Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
NATE
N ate grimaced as memories of the brawl the night before spilled back into his mind seconds after waking up. What had started as a pleasant day quickly soured.
With a sigh, he covered his face with his hands, wondering if Elena would even show up for breakfast today. The comment Stephen had made about Chloe being afraid of him popped into his mind. Did he have a darker side than he liked to admit?
The shadows of doubt weren’t just cast by Stephen’s actions but also his own insecurities. Had his part with Chloe left scars too deep to build a future with Elena?
He reached for his phone, intent on texting Elena to confirm their breakfast date when a pounding at his door startled him.
He groaned, letting his head thud back against the soft pillow. “Go away,” he murmured .
“Nate!” his father’s voice boomed from the other side of the barrier.
The banging sounded again, making his head thud. With a growl, he tossed back his covers and climbed from his bed. “Coming!”
He pulled the door open to find his father’s displeased face on the other side. “I want to see you downstairs in my office before breakfast.”
Nate’s forehead creased as he scrunched his features. “Okay.”
“Better get a move on or you’ll be late.” With the last sharp words, his father strode down the hall away from him.
Nate stared after the man for a moment before he eased his door closed, still wondering what the issue was. He crossed his room to grab his phone again, wincing at the time. His father was right. If he didn’t hurry, he’d be late.
He dropped it on the duvet in favor of a quick shower and change of clothes. Hopefully, Elena wasn’t ditching him. He guessed he’d find out when he got to the dining room.
He rolled his eyes as he tugged on his jacket as the image of Stephen’s smug smirk from across the table floated through his mind. If she didn’t show up, he wouldn’t be able to handle his brother’s haughtiness.
Before he left the room, he typed a quick message and sent it. You remembered breakfast, right?
He slid his phone into his pocket as he left his room behind, navigating the opulent halls before he descended the stairs. As he traversed the back hall toward his father’s private office, his phone chimed.
He smiled at the message beaming from the screen. I did. I’m quite good at appointments. The smiley face that followed the words eased his nerves a little. At least she wasn’t calling it quits after the fight last night.
He strode into his father’s office, depositing the phone into his pocket again. He stopped dead as his feet hit the thick area rug under the desk and chairs.
Stephen slouched in one chair while his father sat behind the desk.
Nate’s features tugged into a frown as he smoothed his tie against his shirt and eased into the other. “Do we both need to be here at the same time?”
“I’d rather not see you either,” Stephen shot back.
“Enough,” his father said as he rose from his executive chair and stalked around the side of the desk. He slapped a newspaper down in front of them. “Which of you would like to tell me why the Kingsleys are front page news?”
Nate shifted in his seat as he stared at the black and white image of him and Stephen wrestling on the ground underneath the bold headline: BILLIONAIRE brOTHERS brAWL .
He pressed his lips together into a tight line as he squeezed his fingers into fists.
“I will,” Stephen answered. “Nate can’t keep his mouth shut.”
Charles flicked his gaze to his oldest son. “You have anything to say about that?”
Nate’s jaw clenched as he chose his words. “Maybe I wouldn’t have mouthed off if Stephen’s little hussy wouldn’t have accused Ellie of cheating.”
“That’s it,” Stephen said as he leapt to his feet, his fists clenched tightly at his sides.
“Oh, you want to go again?” Nate asked as he leapt up. “Didn’t get enough last night after that cheap shot you took?”
Charles squeezed between them, pushing them back. “That’s enough. We’re not going for round two.”
“We will be if he doesn’t stop calling Chloe names!” Stephen shouted, waving a finger in Nate’s face.
“Maybe if she stopped accusing other people of things she’s guilty of–“
“I said enough!” Charles barked. “Sit down, both of you.”
“What is going on?” Victoria’s voice asked from behind them.
Nate’s jaw flexed as he shook his head and settled into his seat.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Charles answered as he grabbed the paper and flashed the front page to face her.
