Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
CALDWELL
There was no way that I could stomach another day of Cordelia. I can’t even pretend at this point. She sits in the chair across from my desk, a fake-ass smile painted on her face. I’ve been so damn blind to her hidden agenda, but my eyes are wide open now.
“You wanted to talk about Mable?” She repeats the reason I asked her to come here.
“—You were right.” I run my fingers through my hair. “Things aren’t working with Mable and me.” I shake my head. “It’s, fuck, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I should have listened to you.”
“I can fix it,” she says instantly without a millisecond of hesitation. Her voice drips with satisfaction. Yes, I see you as the snake Mable told me you were. “I have things to ruin her reputation, and it will give you no choice but to call things off with her. Play the broken-hearted prince.”
“The media would eat that up.”
“Yeah,” she agrees. “Then after some time, you find a new partner, a wife who understands this world. Someone who’s been at your side all along, and now you’re finally seeing clearly.”
“Someone like you?” I let it hang in the air between us, and then she laughs, trying to get that mask back on. “I would never presume. But I’ve always believed we understood each other. That we wanted the same things.”
“You understood wrong.” I stand from my desk and open my top drawer, grabbing the folders inside. I let them spill across the table.
Cordelia looks down and then back up at me and down again. “What, what is this?”
“Mable tried to warn me about you, but you knew that, didn’t you?
You could at least get a sense for it. You tried to sneak your way right in there.
Plant little seeds.” Cordelia tilts her head down.
“Mable might have warmed to you because she has a kind heart, but it lingered in my mind. So I started watching.” I brace both my hands on my desk.
“And I started digging.” I shove the folders toward her, half of them flying off the table.
She jumps out of the chair, trying to not be hit by them.
“Have you lost your mind?” she hisses at me.
“No, I think I’ve found it, along with all your dirty deeds. You’re a busy, busy girl.” I could toss her in jail. That was my first thought.
“So what now?” She tilts her chin up.
“Now you get the fuck out of my country, and you keep this between you and me.” Well, Tomas too.
I made sure to have him with me. “Our parents don’t need to know, and my wife doesn’t need to know how your friendship was a lie.
How you were planning to stab her in the back and the front all along.
I don’t want her to think all Solarians are the way you are. ”
I want to minimize the fallout for everyone. If it were only up to me, I’d toss her in jail, but those are my selfish needs.
“Where would I go?”
“That’s not my problem.”
“I can’t just—”
“You can, and if you don’t, I’ll arrest you for your crimes, and I will let everyone know who you truly are.
I have no problem ruining you and your family, Cordelia.
Or you can leave, and no one has to ever know.
” I give her an option. One she doesn’t deserve in the least. She opens her mouth to speak, but I know what’s coming.
“With how much money you’ve laundered, you should have no problem handling your exit from Solaria.
And just so I’m perfectly clear, this is a lifetime ban. ”
She takes a step back. Cordelia’s family has money of their own. Tomas steps out from the private bathroom, camera in hand, making sure we got all of this. Cordelia’s lips purse together into a thin line.
Then she turns, stomping off on her heels as loud as ever.
“Thanks,” I tell Tomas.
“That’s why I’m here: to keep your ass out of trouble,” he says with a shit-eating grin.
I sit back down, glad that’s handled. She might have been helping with the land issue, but nothing is worth risking Mable over.
My girl is full of so much sweetness that when she gets a sense about anyone, you should pay attention. I’ll do better going forward. I’m going to blame it on me being a dumbass. It was new territory for me dating and having a person around my family.
I grab my phone to check to see where Mable is. I’m going to head out early. Maybe I could surprise her at the library.
“I take it you’re heading out?” Tomas smirks, likely reading my expression.
“Yes.” I reach into my desk and grab the small box as I stand.
My eyes catch on something on the floor near the door. Paper. I walk over and pick it up, looking it over. I’m stunned when I realize what exactly it is.
The original deed from 1843, the one we’ve been searching for, randomly lying on my carpet like someone dropped it in a hurry. My blood runs cold at that thought.
“Is that—?” Tomas asks, coming to stand beside me. “Was it on the floor?”
“Mable,” I breathe. She was here.
