Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
“You mean aside from three assholes trying to set me up so they can try and take a piece of my kingdom? No, Marissa, I think that about covers it.”
Her face stayed stony. Yeah, she rarely found my outbursts amusing.
“I mean beyond that, Cole.”
“Nothing of note,” I lied. To my lawyer.
“No other entanglements?”
She looked at me sharply — sharp enough that I got the hunch this wasn’t a blind question.
“Got something you want to ask me directly, counselor?” I muttered, pouring another glass.
“Do I need to say it out loud?”
“Apparently.”
She sighed, taking her glasses off again. “Let’s talk about Princess Faith.”
Fuck. My jaw tightened, as did my hand on the glass of bourbon.
“Careful, Marissa.”
But she held my eye unblinking. “As your legal defense, you know it’s my job to protect you, and to see potential problems coming before they happen.” She raised a brow. “And you remember after the Baron of Ortuga tried to have you imprisoned for stealing his motorcycle—”
“Which I won from him in a poker game,” I spat. “It’s not my fault gambling is illegal in Ortuga and he couldn’t just man up and admit that he’d lost it doing something he shouldn’t have been doing.”
Marissa cracked a half smile. “Well, after that, if you remember, we went ahead and hired that security detail.”
I frowned. “I have a security detail.”
“The hidden one. The men that were supposed to follow you without you knowing they were there.”
I took a slow sip of my drink.
“You had me followed?”
“You had you followed, Cole,” she snapped. “You okayed every single part of this.”
Shit. I did remember that. Apparently the guys watching my back were so good I really had forgotten they were there.
“So they squealed?”
“They reported,” Marissa shot back. “To me, like they were supposed to. Like you agreed to when we set up that whole thing.”
She was right. You get fucked with by enough people who think they see an easy target for extortion because of your tabloid stories, and you start to get smart.
“So, you know,” I muttered, tapping the edge of the glass.
“That I do.” She whistled lowly. “King Alphonse’s daughter? For fuck’s sake, Cole, was this some sort of way getting him back—”
“NO.”
My voice boomed through the conference room. Marissa raised a brow.
“Then what?”
“She’s not some revenge scheme, for fuck’s sake,” I hissed. “I didn’t even know who she was before I met her.”
“But you did before you married her.”
I said nothing as I pounded back another shot of whiskey. Marissa eyed me.
“You really like this girl, don’t you?”
I looked away.
“Cole.”
“She’s everything, okay?” I growled. “She is everything.”
“And she’s legally your wife.”
“Yes.”
“You’re married to the daughter of the man trying to unseat your throne and carve out a piece of your kingdom.”
“Yes,” I spat.
“Annul it.”
My jaw twitched, and my eyes narrowed at her.
“We’re done here.”
“Damnit, Cole.” She pointed a finger at me. “You know why I work for this family? For you?”
“Because I pay very well.”
“Fuck you.”
I deserved that, and we both knew it.
“I work for you, because I worked for your father. I work for you because I care about how you do in this world, especially when it comes time for your mother to retire.” She sighed. “Look, I know you’ve got feelings for Faith. But I’m telling you this with every ounce of my professional expertise. If you want to survive this, and have a prayer of beating these guys? You have to let her go.”
“Not happening.”
“Alphonse will see it as a personal attack and he’ll come at you even harder. And she’ll get hurt because of it.”
“It’s not happening, Marissa.”
“You fuck her yet?”
My chair crashed to the floor as I stood violently, seething.
“You know they’re going to ask,” she said quietly. “And they’re going to use it as character evidence with the bullshit testimonies from Kelly and Phantasia and Jemma. C’mon, you can see that. Another young, innocent princess who gets swept away with the infamous Prince Cole?”
I swore quietly as I looked away.
“You know I hate this part of the job, right?”
I nodded. I could hear Marissa stand behind me and gather her things.
“Think about it tonight, that’s all I’m saying.”
I turned back to her and nodded silently.
“I’m sorry, Cole.” She gave me a wry smile. “I can tell you really love her.”
“Yeah…” I gritted my teeth as I looked away. “Yeah, I do.”
Marissa left, but I didn’t. Actually, I didn’t leave that room until the bottle I’d grabbed was empty.
“Morning sunshine.”
Fuck.
My head throbbed, the lasting punches from my “drowning it in the bottle” moment from the night before. Well, not “moment.” More like bender. I’d ended up catching a midnight helicopter ride, bottle-in-hand, over to Milton’s palace in Robling, and I was sitting in the palace breakfast hall when the voice sliced through my hangover.
I glanced up from my coffee to see my friend Xavier, the Duke of Bandiff, strolling towards me.