Her eyes went wide as she stormed forward to snatch it. “What is this? Did you two get into a fist fight at the concert last night?”
“We did,” Nate answered, “but Stephen threw the first punch.”
Victoria shifted her gaze to her second son. “Is that true?”
Stephen wrinkled his nose. “Because Nate called Chloe a low-classed tramp.”
“If the knock-off shoe fits,” Nate shot back.
“Hey, hey, that’s enough,” Victoria chided. “This needs to stop.”
“Well, it’s not going to until Nate accepts that Chloe is in love with me and not him.”
Nate’s features pinched as he shot his brother an incredulous glance. “Oh, come on. This has nothing to do with that. Although, I don’t know when you’re going to figure out that she doesn’t love either of us.”
“She loves me.”
Nate scoffed as he flicked his gaze out of the thick windows. “Yeah, okay. You’ll see when she burns you, too.”
“This is exactly why we can’t get along,” Stephen shouted as he leapt from his seat and paced the floor.
Victoria stopped him in his tracks. “Stephen, I think you’re being unfair here.”
“I’m being unfair ? Are you kidding me? I can’t see my girlfriend because it hurts Nate’s feelings? ”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Oh, come on, Stephen,” Nate shouted, jumping from his chair, “maybe it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you had waited to make her your girlfriend until after we broke up.”
“Well, you wouldn’t let her go, so I had to do what I had to do.”
“Oh, that’s rich. Yeah, you had to sleep with my fiancée, right?”
“Stop it, boys, now!” Victoria fluttered her eyelashes as she slapped the paper down on the desk and pressed a hand against her forehead. “All right, look, Chloe is a very sore subject in this house. I think it might be best if we come up with a solution here to navigate this situation.”
“Like what?” Nate asked.
“Like you accepting that your brother is seeing her. I know that’s hard but it’s true.” His mother offered him a consoling glance.
Nate grimaced as he set his hands on his hips with a shake of his head. “Chloe accused Ellie of cheating last night. She just twists the knife at every turn. If she’s so happy with Stephen, tell me, why is she constantly inserting herself into my life?”
Victoria raised her eyebrows as she shifted her gaze from her first son to her second. “Stephen, is that true?”
“I don’t know, I wasn’t there when she said it,” he said with a shrug, avoiding her gaze.
“You’re telling me she didn’t mention it to you at all that night, son?” Charles asked.
Stephen bobbed his head around a few times. “All right, I may have known that’s what she did.”
“Well, then, Stephen, I think while you’re seeing her, she needs to be informed that she cannot spout off this random nonsense that is designed to hurt your brother.”
“It’s not random nonsense,” Stephen argued, “Ellie kept disappearing.”
The concerns that had nagged him last night raced through his mind again. From her labored breathing to her switched purses, suspicion ramped up inside him again. He shoved it aside, too raw from the last hurt to delve into them. “Ellie didn’t disappear. She went to the ladies’ room, then the concession stand. And her whereabouts are none of your business.”
“Nate’s right,” Victoria answered.
“Oh, sorry for trying to look out for my brother,” Stephen claimed.
Nate groaned as he rolled his eyes. “Oh, right, yeah, you’re so concerned about my well-being. That’s why you slept with my girlfriend.”
“Okay, this is just going round and round,” Victoria said with a shake of her head, “and we’re going to be late for breakfast. But we have to figure this out. This can’t go on. I’m not going to tolerate this constant fighting between you two.”
Nate gritted his teeth, his nostrils flaring as he snapped his gaze from his mother to his brother. “Mom’s right. We’re brothers. We’re not supposed to hate each other.”
He stepped forward and thrust out his hand. “Can we call a truce for the moment?”
Stephen stared down at it before he raised his gaze to Nate’s. “I’ll think about it. I’ll grab something on the way to the office.”
He stormed from the room, leaving the rest of them behind.
Victoria rubbed Nate’s shoulder. “That was a very nice gesture, Nate. And I know it wasn’t easy.”
