Chapter Thirteen
Dominic
The little girl in Sophaya’s arms laughs as Sophaya reads to her, deepening her voice to mimic the dragon pursuing a princess.
I lean against the doorway, my eyes fixed on her face.
She’s happy right now, just like she was on the terrace with the little boy.
Just like when she’s talking with housekeepers or personal aides.
She’s going to be a great mom.
Except she won’t get to have the same experience as other mothers. Her every move will be scrutinized. Occasions like the first day of school will be photographed and blasted out for the world to see.
I hate the pressure she’s under, the scrutiny. I despise the thought of our child being subjected to it, and I don’t like it for myself. But at least I had a choice. Despite what she said on the ride to the hospital, Sophaya didn’t have a say in whether or not she accepted her role. Not truly.
My phone vibrates. I glance at the screen, read the text.
My fingers tighten around the phone. I didn’t like Wilford the moment he stepped forward.
For the first time in over twenty years, I had to fight back the temptation to punch someone out of pure emotion.
I wrestled myself back under control, not just because of the photographers who would have documented every second, but because I don’t want that to be my legacy.
Don’t want to drag Sophaya into more drama.
But there’s more than one way to fight. And after what I just learned about Wilford from Todd, one of my guys back at Hawke Security, it will be very satisfying to take him down.
Sophaya closes the book. The little girl curls into her side, laying her head against Sophaya’s shoulder.
Sophaya starts to sing softly in French, closing her eyes and smiling as she gently rocks the little girl back and forth.
There’s no one else in the room but her, the girl and me.
No photographers documenting her act of goodwill, no staff to perform for.
Just Sophaya and a child she cares for unconditionally.
My throat tightens. Never in a thousand years did I think a princess would be the one to cut through my apathy, to make me want to feel something again.
I text Todd back.
Do it.
Wilford won’t come near my fiancée again.
Sophaya opens her eyes and smiles at me. That same soft, sweet smile she gave me when our photos were being taken. She glances up at the clock. Her face falls, but she quickly hides her disappointment with a smile as the little girl looks up at her.
My chest constricts. I want to see that happiness on her face more often. Want her to look at me the way she does when no one else is watching.
She murmurs something to the girl.
The girl’s face scrunches up as she tries not to cry. “Will you come back?”
The teary plea is a dagger to my heart.
“Of course.” Sophaya glances at me, her eyes brightening. “Actually, I have an idea. Dominic?”
I step forward. The little girl’s head swivels in my direction, a shy smile spreading across her thin face. Her head is shaven, her brown eyes large in her pale face. So innocent and far too young to be experiencing such hard challenges. Just like so many of the kids I ran with on the streets.
I crouch down. “I had to step outside to make a phone call, so I didn’t catch your name.”
“Rosalina,” the girl whispers shyly.
“Rosalina,” I repeat. “A beautiful name.”
Pink steels into her cheeks. “Merci.”
“I was thinking, Dominic, what if Rosalina was our flower girl? La demoiselle d’honneur?”
Rosalina’s eyes pop open as she whips her head around. “Vraiment?” When Sophaya nods, Rosalina squeals and flings herself into Sophaya’s arms. “Oui, oui!”
Sophaya laughs as she hugs Rosalina tight. “I’ll need to verify with your caseworker and your doctor, but I think they’ll both approve.”
I remember now. Rosalina isn’t just completing treatment for cancer. She’s also alone in this world, her mother disappearing shortly after she was born and her father passing in a car accident last year. An orphan like me.
Sophaya meets my eyes over Rosalina’s head and mouths a thank-you. A simple gratitude, yet one that makes me feel like I can conquer the world.
The door opens behind me. I rise and turn as Arthur, the head of palace security, walks in.
Shorter than I am but with considerable muscle packed into his suit, the man’s record in the Siravellian military is impressive.
After an honorable discharge for twenty years of service, he joined the palace security team and rose within the ranks to take over as head of security operations three years ago. His team had an impeccable record.
Until the stalker.
I walk over to him, ignoring the blatant hostility in his eyes.
The man hasn’t liked me since the king and queen hired me to be Sophaya’s private bodyguard.
