28. Lennon
LENNON
One day your child will come home and be overwhelmed with memories.
Make sure the good ones outweigh the bad.
—Lennon’s Secret Thoughts
“A re you sure you’re ready for this?” I check in with Maddox as I run my hands over the shoulders of his suit coat. “I mean, you’re kind of screwed if you’re not. But at least I asked, right?”
The joke falls flat as my husband stares back at me, all brooding seriousness wrapped in a gorgeous package. Far too serious for this early in the morning and having gotten very little sleep.
“I’m sorry. I make horrible jokes when I’m nervous, and my nerves are a mess at the moment.” I drop my forehead to his chest and close my eyes as his hands cup my neck and lift my face. “You have nothing to be nervous about, Lennon. My parents will have Brennan whenever he’s not with us, and I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”
“Promise?” I ask as someone knocks on the bedroom door of my family’s jet.
“With my entire heart, love. With my entire heart.” Maddox lifts my chin and ghosts his lips over mine. “Are you ready?”
My heart squeezes, making it hard to breathe. “Not even a little bit.”
“Lennon, sweetheart,” Amelia calls through the door. “There’s a man asking for you.”
Maddox moves toward the door, but I stop him and step in front, then place my hand in his, take a deep breath, roll my shoulders back the way my mother used to force me to do, and open the door. Atticus’s personal secretary stands in front of us, with Maddox’s parents and my security team behind him.
“Princess.” The word is so formal, it sets the tone for everything yet to come. “I’m sorry for your loss. Your brother has asked that I bring your team and fill you in on everything you need to know.”
“Thank you, Crowley. Do we have enough room for my mother and father-in-law as well?”
“No, ma’am. We have a separate car for them. Atticus has asked for all of you to stay with him while you’re here. He’s had an entire nursery brought in overnight for the prince.”
“Brennan,” I correct.
“Yes, ma’am. Prince Brennan.” Crowley looks genuinely confused, and it genuinely annoys me more than it should.
“Just Brennan. And thank you. I’d like to get off the plane now.”
Crowley steps aside, and I walk past him but stop when he steps in front of Maddox.
This is not how we’re going to start this trip.
I turn and reach my hand out for my husband, who’s staring daggers at Crowley, and wait until Maddox is next to me before taking Brennan from Amelia. “Are you okay with following us in a separate car?”
She runs a hand along my arm and then over Brennan’s head. “We’re here to help in any way we can, sweetheart. Don’t worry about us.”
“Thank you,” I murmur, wishing everything about this trip were going to be that easy.
* * *
Maddox
S he was right. The cameras flashing and reporters calling out for Lennon as we disembarked the plane were more intense than I’ve ever seen in one place before. Like she said, my family might be high-profile, but this is a whole other stratosphere.
Behind the official press line, which had been roped off with police guards, there was a fence with hundreds of what I’m guessing are citizens of Mornea calling out for their princess.
Until today, I’d never seen this side of Lennon.
I’d never had to share her with the world.
And I’ve never been more grateful she decided this isn’t how she wants our son raised.
By the time we were brought to the house Atticus and Rhys share, Lennon was dead on her feet. She basically stripped out of her dress, dropped it to the floor, fell into bed, and told me to give her Brennan to nurse. The two of them were sound asleep minutes later, while I’ve sat here, watching them. Waiting to hear signs of life in the halls. And when I finally do, I follow it downstairs.
“Maddox,” Atticus smiles a weary smile as he pours a glass of scotch. “You made it. Is Lennon awake?”
He hands the first glass to Rhys, then pours two more for him and me.
“No, she’s sleeping.” I hold up the glass and look at Rhys. “Am I supposed to bow to you now?”
“Do I look like I fucking care if you bow?” He swallows the amber liquid in one mouthful, then shakes his head. “Our father is going to be here any minute. Just don’t be a dick in front of him.”
“In front of him or to him?” I clarify, and the exhaustion in the lines of Rhys’s eyes intensifies.