“For all the good it did,” Nate answered with a sigh.
“You offered the olive branch. Let Stephen settle down a little. He’s always been the more volatile one,” Charles offered.
Nate shook his head. “I just wish he’d realize she’s bad news.”
“He’s got to live his own life, son,” Charles answered.
“And you have to live yours,” Victoria answered with a smile as she smoothed his hair. “Ellie should be here any minute.”
“Yes,” Nate answered with a nod. “Despite what happened last night, she is still coming.”
Victoria looped her arm through his as she walked to the door. “Ugh, so she witnessed the entire thing?”
“She did. Chloe called her a cheater to her face, and then Stephen punched me, and I attacked him. She saw the whole thing. Handled it impeccably as usual, though.”
“Sounds like this one’s a keeper.” Victoria grinned at him before launching into a new topic. “Hey, I have some ideas about your proposal, too. We’ll talk tonight, okay?”
“Yeah, sounds good. Thanks, Mom.”
They entered the dining room, and settled into their seats. Ellie arrived a few minutes later with a cheery grin. Nate rose from his seat as she walked in and kissed her cheek before he pushed in her chair.
The dining room remained quiet as his father perused the rest of the paper, and his mother and sister remained relatively silent.
Finally, Victoria spoke. “Ellie, we’re really looking forward to seeing you model some dresses today.”
She grinned at his mother. “I am, too. And I do hope I will be able to see yours and Maddie’s.”
“Yes, we’ll both be trying them on.”
Maddie finally came to life at the topic. “I hope you like mine.”
“I’m certain I will,” Elena answered.
Charles glanced over his paper before he spread it out. “I hope you don’t change your mind again like you did last year.”
Elena glanced at him, an amused grin on her features that slid away quickly. Nate wondered if she didn’t realize his father was only joking. She kept her eyes trained on the paper before she flicked her gaze to her lap, a crease forming between her eyebrows.
What had upset her? He wondered if she’d seen the news article about their fight. Perhaps the paper had reminded her.
Nate swallowed hard as his stomach twisted. He’d have to explain to her later that they normally didn’t behave so badly.
He sipped his coffee, sliding his eyes to her as she pushed her eggs around with her fork.
She flicked her gaze back toward his father. “What’s that you’re reading, Mr. Kingsley?”
Charles perused the page before he flipped to the next. “Just the daily news. There’s an interesting piece here about–”
His sentence remained unfinished before Elena sprang from her seat and approached. “Let me see. I love interesting news!”
Nate wrinkled his nose at the quickness with which she raced toward his father. She snatched the paper from his father’s hands, leaving him stunned.
“Just a minute, I wasn’t finished with that.”
“Oh, dear,” Elena said with a frown as she crumbled the paper in her hands. “There is a typo here. Tsk tsk. The quality is so terrible these days.”
“Quite all right, I don’t mind.” Charles reached for the paper.
Nate screwed up his face as Elena shifted away from his father. “I do. It’s a travesty. As an editor, I cannot abide it. I must do something about it.”
“Perhaps a call to the editor–”
“Better!” Elena said with a raised chin. “I know where this belongs.”
“Ellie!” Nate called as she tore out of the room.
“Where is she going with my paper?”
“I have no idea, Dad,” Nate said as he followed behind her along with the rest of his family.
He found Elena in the living room. She held the fireplace lighter to the paper before she chucked it inside and dusted her hands. “There we are. All taken care of. It’s burnt, just as it should be.”
Charles stared at the burning newspaper. “Did you just burn my newspaper.”
Elena stared at him, wide-eyed before her features turned penitent. “It appears I did, sir. My apologies though I do tend to get a bit overzealous about these types of things. I’m so sorry, but best you shouldn’t be subject to that sort of carelessness.”
“Honey,” Nate said as he approached her, “are you feeling okay?”
