Chapter 37
R aphael
Arm in arm with the prince’s girlfriend, I crossed the lawn outside the palace in no particular hurry.
I kept my gaze on the hedgerows. “What are my chances?”
“Of winning Alfred’s approval? I’d say fair. Perkins already briefed him on what little he knew about you, and the prince enjoyed the fact that your private life is not visible online. If he didn’t like the idea of you, he would have kept you in the room to make sure you knew it.”
I chewed on that. “So sending me out so he can talk to Alex in secret is a good sign?”
“I believe so. Alexandra is the apple of his eye, even if he is a terribly neglectful father. He’ll like you if the princess tells him to. Have you met the mother? An absolute troll. I assume that Alexandra hasn’t been in touch with her recently, though she’s clearly in crisis?”
I didn’t answer, and Sarah arched an eyebrow.
“I’ll take that as a yes. I don’t mean to pry, only to point out how neither parent is very present. If you do have to meet her, I’d recommend taming via a tray of baked goods and gossip.”
I held in a laugh. “Noted. I appreciate the advice.”
A beeping sound came from somewhere on Sarah’s person, and she released my arm to pat her pockets. “Please excuse me. Ah, it’s my daughter. She texts as if I have eyes to read that tiny screen without the glasses I left upstairs. Could you, please?”
She thrust the phone at me. I read aloud.
“Mother, when are you coming home? There’s no food in the fridge, and the help is too busy cleaning up after Laurie to go shopping.”
Sarah grumbled. “Text back that she should go herself, though I’m sure she’ll complain about it.”
I did, making it a suggestion rather than a demand. “How old is she?”
“Twenty-seven. Laurie is her six-year-old, my grandson. She had a fight with her husband and moved in with me rather than work it out.”
“That sounds rough.” I tried to be sympathetic, but my mind was still in the upstairs room with Alex.
“It’s rough for me. Why do you think I’m here? Their argument was over her laziness. I’m with the husband.”
I burst out in a genuine laugh. “Shite, sorry. I can’t relate. I fended for myself from my teenage years. Time on her own will do her some good. Maybe give the help she referred to some time off?”
Sarah brightened. “Genius. Hand me back that phone.”
She squinted then dialled a number and strolled away.
I took a moment to check the messages in my team’s group chat. They’d all arrived on-site. I scrolled down to the last.
Jackson: The café is thick with reporters and armchair detectives. Johnnie leaked big time. No sign of the photog.
It didn’t surprise me. Johnnie’s attitude had given away his intent without him having to say a word. It pissed me off that I hadn’t acted faster, though. I could’ve done more.
Another message sprang up on a different chat, one for my family.
Gabe: At long last, let me introduce you to the newest member of our family. Our lad, born half an hour ago at a hefty nine pounds four ounces. Mother and baby doing fine. Effie’s relieved it’s over. We’re both instantly in love.
He attached a picture of a wee scrap of a dark-haired bairn, bundled in a white hospital blanket and with his eyes closed.
Instantly, my sister was typing.
Ariel: Oh God! The cuteness. Got a name for him?
Gabe: Not yet. We had one picked out, but it doesn’t suit him. Back to the drawing board.
I sent my congratulations, waiting for the familiar wave of fear to swoop in on me, as it had done every time I’d thought about our father interfering with his grandchild’s life. It didn’t come. Perhaps it was the high energy of the day. Maybe later I’d lose my mind.
Still walking with me, Sarah chatted on the phone in a language I didn’t know, and I took a moment to centre myself, skimming over the perimeter of the private lawn and up to the gate.
A furious-looking grey-haired man stormed up to it.
He hit a buzzer on a keypad and waited, his gaze locking on to the house. Sir Reginald. I’d only seen his picture this morning, but there was no mistaking the haughty stance or the malice in his eyes.
Good. I had a few choice words to say to the man, and fuck was I letting him near Alex. In case this took a minute, I wrote a quick message to Jackson. If he was free, he could step in for Alex. I had a private secretary to take down.
The gate buzzed open, and he strode in, making a beeline for the house. I had a chance and had to take it.
“Sir Reginald Jessop,” I shouted.
Sarah blinked at the incomer and flitted away.
The man’s attention shot to me. “Raphael Gordonson, I presume.” The hostility in his expression shifted to calculation. He rerouted to bear down on me, his lips curved in a cool and unfriendly smile when he reached me. “The bodyguard.”
I tilted my head. “The underhanded, scheming palace insider.”
The smile dropped. “I have something to say to you. It will be brief. Follow me.”
He turned and stalked across the lawn, heading towards a distant building on the other side of a wide pond. At a guess, I assumed it to be Alex’s summerhouse that she’d planned to stay in.
The man didn’t say a word until we climbed the steps and he’d thrown the door open then closed it behind us. The bright room was warm. The polar opposite to the iciness of the man in front of me.
Anger brewed in my gut. If we were right, he’d done any number of things that could’ve got Alex hurt. Drugging her could’ve killed her. But there was the outside chance that he didn’t know what was going on, so I needed to walk a line.
I held up a hand. “I’m going to make this really simple. You can’t make Alex come back.”
“Why, because you say so?”
I shrugged. “No, I’m naw her keeper. She won’t return because she doesn’t want to. But if we’re getting personal, ye can’t make me give her up either. You’ve wasted your time in coming here.”
He tutted. “Make you? No need. You’ll do it yourself.”
“How do ye figure that?”
“Because you are not part of her world and you never will be. I manage her affairs now.”
Annoyance swarmed in me. “She manages herself, and we all saw what happened when shite employees don’t give a damn about her safety.”
He sighed. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Why, when it was your useless son leading her team?” I watched for a twitch or some sign I was on the money. It didn’t come, so I pushed harder. “Is that how Jared persuaded Johnnie to turn rat? A quiet request from the boss with insider connections and a bribe or whatever ye did to keep control. What I don’t get is how ye have the nerve to endanger her life then stand there like ye still have the upper hand.”
My words bounced off Sir Reginald like they were rubber. He didn’t even flinch.
Then he smiled. “I know who you are, Raphael West.”
West. I stilled, my blood turning icy cold. I hadn’t used that surname in almost a decade. I’d given it up when we came to Scotland and adopted a surname to honour the man who’d taken us in. Gordonson was mine by law now, on my driving licence and passport. The very few people who knew about the change would never have said a word.
West meant Sir Reginald knew that history. West meant he might know about my father, just as my brother’s baby had come into the world.
“How?” I managed.
Sir Reginald continued, “You ran your mouth to Johnnie, claiming you were The Big I Am, and while he thought you were full of yourself, I suspected different. I was right. The rest is irrelevant, as is your presence here, so you will listen to me carefully, then you will leave this place and never bother Princess Alexandra again. Am I understood?”