Nate(26)

Aspen frowned at me. “What?”

I was watching Quincey and her friend starting to load up with bags before carrying them inside.

I stated, “She wanted me to get her away from him. She knew I’d move heaven and hell for Nova, but she wanted Quincey to stay with her. That’s why she left Nova to this aunt.”

Aspen sucked in her breath. “What a risk, though.”

“No.” No. It was ingenious, and something Valerie would do. Regret burned through me, but I let out a sigh. “Asp, I need you to entertain your niece for a while.”

“Finally! I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

After transferring Nova over to Aspen’s arms, I went and opened the door just as they were about to open it themselves.

Quincey and her friend blinked at me, startled.

I grinned. “You really thought we wouldn’t be watching for you?”

Quincey ducked her head, but I saw her cheeks were flushed. The friend was gawking at me. Chuckling, I moved and hit a buzzer by the door. A second later, Logan’s voice came over the intercom. “You rang, Your Highness?”

“They’re all here now.”

He was silent for a beat, then all business. “Coming down.”

Quincey and her friend took the bags farther into the house, then set them down. Quincey was eyeing Aspen, who was on the floor with Nova, but then she straightened and rounded right into me.

I caught her shoulders, feeling her tense as she gasped.

My hands curled around her. I couldn’t stop myself, but I was refraining from pulling her into my chest. Instead, my hand grazed down her arm, to her hand, and I took her keys from her. I ignored her friend’s little chuckle as I stepped back. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Hearing Logan’s footsteps coming down the hallway, I motioned as he came within eyesight. “We’ll carry everything in. Aspen can show you where you’ll be staying.”

Logan raised a hand. “Yo. Armed and ready for some fireworks.”

The friend groaned. “Again. They all look like that?”

Aspen shot her a grin.

Logan just smirked.

I shared his look. “You’ve matured. No comeback?”

He tsked me, frowning. “I’m happily in love, my soul brother.” He raised his chin at Quincey. “When your dad calls, just hand me the phone.”

“Are you serious?”

He dipped his head down. “It’s why I’m here.” He clasped me on the shoulder. “Why he pays me the big bucks.”

“Your retainer is still being debated.”

He laughed, his fingers curling in on me before letting go. “How about whoever carries the most bags in only has to pay me a third of what I quoted them?”

I snorted. Logan wasn’t going to charge me for this, and we both knew it.





17





Quincey





They were laughing.

I was dumbfounded.

How could they be laughing at a moment like this? That wasn’t rational.

I turned to Ricci. “Have I made a mistake? I have, haven’t I? Oh my God. What are we doing? How do we get out of this?”

Ricci shared a look with Nate’s sister before moving toward me and curling an arm around me. “Okay. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend you have a drink, but I think tonight is an exception. And you heard Nate. Why don’t we hand your phone over right now? That way, you don’t even know when your father starts calling.”

Oh God. “He’s going to send police here. He’s going to say we’ve been kidnapped or something like that.”

“We’ll hold off on the booze until the cops leave then.”

I was almost swaying on my feet.

The police.

We were here.

Were we?

Really?

Yes. We were. I had to take a second because I was in shock.

We were in a position where I was expecting red and blue lights to roll up wherever I was, and in my emotional state, they were coming to take me back to him. I knew rationally that wasn’t the case, but I wasn’t in a rational state right now.

Trauma. That was the state I was in.

Ricci was watching me with concern, and she had reason. I knew what I was feeling. It was something I’d endured through the years, but this was different. This was a break from Duke, and I was almost cursing over what a mess my life had become. Ricci didn’t—well, no one knew I’d gone to see a few therapists over the years.

They were all paid for by Duke, so when my problems started to lead back to him, the counseling got cut off real quick. Still, there’d been one counselor who’d been so kind. Her office was in Portland, and I did the drive every few weeks to see her. I was sure she had moved down to California by now, or that was what her email said. It was a customary one sent to her previous clients, but my email had been bcc’d, so I assumed all the others were, too. I’d been sad to see she was moving, but she wasn’t too far away. She had followed up with me and given me lists of resources and other referrals to places I could go that weren’t paid for by Duke Royas.

She helped more than the others.

I shut it all down.

In a switch, it had to go because I couldn’t live in that world any longer.