“I am feeling much better now that I have destroyed that sorry excuse for a newspaper.”
Charles shot an incredulous glance toward Victoria, shaking his head.
She laid a hand on his arm as she smiled at him. “You know, I think we should probably get going. We may have a lot of dresses to try.”
Charles adjusted his jacket as he stretched his neck. “Yes, I think you’d better.”
Nate led Elena to his mother and sister. “Have fun,” he said before he pecked her on the cheek.
“Thank you. And I am terribly sorry about the paper, Mr. Kingsley. Though I’m certain the financial section is the truly interesting bit, and I haven’t destroyed that.”
“Right. Well, I guess I’ll finish my coffee and read that. Have fun.”
“Thanks, Charles,” Victoria said as she wrapped an arm around Elena and led her from the room.
Nate stared after her as she disappeared with his mother and sister.
“Well, that was bizarre,” Charles said.
Nate cleared his throat. “I’ll get you another paper.”
“Don’t worry about it. She must be really nervous about this dress shopping stuff. I guess they worry about finding the right one.” Charles shot his son a glance as he shrugged.
“That’s probably it,” Nate said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He flicked his gaze to the door again, his stomach tensing. Her behavior had been odd last night and again this morning. Was it nerves about the dress? Or was it something else?
“Don’t worry about it, son,” Charles said as he clapped him on the shoulder. “If you’re going to marry this girl, you’ll deal with far worse than that. Women do strange things sometimes.”
“Did Mom?” Nate asked.
Charles chuckled as he wrapped his arm more firmly around his son’s shoulders. “You have no idea. I remember when we had our first dinner party. She changed her dress five times. And in the end, she wore the same one she’d had on first.”
Nate loosened up a little as he laughed.
“Believe me, son, they get squirrelly over the least little things. You’re about to start planning a wedding with her, so you’d better be prepared for this stuff. You’ll sit dumbfounded as she talks for forty-five minutes about the choice between white and cream. ”
Nate’s eyebrows squashed together.
“Son, a word of advice…whichever she picks…that’s the right choice. You nod, and you say, absolutely. That’s the right choice, darling.”
Nate bobbed his head up and down. “Right. She’s always right.”
“That’s it, son. Your wife is always right. Remember that, and you’ll have an easy life.” He squeezed his son’s shoulder. “Now, why don’t you head into the office. Try to get your mind off of the dress shopping. Your mother has it well in hand.”
“Okay, Dad. Thanks for the advice. I’ll see you later.”
His father offered him a reassuring smile as he backed from the living room. He slid into his car, Elena’s behavior still giving him pause as he made the short drive to the office.
After sliding into his parking space, he climbed from behind the wheel and pulled his phone from his pocket, hoping to find a message from Elena. Instead, he spotted one from Stephen.
He clicked to view the text his brother had sent him. The picture message showed Prince Julian at a table. Another message followed. You snooze, you lose, bro. Looks like I’ll lock down the royal deal.
His knuckles tightened around the phone as he stared at the message. His brother, angry and looking to lash out, may have just cost him a deal.
He sent a message back, reminding his brother that the company came first, not individual wins before he strode to his office.
As he settled behind his desk, he checked his phone again. No new messages. With a sigh, he tossed his phone down, resisting the urge to text Elena about how the dress shopping was going.
As he settled into reading the latest report on his project, his door burst open. Stephen glared at him from the doorway before he stormed inside.
Nate instinctively rose from his seat, prepared to defend himself if needed.
“What kind of game is your royal friend playing?”
Nate screwed up his face as he stared at his brother. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the prince’s odd obsession with your girlfriend. I don’t know what’s happening here, but I have the distinct impression that this guy is playing a game and we’re not going to be the winners.”
The cryptic remark hung in the air as Stephen spun on his heel and left. A torrent of questions tore through Nate’s mind along with a gnawing sense of dread. Was this all part of Stephen’s plan to keep him off balance or was there something more sinister at play?