by Nana Malone
He nodded.
"I'm sorry, their faces are unfamiliar. But there is something I do need to tell you."
He opened up his jacket and pulled out a folder.
"What's that?"
"I really wish I wasn't the person who has to do this. When I saw your father two years ago, he asked me to keep these things for you. Obviously, I was well aware of his illness. But I've also known your father a long time. I knew your mother. There was a time when they had trouble."
I frowned. "What? What are you talking about?" My stomach started to curl in on itself, making a tight knot. One I was afraid I wouldn't be able to unfurl any time soon.
"I don't know exactly what happened. But I know they had a rough patch, even before Elisa got pregnant with you. A few of us thought they might split, but they didn't. And you, you were the light of your father's eyes. He adored you to no end."
I smiled blissfully. My eyes were stinging a little as I thought of him, and then I rapidly blinked to stop the water from filling them. "I loved him, and there were times that I hated him. And now, obviously, I feel guilty for hating him."
"All that is natural. After your mother died, any balance and influence she'd had in his life was gone. And his illness probably would've been far less severe if events hadn't unfolded the way they did. He probably would've been completely manageable with the right medication. I'm a psychology professor, not a psychiatrist, but I think the way everything happened just sent him to this place that we could never pull him back from."
"I don't understand."
He nodded. "I realize that you don't. And I wish I didn't have to be the one to tell you. But he trusted me with this, so now I'm giving it to you."
I took the folder and opened it. There was a photo of a man inside who looked vaguely familiar. Like I should know him, but I didn't. "Who is this? I feel like I've seen him before."
Phillip rolled his shoulders. "Jessa, your father… Yes, he was ill, but perhaps not as ill as you've been led to believe."
I glared at him. "What do you mean?"
"His obsession that someone was going to take you away from him… It was rooted in fact."
I sat there and stared. I said nothing, just waited for him to speak because he was saying the truth that I'd suspected the last several weeks. Since the break-in. That little seed of doubt that maybe my father hadn't been completely out of it. That maybe there was truth to what he was saying all along. Then the mugging happened, and it had seemed like I should've been listening to him my whole life.
Phillip continued. "Your mother met someone when they were having problems.”
That knot in my gut tightened, and I could feel bile churning in my stomach.
"I don't know the specifics, but I know that she was planning to leave your father. She was in love, but something happened, and maybe things with your father improved. But once she found out she was having you, she cut it off with the other man. She chose to be with your father because she wanted that life and she loved him.
"There was always a part of him that suspected you might not be his. But he didn’t know for certain until you were fifteen.”
I was going to throw up. “The kidney transplant?"
Phillip nodded. “Yes. They wanted blood that was a match on hand.”
"I was young. I insisted that I wanted to donate something. I knew I was too young to donate a kidney, but they wouldn’t even take my blood. They said I was too young. I had to be sixteen."
"Yeah. Since you were close to sixteen you were tested. But the blood type wasn’t a match. Which can happen."
"But they found a match for him. He was fine after that."
Phillip nodded. "Yes, he was. But, as you were a minor, he had access to your medical records. You not being a match made him curious. That was how he discovered that you weren't his biological child."
"No. He is my father."
Phillip’s voice went soft. "Yes, he was in all the ways that matter."
"He never said anything."
"I think a part of him had always known. But he protected you all the same. You were his child in his heart, but not biologically."
Tears streamed down my face. How had everything become like this? Who was I? "Oh my God."
Phillip placed his hand over mine. "I know this is a shock. I'm so sorry. I begged him to tell you himself. And he said he would. But he told me on the off chance that he didn't get to, that he needed me to do it, and I hated that he put me in that position. Honestly, it is what caused the rift between us and why I hadn’t seen him in so long. He refused to tell you that he'd adopted you and that he wasn't your father."
"Oh my God. I can't do this."
Phillip gripped my hand harder. "I'm so sorry, but you need to hear the rest. What I didn't know until later, until I saw him, is that before you were born, some men tried to take your mother. Take her somewhere safe they said. Away from him. She tried to convince him that it was a misunderstanding, a mugging gone wrong. But he'd always suspected that something was off with that scenario. And then more men came when he was in the hospital. It seemed your birth father, or people connected to him, wanted to take you away under the guise of protecting you."
Oh God, I was gonna be ill. My stomach roiled and bubbled. I inhaled deeply, long, deep breaths, trying to still everything in my body. "How could he not tell me?"
"I don't know. But the men, the ones who came for you, all but one of them had this tattoo."
Bile rose in my throat. "Did he know who my real father was?"
Phillip frowned. "He was your real father. He took care of you and kept you safe as long as he could."
I swallowed hard. "My birth father. Who was he?"
