Page 41 of Consume Me

The coldness in his voice hit me almost as hard as what he was saying.

“You’re going to let Alexander believe he died. That he lost both of us,” I said in broken pants. My stomach heaved but it was empty so I simply gagged and coughed on air.

I was going to be sick. That was their plan all along: to break my husband’s heart—to take everything from him and watch him fade into nothing. I couldn’t stop them. I didn’t begin to know how.

I knew their entire plan and I had no way of helping the man I loved. I wanted to scream until I shattered like my heart was doing now. But what good would that do?

I was better than that. I had to be.

“We need to be certain he breaks,” David said in a quiet voice, perhaps sensing how fragile I was. “And when your son returns with true royal blood, Edward will step aside, especially when he learns the truth.”

I shook my head. “What truth?”

They would never admit what they did to Edward. David never would. He’d be by his side pretending at a marriage while carefully pulling strings whenever he could.

David paused as if he wasn’t certain if he should reveal more. Then he shrugged off whatever hesitation he felt. It must be easier knowing that I was going to die. A corpse couldn’t tell tales. “He isn’t Albert’s child either.”

I stared at him as this information processed. Now, I knew enough. I didn’t want to know any more. I didn’t want to know any of it. Instead, I made a choice.

I looked to the tray of food, then up to the camera. They’d been waiting for this. I wouldn’t make them wait any longer. Picking up the apple, I took a bite.

Chapter 15

ALEXANDER

Nothing was out of the ordinary. At least that was the takeaway from a five minute debriefing the next morning. By the time, Brex had finished walking through what they hadn’t found, I was yawning.

“You need to sleep,” Georgia chastised me.

“I need to find my wife,” I snapped, rubbing my eyes. I’d resorted to coffee to keep myself awake for most of the night. But it wasn’t quite enough to keep my mind sharp. No matter how much I drank.

“And when we do,” Georgia said firmly, “and we will, you can’t be a zombie. She’s pregnant. The baby could come any time…”

“That’s exactly why I don’t have time to sleep.” I was tired of arguing this with them. “I’m doing the best I can.”

Brex and Georgia shared a look that suggested they thought my best hadn’t shown up recently. It was no use calling them out on it. They were right.

I wasn’t at my best, because I couldn’t be without Clara. She was my best. Without her, no matter how much I tried, I was simply half a man. How long had I wasted keeping her out of certain parts of my life? How much time had I spent denying her all of myself? And for what? To protect her? I’d failed at that.

“What about our new leads?” I asked wearily, steering the conversation away from me and my faults. After Smith’s and my meeting with the Ghosts, we’d arranged a tail for both Sarah and Anders. The results were frustrating.

“Sarah is barely speaking to anyone,” Georgia said, sinking into a chair with a frown. She knew she was being guided to a new topic and she wasn’t happy about it. “She’s ignoring Pepper’s calls. She isn’t leaving the house. There’s been no unusual activity on her mobile.”

“Maybe she’s waiting for instructions,” Brex said in his usual clipped and direct way. Unlike his partner, he was former military and followed unspoken commands easily.

“We don’t have any proof of that,” Georgia added quickly. “It’s just something we should consider.”

No one—not even me—was sure how I would react to proof that my sister was the one who betrayed us.

“Keep watching her,” I said after a beat. “What about Anders?”

“Well…” Brex and Georgia looked at one another.

“What?” I demanded. Had I been duped twice? I’d opened my home and my heart to new family—a task I hadn’t found easy. Had I been trapped by my own sentimentality?

“It’s not suspicious,” Brex said swiftly even as my mind spun. “But we think he caught on that he’s being followed.”

“Fuck,” I muttered. “What gives you that idea?”