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I laughed at Brat’s disheveled look. “Yes, of course, but you couldn’t have picked up the phone?”
“I tried to call, but you must be out of service range here, and you were hell bent against landlines,” Brat replied, shaking his head. “So, I jumped in the jet and came out here.”
“Well, what’s this news?”
“Reg Evers has been sniffing around the castle,” Brat revealed. “He was supposedly trying to get an appointment with the King and his new Queen. By the time I heard of it, he was apparently getting pretty impatient.”
“What? What the hell does he want?” Adriana’s voice was shrill and angry.
“Well, that was just what I wanted to know, so I approached him and took him to lunch to find out,” Brat said shaking his head. “He wouldn’t specify the terms, but he said that he is going to be expanding the business, and he believed Milos would be interested in helping him.”
“Syn sukinsynu,” I cursed in Polish. “How dare he attempt to blackmail me? Does he not realize who I am?”
From there, I couldn’t help but let go, and I stood cursing in my native tongue, knowing Adriana would not be able to understand. When I had gotten it out of my system, I took a deep breath and looked back at her. She was standing there, clutching the doorframe with a face full of fear. Immediately, I felt terrible for not comforting her first. I raced across th
e room and hugged her tightly, kissed her on the head, and looked up at Brat standing in the foyer.
”I’m sorry, my love,” I whispered. ”Don’t worry about a thing. I will take care of all of this. I will not allow this gutter trash to reveal anything about our past. Our life together is too important for that.”
I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do about this, but I knew that whatever it was, Reg Evers would be lucky to leave with his head intact. I had just gotten my relationship with Adriana back on track, we were expecting a child, and the people of Silesia were more than ecstatic to have her taking the reins from Mother in the future. Everything was absolutely perfect, for the first time in my life. Then, this happened. Maybe I couldn’t expect my past to stay hidden forever. Karma had a tricky way of sneaking up on you when you least expected it.
”My dear,” I said to Adriana. ”Would you mind getting Brat some dry clothes and starting a pot of hot tea for us?”
I smiled kindly at Adriana and watched her disappear into the other room. I didn’t want any tea, but I needed Adriana to feel as if nothing had changed. I needed her not to worry about this, especially being pregnant. She needed to stay calm and comfortable at all times. I took in a deep breath and stepped out onto the covered porch. The rain hit the thatched roof and ran over, cascading over the edges like a waterfall. I could feel the anger simmering in my stomach, and I didn’t know what to do with it. I had never been blackmailed before, simply because of the fact that I never gave a damn about revealing what I was doing. That was, until it became a situation that affected my wife and unborn child. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth as I paced across the patio floor.
”Damn it,” I growled as I kicked the trash can sitting out back.
”Maybe we should gather our things and go back to the castle,” Adriana said from behind me. She had seen my outburst. ”We will be better prepared to take care of this whole situation if you can sit down with Reg and talk this out. He is a simple fool. I’m sure it can easily be taken care of.”
”Blackmail is never that easy,” I said, shaking my head. ”Besides, this is our honeymoon. I completely screwed up our marriage the first time, and now that it is perfect, I don’t want to ruin it again by ending our trip and running back because of some asshole who thinks he can pull one over on us. You and that baby are the most important things to me.”
“I know, my love,” she replied, stepping out the door and walking over to me. “And by taking care of this before it explodes, that is protecting your family. I let Reg Evers control my life for a long time, and I cannot allow it to happen anymore. We will have plenty of time to vacation, but this calls for our immediate attention. It isn’t your fault, any more than it is mine. But it is something that needs our attention, and not three days from now, when we go back, but right now.”
“You truly will be a wise queen,” I replied, stifling my anger and kissing her on the forehead. “I will be inside in a moment. I just need to clear my head.”
“I love you,” she replied. She kissed me on the cheek and walked back in the house.
“She really will be an amazing queen,” Brat said, walking out onto the patio. “But first, we have got to take care of this little problem. And Milos, understand that we consider this to be a threat against the Kingdom, and therefore, are ready to handle it in such a way.”
“That won’t be necessary,” I replied. “Though it definitely has crossed my mind. I could toss his sleazy ass in the deepest, darkest prison cell in the kingdom, and never have to worry about him again. But I don’t want that dark cloud hanging over Adriana and me. I’d rather settle this issue once and for all.”
“Well, know you aren’t alone in this,” Brat said, tapping the door with his hand and walking back inside.
I stood on the porch, watching the rain for several minutes. This place had seemed so perfect, and now, it was tainted with royal business and our past creeping up on us. I took a deep breath before going back inside, not wanting Adriana to see me all bent out of shape. However, as I packed our bags and readied to get on the jet, I couldn’t help but be angry and bitter. I was supposed to be on my honeymoon, not dragging my pregnant bride back to the palace so she can worry about her old boss and her past. This was absolutely insane. I was so angry, I didn’t even realize I was slamming things down into the suitcase. Adriana walked over and patted my hand.
“Why don’t you go sit and speak with Brat,” she said. “I’ll take care of packing the bags. We are almost done.”
“Thank you, my love,” I replied, leaning over and kissing the top of her head. “Don’t lift them though. We will come get them for you.”
“Of course,” she smiled.
However, as I walked from the room and turned back toward her, I watched her smile quickly fade into a frown. Instantly, I was angry again, dislodged from the fantasy of our honeymoon and thrown back into a harsh and unhappy reality.
I grabbed my backpack and started packing it with my personal items, such as my laptop and tablet. I threw them in the bag and zipped it up, sitting down and waiting for Brat to return. He had gone to get the jet ready and bring an escort for Adriana, since it was pouring rain and the airstrip was on the other side of the island.
I heard a small beep, so I walked out the front door and stared at Brat, sitting in a covered golf cart from the maintenance shed. He opened his arms up, smiling at what he had found. I shook my head and rolled my eyes, turning to walk back in to get Adriana. Brat hustled to catch up with me and handed me the key.
“That’s very royal,” I scoffed. “We are taking the pregnant Princess of Silesia to her private jet in a golf cart in the pouring rain.”
