Paige gasped. “How could he do this? Why is he doing this to you? He’s supposed to be your advisor—your friend!”
“I know,” Royce said, his voice low with disappointment. “I have no idea. But I can’t let these get leaked, Paige. Any chance we have will be ruined. I have to do something. I have plenty in my account…”
“You’re not seriously thinking about giving him the money, are you?” Paige asked, shocked.
“What choice do I have?” he asked in frustration. He took her hands, shaking his head. “You mean more to me than any amount of money ever will. We’re finally together…there’s no chance in hell I’m going to let a fucking asshole ruin it for us. If I have to give him the money, I will.”
Paige cupped his cheeks, looking up at him endearingly. “I love you, Royce,” she said softly with a smile, “but there is no chance in hell we’re going to let a fucking asshole threaten you like that. He’s done enough.”
Royce’s eyes went wide at her chilling words. He had never been so turned on by her before now. Just as he bent down to kiss her neck and unravel her towel, she leaned back in concentration.
“He said he was going to leak them, right?” she continued as he looked longingly at her still-damp body. “I bet you he’ll have reached out to one of the biggest tabloids to get the largest audience. He’s not an idiot, he’s not going to just leak them to some random site or discussion board. It’s got to be a magazine or tabloid with a huge audience. I’ll bet you anything it’s either US Juice or TM Mag. They’re both trashy as hell but oddly incredibly reliable so everyone reads them. Why don’t we reach out to them to see if William has said anything, and you can maybe threaten them with a lawsuit or something. Or offer them more money. Or just paint William as an unreliable source. Anything to get them to lose interest.”
Royce looked at her in admiration and kissed her lovingly on the lips.
He had a few calls to make.
Chapter 29
Royce waited anxiously in the empty parking garage. He almost rolled his eyes at the flickering lights and echo of raindrops—the scene before him was so cliché he wanted to puke. Drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, he glanced at the time. It was 10:57 p.m. Three more minutes. He heard the ding of his phone.
Anything yet?
No, not yet. I’ll let you know, he texted Paige back. William had better show up like he said he would or all of this would be for nothing.
Suddenly, he saw a blinding light out of the corner of his eye. It was the headlights of another car.
Finally. Royce waited until the car was parked and saw William getting out, straightening his suit and glancing around. Royce opened the door and walked in front of his car, leaning against the hood.
“Nice night,” he said casually. His voice echoed slightly in the dark cavern of the vast parking garage.
“Do you have the money?” William snapped, not one for pleasantries.
“First,” Royce said, “I honestly believe you owe me an explanation.” He spread his arms out. “Come on, William. We were friends. Why would you do this to me?”
“I don’t owe you anything, my dear duke,” William said scathingly with a sneer. “You realize I’ve been doing everything for you, short of wiping the shit off your ass, for the past nine years? Just give me the money and you can leave knowing your whole life won’t be ruined, eh? You can go back to your lowlife whore and live happily ever after.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Royce growled, his hands curling into fists. “Tell me why you’re doing all of this and I’ll give you the goddamn money.” He swung around the car and pulled out a briefcase, opening it briefly to show stacks of cash just to make his point.
William looked at the briefcase for a moment, clearly weighing his options. “Fine,” he snapped. He paused, then sighed, all facades of toughness leaving his face. “Nine years ago, I started working for you. Since then, I’ve been working hard and saving my money, learning all I could to do my job as an advisor to you and your family. But before I came to Luxembourg, I was in Belgium.”
Royce nodded. He knew all of that. William had grown up in Belgium had gone to school for political science. He hadn’t talked much about his life there, but he was always a private man. Plus, Royce hadn’t been too curious nor cared much.
“I never had help from my family,” William said bitterly, looking at him pointedly. “No parents to pay for books, clothes, anything. Not even school. So, I paid for it on my own. I did what I had to do to make money. I gambled in some underground club—there was no way they’d let a poor nobody go to high-end casinos. It was all so easy because numbers came easily to me. I started counting cards, playing the dealers. I made enough to get myself through all four years of school, and then some. But I just couldn’t stop even after I graduated. For the first time in my life, I had money. More money than I knew what to do with.
But then they caught me. They caught me counting cards, and everything I had won, I had to give back. But I didn’t have it all. I used it on school, girls, everything I never had before. So I ran. I used what little money I had left to get a fake passport and papers, and fled to Luxembourg. Honestly, I had no idea I would even get the job at the palace. I should’ve left after a few years, but I got comfortable there. I loved my job—other than the part of babysitter for a spoiled, rich brat.”
“So, what, now you’re getting back at me for being an ass to you or something?” Royce asked in disbelief.
William gave him a scathing look. “Don’t be so stupid to think I would be that petty. They found me. They’ve been sending me messages for the past three months. I owe them five million dollars. So I’ll be needing it from you, or you’ll find the photos I showed you will be seen by the entire world. I’m sorry to do this, but once I have the money, I’ll give it to them and disappear.”