But aside from a lone bodyguard who protected Sophaya while she was at university, they didn’t have the kind of experience I did, especially when it came to the man who’d managed to evade security for months and infiltrate the palace grounds.
Yes, they finally caught him. But it never should have gone that far.
Yesterday, however, it became clear Arthur’s hatred of me went deeper than just feeling like I usurped his team’s role.
He’s one of the few who knows about the baby.
When I met with him to go over security for the wedding, he told me any suggestions about my own security would be ignored.
I was no longer a bodyguard, and he had no interest in the opinion of someone who had slept with a client.
I let him have his temper tantrum. Decided to deal with him later.
But now, after what happened today, waiting is no longer an option.
“You wanted to see me?” he grinds out, keeping his voice low enough so Sophaya and Rosalina can’t hear.
“I did. Let’s step outside.” I brush past him without waiting for an answer, waiting until the door’s closed before I turn on him. “What the hell happened out there?”
Arthur puffs up like a damn blowfish. “There was a larger group than we anticipated—”
“Obviously.”
Arthur’s eyes narrow to slits. “Look, Hawke, I made it clear yesterday—”
“You made your opinions clear on my security.” I step closer.
At least the bastard stands his ground. “But now we’re talking about her security.
And on that, I have several opinions. Opinions,” I add menacingly, “I will share with the king and queen, along with my recommendation that you be removed as head of security unless you work with me.”
Arthur’s face turns an interesting shade of purple. “You can’t do that.”
“As His Royal Highness Prince Consort Dominic Hawke, which I will be in two weeks, I most certainly can.”
Arthur stares at me, incredibly still even as hate glints in his eyes. Then, slowly, he nods. “My apologies, Your Highness.”
I glance around to make sure we’re still alone before I step closer and lower my voice.
“We have the same goal, Arthur. Keep her safe.” Some of the disgust leaves his eyes as he watches me.
“You have good people on your team. They didn’t give up today and managed to contain a crowd they weren’t prepared or trained for.
But,” I add, “that needs to change. I have experience with that.”
“You were tasked with keeping her safe. And you seduced her,” he spits out. “You violated the oath we take as protectors.”
His words cut deep. Sophaya might have been the one to ask me to stay that night, but I’m the one who said yes. I was supposed to protect her. And now she’s under more scrutiny than ever before.
“I did. Things may have turned out well, but they could have just as easily not. That’s my responsibility to bear.” And my guilt.
Arthur blinks. The tension eases from his shoulders. “I’ll contact your aide to set up a meeting.”
“Thank you. I’d like to bring over some of the men from my firm, too, conduct some training sessions with yours.”
Arthur nods. “All right.”
The door opens behind him. Sophaya steps out, her brows drawing together in a frown as she glances between the two of us.
My stomach drops. Had I just kept my cock under control, she wouldn’t be in this mess right now.
Wouldn’t have reporters clamoring for blood and international media outlets running stories on her twenty-four-seven.
She would have had a chance to find someone who could truly love her, give her the kind of relationship she deserved instead of the one she’s been forced into.
I may not be able to love her the way she deserves. But I will do everything I can to be the best consort I can, to support and protect her.
“Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine.”
Her eyes widen slightly at my firm tone. The veil drops down as her shoulders straighten. She turns to Arthur, who’s standing off to the side with his gaze trained on the upper part of a wall instead of the drama unfolding in front of him.
“Arthur?” Her voice gentles as she addresses him.
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“Would you meet us downstairs in the lobby, please?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
She doesn’t even glance at me as we walk to the elevator.
She greets the nurses and doctors we pass by name, stops to exchange a few words and snap a selfie with a patient she seems to know well.
I hang back, conscious of the tension simmering beneath the surface and wanting to maintain a view of our surroundings in case someone tries to sneak in and snap a photo.
She doesn’t say a word to me until we’re in the elevator and the doors swish shut.
“I don’t appreciate you conducting business with my head of security and leaving me out of it.”
There it is. The icy, condescending tone she used when we first met. Knowing that it’s a front for the warm, caring woman beneath makes me hate it even more.
“Look—”
“Do not make decisions behind my back.”
I push the emergency stop button. The elevator stops abruptly. Sophaya stumbles, and I reach out, wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close.
