotten by time itself. What was once a pristine white building was now a peeling, faded mess. Meg cleared her throat. “It looks like it’s going to come down on the head of the first person to walk through the door.”
“Nonsense. I commissioned someone to restore the inside six months ago.”
“The inside.”
Galen chose to answer that almost-question. “We brought someone in from out of country who had no ties to Thalania or the Mortimore family. It’s in everyone’s best interest if this house continues to appear abandoned.”
Phillip might suspect they were up to something, but if he thought for a second Theo had a chance of unraveling the lies he’d spun to secure his place as regent, no promises made to Edward would hold him back from trying to destr
oy both Theo and Galen. “This house technically passed to a cousin of mine, but they’ve agreed to give me use of the house for a tidy sum and the renovations.”
“I see.”
Galen shot him a look of warning and pulled the car around to the old garage. It had been built much more recently than the house, constructed of wood instead of stone, though time hadn’t been any kinder. They climbed out of the car and Galen opened the trunk, revealing their bags and a pair of handguns. He passed one to Theo and checked the clip on his before turning to the house. “Stay in the car, Meg.”
“Like hell I will.”
Theo let Galen take point on this. He was the security expert, the one who had the training for this particular circumstance. They were equal in every way that mattered, but Theo’s strengths lay in politics and people and manipulation. Galen could kill a man half a dozen ways with his bare hands and specialized in a variety of methods to protect someone. Before their lives had gone to hell, he’d been Theo’s head of security, and he’d developed the skill set to support that role.
He would be Theo’s head of security again.
This wasn’t over. Far from it.
Galen made a sound suspiciously close to a growl. “We have to clear the house. We can’t do that with you plodding along behind us, because we’ll be worried about you. Sit you ass in the car and wait for us to give the all-clear.”
If looks could kill, Galen would be a steaming puddle at Meg’s feet. “I’m not an idiot. I realize that you need to secure the house. If I stay out here, what’s to stop someone from snatching me while you’re occupied in there?”
Galen stepped closer and lowered his voice. “You’ve got a smart mouth, Meg.”
“Don’t try to intimidate me with your size just because I’m right and you don’t want to admit it.” She crossed her arms over her chest and somehow managed to look down her nose at Galen despite his having a good ten inches on her. “I’ll be quiet and follow orders, but I’m not sitting out here.”
