Page 121 of Uncrowned

“Ward? No, a prisoner of whatever bullshit agency you’re a part of. I have rights. I am not under arrest. You have to let me leave here or charge me with something.”

I had no idea if I was right, but it sounded good.

“That’s not how it works, Penelope.”

“Then tell me, Agent Marchase. Explain why the hell I’ve been here for over half a year. My life was ruined. I lost everything. The man I wish to be with⁠—”

“Made one hell of a mess. You have no idea the storm you have created. I was so close to getting you more freedom. Now, you might have ruined that entirely.”

My head shook, and my body couldn’t contain the rage blistering inside of me. Heat poured from my body and eyes, and tears raced down my cheeks.

“You tell whoever is pulling the strings that I don’t care what I created. You tell them that if they don’t give me more freedom, that article will be nothing compared to the ones that will follow. You tell your boss or whoever you’re taking orders from that if they don’t ease the fuck up, I will take the king’s invitation and I will use that platform to blow this entire situation to hell and back. Do you understand me? I’m done playing games. I’ve been patient. Not anymore. Those are my terms. Unless you want this to turn dirty real fast, I suggest whoever is hiding behind in the background to play along.”

Silence.

“There she is.” Her voice was full of awe. “There’s the woman hiding behind the mask. I knew I saw her that first night. You’re good. Very, very good.”

“Hiding?” My head shook. “Contained. You forced her out. That was a big mistake, Agent Marchase.”

“Is it?” She stepped from the wall, moving in closer. “I have to say, I’m truly fascinated by this development, Penelope. You have so many moving elements around you. I can’t for the life of me figure them out. Or maybe I don’t want to, because then the fun ends.”

“What are you talking about?”

She took a seat on the edge of the desk, her dark business suit fitting tighter to the curves of her body.

“You claim to love Theodore Hart. It’s believable. He’s an attractive man. He has a great reputation. He’s strong, funny, and he appears to care for his clients. But the thing is, you’ve never met him before he showed up at this building. And if you have, I can’t find proof of it. He’s not titled, but neither are you. The thing is, you were very much on a mission to marry one before your parents’ supposed murder.”

She laced her fingers together in her lap.

“What can you tell me about Lord Allford?”

My blood went cold.

“His Lordship, John, was a dear friend of my father’s. He came over every week for dinner.”

She nodded. “He bought an engagement ring shortly before he disappeared. You are aware he disappeared?”

My head shook back and forth, but I didn’t speak.

“Yes, well, it would seem he was already choosing his next wife. I guess he didn’t want to wait for his wife to die before he chose.”

“Is Babette⁠—”

“Dead? Yeah. She died shortly after he disappeared. Ironically, around the same time you and your parents did.”

“I wasn’t aware of that. It’s sad she passed. What are you getting at, Agent Marchase?”

“Just messages about a contract between your father and Lord Allford, and yet no proof of one. And then, even more fascinating, how you claim to love an untitled man you’ve never met, but you reject the advance of the king. You do reject his invitations?”

“I can only love a title, is that it? Maybe after my parents forcing it down my throat my entire life, I don’t want one.”

She nodded as if she could understand that.

“Or maybe… there’s someone else you’ve fallen in love with. Someone connected to Theodore Hart. Perhaps, and I’m just playing around with theories, here, but… let’s just say for fun that this man—this masked captor, he chose you. Maybe you didn’t know him at all at first. Not aside from the phone calls that lasted months. I mean, if you would have met him in person, I would have found some sort of proof of it.”

Her head shook.

“There’s nothing, Penelope. This man never met you before he took you. But during that time after he did, you fell for him. Now… I ask myself, what sort of person would kill, kidnap, and take a woman, only to allow her to escape. I mean, he’d have to be a busy man. At least a little. And the fighting. We can’t forget about the fighting you mentioned. You’d have to be strong, physically and mentally. You still fight to be strong, don’t you? So much training. So much… anger. You want to kill. You crave it. I see it in that gym. You’re preparing yourself.”