A Royal Entanglement: The Young Royals Book 2 (23 page)

“So your mother really doesn’t know who Freddie is and what he’s worth?” Meredith asked.

I shook my head, “I can assure you, if she knew, she would have gift wrapped me and presented me to your brother on a platter.”

The girls giggled as I took a sip of my wine, it was sad but true.

“Just how much of a pay cut did you take to come and work for me?” Alyssa asked and under the light hearted tone I sensed a niggling worry.

I smiled to reassure her, “Not really that much in the grand scheme of things,” I said, “You pay for my housing, my food, my electricity and my transport plus pay me a very generous stipend.
 
When you add all that up, you actually pay me more.”

“But your mother—”

I waved away her concern.
 
“My mother is just upset that she can’t afford to buy the second pair of Jimmy Choo's she wanted.
 
They are not destitute by any stretch.”

“How much money to you send them?” Meredith asked curiously.

“I put ten percent in a bank account for savings, keep another ten percent for personal living expenses and send them the rest.”

The room gasped.

“You send eighty percent of your wage to your parents?” Savannah asked.

I nodded, not quite sure why I was spilling my guts, it was probably the wine.
 
“What do I need it for?
 
Everything I could ever want is provided for me here and I keep more than enough spending money for myself.”

“But why?
 
Don’t they have their own money?”
 
This from Priscilla.

I shook my head, “My grandad lost what little money he had in gambling debts.
 
He was an impoverished Viscount with nothing to pass on to his only daughter other than a worthless title and a large house in Boston.
 
My mother didn’t know they were broke until he died and the small inheritance of my father’s had gone to paying off all the debts that my grandfather had wracked up.
 
By that time I was working for Daniel and I was earning a good wage.
 
I started helping them out.”
 
I shrugged like it was no big deal.

“So they have no other income other than yours?” Jeanette asked.

“Nope,” I said, “Occasionally my mother will attend some charity event or other and get an appearance fee.
 
Americans are enamoured by her title even if it is basically useless.”

“And your sisters?”

I snorted, “They wouldn’t know the first thing about holding down a job.
 
They say they want to get into acting and spend their lives trying to be discovered.”

“Shouldn’t they be in L.A. For that to happen?” Meredith asked.

“Ah, but then they’d have to pay rent and food and all those pesky details.
 
They figure that some big shot producer will see them on social media or in the press and will call them up and offer them some sort of reality television gig.
 
You know, like
Real Heiresses of Boston
or some such nonsense.”

“Okay, you win,” Savannah said getting to her feet and raising her glass, “To Alex.
 
Daughter of the Year.”

“Daughter of the Decade,” Meredith mumbled as she stood and raised her glass.

The others followed and I got to my feet as well, embarrassed that I had complained about my family to these women.
 
Alex had lost her father and brother not that long ago and I knew that Savannah’s mother had died when she was young.
 
My family were annoying and selfish, but they were still alive and I should be grateful for them.
 
I did love them, even though I saw them as shallow social climbers, and if not for the intervention of Daniel Harmon, I would probably be just like them.
 
He had saved me from a life just like theirs and had shown me the value of hard work and having respect for myself.
 
I don’t think I ever thanked him for that.

I sat back down in my chair and curled my feet under me, feeling introspective.
 
I had been on a one-way train to a life of meaningless existence, of trying to find my identity in others, looking for love and acceptance from people who didn’t even respect themselves.
 
Daniel had plucked me out of that lifestyle and given me a job.
 
He showed me a better life and along the way I had developed respect for myself and then I’d fallen in love with him.
 
He hadn’t understood why I resigned and he really didn’t get why I had become engaged to Bradley.
 
Daniel had very little respect for the man that was my former fiancé and he had tried to talk me out of the marriage.
 
As much as I had liked, and ultimately loved, Daniel, I couldn’t stay working for him and Brad had been my way out.
 
It hadn’t hurt that my mother had wholeheartedly approved of the match.
 
