CHAPTER TEN – FINN #2
Alec’s smile is as chilling as his next words. “The palace is the only place I don’t have eyes, my friend. I know what you had for breakfast this morning.”
“I’d be scared of you if I didn’t know that already.”
I laugh, finally relaxing a little. “Well, I’m glad for your extensive network of spies.”
“I prefer to refer to them as researchers,” Alec says, a small smile tugging at his lips.
He can call them what he wants, but they’re still spies at the end of the days. Spies that benefit the Royal Family, along with everything else he does for us.
If Oscar is the brains, then Alec is the muscle.
Where Oscar moves in the light as my right hand, Alec is my left one, dancing through the shadows.
If there’s something to be uncovered in the Sinclair house, he’ll have it in front of me before I can blink.
“How long have I got?”
I meet his dark gaze. “She’s given me a week to answer her.”
He snorts.
“So, you’ve got less than that. But keep your eyes on them even after that. I want to know everything that happens in that house, from what time they wake up to how many leftovers there are at dinner.”
“Understood.”
“Get eyes on Harriet, too.”
Oscar pauses. “You’re going to have someone watch her?”
“No.” I look at them both, taking a moment to meet both of their gazes. “I don’t want her watched. I want her protected.”
“As you wish, Your Royal Highness,” Alec says, pulling a cigarette out of the box and toying with it between his fingers. “I assume you don’t want her to know.”
“No. Keep it secret.”
A tiny smile appears on his face. “And if something happens to her?”
I hold his gaze. “If something happens to her, Alec, the same thing will happen to you.”
The unlit cigarette stilled, pinched between his two fingers. “My, my. She must be special if you’re even threatening me.”
“I’m not playing around,” I say firmly. “I can’t protect her yet, so I’m trusting you to. If so much as a hair on her head is harmed, I will take all of yours. For every scrape or cut she gets, you’ll feel it tenfold.”
“I hear you loud and clear,” he replies, his gaze intense. “Nothing will happen to her. You have my word.”
***
“Well?”
Alec throws a manila envelope on the table between us. “She’s something, that’s for sure.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I grab the envelope and slide out the singular sheet of paper inside it. It’s the world’s shortest report with absolutely zero information in. “What the fuck is this?”
“I was trying to type it up when you demanded I get my arse over here, so here I am.” He holds his hands out. “Who am I to defy an order from my esteemed crown prince?”
I throw the almost blank sheet of paper down and stare at him. “Will you get on with it?”
Alec chuckles, but it quickly dies when he meets my gaze.
“Her life is a mixed bag. She’s not treated badly, but she’s not treated particularly well, either.
There’s a marked difference between her and Jasmine.
It seems Harriet isn’t the only one sworn to secrecy about her identity—my girl sent me the copies of the contracts and agreements she had to sign, and they’re fucking extensive.
Moreso than the ones I give my… researchers. ”
I frown. “They’re going to great lengths to keep her secret. It’s a wonder they let her out of the house at all.”
“It would be Rosalyn’s preference not to, but it seems she’s aware that Harriet can and will use her true identity if she doesn’t get what she wants.
” He pauses. “Her relationship with Rosalyn and Jasmine is volatile at best. They despise Harriet, and she, them. William seems unaware of the tension between the women in his family. That, or he’s being wilfully ignorant. ”
Either is a possibility.
“When he’s around, they’re a picture-perfect family, where Harriet is simply happy to be reunited with her father and a part of the family.
Minor disagreements, but nothing out of the ordinary given their circumstances.
As far as they’re all concerned, she’s happy to step aside for Jasmine and let her marry you if it means she can get her money. ”
“Do they really believe that?”
“Yes. Mostly. My girl has heard them threaten her with her trust fund more than once, so the theory that they’re using the money to control her with her identity is accurate, I’d say.
” He runs his fingers through his black hair, mussing it up.
“However, Harriet does use this to her advantage with her father. The agreement she signed states zero access at all and that William will provide her with an allowance, but what he’s actually doing is giving her limited access to her fund behind his wife’s back. ”
I raise my eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yes. He appears to be under the impression that she’s using the money for her business, so while he monitors her spending and she has to request access, he all but allows her to use her fund whenever she pleases.
She seems to have guilted him into allowing her to use it to support her photography.
His stance is that if she’s happy, then she’s less likely to go against his wishes and ruin Jasmine’s future. ”
“Of course. If Rosalyn finds out, he can use that same excuse. He did it all for Jasmine.”
“That seems to be the case,” Alec agrees.
“Rosalyn wants her gone but has the opinion that you should always keep your enemies close. She sees Harriet as the single greatest threat to her adopted daughter’s life, and even though she hates her, she needs to keep her within the household so she can monitor her comings and goings.
She even has a private investigator who follows her sometimes. ”
“Find him. Pay him off.”
“Already done.” He pulls a USB stick from his bag and slides it across the table. “There’s everything he’s ever collected on her. For now, he’s going to keep working for Rosalyn under my orders.”
“You’re sure he’s working for you?”
“Yes. You’re paying him three times what she is, after all.”
Of course, I am.
I shoot him a withering look as I slide the device into my pocket. “Is there anything interesting on it?”
“I didn’t look, but he only ever reported on her work.
That’s all she seems to do. Work, pass time by herself, and spend as little time as possible in the family home.
Sometimes she fabricates clients so she can spend nights in hotels and not return home, but that’s not information he seems to have passed on.
” His lips twitch to the side. “She’s definitely not a part of the family because she wants to be. ”
“So, William thinks she’s the perfect, dutiful daughter, and Rosalyn keeps her close out of necessity. What of her relationship with Jasmine?”
“As I said earlier, volatile. Especially when Rosalyn and William aren’t around. Jasmine has wished death upon her to her face—in fact, she said so just two days ago.”
My fist clenches.
Alec’s gaze darts to it. “Relax. My girl was in the kitchen at the time and said Harriet’s response was, ‘I’d die, but it’s much more enjoyable to haunt you while being alive.’”
“I think I just heard that in her voice.” I sigh. “So, she wants out.”