Chapter 36
EVA
The door clicks shut behind me.
Alex doesn’t move from the window.
“First things first,” he says quietly, “please don’t scold Claudia for letting me in.”
I’m too stunned to speak, my heart hammering.
He takes a step toward me. “I told her I had an urgent matter, and you were going to join me in the drawing room.”
“Oh,” I manage.
His mouth twitches. “She even walked me there. But the moment she turned her back, I slipped away and came here.”
“You delinquent!” My laugh comes out breathless, high-pitched. “And shameless liar.”
“Convincing liar,” he corrects.
“I won’t tell her off,” I promise, giddy. “But only if you tell me what this dire, world-ending matter is.”
He takes a step closer. A rare, devastating smile flickers across his face. It hits me square in the chest, and I nearly forget how to breathe.
“Hold the sarcasm,” he says, his voice rough. “Because it really is urgent.”
“I’m all ears.”
He closes the space between us, his gaze unwavering. “I’ve been missing you, Eva, more than I thought possible. Today, halfway through grading a midterm, I became convinced I’d fall ill if I didn’t see you tonight.”
Heat surges up my neck. His hand lifts, hesitates, then captures mine. The warmth of his palm is enough to undo me.
He exhales. “I don’t say things like this. But you’ve been in my head, every hour. I don’t—”
He breaks off, his jaw tight.
My throat closes. I’m breathless, weak in the knees.
This man. This candid, gruff, maddening, honorable, infinitely lovable man.
“Alex…” I begin.
His composure slips. “I don’t function right without you.”
“I’ve been missing you, too,” I whisper. “Every night. Every day. You’ve ruined me for dignified solitude.”
Something shifts in his eyes. Relief. Hunger. Need. For a dizzying second, I want to melt against him, let him hold me, kiss me senseless, erase every sleepless night since he left Fort Vauclairt.
But guilt slams into me—cold, suffocating. I yank my hand away as if burned. My body stiffens.
How can I love him while hiding something this big?
How can I let him love me while lying about his father’s death, about Geoffroy, about the title and estate that should have been his all along?
I stumble back a step, breathing unevenly.
Confusion flashes across his face. “Eva?”
“I can’t,” I blurt, the words slicing out before I can soften them.
His expression darkens. “You can’t what?”
I press my hands to my temples. My heart slams against my ribs. This secret is rotting me from the inside out. Every breath feels like inhaling toxic fumes.
“I can’t do this.”
His voice drops. “Do what, Eva?”
“Pretend.” The word scrapes my throat raw. “Pretend that nothing happened. Pretend I can love you without telling you the truth.”
He straightens. Shoulders rigid, mouth thin, he waits for me to explain. And in that silence, the dam breaks.
“It wasn’t an accident,” I blurt. “Rodolphe, your father. Geoffroy killed him.”
The room goes deathly still.
Alex’s jaw locks, but he doesn’t say anything. I wish he’d yell, smash something, anything but bottle his rage.
I grip the back of a chair to steady myself. “They fought. Geoffroy pushed him down the stairs. It wasn’t planned, but it was… enough.”
Alex stays silent, his ironclad composure scary.
Then he growls, “I always knew Geoffroy was a nasty piece of shit.”
My heart screams to go to him, to take his hand, to cup his face. But I don’t move.
He curls his fists at his side. “I knew even before you told me how he treated you. So, this… this makes sense.”
“I should’ve told you sooner.”
His eyes narrow. “How long have you known?”
“A few days. But I suspected before that.”
“Any proof?” he asks.
“The coroner’s report stinks to high heaven,” I say. “He’s still alive, by the way. There’s also a bribed witness who can be ordered by a judge to talk. The body could be exhumed for a new autopsy.”
“Who else knows?”
I’m sure he already guessed the answer, yet I can’t bring myself to name Brigitte.
“Please, Alex,” I beg.
His expression sharpens. “So, what was your plan? What were you going to do if I hadn’t showed up, the lovesick fool that I am?”
I look away.
“Talk to me!” he commands. “Were you going to tell me?”
I close my eyes. “No.”
He doesn’t react at first. Eyes still shut, I brace for the inevitable. By now, he must’ve realized his inheritance was stolen eighteen years ago, and that by joining the cover-up, I was taking part in that theft. I shrink, waiting for the outburst of rage I learned to expect from Geoffroy.
But no slap comes. No shove. No raised voice.
I open my eyes. “You can reclaim the duchy now. No court would deny you. Not Sarrazin, not anyone.”
He says nothing, just exhales a long, ragged breath, as if ripping something out of himself.
When he speaks, his voice is hard. “I won’t destroy Millie’s life to restore what should’ve been mine. She’s duchess, and that’s final. The vow I made at MESS still stands.”
I gasp, “Alex—”
He cuts me off. “I know exactly what I’m giving up. And I know exactly why. Don’t mistake this for weakness.”
His tone crushes me. The words leave me breathless. Alex, so brutally pragmatic and so unapologetically rational, is giving up his chance to claim the title, the estate and the power, all rightfully his.
He’s choosing to protect Millie.
“You’re sealing the lie,” I whisper, trembling.
“Then so be it.” His shoulders lift and fall. “I guess some things matter more than being right.”
My heart swells. I reach for him, desperate.
But he steps back. “I need space. Goodbye, Eva.”
And then he walks out the door.