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“Showing you that you are the most important person in the world to me,” he says, pulling me into a hug. I feel the warmth in his embrace, the security that I want. I let out a soft breath, feeling safe at this exact moment.
“Come on, little one.” He tucks me under his arm, leading me back into the house. The garage door into the house opens, revealing a very upset group of men. Well, except Colson, he looks amused.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mitch says. I offer him a soft smile. I don't want to cause problems between them, but right now, being in Darrell’s embrace, I know that if they try anything, he’ll stop them.
“She’s fine, back off,” Darrell commands as he walks me through the kitchen into the living room. “If you want to change out of your soiled clothes, you won’t go alone. I can’t trust you to come back down here.”
“Okay.” I step out of his arms and sit on the couch. I don’t want to change, I may lose the nerve to ask the questions I have.
Darrell sits on the table in front of me. “Veronica, before you ask any questions, I need to clear up a few things. Especially since you’ve now left the house twice without one of us.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, pressing my palms together.
“You don’t know the actual danger that could await you out there. We haven’t told you everything. You know your family on your father’s side is powerful, but right now, there is no heir on the throne, and there is a bit of chaos in the ranks.” Darrell speaks softly, like he’s trying to make me understand the importance. I want to listen to him, but he’s talking down to me like I’m a child, not like a partner.
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child, Darrell. Your tone is full of pity,” I snap, baring my teeth.
“I apologize. I’ll adjust my tone for you. I’m used to talking to people like their idiots.” He smiles at me, wrinkling the skin around his eyes. “Okay, so your grandparents were Royalty. We have a hierarchy, a Royal family per country, then there are Governors per district. Mixed in are Mafia Alphas, they’re powerful because they work within the gray area that our government won't touch. Your grandparents were the last set of Alphas to run the country. There’s an usurper on the Throne now, they ordered a hit on your grandparents, killing them before they could locate you or your father. When your grandparents died, all funds were locked, leaving the funds inaccessible by anyone that was not of Royal Blood. So the entire country is looking for anyone with Royal Blood coursing through their veins.”
I laugh, and I don’t mean just a chuckle. I full deep gut laugh, there’s no way I’m Royalty. I know about the King and Queen and their assassination not two years ago. I know about the public shaming of anyone being related to the crown. It’s all over the news, but what I didn’t know is that…
“Veronica. This isn’t funny. Your mother told the Royal Guards that you died at birth, and that your father died shortly after. Your father went into hiding when the attempts on his life got serious. You were nearly killed before you were even born, your mother spent the last two months of her pregnancy in a hospital bed, begging anyone who would listen to get her away from there. When the announcement of the new princess dying at birth went nationwide, we mourned you. The entire country. Four years later, I found a woman begging for help. She was alone, I never knew that you existed, and my wife had just died. I felt a pull to help this woman, so I did. At first it was just me, trying to help a sad woman who was hungry. I met her at parks, giving her food and money for shelter. I took Dash with me on one of the runs to meet her, and Dash told me that the little girl that he was drawn to was the daughter of the woman I was talking to. She tracked me down, specifically because she knew I was safe. I was the keeper of secrets, the one people turned to for help. So I kept her secret, the sad woman with a child that she refused to introduce to me. The next time I came with food and clothes for you, she cried when Dash and Mitch wanted to play with you. Telling me that she couldn’t stay anymore, she needed to move on, find somewhere else to hide.
“When she looked up at me, I knew I had to do something. Mitch told me about the pull to be near you, how he wanted to claim you. I didn’t understand at first. Both of my sons, no where near the age to become Alphas, wanted to claim this little girl as their own. I needed to meet you, but your mother wouldn’t let me near you. Instead it was short visits, until I offered to let her stay with us. I told her that no one would ever find her living in my house. That she and you would be safe for as long as you lived here. She refused me at first, saying that she couldn’t burden me with a life like hers. I told her no one would know she was there. So it wouldn’t be a burden. I gave her my address and told her that if she ever needed anything, to come find me.
“I didn’t hear from her for two months, then one day out of nowhere, she showed up soaked to the bone from the rain with you in her arms, asking for shelter. I reached out to take you, but she recoiled away from me, holding you close. So I stepped aside and let her in. Mitch showed her to the spare room, where she laid you down on the bed. She told me there was one rule if she was to stay at the house, no one was allowed to touch you. We agreed, and for an entire year, I held up that agreement.”
I gasp. “Until I crashed my bike,” I whisper.
“Until you crashed your bike. We had gotten along, doing everything in our power to keep you safe, but the second you were in my arms, I couldn’t let you or your mother out of my care again.” Darrell pulls my hand into his. “I kept my promise again, never letting you touch me, never touching you. It was agony to not be able to comfort you when you needed it. I had Colson and Dash keep their eyes on you. When you were seven, we decided to enroll you into school with them, telling everyone that you were adopted by your mother and I, an orphan who needed a home. There was no other way to explain how we had a seven year old who was now suddenly ready for school. Mitch was older, but he did his best to keep an eye on you too. When Mitch graduated high school, I sent him on a couple assignments to research your life and lineage better, trying to figure out where you came from and why your mom was insistent on keeping you a secret.”
“So she kept me hidden because there was what, a war against my family?” I ask, holding his gaze.
“Pretty much, I found that you were the ‘dead princess,’” Mitch says, using air quotes. “I couldn’t believe what I had found. Your father was the first non-Alpha born in the line of succession in years. When he married your mother, it was a whole scandal, but no one ever had a picture of her, she was a mystery. But the dates lined up, the day you were born, the day she died. The fact that your father died, and that the Beta Prince was announced dead shortly after you were born. Everything lined up perfectly.” Mitch sits on the couch next to me, running his hand down my back.
“I confronted your mom, and she told me everything, that your dad wasn’t dead, but instead nearby, keeping an eye out for you without getting too close. He changed his name and found a simple job that no one would expect a Beta Prince to work.” Darrell stops talking, almost like he doesn’t want to tell me the rest.
“So then, who’s my father? I thought you said you didn’t know.” I take my hand from his.
“I didn’t when I said that.”
“But you do now.”
“I do,” he says with a nod.
“Who is he?” I ask harshly. “Who is my father?”
“I swore I wouldn’t tell you, and due to the title I hold, I can’t talk about it. He can tell you, or he can release me from my contract, and then I can tell you.”
“That’s bullshit, you said you’d always tell me the truth.” I stand up in anger. “Always,” I say, mocking the promise he made not even ten minutes ago. “This is the kind of shit that makes me feel like I don’t belong here, like you look at me as nothing more than a fuck. Something warm to keep your cocks in.” I shove at his chest. “You fucking promised, and yet you keep something like this from me!” I turn away from him and start to walk away, only to be caught by Colson. “Let go of me.”
“No. You will sit the fuck down and continue this conversation without stomping away like a fucking little girl.” Colson whips me around, tossing me back on the couch.
“Listen, little one, I want to tell you who he is, but he’s sworn me to keep it from you. I’ve told you all I can as far as your family goes. Everything I know about them and you.” Darrell leans forward on the table, inching closer to my face. “Understand that I would tell you if I could.”
“So bend the rules without breaking them. Tell one of the others and let them tell me. Then you aren’t telling me,” I say, thinking that, that should work.
“Ronni,” Dash says my voice with a power I haven’t heard before; it nearly sends me into myself, shrinking into the couch.