Royce crossed his arms, thinking quickly. That was why William was so strung up and absent for the past few months. It all made sense. A small part of him felt bad for William despite everything. But a much larger part of him was furious for what he was doing to him and Paige. He was hurt more than anything.
“You know what, William? I don’t think you’ll be sending the photos to the press, after all,” Royce said loudly. “It is US Juice that you were going to leak them to, isn’t it? And if not, probably TM Mag. Or maybe Haute Goss.”
William’s eyes widened slightly.
“Yes, I did some homework,” Royce said. “You see, I reached out to them and let them know that anything you would be sending them would be illegal as it included photos and sensitive information about a private citizen. Slander, defamation, all the buzzwords. You do realize that I have the power to shut it down immediately—and I’m talking about the whole tabloid, not just the article. We’ve come to an agreement, and they won’t be taking anything from you. Nor will any of the other trashy magazines or tabloids. No one wants a lawsuit from royalty, you know. So, the photos you have? Useless. You should have known better than to try to threaten me, William.” Royce shook his head in disappointment.
He took out his phone from his suit jacket pocket. He pressed a red button on the screen. “And this little gem here is a recording of our whole conversation here. This is definitely something the magazines would be interested in, don’t you think?”
William’s face turned white as he looked at the phone to the briefcase and back to Royce. “What-what…”
Royce’s face hardened. “This is what we’re going to do,” he said, opening the briefcase. He took out a large stack of bills wrapped in currency straps and tossed them to the ground in front of him. “You didn’t expect me to actually give you the five mil, did you? But I’m feeling a little bad, so this here is one million. You can take that and give it to the men you owe money to, or you can use it to disappear for good. Whatever you do, I don’t want you in Luxembourg or America or any of their neighboring countries. I want you to vanish without a word. Get the fuck away from me and my family
, and if I ever get a whiff of you and your sorry ass, you’d better believe that you’ll be in jail before you know it. If you even try to use those photos ever again, I will make sure you do disappear. Do you understand?”
William gazed at him with cold eyes before glancing at the money on the ground. Royce knew his pride was battling his will to survive. Finally, after what felt like hours, William gave him a curt nod. “You’ve got a deal.”
“Pleasure doing business with you,” Royce said sardonically, pushing back from the hood of his car and opening the door. Before he got in, he looked at William once again, but this time sadly. “We could’ve helped you. We were friends.” With one more shake of his head, he got in the car, revved it up, and sped out of the garage, leaving William in his wake.
He knew Paige would be waiting anxiously in his penthouse, and he had never been happier to know he was going back to her. He texted her quickly with a faint smile on his face.
Done. Be home soon.
Chapter 30
“You’ll be fine, I promise,” Royce said with a reassuring smile, but Paige sat nervously in the front seat of his car. They were outside of the royal mansion, and she wasn’t so sure she was ready to meet his parents—the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg. But Royce insisted that they had to do it at some point, and he wanted it to be before the baby was born.
“It’s just dinner,” he said. “We can eat, and then get out of there as soon as you are ready.”
“I’m ready now,” Paige said with a shaky smile. She followed him into the house and did her best not to be awkward when he introduced her to his parents. Paige smiled at them and said hello, but she felt the smiles she received in return were merely polite. They were both calm and cold, though Royce seemed to be enjoying himself. As long as he was happy and next to her, Paige knew she could relax, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
The dinner progressed well. Paige had studied how to behave, and she felt she was doing a good job, but it wasn’t until Royce’s mother spoke up did she know how well she was doing.
“I have to admit, I had my doubts, but I am rather impressed by you, Paige. There is raw class here, and you will need some refining, but I think with time and a few lessons we’ll be able to make you fit into the family yet,” she said with a gracious nod. Paige blushed and thanked her for the compliment, but before anyone had the chance to say anything else, his father spoke up.
“Your mother and I have discussed it, and we feel that it is acceptable that you get married, God forbid you have a child out of wedlock. Though we would like it to be done quietly and quickly. I’ll have William arrange the details, and we are going to have to review Paige’s history to ensure there are no surprises, and we have our own story for anything that may come up,” he said. He glanced at her, barely apologetic. “I’m sure you would agree this is best for the family. We do not want any more tabloids releasing horrid stories of paid escorts and wild nights.”
“Of course,” Paige said quickly. There were reputations to uphold, and she didn’t want to be the cause of gossip stories circling around the royal family.
“Thank you, Father,” Royce replied with gritted teeth. Paige squeezed his hand under the table to let him know she was okay with it.
His father looked at him, and then sighed, his eyes softening a little. “You know this is for our family name, Royce. There are rules to this, and as much as we all want to get on with our lives in peace, we are in the public eye and there is nothing we can do about it. So, furthermore, we are going to have to tell them when the baby is born that the child is merely early. I don’t want this to erupt into something with the media, and if we go with that story, then we can cover your previous indiscretions,” he said. He looked from one to the other, but Paige could see that there was a twinkle in his eye. Royce had told her that he and his father had been a lot alike at the same age, and there was little doubt in her mind he had his own share of one-night stands.
