Chapter 24
“You’re not thinking straight.”
“The final selection of those two was a mistake, Athol. Neither of them is fit to be a wife of convenience.”
“You’re willing to give up the title? And what about your grandfather’s wishes?”
“I won’t join myself, even in a rehearsed farce, to someone I don’t respect. So if I don’t find a suitable candidate before my birthday, yes, I’ll relinquish the title.”
He looks shocked, and a few months ago, this would’ve been unthinkable to me too, but no title is worth that kind of sacrifice.
“Does this decision have anything to do with your princess?”
“She’s not mine.”
“But you wish she were?”
I glare at him, irritated. “Don’t you have anything better to do than rehearse your Cupid routine? Jazmina doesn’t belong to my world. When she marries, it’ll be for a political alliance orchestrated by her family.”
“And that’s the only reason?”
“You know it’s not. She deserves far more than I could ever give.”
“People change. You can change, boy.”
“You can’t erase the past, Athol. I will never have children. I don’t deserve them. I caused my father’s death. I have no right to pass on my name.”
He gives me the same look he always gives during this conversation, but as usual, I don’t give him time to say what I know he wants to. I don’t need comforting or words that change nothing.
“My decision is final. End the pre-agreement with both of them.”
“And should I continue searching?”
I stare at the open laptop in front of me.
“No.”
The next day
“It’s not enough,” Kaled says on the other end of the line. “There has to be something more we can do against that son of a bitch. He’s a damn rapist, Rodrick. Do you have any idea what could’ve happened to Jazmina if that girl, Josephine, hadn’t been with her?”
“You know me. Do you really think I’m stopping?
The trafficking charge was just the tip of the iceberg.
I won’t be satisfied until I find one of the victims and convince her to testify.
As for what they did to Jazmina, there’s no proof.
The bottle was thrown out, and there’s no witness who saw them spiking her drink. ”
“Either way, I don’t want my sister’s name involved in a scandal, especially now that she’s finally making friends and doing things with people her own age.”
A warning bell goes off inside me. “What are you talking about?”
“She didn’t tell you she’s going on a boat trip this Saturday? I think with some people from university, from what she told Adeela.”
“We haven’t talked since the party in Livorno. I’ve been busy.”
I’ve been busy trying to get your sister out of my head.
That night on the boat, after she ran off, I kept thinking about what could’ve made her act that way.
I never believed what she said about not being able to be alone with me.
She wasn’t worried about rules. I’m an experienced man—I know when a woman is dying to be touched.
My princess was all in. Everything we did, she wanted very much.
I thought about those moments from earlier in the evening, how she seemed fine, then vanished right after Athol arrived and mentioned Davina and Elizabeth. That had to be what made her pull away.
She felt deceived when she realized I was looking for a bride.
“Rodrick, did you hear me?”
“Yes.” I have no fucking idea what he said.
“I want you to investigate the group she’s going with.”
“I’d do that anyway. Her guards should already have the information.”
Truth is, ever since Livorno, Jazmina has barely gone out except for university.
“Tell me what you find.”
“I’m not good at giving reports. I’ll tell you what I find relevant. Jazmina isn’t irresponsible, just inexperienced. We used to be just like her.”
Thirty minutes later, the head of her security walks into my office.
As soon as I hung up with Kaled, I ordered a full report on the trip. Like a good girl, Jazmina gave the details of both the friend who was supposedly going with her and the owner of the boat. But it wasn’t just a casual boat outing. They were flying to Marseille and from there taking the boat.
Contrary to what Kaled thought, it wouldn’t be a group outing, just Jazmina and the boat owner’s sister, according to what the security team found.
That alone put me on alert, but not majorly. Until I learned Linda Smith was the same girl who’d arranged to meet Jazmina at that fraternity party and never shown up. My instincts screamed.
It took minutes to turn the man’s life inside out.
A bankrupt CEO. Drowning in debt. Even the boat is about to be repossessed.
Dated older women, who apparently supported him financially and paid part of his debts.
What are the chances a guy like that—with a noose around his neck—invites a wealthy princess on a boat trip with no ulterior motive?
Maybe I’m too cynical, but I don’t believe in fairy tales.
It's not the first time I scare off her suitors—discreetly, of course.
A guy approached her the other day in the library. Her head of security ran his name and found a prior conviction for indecent exposure.
I personally went to see him and told him he’d leave without teeth if he ever spoke to Jazmina again.
The next day she messaged me saying she could take care of herself.
I ignored it, because she’s wrong. No predator walks around with a sign on his chest. Sexual assault on freshmen is common, and no matter how tough she thinks she is, she knows nothing.
“What isn’t in the report? Besides the ex-girlfriends?”
“You know we’ve been undercover on campus.
If I may say so, I don’t like the friendship between Her Highness, Princess Jazmina, and that girl, Linda.
In my world, there’s no such thing as second chances.
She could’ve put the princess in serious danger by not going to meet her that night.
And she lied. Told the princess she missed the party because she fought with her boyfriend.
Not true. She went clubbing, didn’t even bother telling Her Highness. ”
“And what else?”
“She’s not the kind of girl who should be in the princess’s inner circle.
A liar, a terrible student. And if that weren’t bad enough, I overheard her talking to her boyfriend about going out together on Saturday in Marseille, which means she lied again and planned to leave the princess alone with her brother, Robert. ”
I rise from my desk. “Where do I find him? Take me to him. It’s time for a face-to-face with that son of a bitch. I don’t doubt he and his sister planned to use Jazmina.”
“Won’t be hard. He drinks every night at a pub on Kensington Church Street.”
An hour and a half and one death threat later, I walk out of the pub feeling oddly satisfied.
I grab my phone and send her a message:
Forget the boat trip, princess. Go to the museum on Saturday instead.