Our families being joined by my marriage would have given her the acceptance she so craved, not to mention the money that I would’ve been able to funnel their way.

“Hey,” Alyssa said, sitting down beside me, “Are you okay.”

I smiled sadly at her, “Yeah,” I said with a sigh, “I’m just tired.”

Alyssa pulled her into a one-armed hug before standing and clapping her hands.
 
“Okay everyone, time to go.
 
Alex needs her beauty sleep.”

They grumbled good-naturedly as they filed out of her suite, each taking a turn to hug her and wish her a good night.
 
And then she was alone and she closed her eyes against the tears.

“Hello,” I said into the phone that had woken me from a dead sleep.

“Bradley, it’s Kiki.”

I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes.
 
“Kiki,” I said, “What can I do for you?”

“I want to know what you are doing to get my daughter back?”

I sighed, “I’m doing everything I can,” he said.

“We had a deal Bradley,’ she said, “I gave you the information you needed and you were supposed to come and bring my daughter home.
 
I don’t see any progress.”

“I had lunch with her today,” he said, “And I made sure the press was there.
 
The story will be in the papers tomorrow.”

“You know how much Alexandra hates publicity.
 
Won’t this just push her more towards Freddie?”

He chuckled, “No,” he said, “Freddie turned up at our little get together and the press didn’t spring into action until he arrived.
 
If anything it will drive a wedge between them.
 
It looked like he was the cause for the media horde, not me.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone before he heard her take a deep breath.
 
“Okay,” she said, “But if I don’t see some progress soon, I will have to take matters into my own hands.”

“I have it under control,” I said, “Alex and I want the same thing, I just need to remind her of it.”

“See that you do,” Kiki said before hanging up in my ear.

I threw my phone on the bed and rubbed my face.
 
Kiki was scary when she was fixated on something and right now the money I had offered her was her obsession.
 
But before she could get her big payoff, I had to get mine.
 
She knew the stakes and none of it would happen unless Alex agreed to marry me.
 
So I had to make sure Alex knew just how much I needed her.

“You are an idiot,” Meredith said as she flopped down into the chair on the other side of my desk.

I sighed and sat back in my chair, looking at her steadily.
 
“What have I done now?”

“You left Alex to face her awful family on her own, what kind of boyfriend does that?”

I looked away from her, not able to meet her eyes.
 
I had been so angry yesterday when I had dropped Alex off that I couldn’t have stood facing her parents.

“I’m sure she’s more than capable of dealing with them,” I said, “She’s been doing it all her life.”

“Do you know just how vile they are?” she asked, “Do you know that Alex sends them money because they are too self absorbed to get a job to pay for their own expenses.”

“Alex is free to spend her money however she wants,” I said, looking back at the document on my computer screen.

“She sends them eighty percent of her wage, Freddie.
 
Eighty percent!
 
And what do they do?
 
They treat her like dirt.
 
Her mother had the gall to call Alex selfish, right there in front of Alyssa and me.”

I grit my teeth against the fury that built up inside me.
 
I’d only met her parents once, but it had been enough to last me a lifetime.

“And now there’s that story in the paper,” Meredith said, her voice dripping with disdain.

“What story?”

I’d come into the office early and hadn’t even taken a moment to look at the papers.
 
I knew that the paps from yesterday had no doubt put us front and centre, but I thought I had done enough to quash any speculation about Alex cheating on me.
 
Meredith pulled out a newspaper and slapped it down in front of me. ‘Runaway Bride’ was the headline and there were photos of her and Bradley from their engagement party and then of them holding hands at lunch.
 
The story spilled all the sordid details of Alex’s flight from her own wedding and told of a broken hearted fiancé who had come to find his bride, only to discover she had hooked up with me, a renowned playboy.
 
There was speculation as to if we had been having an affair previously, seeing as though we had been in the States at the same time and had left for Merveille around the same time as well.
 
They conveniently forgot the reason I had come home, that being the death of our beloved Monarch.