I pull my phone out, hitting her number. It rings and rings then goes to voicemail. Shit. I try again, panic filling me, but I’m met with the same outcome.
Then I reach out to Jenson, and it goes straight to voicemail. What the fuck? I try the library next. Vicky told me she sprinted out of there a while ago, only solidifying what I’ve been thinking.
She came here; I glance back toward my desk from the doorway to my office. Mable heard me talking to Cordelia. The urge to vomit hits me suddenly, but I force it back. I don’t have time for that. I need to do everything in my power to find her. To explain things.
I call the house. Mrs. Halloway answers, confused. She thought Mable was at the library as well.
“Already on it,” Tomas says before I can ask, pulling up the GPS tracker.
Jenson disabled it. I’ll kill him.
I storm out of my office, past Tomas calling after me, down to the lobby, where the guard looks up in alarm.
“Mable,” I demand. “When did she leave?”
“Sir, I didn’t see—”
“Find the footage. Now!” I bark.
They scramble. I pace, phone in hand, trying her again. Nothing. Trying Jenson. Nothing. I order Tomas to put everyone on high alert at the airport and anywhere they could try to leave the country quickly.
Then I put a BOLO on Jenson’s vehicle so every police officer is on the lookout as well. I watch the footage of Mable running from the building, then outside speaking with Jenson, the tears running down her cheeks ripping me to shreds.
My mom ends up showing up in the midst of all of this. My composure long gone, I threaten to fire the entire security team.
“You can follow the camera footage,” I say. “Track them through the footage.”
“Caldwell,” my mom says gently. “She left with Jenson.”
“He’s fired,” I grit out, but I get what she’s alluding to. If she’s with Jenson, she’s safe.
“You’re not firing him. He’s helping your future wife. She won’t allow it.” That catches me off guard. “Now do you want to tell me what you did to make her run?” Now she levels me with a glare, the same one that she’d give me as a child.
The tables have turned.
I tell her the CliffsNotes version. I was hoping to not have to let anyone know. To protect everyone. Cordelia was to simply disappear, but that’s no longer an option.
“I’m sorry,” my mother says. “I’m sure my actions have played a part in this.”
“We’ll talk about that all later. Right now, I need to find her.”
“Okay, then find her.” She stares up at me. “If anyone knows where she’d go, it would be you.”
“What if she’s leaving the country even as we speak?” I know I can eventually track her down, but that’s not good enough. I want her now.
“She’s not,” my mom says with utter confidence. “As much as Solaria already adores her, she adores them too.”
They love her; I fucking love her. It hits me hard when I realize I’ve never said those words to her. My family loves each other, but it’s not often said. My brother says it, but the rest of us don’t. Shit. I can’t fathom what she is thinking right now.
“Where would she go, Caldwell?” my mother asks. Then it hits me, the one place I hadn’t thought to call. I take off toward the door.
“Take my driver!” my mother calls after me. I do exactly that, hopping in the car, pulling out my phone, and telling the driver where to go.
The dress shop. It’s the place that she would feel safest at, knowing the women there will protect her.
When we make it to the dress shop, the windows are dark, a closed sign showing. I pound on the door anyway. I’ll give them a few more minutes before I break in. That will give the tabloids something to talk about.
The door finally jerks open. Natalie, the owner of the shop, stands there, arms crossed, blocking the entrance with her body. “She doesn’t want to see you.”
Too fucking bad. I’m going in one way or another, but I’m not trying to dig myself a bigger grave. As much as Natalie is pissing me off along with Jenson, I love that they all want to protect Mable.
“I’ll do anything.”
“Anything?” Her brows rise. “You hurt her.”
“I know. I’m an idiot. I’m the biggest idiot who ever—”
“All I want,” Natalie interrupts, her voice dropping, fierce and maternal, “is for you to make her your future queen. For you to make it right—”
“I promise you, that is my plan. She’s my future queen.
My wife. The mother of my children.” I pull out the ring box, small and worn with age.
I don’t show her the ring. That’s for Mable’s eyes first. “I’ve been waiting for the ring to be resized.
Got it this morning. I—” My voice cracks.
“I thought I could protect her from everything, even my own stupidity. I was wrong. Please. Let me fix this.”