“Thank you, Father,” Royce said again to end the conversation, but once more his father continued.
“I am proud of you, son, for finding someone you love and who loves you back. I didn’t think you were ever going to settle down, and I am glad you found someone who makes you happy. Like your mother said, we are going to have to go through some training with this girl to make her fit this lifestyle, but with time, I know we can all get along. The country will be proud to have a strong man such as you on the throne one day,” he said.
“Father, if I might stop you for a moment, there are a few things we need to discuss. First of all, William is no longer working for us. I know I’m not technically allowed to fire him, but he came to see things from my point of view and resigned,” Royce said.
“What? What do you mean? William is an asset to this family and country,” his father pressed, frowning. William had been with them for ages, and he did not like to hear that his son fired him without consulting him first.
Royce and Paige glanced at each other. They had both agreed that his parents didn’t need to know about the whole debacle, but Royce had another excuse, one that was legitimate.
“When I was going through the pending business deals he was coordinating, I found out that he and Mr. Harvey had included language that indicated it was William and Mr. Harvey who were going to benefit. We would have ended up paying far more than we would have made with the deal, covering William and Mr. Harvey’s expenses along with ours. It was a scandal from the beginning,” Royce told them carefully.
“I told him that his options were to resign and leave Luxembourg immediately, or I was going to go public with it. I’m glad he made the right decision.” Royce looked at his parents, hoping they wouldn’t ask questions.
His father’s brows were furrowed in anger and his mother gasped. “I thought we had a good one with him. I’m glad you looked through the contracts carefully, son, and caught it before anything terrible happened. We both thought so highly of him, it’s hard to believe he would do this. But money does things to people,” his father said, shaking his head.
Royce nodded, and then paused, before glancing at Paige with a smile. “Also, there is something else we would like to tell you.” He took Paige’s hand, and she blushed as she smiled.
“Well, out with it!” his mother said, fanning herself. Royce smiled once more as he lifted Paige’s hand, revealing a sparkling diamond ring.
“Once I knew I wanted to marry her, I knew that we were going to have to figure out something with the baby, so we went to Vegas that very weekend and got married. I’m sure the tabloids are going to be all over it any day now, it’s not going to be long before we hear about it over here,” he said. He and Paige exchanged a glance, and Paige had to fight to keep from giggling.
It was the tabloids that had helped seal their relationship in the first place, and now they were going to be covering the happiest day of her life. But she didn’t care; she loved Royce and knew she could learn to be part of his family with time.
“Very good. While I’m glad to hear you are legally married, we will still need to prepare a proper ceremony and reception. That, we can coordinate quickly. Well done, Son, I’m proud of you. Now, there are a few other business matters we need to discuss,” his father said. Paige sighed internally. She didn’t want to stay and discuss business, but this was her husband’s life, and she was now a part of it.
Royce, however, held up his hand to stop his father. “Hang on. I would love to hear what you have to say, but I think I’m done handling business until we get back from our honeymoon.”
His father and mother once more exchanged a look, but Paige didn’t care. She loved Royce, and knew he was doing this for her. He was her prince charming, and he wanted to see her happy, even when he had to inconvenience himself to do it.
She couldn’t have asked for a better husband.
Epilogue
Royce held his arm firmly on Paige’s shoulder, trying to stand as still as possible. It was a tradition he didn’t un
derstand why his family kept, but one he knew he couldn’t break. He, his wife, their son, and his parents were all posing for a painting, but the baby was growing fussy, and they were going to have to take a break so Paige could nurse him.
“How are we going to get back in the same pose when we return?” Paige asked nervously as she stepped away from the chair.
“We do it all the time, Dear, you just have to do your best,” his mother replied reassuringly. “Though I don’t understand why you insisted on wearing that horrid necklace for this portrait.”
Paige looked down at the hideous, sparkling penguin necklace around her neck and grinned. She had gotten it back from the auctioneer as soon as she could.
“It’s beautiful, don’t you think?” Royce said, gazing at her fondly.
“How are things going back in the States? I meant to ask you that last week, but things got out of hand,” his father said. Royce smiled. He was glad his father had time to do more things he wanted to do. Now that he was in charge of business for the family, he was able to make a lot of his own decisions. That meant his father was able to spend more time finding out things that he loved to do and less time pouring over the tedious numbers in all his books.
“Excellent. I made some valuable connections back at the Alabaster Club, and I am pleased to say they are going to go into effect almost immediately. If our future wasn’t secured already, it certainly is now,” Royce said with a smile.
“And how is your humanitarian work going? I feel like I spend all my time talking to Royce and not nearly enough time talking to my daughter-in-law,” his father said as he turned to Paige. She was rocking the baby in the chair, and she gave him a tired smile. She’d been growing used to life within the walls, but it was harder for her to adjust to the life of being a new celebrity.
Relentless: A Royal Secret Baby Romance (The Alabaster Club) Page 10