I should’ve known better, which proved just how fucked in the head I was about Bridget. I couldn’t think straight. All I could think about was where she was, who she was with, and how she was doing.
It didn’t matter that she’d ripped my heart out the other day. If anyone hurt my princess in any way—physically, mentally, or emotionally—there would be hell to pay.
“Take a wild guess.” Christian leaned against the counter, the picture of insouciance, but his hard gaze belied his casual pose. “Your client, Larsen. A future queen.”
“They’re tabloid rumors, and she’s not my client anymore.” I need another drink.
I understood now why people turned to alcohol for comfort now. It filled a part of ourselves we’d lost, or at least it gave the illusion of doing so.
“You forget. I know when you’re lying.” Christian’s voice dropped several decibels. His anger burned cold, not hot, and it was when he got quiet that people ran and ducked for cover. “Even if I didn’t, you think I didn’t look into the situation myself? What you did is a fireable offense.”
“So fire me.” I had enough money saved up to tide me over for a nice long while, and the prospect of playing bodyguard to anyone but Bridget held zero appeal for me.
The thought crystallized and took root.
“Actually, you know what? I quit.”
Christian stared at me. “Just like that.”
“Just like that.” My mouth flattened into a grim line. “I fucked up, and I’m sorry. But I’m done with the bodyguard game.”
He tapped his fingers on the dresser. Watching. Thinking. “I assume things with the princess are over, considering the whispers I’m hearing about her, Steffan Holstein, and an upcoming engagement.”
A low growl rumbled from my throat, but he ignored it.
“Why are you still here, Larsen? Living like a hermit and drinking.” His lip curled with distaste. Christian owned one of the most extensive and expensive rare alcohol collections in the U.S. He had nothing against drinking, but I assumed he took offense at the way I did it. “You don’t drink.”
“Apparently, I do.”
“It’s time to leave. I say this not as your boss, but as your friend. This…” He gestured around the room. “…is pathetic. Not to mention, your visa expires soon. There’s no use in dragging out the inevitable.”
I was in Eldorra on a special visa thanks to my previous employment with the palace, but it expired at the end of the month now that I was no longer working for them.
“You’re not my boss anymore,” I said coldly. “I’ll leave when I want.”
“Jesus Christ, what happened to you? Use your head, Larsen,” Christian snapped. “The one on your shoulders, not between your legs. Or is her royal pussy that good—”
A snarl ripped out of my chest. He didn’t get the rest of his sentence out before I crossed the room in two long strides and slammed him against the wall.
“Talk about her like that again, and I’ll feed you your teeth.”
Christian looked unfazed even though he was two seconds away from getting his face pounded in. “It’s never bothered you before. And careful with the suit. I just got it custom made.”
“You’ve done a lot for me over the years.” Danger thickened the air, so potent I could almost taste it. I’d been spoiling for a fight, and he might just give it to me. “But if you don’t watch what you say, this is the end of our friendship.”
He assessed me with sharp eyes. “Well, well.” A hint of surprised amusement colored his tone. “I never thought I’d see the day. Rhys Larsen in love.”
In love.
I’d never been in love. Never wanted to be in love. Hell, I didn’t even know what love was. It was always something I’d heard about, not experienced, until I met a woman who cracked my ironclad defenses like no one had before. Someone who loved the rain and animals and Rocky Road ice cream on quiet nights. Someone who saw all my scars and ugliness and still found me worthy, and somehow, someway, she’d filled the cracks in a soul I never thought would be whole again.
I might not know what love was, but I knew I was in love with Bridget von Ascheberg, to the point where even I—the man who was so good at denying himself anything good in life—couldn’t deny it.
The realization hit me like a bullet in the chest, and I loosened my hold on Christian.
“No denial,” he observed. He shook his head. “I have nothing against love, other than the fact I find it tedious, boring, and utterly unnecessary. People in love are the most insufferable on the planet.” He glanced at a piece of lint on his suit with disdain before brushing it off. “But if that’s what you want, go for it. Just not with the princess.”
“My personal life is none of your business.”
His gaze turned pitying, and I wanted to punch him all over again. It was a decent summary of our fucked-up friendship. One of us wanted to kill the other at any given time. It’d been that way since we met in Tangier, where I’d saved him from a slow, torturous death at the hands of a warlord he’d pissed off.
Sometimes, like now, I wished I’d left him to the warlord’s mercy.
“Leave Eldorra. Now. Before things get even more out of control,” Christian said. “No matter how many detours you take, your story only has one ending. Cut it off before you’re in too deep and you can’t get out.”
Too late. I was already in too deep.
“Get out,” I said.
“You think I’m being heartless, but I’m trying to help you. Consider it my repayment for Tangier.”
“Get. Out.”
“You really want to do this.” It wasn’t a question.
“Let me worry about what I’m going to do.”
Christian sighed. “If you insist on continuing down this road, I have something that might be of interest. I did a little digging after those heartwarming photos of you and the princess surfaced.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small envelope. “You want to look at this. Soon.”
I didn’t take it. “What the hell is it?”
Never trust a Christian Harper bearing gifts. That should be everyone’s motto in life.
But nothing could’ve prepared me for what he said next.
“The identity of your father.” He paused. “And your brother.”
42
Rhys
It was funny how one moment could change your life.
One moment, my mother was alive, then she wasn’t.
One moment, my squad mates were alive, and the next everything got blown to hell. Literally.
One moment, I knew my place in the world, only for it to get turned upside down with the simple unfolding of a paper.
Last night had been a mind fuck in every way, and I was still debating the soundness of my decision to pay my brother a visit as I stared at the townhouse in front of me. There wasn’t as much security as I’d expected, though the townhouse was in one of the safest neighborhoods in northern Athenberg.
Until now, the only brothers I had were the ones in my SEAL unit. The idea of having a real brother? It kind of fucked me up, to be honest.