“You want to know what we were talking about?”
That pointed chin of hers comes up. “Yes.”
“Your security team failed you today.”
Heat replaces ice as anger flares in her blue eyes. “My team is highly trained. Loyal and—”
“Not prepared for the volume of attention you’re receiving.”
“They’re good men, Dominic.”
“Don’t be naive.” My grip on her waist tightens. “Good men or not, you have to think about the baby.”
Hurt flickers in her eyes. Confused, I watch the anger slip away, replaced by a cool detachment I don’t understand. “Yes. Of course.”
She starts to pull away, but I don’t let go.
Wary now, she watches me as I lean down.
Despite my own anger and the guilt still pumping through me, I’m all too conscious of her hips pressed against mine.
I want to kiss her. Want to push her up against the wall of the elevator, pull the skirt of her dress up and bury myself inside her.
My cock hardens. Her lips part on a gasp. A groan escapes as she presses herself against me.
“Dominic.”
I will never get tired of her saying my name like that. That throaty, breathy moan dripping with desire. Just hearing her evokes memories of her body wrapped around me, my cock buried inside her wet heat, the awe in her eyes as I took her over and over again.
But that was then. Before the baby. Before the engagement and the press and the never-ending attention.
“Sophaya.” I lean down and lay my forehead against hers. “We can’t. Not here.”
She freezes. Red blooms in her cheeks even as she holds her head high. “No.” She shakes her head slightly. “You’re right. Not here.”
I hate myself in that moment. Hate what I’ve done to her, then and now. Hate the humiliation she’s trying to hide.
Before I can say anything, she presses the emergency button. The elevator continues its descent.
As the elevator reaches the first floor, I glance over at her. “It’s not just about the baby.” Startled, she looks up at me as the doors slide open. “You matter, too. And I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
I don’t wait for a reply. I keep an arm out to brace the door until she exits the elevator.
Arthur is waiting for us. He takes the lead, walking in front while I walk behind. People call out to Sophaya, and she smiles, waving as we continue out the front doors.
The reporters are still there, albeit slightly more contained than when we arrived. Arthur and I walk Sophaya to the limo. Her driver opens the door, and she gives the crowd one last smile and a wave before climbing inside.
“I’ll be right back.”
I close the door before she can ask any questions and walk back to the crowd. I stop in front of Wilford.
“You’re fired.”
His scowl disappears as he lets out a short bark of laughter. “You don’t have any authority over my job.”
“I just bought Brighton Media five minutes ago.” His smile slips.
“That’s right. The company that owns your magazine.
So I do have the authority to fire you, and I’ll exercise that right as I see fit, especially when I discover an employee has multiple counts against him of harassment and stalking the subjects of his so-called stories. ”
He blanches. “Look, those were made-up charges—”
“Including you rear-ending that Australian actress after she refused to give you an interview? How about taking pictures while she lay unconscious in a ditch?”
“I called the emergency line!” he retorts. “I didn’t leave the scene until the ambulance got there.”
The other paparazzi are easing away from him, disgust etched on their faces.
“Your visa to Siravelle has been revoked.” I lean in, savoring the flicker of fear in his eyes.
The same fear I’m sure countless people felt as he hunted them and exploited their personal lives over the years for his own financial gain.
“Leave before you find out just what kind of justice I’m meting out to those who hurt the people I care about. ”
I turn and walk back to the limo. The cameras start clicking again, as do the shouted questions. But this time they’re not directed at me. They’re directed at Wilford.
I note the cracked window as the driver opens the door. I slide inside and sit across from Sophaya. She’s staring out the other window and doesn’t even glance in my direction. She says nothing until the limo is halfway down the hospital drive.
“Thank you.”
I nod and look out the window as the forest rises up, the late afternoon sun disappearing behind the treetops as the limo enters the pines.
I need to be careful. Whether I like her or not, there will come a day when something changes between us.
When something forces us apart. We’ve had a series of pleasant days.
But happiness doesn’t last. And the pain that comes after, whether it’s abandonment or loss or betrayal, is ten times harder when it comes on the heels of broken hopes and dreams.
If I let myself fall too deep for Sophaya, I have a feeling the pain of ultimately losing her will be unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.