Page 40 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 5-8

I glance around to make sure we’re still alone before I step closer and lower my voice. “We have the same goal, Arthur. Keep her safe.” Some of the disgust leaves his eyes as he watches me. “You have good people on your team. They didn’t give up today and managed to contain a crowd they weren’t prepared or trained for. But,” I add, “that needs to change. I have experience with that.”

“You were tasked with keeping her safe. And you seduced her,” he spits out. “You violated the oath we take as protectors.”

His words cut deep. Sophaya might have been the one to ask me to stay that night, but I’m the one who said yes. I was supposed to protect her. And now she’s under more scrutiny than ever before.

“I did. Things may have turned out well, but they could have just as easily not. That’s my responsibility to bear.” And my guilt.

Arthur blinks. The tension eases from his shoulders. “I’ll contact your aide to set up a meeting.”

“Thank you. I’d like to bring over some of the men from my firm, too, conduct some training sessions with yours.”

Arthur nods. “All right.”

The door opens behind him. Sophaya steps out, her brows drawing together in a frown as she glances between the two of us.

My stomach drops. Had I just kept my cock under control, she wouldn’t be in this mess right now. Wouldn’t have reporters clamoring for blood and international media outlets running stories on her twenty-four-seven. She would have had a chance to find someone who could truly love her, give her the kind of relationship she deserved instead of the one she’s been forced into.

I may not be able to love her the way she deserves. But I will do everything I can to be the best consort I can, to support and protect her.

“Everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine.”

Her eyes widen slightly at my firm tone. The veil drops down as her shoulders straighten. She turns to Arthur, who’s standing off to the side with his gaze trained on the upper part of a wall instead of the drama unfolding in front of him.

“Arthur?” Her voice gentles as she addresses him.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Would you meet us downstairs in the lobby, please?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

She doesn’t even glance at me as we walk to the elevator. She greets the nurses and doctors we pass by name, stops to exchange a few words and snap a selfie with a patient she seems to know well. I hang back, conscious of the tension simmering beneath the surface and wanting to maintain a view of our surroundings in case someone tries to sneak in and snap a photo.

She doesn’t say a word to me until we’re in the elevator and the doors swish shut.

“I don’t appreciate you conducting business with my head of security and leaving me out of it.”

There it is. The icy, condescending tone she used when we first met. Knowing that it’s a front for the warm, caring woman beneath makes me hate it even more.

“Look—”

“Do not make decisions behind my back.”

I push the emergency stop button. The elevator stops abruptly. Sophaya stumbles, and I reach out, wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close.

“You want to know what we were talking about?”

That pointed chin of hers comes up. “Yes.”

“Your security team failed you today.”

Heat replaces ice as anger flares in her blue eyes. “My team is highly trained. Loyal and—”

“Not prepared for the volume of attention you’re receiving.”

“They’re good men, Dominic.”