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His tone is a warning I don’t care for.
“Did I not make myself clear enough?” Casually, I reach for the coffee mug again. “I-want-her-found.”
“You’re expecting miracles now…”
“So what if I am?”
“Look, I’d be more than happy to bring you her head on a silver platter if I thought it would for one second make this situation better, but that’s just it. Your judgement is impaired.”
“My judgement is impaired?”
“Yeah. You’re not objective to this situation. You are the situation. If you want her found, fine, I’ll put our best men on it. I’ll have her found, but do you really think I’ve sat idly by not looking? Regardless of what he said, Nicolas had her well-hidden.”
“Nicolas is dead.”
“Yeah, he is, but she’s also just hit the jackpot, so disappearing for her just got bankrolled by daddy’s inheritance.”
I know Sebastian best, and he has only my best interests at heart, but sometimes it’s a fine line between business and pleasure.
Right now, he’s playing a good friend, but I’m not asking as a friend.
“She might have come into her own inheritance, but so have I.” I lean forward, coffee forgotten. “I want her found, and then I want to get reacquainted with her before I decide exactly what to do with her.”
“You father won’t like this.”
They all think I’m going to turn into a hopeless romantic the moment our paths cross. I can’t wait to show them what’s actually going to happen.
“My father works for me now. You’d better start reminding yourself of that.”
Chapter Three
NATALIA
“I’ve let you have your silence to dwell in, but can you please let me know what the fuck that was back there?”
Now is not the time to admit it was a dose of humble pie, because right now, I’d willingly shove it down Andreas’s throat and watch him choke on it.
“It’s a funeral, Andreas. I’m just back to pay my respects, Andreas. I just want to lay him to rest and we’ll leave, Andreas.” He’s mocking. Mocking me, the situation, every lie I fed him. “There’s nothing to it, Andreas.”
“Okay, Andreas!” I bellow, reacting heatedly. “I was meant to be back for my father’s funeral. That was never a lie. The deal was I come back, and I lay him to rest, and I take what’s rightfully mine.”
“Something I had assumed meant a chunk of cash or some real estate, not what looked like an event fit for a king.”
I narrow my gaze, but I don’t speak. I can’t bring myself to do so.
“The deal was you were back to bury your father and get your inheritance. Fuck, Tally. You told me you were back to get your stake of what was yours so we could start over, but what we walked into was more than a funeral, wasn’t it?”
“The funeral wasn’t today.” My admittance is feeble, and my reasoning is worse. “Look,” I start, and he groans.
Pushing space between us, Andreas begins to pace, each step heavier than the last. I had prepared for this reaction, but I didn’t want to deal with it. This part of my life was an inevitability. It hung on the precipice of my reality with bated breath and sharp claws, always preparing to pull me back.
“Andreas-”
“You’re unbelievable, you know that?” he cuts me off with a venomous tone.
“His funeral was merely a formality. It was a part of the plan, honest.”
Andreas knew I wasn’t back for petty games, but he didn’t know I was back to claim a throne, and the hurt in his eyes is almost enough to make a pang of guilt ache in me.
