Chapter 11 Meredith #2
The plane leveled and Meredith’s stomach lodged somewhere near her feet. “He left without saying goodbye after we fought because he’d made decisions without including me.” She disliked everything about the situation.
Kate nodded as if her answer made perfect sense. “Okay.”
Her simple response gave Meredith pause. “Okay?”
“Yeah, okay. At least it explains why you look like someone kicked your dog.” A light flashed overhead. Kate pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and checked the screen.
“I’m glad I enlightened you.” Fresh irritation rasped her already bad mood.
The other woman didn’t look up from the cell phone. “Don’t snap at me. I didn’t let him do it.”
“I hardly think I did, either. You participated in the charade to get me to the island in the first place, so obviously you know more about the whole situation than I have been advised. Do me a favor? Either fill me in or leave me alone.”
Setting the phone down on her thigh, Kate pinned her with a stare. “You know for someone who is arguably a genius—and yes, I did look at your background check and your record—you’re really dumb.”
Meredith felt her jaw go slack. The statement, delivered in calm assessment, lacked the sting of insult, yet delivered a more than solid whack to her pride.
“Seriously, you see a man for five years, let him set all the terms and you know he’s been raised to be in charge.
He lives in a world where decisions come down like they are at the right hand of God, yet you’re shocked when he doesn’t involve you?
” Kate’s brows inched upwards. “Word to the wise? You want to be involved, you involve yourself.”
“You make it sound so easy.” Meredith spread her hands and leaned forward.
“If it were easy, it probably wouldn’t be worth it.
I like this family. They’re arrogant, and they’re more than a little entitled at times, but they’re good people.
So, decide if you want to be with him or not.
Decide who you want to be when you’re at his side because, if you don’t, this life will crush you like a bug then you won’t be good for anyone, least of all him.
” If the first wasn’t enough, she wasn’t finished.
“He wants to protect you more than he does his own life. He was the target on the island, yet he covered you. He keeps the press out of your life and very focused on him, but when you stood up to him, what happened?”
Who the hell was this woman to judge? Meredith’s spine stiffened and she lifted her chin.
“He tricked me into meeting him, a brilliant move on his part.” One she could applaud for tackling game theory when her response was the most uncertain variable he faced and he’d done it.
His actions were beautifully romantic. “I love him. I have decided where I want to be and maybe I won’t be any good at it, but I assure you, I can learn anything and I will learn how to do this.
This trip he’s on? It’s dangerous, but he refused to let me go with him. ”
“Men. Brilliantly possessive, incredibly protective, and wildly hardheaded. And you let him leave?”
“I could hardly stop him.” What did Kate want her to do?
“All right, I’ll grant you that. Let me ask you this, what are you doing on this plane?”
“I’m flying home.”
“Why?”
“Because—”Meredith stopped. Because Sebastian made the arrangements and told her she was going home. Because Sebastian wanted her somewhere safe and far away from him while he risked his life. Because—
“And now she’s thinking again.” Kate picked up her phone.
Every decision he’d made with regard to their relationship was driven by the need to protect her and…
to help me achieve my dreams. Isn’t that what he said?
I wanted to be a tenured professor. I wanted to be published.
I wanted to write my own ticket for the types of problems I wanted to solve…
and I have all of those things. Her achievements came at a price—being excluded from Sebastian’s life, at least the public side of it.
She’d never questioned his devotion to his family, but even with them, he’d buried his own dreams—his paintings—so he could help his brother.
The trip to Belaria, literally walking into the lion’s den, he did for the rest of his family and for her.
He put everyone else before himself. Who put Sebastian first?
“I don’t suppose I can change the course on this flight, can I?” Would the pilot even listen to her? She and Sebastian weren’t even formally engaged, at least, she didn’t think they were.
“Well, it’s definitely a possibility, but I didn’t tell you all of this so you’d rush to be at his side. He wasn’t wrong when he said this trip is dangerous.” Was the other woman reconsidering her suggestion? Too bad.
“I should probably talk to Armand…” Hopefully he wouldn’t mind her calling him by his given name. “I don’t suppose you have his number?”
After unbuckling her seatbelt, Kate rose and held out the cell phone. “Sebastian asked me to bring this for you. It has direct contact numbers for everyone in the family, including my fiancé. Before you call His Highness, I’d suggest Mr. Voldakov as this is his plane.”
Meredith stared at the phone as though it might actually bite her and then blinked as the other woman headed down the aisle. “Where are you going?”
“To call Peterson. If you’re heading for Belaria, we’re going to need boots on the ground.” Kate grinned wryly. “Then I have to call Richard, so he doesn’t have an aneurism about me going with you.”
“Is he going to get mad?” She didn’t want to cause problems for Kate Braddock, no matter how beautifully she’d manipulated the argument.
Although Meredith noted the manipulation, she’d give credit where credit was due—Kate’s actions jarred her out of the pit of self-despair. It was a well-deserved kick in the ass.
“Probably, but like I said, you want to be involved, you involve yourself. Richard loves this family, and so do I. Since I lit the match, I have no problem seeing it through. We’re still going to take precautions.” Kate glanced over at Claude. “Aren’t we, Mr. Gencome?”
“Absolutely, Miss Braddock. I would, however, appreciate it if you two never planned world domination.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Kate winked at Meredith with a grin.
“We’d be great at it.” With that, she left Meredith alone to make her final decision.
She could choose to call Daniel Voldakov and ask him to change the plane’s flight orders.
She could head to Belaria and find Sebastian, and then park herself at his side.
But I’m a professor of mathematics, not some action heroine in an Angelina Jolie movie.
She worked with variables and equations. Everything about the trip was out of her realm of experience. It’s like when you’re in classroom. You have to be firm, but compassionate. Sebastian’s words echoed back at her. We don’t want their throne, so we have to prove we don’t to them…
The uncertainty principle inherent in every equation relied on balancing factors.
Even a decimal point off could change the whole result.
Scrolling through the contact list, Meredith selected Daniel’s name and pressed dial.
When he answered, she took a deep breath.
“Mr. Voldakov—” She paused. They’d corresponded for months and talked on a few occasions.
“Daniel? It’s Meredith Blake. I need your help to move a decimal. ”