He pointed at the file. “This first picture. This man. That is King Cassius Winston of the Winston Isles. He was your father. He died two years ago, maybe three. I don't know the timeline." He set the picture aside. "This is his son, Sebastian. He’s king now. He had another son out of wedlock. It came out last year that he was the lost prince. He's since been coronated. Lucas Winston. There have been rumors that there is a lost princess. That's you."
My breathing became shallow. My heart boomed against my ribs even as the pace increased, threatening to crack every rib that I had. Oh God, I could feel the sweat seeping from my pores as my mind tried to process what was completely unfathomable.
Oh God. Oh God. I kept hearing the words princess and king and taking and father, and none of it made sense. None of the pieces fit together. Phillip was still talking, but I was staring at the photos. At the man who was supposed to have been my father and the men who were my brothers.
But more importantly, I was staring at the second photo he'd shown me. The one with the new king. Next to him was a face I knew well. A body I had spent hours exploring. A smile I had fallen in love with.
Oh God, I wasn't going make it out of the café without vomiting. I stood, shoving the chair back with a loud clatter. Tripping over my feet, I launched myself at the nearest garbage pail, and up came breakfast. The breakfast the man in the photo had cooked for me. Roone. He'd been sent by these people. I'd been busy falling in love and he'd been… well, I didn’t know what he'd been doing.
He's been lying. That's what he's been doing.
As my stomach emptied and my brain clouded, the dark gray on the edges of my vision crowded in around me until I couldn't see. All I felt were strong arms around me and a low voice crooning, "You'll be okay. Just have a seat you'll be okay."
And then everything went black.
Roone…
The knock on my back door was unexpected. I knew Ariel was off tonight. I assumed she'd still be in Sussex trying to talk to Evan's ex. We’d had the auxiliary team on Jessa all day. They’d been reporting back to me every ten minutes since she’d met with Winchester.
My last update was thirty minutes ago. So where the fuck were they?
I anchored the door open. "You're back already?"
She nodded. "Yeah. A
nd we have problems."
"Tell me about it. We have real problems. The kid from the first night, the one that worked for Jessa? He's dead."
Ariel's face crumbled. "Fuck a duck. How?”
“Murdered. The Detective Inspector wasn’t giving any clues as to how, but there was evidence pointing at him stalking the princess.” I handed her a beer.
Ariel shook her head. “No thanks. And that makes no sense. He was clean. Dumb, but clean.”
“I know. It has to be Evan. My money says he’s been watching her place just as closely as we have. He suspects something is up with me, but it doesn’t make sense that he’d off the kid.”
Ariel paced as she ran her hands through her hair. “After what I learned, anything is possible.” She stopped and checked her phone. “Wait, when was the last team update? By my check, I haven’t had one in thirty minutes.”
“You’d be right about that. I was just about to call in. First tell me what you found.”
Ariel visibly sagged at the question. “I met with Willow. She's this little slip of a girl. Terrified to talk to anyone. She did tell me what we suspected. Millston is unstable.”
“Fuck. We need to pull her out of that situation.”
“I know. The stuff she told me was insidious and diabolical. He systematically makes women depend on him, then cuts them off from people who would care about them. Full of rage. He's everywhere, from the gym to the... just everywhere. We have to get her out of here. I’m worried about her. If he’s on to us, then he’ll know she talked to me."
Fuck. “We need to cover her too.”
Ariel ran her hands through her hair. “Jessa’s our priority. I’ll see if we can do some rotating shifts, but we’re short-handed.”
I sighed. “We’re at the point we need to tell Jessa the truth. We’re not serving her well, and her life is spiraling. To give her maximum coverage, she needs to know. Even you have to see that now.”
“I agree, which is why I made a call home."
I lifted my brows. "What do you mean you ‘made a call home?’"
"Look, we've tried this the hard way. Undercover, surveillance, it's not working. And given how you feel about her, you're working yourself overtime trying to keep her safe, which I completely understand."
"So, you're reprimanding me? You were the one who said I should let go and feel things."
She rolled her eyes. " I think it's great you feel something. I think it's amazing that you have Jessa. I'm happy for you. But trying to protect her while killing yourself and doing extra shifts, not sleeping, it's not good or healthy. So, I got you permission to do the one thing you've been trying to do since we got here."
I perked up. “We can disclose?”
"Yeah. Sebastian’s approved it. You can tell her."
Relief flooded my veins. "Are you fucking serious right now?"
"Yeah, I’m fucking serious."
"Jesus fucking Christ, I could kiss you."
She wrinkled her nose. "Why don't you save the kisses for the one who wants them. Just remember, she might not be so enthused about the truth, so be ready for her to try to run. In the meantime, let me get out of here. I want to make sure we have a proper tail on Evan. I don't trust him or what he might do. I need you to watch your six, okay?"
