The Wild Heir(97)

I go over to them. “What is this? What’s going on?”

Heidi looks up at Einar. “I don’t think you should stay for this. Unless you think I’m a threat.”

Einar glances at Magnus, waiting for his instruction.

Magnus just gives him a solemn nod.

Einar walks off, though I know he won’t go very far.

Which makes me wonder, she said she wasn’t a threat but usually people who say that are. Is she carrying a knife with her?”

“How did you get in here?” I ask.

“Took my father’s car,” she says with a shrug. Then her eyes go all blazing hot again and she looks at Magnus. “So nice of your mother to invite me to the wedding. I know that had nothing to do with you.”

“What do you want, Heidi?” Magnus says, crossing his arms and taking a wide stance with his legs.

She’s not intimidated. “What do I want? What do I want?” She lets out an acidic laugh. “I want a palace, just like this one. Maybe this one. I want prestige and money and adoration. I want my face on a coin. I want a title. I want the power that my father refuses to give me. I want every single thing that Princess Ella here has. Including you, Magnus. Especially you.”

And this chick is on the one-way train to Crazy Town. Next stop, Delusionville.

I look at Magnus, brows raised, my mouth open. I would laugh but there’s something about her delivery, something about the fact that she’s actually here, having, what, stolen her father’s car, that makes me think twice.

This isn’t funny.

This isn’t going to end well either.

“Heidi,” Magnus says as gently and sternly as he can, “you know that what we had is over. I’m married to Ella now. She is my wife. We are very happy. I know you tend to get, uh, wrapped up in things and feelings, I know you have your issues you need to deal with, but I promise you, this isn’t the answer. We had a nice time. It’s in the past. I moved on and you need to too.”

She stares blankly at him, her lower lip trembling for a moment.

Then she tilts her head and says, “No.”

“You need to leave,” Magnus says after a beat, seeming a bit taken aback by her reaction, just as I am. “If you don’t leave, I will have to make you leave.”

“I’m not leaving until you know the truth,” she says, then looks at me. “Until she knows the truth.”

She slaps the folder against Magnus’s chest.

“What is this?” he asks.

“It’s a paternity test.”

My stomach sinks.

Oh my god.

No.

“A…what?” Magnus asks, quickly fumbling to get the papers out of the folder.

“A paternity test,” she says. “I’m pregnant, Magnus. And you’re the father.”

No.

There is no way.

“She’s lying,” I manage to say, my words choked, my hand at my chest as if to keep my heart intact. “This is impossible.”

She gives me a sharp smile. “It’s not impossible. We last had sex in mid-September. That was four months ago.” She reaches forward and taps the folder. “That proves everything.”

I can’t believe this is happening.

This can’t be happening.

My chest is constricting, I don’t think I can breathe.

Magnus looks absolutely dumbfounded, his face growing pale. “I never gave you my DNA.”

“If you think my father doesn’t have your DNA on file somewhere, you would be sorely mistaken.”

“You’re not showing…” I say, but I trail off as she opens her coat and pulls up the sweater she’s wearing. She’s a thin girl but her belly is definitely sticking out and round, more than the beginning of a bump.

Holy fuck.

I can only shake my head and try to process it.

But I can’t.

I can’t.

This can’t be happening.

This is going to change everything.

Everything I have is going to disappear.

“You’re lying,” I tell her again, finding my voice, the last shred of hope I can cling to. “You’re lying just like you lied about the sex video. You leaked it, you shared it. You wanted the publicity. This is the same. Well I’m telling you, it’s not going to work.”

She bares her teeth at me in the nastiest smile. “It’s working because it’s the truth. And soon, every single person will know that I’m pregnant with the Prince’s baby, a baby conceived while the two of you should have been together. If you think I’m going to just let Magnus off the hook, oh boy, you poor little girl, you’re sorely mistaken.”

Magnus is silent, stewing, simmering. His eyes are flickering with a mix of rage and shame. “What do you want?”

She laughs. “Isn’t it obvious? You.” She points at me. “Her. I want her life. And I want her out of the picture.”

“That’s not going to happen,” he says in a calm, measured voice. “She’s my wife.”

“And I’m going to fuck shit up for both of you, so you might as well let her go before I do.”

“I’m not letting her go,” Magnus says. “We just…we just have to figure something out. Money. That’s what you want, it’s money.”