Royal Heir (Westerly Billionaire #3)(17)

Dr. Stein grimaced. “Your pride, my son, will stop you from becoming the king Vandorra needs. Don’t think that simply taking Eric to Finn will change anything for either of them. Consider Finn the voice of your people. They’re asking if you will open your heart to them. What will your answer be?”

I don’t know if I can be the king my father was.

Magnus thought about the small Vandorran town where his mother had chosen to raise him. It had been important to her that Magnus had bonds with their people, and he did. Perhaps he did not show his love for his people openly, but it was there. “Send Phillip in. I have a task for him.”

The doctor nodded and left the room. A moment later, Phillip, the head of Vandorra’s royal guard, entered. “You sent for me?”

“I did,” Magnus said. “I want you to dig deeper about Eric Westerly and his family in the United States. If one of them is so much as battling with a cavity, I want to know it. I need you to keep Westerly here until I decide what to do with him and watch him closely. I also want a full background check done on Rachelle Westerly. Everything.”

“She’s the buzz of London this morning.”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone reversed a video clip, so it appears that you turned away from her publicly. They shared it on social media with some unflattering text. I don’t imagine she’s very happy about it.”

Fucking fantastic. His hands clenched at his sides. “Who? Who’s responsible for it?”

“I tracked the initial video to a Twitter account belonging to a friend of Princess Isabella. Perhaps this was her way of humiliating the Westerly woman before she became competition? It’s no secret the princess would like to be the next queen of Vandorra.”

“Can the video be pulled down?”

“I’m afraid it has gone viral. There is already discussion of it on a variety of social pages. The damage is done.” He called up the video and showed it to Magnus.

“Get me Rachelle Westerly’s phone number.”

“It’s already added to the contacts on your phone.”

Competence was a welcome sight in the middle of what was turning out to be a shitfest. “Thank you, Phillip. That’s all for now.”

“Of course,” Phillip answered, then left.

Magnus pulled up Rachelle’s contact information on his phone. He’d never been one to soften the truth, but this was a novel situation, and Dr. Stein’s words still rang in his ears. Tempting as it was to tell Finn his movie-star hero was not worth his adoration, and Rachelle that she was right to be worried about her brother, neither one of them had done a thing to deserve the pain that news would bring them.

Magnus had forced foreign leaders to change the terms of their treaties with his father without ever asking for advice on the matter. He was used to quickly determining what needed to be done in a situation and then doing it. Wins required decisive actions.

I won’t be able to help Westerly until I understand him. What the fuck am I supposed to understand about a man who has decided his life has no value?

Pacing the office again, Magnus asked himself a question he hadn’t in a long time: What would my father do?

A short time later, armed with information about the Westerly family and a plan, Magnus called Rachelle. She answered on the third ring. “Hello?”

“It’s Magnus.”

“Calling to gloat? You’ll be disappointed to hear that I’m having lunch at a lovely, very public outdoor café. The sun is shining. The food is delicious. I couldn’t be in a better mood.”

A lie, but there was no need to call her out for it. If she was indeed sitting in a café at that moment, he was again impressed with her. That kind of grit was the way he would advise anyone to deal with a public scandal. “I have determined the source of the video clip. Would you like her apology to be private or public?”

Her gasp was audible. “It wasn’t you?”

“Little Rachelle, why would I want to see you hurt?”

“I thought—you said . . .”

“It was not me, but I assure you the person who was involved will regret the folly.”

“No. Please don’t. I’m not the vengeful type. But I am confused. Why would anyone want to hurt me? I’m no one.”

He could have argued that she was far from being a no one, but that was a conversation for another time. “Jealousy trumps decency in some. I’m afraid it was the attention I showed you that brought this on you.”

“I’ll be fine. It’s not actually as bad as I thought. The more attention the clip gets, the more people comment that obviously it was reversed. In fact, my phone has been ringing all day with people lending their support. I’ve never received so many invitations from complete strangers. Some of them are prominent enough that Eric must have felt bad about leaving last night and made a few calls. It’s the only explanation that makes any sense. Unless you—”

“I did not.”

She was quiet, then said, “He never came home last night.”

“Rachelle—”

“Yes?”

“What do you know about your brother’s private life?”

“Why do you ask? Have you seen him? Do you know where he is?”

Rather than lying, he said, “I’m still gathering information. However, if I could locate your brother, what would you want from him?”