Chapter Twelve #2
‘Pride? Or expediency or both. I suspect he didn’t want anyone to know he had so little control over the Crown’s assets.
Maybe he was concerned it would weaken his negotiating position.
Either way, the man is now desperate. As you know, he has been leveraging debt on his assets for years.
He needs to sell the port land before those loans become due on January sixth—problem is, he can’t do that without marrying his daughter to the buyer.
You haven’t just kidnapped a princess, Theo.
You’ve stolen her father’s get-out-of-jail-free card.
He’ll stop at nothing to get her back, including throwing you—and her—to the wolves.
There’s already speculation in the media about where she is.
She hasn’t been seen in public since December twenty-first, the night you abducted her.
I don’t know where the hell you are, but, believe me, wherever it is, he’s going to find you. ’
‘So what?’ Theo replied. ‘You think I’m scared of that entitled bastard? He doesn’t know what tough is. He takes me on, and I’ll end him.’
He’d dealt with bullies like Prince Andreas before, and he had the scars to prove it.
He could still remember the face of that fence, the guy’s casual cruelty, the kicks he’d got out of beating up Theo until he’d been curled in a ball of misery and left to die in a back alley.
He’d crawled all the way home. He’d been a child, a scared, angry kid in agony.
That bastard had broken a few ribs, and ended his career as a cat burglar…
But he’d hadn’t broken him. Not his spirit, not his confidence, nor his ability to find another way out of that squalid back alley.
‘I know that, Theo. But what about Freya?’ Xander said, sounding weary now.
‘What about her? She wants to live her own life… She doesn’t want to be his pawn any longer.
It’s why she ran away,’ he said, fiercely proud of the defiant girl he’d once teased.
She’d told him she didn’t think her father had ever loved her, with that sad expression on her face, but she’d found the courage to change her future.
‘The man I spoke to last night didn’t sound rational, Theo,’ Xander said, his tone grave.
‘He’s threatening to destroy her reputation.
To accuse her of putting her sexual obsession with you above the future of her country.
He’s already packed her two brothers off to some harsh military academy in Italy.
You think the press will leave her alone after that?
They won’t. She’ll be hounded wherever she goes.
Women have always had to deal with a double standard, especially women in her position.
You’ve set her up for this by seducing her.
If you care for her at all, you’ll bring her back. Let her make peace with her father.’
‘But he’ll force her to marry Faron, or some other old man—you know he will.’ And something inside Theo told him he couldn’t let that happen. Because she was his. In all the ways that mattered.
It wouldn’t last. How could it? He’d never made a lasting commitment to anyone or anything in his life that didn’t serve his own self-interest. But how could he throw her to the wolves?
How could he let someone so vibrant be forced to marry an old man?
Or, worse, be branded a whore for the rest of her life?
‘Then marry her yourself, Theo!’ Xander growled, the exasperation making his daughter stiffen and start to fuss on his shoulder.
‘Shhh, Gem…’ He spent a moment soothing the child before his exhausted gaze returned to Theo.
But all Theo could see in his expression was sadness, and disappointment.
It made the knots in his gut tighten. ‘Or find a way to change the narrative. But doing what you damn well please and ignoring reality isn’t going to solve this problem.
Take responsibility for once, man. You need to fix this.
If not for Caras Shipping, and for your own reputation, for her. She’s innocent. Unlike us.’
Theo ended the call, then stared out at the muted sunlight glistening on the frozen lake. While the house was well insulated, he could feel the chill seeping into his bones.
He wanted to defend himself against his brother’s weary disappointment.
He wished he could turn back time, so he didn’t have to deal with the emotions making his stomach hurt.
That hideous mix of guilt and responsibility.
But how did he defend his actions? When he’d always known, in his heart of hearts, there had never been an us.
His brother wasn’t the guilty party here.
It was him and only him. He’d never been worthy of Xander’s faith in him, or anyone else’s.
Certainly not Freya’s, even though he’d indulged it for the last week so he could keep her in his bed, willing and pliant, while knowing she was falling in love with him.
Truth was, he had always had the same weakness as their bastard of a father.
Because unlike Xander, who had owned up to his responsibilities to Poppy Brown the minute he’d found her pregnant with his baby, Theo had always run away from commitment, convinced the best way—the only way—to deal with a problem was to put up barriers and look after number one.
Panic tightened around his ribs. Because for once in his life, he was going to have to take responsibility for someone other than himself—and there was no guarantee he wouldn’t still fuck it up.