Cracked Kingdom (The Royals #5)(72)

“Where to?” Durand asks, shooting me a worried glance.

“I think we’ll need to go to your place.” She raises her anguished eyes to mine. “You need to tell your dad when he gets back.”

“So you know,” I say, my heart thudding loudly.

“It’s Ella’s case, isn’t it?” She sounds miserable.

“Yeah, it is.” My throat hurts bad. “If we tell my dad, he won’t stop until yours is put away for a very long time.”

She swallows and it looks painful for her, too. “So be it.”





Chapter 29





Hartley





“They’re meeting tomorrow night,” I finish, slumping in emotional exhaustion. “Or wait, I guess that would be tonight, since it’s technically morning now.” It’s past two a.m. and I’m ready to keel over.

Callum doesn’t look much better than I feel. He’s literally been traveling for the past twenty-four hours, and you can see it in the weary lines of his face. We waited up for hours for him to get in from London. I expected it to be even later, but unlike normal people, Callum Royal doesn’t have to go through Customs or wait at the baggage carousel. I guess that’s the perk of having your own plane.

Easton wraps an arm around my shoulder and hauls me close, daring Ella or his dad to say a word against what I’ve just told them. Neither of them does. Ella’s too angry and Callum is…I think shocked and saddened, as if he can’t believe his longtime friend has sunk so low. I think what scared him the most is the implication that Steve might harm Ella to stop her from testifying, and that my dad was actually encouraging it. Ella had gone pale during that part, but now her face is red with anger. She wants Steve’s blood, and I don’t blame her one bit.

“Is that it?” Callum asks.

I nod. “That’s it. Or at least, that’s all I know.”

I hand him my phone with Mrs. Roquet’s message on it, and he reads it carefully.

“This is the woman you saw,” he prompts.

“Yes.”

“But she’s passed away now?”

“Yeah, we went over there tonight and the neighbor said that after her son died from an overdose last year, Mrs. Roquet lost the will to live. I think that’s why it took her so long to respond to me. If you look at the time stamps on the messages, I waited over six months for her to text back.”

“It was her that brought you back to Bayview,” Easton guesses.

“I think so.”

Callum sets both my phone and Easton’s on the desk behind him. “I’m going to be straight with you, Hartley. I can’t allow this to happen. I have to protect my family at all costs, and that means exposing this corruption and stopping your father.”

“Dad—” Easton begins.

I cut him off with a raised hand. “No. I understand. All I want to do is protect my family too. I need to get Dylan out of the house before all of this becomes public. I’m afraid he’ll take his anger out on her. Will you please help her?”

“Of course he will. Won’t you?” East answers, his chin jutting out determinedly.

“Yes, I will,” Callum replies. “I’ll call my lawyers and have them demand another meeting with your dad, and I’ll have Durand watch your sister. We’ll keep them apart for as long as possible. When this does become public, we’ll have your family moved to a safe environment.”

It’s all that he offers, and while it’s not enough, at the same time I feel guilty about accepting any help. This isn’t my fault. My dad’s actions have nothing to do with me, but we’re connected all the same—by blood, by our name.

“We need pictures of them together,” Ella speaks for the first time. “We can’t rely on just these messages and the audio. Without photographic proof, it’ll be too easy for that asshole to get away.”

I don’t know if she’s referring to her dad or mine.

Callum nods. “I’ll take of that, Ella.”

I expect her to argue, but she just gives a terse nod and leaves. Easton pulls me to my feet. I feel dead inside. When I get to the apartment, I’m going to collapse on the first soft surface.

“Come on,” he says, tugging me along behind him.

“This isn’t the way to the front door,” I object.

“I know. You’re about to fall over, so I’m taking you upstairs. You can sleep in my room and I’ll bunk in Reed’s.” He casts a glance toward Ella, as if to seek her permission, but her eyes are staring in zombie-like concentration ahead of her. She has a lot on her mind, and I again remind myself that none of this is my fault even though it makes me sick inside for what she’s going through.

“I think I’ll just go home.”

“No.” Ella’s voice rings out clearly in the hallway. She stops at the base of the stairs. “No,” she repeats. “Come upstairs. We need to plan.”

“Plan?” I mouth to Easton.

He shrugs in confusion but pushes me toward the stairs. Reluctantly, I climb the marble treads, my sneakers squeaking against the tile. We turn right at the top.

“Dad’s rooms are down there,” Easton explains. Ella’s room is the first one down a wide, long hall.