“Good because we all hate that cunt Cordelia; she’s a snake.” Natalie then steps aside.
I rush in through the shop, heading toward the back. Then I see Mable, sitting on a velvet couch in the fitting area. Her eyes are red-rimmed, her face pale, but she looks up when I enter—a glimmer of hope or hurt, I can’t tell.
“Beautiful,” I say gently.
“Don’t call me that!” Mable huffs, jumping to her feet, her eyes lighting up with fire.
It’s sexy as fuck but not this time. “Why are you even here? I heard, and you know what? It’s fine, whatever.
You didn’t have to make up the big plan to try and and and—” She can’t bring herself to say it because on some level she knows I’d never hurt her.
“The only plan I had was to ruin Cordelia,” I tell her.
“You said it was over.” Her voice is barely audible. “You said you should have listened to her.”
“I was setting her up.” I move closer. “I got her. She stepped right into my trap. It’s all on camera.
I wanted to out her directly, Mable. It was more than her trying to come between us.
From the moment you said you didn’t care for her, I started paying attention to everything and digging.
She’s a snake; her transgressions go a whole lot deeper, and I don’t know when I would have figured that out without you. ”
I rake my hands through my hair. Mable isn’t saying anything, but at least she’s not telling me to leave, so I keep going.
“I thought the trap would cause less fallout. For our families. For you. I told her to leave the country; if she comes back, I’d let it all out and throw her in prison for her crimes.” I let out a deep breath. “I was trying to protect everyone, and I ended up hurting the only person who matters.”
“You should have told me.” She steps close; her chin is up. “You should have trusted me.” I can hear the hurt in her voice, and it almost breaks me.
“I know. God, I know.” I’m close enough to touch her now, but I don’t. I need to get this all out. “I hate the idea of anything hurting you. I’ve never done this before. Never been in love, never had someone who—” The words catch, and I force them out. “I’ve never loved anyone. Until you.”
She blinks. “You love me?” Mable’s eyes widen, as if that’s a foreign concept.
“Yes, I fucking love you!” The words explode out of me.
“I love you so much I’ll give up the crown.
I’ll walk away from all of it. I’ve been trying to get you pregnant since our first night together because I’m a fucking psycho and knew you could never leave me then.
I mean, you’re the only person I’ve ever even slept with, the only one I’ve ever wanted, the only—”
She’s fighting a smile. I see it—the corner of her mouth twitching, the tears still wet on her cheeks but for a different reason now.
“You agreed to let me lead,” I say, quieter, reaching for her hand. “And that’s what I did. But you’re stronger now. You know that?”
“Yes, I am,” she agrees. “Because of you and your country.”
“Our county,” I correct.
That makes her full-on smile now, no longer fighting it. “They love me just for being me. And you love me for just being me too.”
“We all love you. How could we not? So will you please be our future queen, my wife, the mother of my children?” I drop to my knees and pull out the ring box.
“It belonged to my great-great-grandmother. I would have asked you sooner, but I needed the perfect ring. One that fits who you are but holds history from not only my family but also Solaria.” I open the box.
The band is rose gold, not the expected yellow gold of royal tradition.
No, Mable is different and deserves a ring that represents that.
The center stone is an oval sapphire, the color a deep majestic blue, surrounded by a halo of tiny diamonds that catch the light.
A ring fit for a queen, for her. “Mable Kittrick, will you marry me?”
She stares down at me, eyes wide, lips parted. I wait for my answer, but she doesn’t voice it.
Instead, she launches herself at me—half tackle, half leap, all enthusiasm. We crash to the floor, and she’s kissing my face everywhere—my forehead, my cheeks, my nose, my mouth—yes, yes, yes, her answer is muffled against my skin.
“Is that a yes?” I tease, pinned beneath her.
“Yes, you idiot. Yes.” She pulls back enough to grin down at me, hair wild, eyes bright, nothing proper about her. Everything that my country and I need. “I love you too. I think I have since the airport.”
I find the ring and slide it on her finger right there on the floor of Natalie’s dress shop and kiss her until we’re taking things too far for others to be privy to.
“We should get out of here,” she whispers against my mouth, a naughty, suggestive expression taking over her face. She licks her lips. “Take me home,” she says, and I finally know exactly where that is.