"Of course." I walked her to the door. "I don't even know what to say. Thank you hardly seems appropriate."
"Thank you is always appropriate. Especially when I’m awesome."
I chuckled low. "You just changed everything."
"Oh shit, are you gonna get all sappy on me? I think I preferred you when you were on team conceal don't feel."
"Yeah well, my boss insisted I express my emotions."
Ariel laughed, "You should fire your boss."
"I tried to several times, but she keeps sticking."
She flipped me off as she let herself out.
33
Jessa…
My hands were still shaking. Not only had I realized my whole life was a lie, I’d also fainted in public. Only for a moment, but long enough for me to embarrass myself and have a medic called.
The consensus was that I was fine, but I needed rest. As if I was ever going to rest now. After Toby, then the news about my father, I needed a week in bed.
But you aren’t getting a week. You know what has to happen now.
I did know, but it didn’t mean I was ready. It was like I was walking through numb grayness. How could I have been so wrong? How did I miss everything?
You can worry about that later. Right now, it's time to go.
I moved my bookshelf with some effort and shoved it out of the way. Sweat started to pop on my brow from the exertion.
And then I found the panel my father and I had drywalled over. At the time, I’d thought I was giving in to his delusions. But he insisted he would put the hole in the wall himself if I didn't.
I’d listened.
It was slightly uneven, but it hadn't mattered at the time. Thanks to the mismatched paint, I found the right angle, placed my elbow, and struck. Pain radiated up my arm, and I cried out.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. That really hurt. “Jesus Christ."
I held my wounded arm, but as the feeling began to return, I reached into the wall cavity and pulled out a bag.
I’d always told my father he was completely nutters. Who in their right mind kept a go bag? Why had he insisted I’d need one someday? But now, I was glad I’d indulged him.
He'd been well prepared. Inside, I had cash, passports, a couple of changes of clothes, and weapons. Then a knock at the door made me freeze.
Shit. Who was that? I didn't want to take the chance it was Evan or DI Spencer. Or worst of all, Roone. Now forever to be known as Lying Shitface.
I grabbed my duffle and ran into the bedroom to change. Quickly I pulled on a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a hoodie. I grabbed my denim jacket and slipped my feet into running shoes. I was really doing this. I was running. Just like my father. Just like all those years of midnight wake-ups followed by hushed whispers of, “Time to go baby. Time to move."
All this time establishing who I was, letting my roots grow, and I was throwing that way.
It was never yours to begin with.
Maybe it didn’t have to be permanent. But I did need to buy myself some time. Time to come up with a plan. Where the hell was I going to go? Who was I going to for help?
Think this through. You are smart. Safety first, then thinking time. Right. First thing, I needed to get away from Roone. I wasn’t safe with him. The same people my father had run from, he knew. So that meant getting out of my flat.
I heard more insistent banging at the door. Shit. My unit didn't have a back door, so it was either out the window or I had to wait out whoever was banging on the other side of the door.
Turned out they didn't feel like waiting.
The door handle rattled.
I reached into my bag. There were guns and ammo. My father had been deadly serious.
It doesn’t matter now, because you're going to have to show what you're made of.
Eventually the door finally gave in.
“Jessa, you're here. Are you okay?"
Roone.
I glared at him.
“Are you okay? There’s something I need to tell you. I—" He stopped abruptly when his gaze darted to the wall. “What happened?”
I didn’t answer him. I was too busy doing the calculations on if I could get past him.
He approached slowly. "I need to tell you something. It's been—"
I raised my weapon. "No. If you don’t mind, I’m not listening to you anymore.”
His hands went up. "Fuck. Jessa.”
“No. If you're going to open your mouth and tell me how much you care about me, how you're falling for me, how all you want to do is keep me safe, then I can do without the lies."
"Those aren't lies. Look, I haven't been entirely honest but I just—"
"Sorry, you're ou
t of time."
“Princess…”
“Goodbye, Roone,” was the whisper on my lips as I pulled the trigger.
To Be Continued in Teasing the Princess…
Thank You
Thank you for reading ROYAL TEASE! I hope you enjoyed this installment from the ROYALS UNITED Series.
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Don’t miss the other books in the Royals series in reading order
* * *
ROYALS UNDERCOVER
Cheeky Royal
Cheeky King
* * *
ROYALS UNDONE
Royal Bastard
Bastard Prince
* * *
ROYALS UNITED
Royal Tease
Teasing the Princess
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Nana Malone Reading List
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Sexy in Stilettos
Game Set Match
Bryce
Shame
* * *
Royals
Royals Undercover
* * *
Cheeky Royal
Cheeky King
* * *
Royals Undone
Royal Bastard
Bastard Prince
* * *
Royals United
Royal Tease
Teasing the Princess