“Oh, you can handle him however you’d like. It’s not going to be good. Trust me. I’m going to shower. I’ll be back down in a bit.” He turns to Atticus, and the two have an unspoken conversation before he heads for the stairs. “You’re in charge, Atticus.”
Atticus’s eyes tighten, and for the first time since I met him, he looks strangely serious. “I was sorry to hear about your grandfather. Does this change things for you too?”
I may sound like an idiot, but I genuinely never gave a shit about anything royal before and have no fucking clue how any of this works.
He pours another glass and taps it to mine. “It does. Until now, I’ve been a partner in a law firm, but it’s really been in name only. I haven’t practiced in a few years. Since our mother died, our father, Rhys, and I have been carrying out business for the crown. That won’t change, but I’ll now be Rhys’s head adviser. Can’t have the brother of the king have something like a job. The crown is the job.”
“You guys talk about the crown like it’s a living, breathing thing,” I realize.
“Because it is.” He drops dramatically onto a couch that looks older than me but is probably worth more than my car. “It’s outlived us all, and if we take care of it the way we’ve been tasked to, it will outlive our children and yours. The crown comes first. It has to. It’s why I was so goddamned grateful Lennon found you so far away from this. She was never meant for this life. She never wanted it. She’s too much of a dreamer. Let her dream. Keep her far away from here.”
“She shouldn’t be here in the first place. My daughter made her bed with a commoner, and now, she can lie with the fleas.”
My blood boils with those words, but I refuse to turn around. If this piece of shit wants my attention, let him stand in front of me and look me in the eye when he demands it.
“Hello, Papa,” Atticus groans through gritted teeth as his father walks by me. “Let me guess... You want to see Rhys?”
“Who are you?” he fucking sneers at me like he’s looking at shit on his shoe.
“I’m the man who loves your daughter more than you ever will. I’m the man who made sure she was safe, after the one you sold her to put her in the fucking hospital,” I seethe. “You fucking piece of shit.”
“Oh, cursing to get your point across. Such class. No wonder Lennon spread her legs for you.”
I have him by the throat and pinned against the wall before Atticus can even stand. “Listen to me, you upper-crust asshole. I don’t care who you are. I don’t give a flying fuck what blood runs through your body. I will kill you and sleep with a clear conscience right next to your daughter like nothing happened if you ever talk about her like that again. Do you understand me?”
His face turns so red, it borders on purple, but he doesn’t move.
Refuses to speak.
So I tighten my hold.
“Do you fucking understand me?”
“I’ll have you arrested for this,” he manages to spit past his lips.
“Do your best,” I threaten with no clue whether he can or not.
“You will do no such thing,” Atticus growls.
“Who’s going to stop me?” he wheezes with little room to breathe as I tighten my grip.
“I outrank you, Papa. The only person I answer to is Rhys. Hell, Lennon outranks you. Who do you think she’s going to choose? Better yet, which side do you think Rhys will fall on?”
Atticus gets in his father’s face, while I keep him pinned to the wall. “I’m tired of this game, Papa. The one where we act like we can stand to be in your presence. None of us can. Mother never even could. So shut your mouth. Do your duty. Never say another word about Lennon again, and you can continue the life of luxury you’re used to living. But so help me fucking God, if you open that mouth one more time, it won’t be the king who cuts off your miserable head.” He moves in closer, leaving barely an inch between them. “It will be me.”
Her father gasps as I drop my hold and watch him fall to the floor.
Atticus bends down. “And in case you weren’t sure, the commoner’s name is Maddox Beneventi. He’s Lennon’s husband and your grandchild’s father. And before he gets back on a plane to America, he’ll outrank you too, you miserable piece of shit.”
Lennon’s brother stands up, brushes his slacks off, and looks at me like he didn’t just impress the hell out of me. Something most people don’t do. “You think Brennan’s awake yet? I want to meet my nephew.”
“I think it’s about time we found out.” I make a show of walking over my father-in-law’s legs with a fucking smile and follow Atticus upstairs.