Chapter 28: Milos
I felt incredibly guilty as I stomped out of the room, knowing I had pulled the control right out from under Adriana. She just didn’t understand, and it was because she was so new, so green in this royal life. She wanted to be true and honest, which was something I admired so much about her, but she didn’t realize she could bury herself with that kind of transparency. Instead of wondering if our secret would ever be revealed, we would spend our lives defending our actions, fighting for our place in the Kingdom, and drowning in ridicule from the people we were supposed to be representing and leading. Adriana had been through so much in her life, even before I came into the picture. The last thing I wanted was for her to go through even more.
I didn’t want a single soul to know of my beautiful Queen’s past, beyond the few who already knew. I was in no way ashamed of her, but I knew others would not understand and see the amazing human being she really was. They would immediately judge her and I based on how we met and where she worked. I knew this all too well because I had done that exact thing when picking Adriana to contract for the fake marriage. I had assumed that since she was a stripper, she lacked morality, class, and social equity, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I wanted people to see Adriana the way I did. I wanted them to see her kind heart, her enormous intellect, and her servitude for a country she only just met. With a past like hers looming over her, I didn’t see how people could look past it.
Throughout my life, I have come to know the tabloids as if they were cast off cousins no one was happy to see. They knew me by first name, and I was pretty sure I had bought a few journalists drinks in some of my drunken tirades. I was pretty sure they were bummed when I turned over a new leaf, seeing as they wouldn’t have my dumbass self to post all over the front page. Their sales were plummeting, and if they got ahold of a story like this, they would have a field day.
Not only would me and Adriana be called out for all of our past transgressions, my mother would be implicated in the whole thing. It would be hard for the public to believe that something like this could have happened right under the Queen’s nose without her knowing. From there, our children would never be able to sneeze wrong around the press without getting beat up and splashed all over the headlines. They will have to make choices as they grow that will determine their character, but the last thing I wanted to do was start them out behind the curve.
As I walked into the meeting room where Brat was waiting for me, I rubbed my hands through my hair and grabbed a bottle of water. I shook my head and sat down at the table, watching Brat stare out at the gardens, lost in his own thoughts. Hearing the squeaking of the chair wheels, he turned around and grabbed the back of the chair.
“So, what’s the scoop, boss?” he asked with a deep sigh.
“I could really use a glass of whiskey right now,” I said, chuckling. “But I suppose this water will have to do.”
“I promise when we get through this, we will both have a beer, on me,” he replied.
“So, this is where we are,” I said, lowering my voice. “I cannot grant this guy his request. First of all, it would never fly, second of all, we know that he would never stop coming back with the same threat over and over again. So, that’s out.”
“What does Adriana have to say about it?”
“She thinks that transparency is the best option,” I replied shaking my head. “She wants to tell everyone the truth. I love her, but I am not going to let that happen. She doesn’t need any more grief after what she’s already been through.”
“She’s a smart woman with a big heart,” Brat smiled. “She just doesn’t understand yet. You are the most fierce and loyal friend I know. I knew you’d never let her reveal her secret.”
“Nope,” I replied. “So, what are our other options?”
“Well, we could have the Caspian burned to the ground, all the files and paperwork with it,” he replied. “We’d make sure the girls were out of the apartment, make sure no civilians are hurt, and just get rid of the place. Then, if he came forward, it would be his word against ours. Everyone would think it was some kind of extortion act of a desperate mad man.”
“True, but that could be tricky. What if one of the clients or the girls came forward and backed up that story? Either way, it would make waves that I really just don’t know if I want her to have to deal with. What else?”
“The only other option is getting rid of Reg Everly completely,” Brat said, leaning back in his chair. “That doesn’t mean your secret is safe forever, but it means it’s safe from him. But man, these are really crazy ideas. I mean, these kinds of solution to the problem are worse than the problem itself. I wedo any of this, it will become another secret we have to keep hidden from the world.”
I nodded. “I know,” I replied. “And you know I hate violence, Brat. You know that this is not something I would even consider if it weren’t so important.”
We sat in that meeting room for hours, throwing ideas back and forth to each other. I ordered a steady stream of coffee. I could tell it was an all-nighter. We only had until Monday afternoon to make our move, and it was already starting to get light outside again. I hadn’t heard a peep from Adriana and assumed she ended up going to bed without me.
I sent one of the service people to check on her around five in the morning, and they reported that she was up and moving around but seemed okay. I hoped that what I said the day before didn’t upset her too much. I never liked letting her go to bed without me, after leaving her alone so many nights before, but this was vital to our survival as a family.
I grabbed a donut off the tray of food by the counter and shoved it in my mouth. I needed some air. I was starting to feel hopeless. I walked over to the window and cracked it open, letting the approaching morning breeze hit me right in the face. Brat was at the table, jotting down different options, but in reality, we had pretty much tapped the reserve on ideas. I was starting to think, whether I liked it or not, taking Reg completely out of the picture might be the only way we got around this whole issue. My biggest problem with that, besides the obvious, was the slippery slope that would send us down. Not only would I face execution if I were implicated in a murder, but what would happen when the next person arrived, screaming he knew the secret? How many people would we end up killing just to hide our past?
This was all starting to sound like a bad mafia storyline, and I couldn’t believe I’d even thought about resorting to violence. I thought about Adriana and the baby, safe and sound inside the castle walls, and the feeling of comfort that that gave me. What if all that was taken away? What if we were cast out of the castle to fend for ourselves? I would never forgive myself if anything happened to Adriana or our child. It was just too risky. I needed to get this situation under control and fast.
I closed the window and started to pace the room, making plans in my head for an assassination of sorts. It would be simple, especially since Reg was nobody of high regard. But making sure all the details were set and secure was something that I absolutely had no idea how to do.
I walked over and sat down next to Brat, grabbing a pen and piece of paper. I thought about all the things I would need to do to make Reg disappear, and I started to make a list. If I was going to go down this path, we would have to get started. The clock was already ticking, and it wasn’t going to slow down for anyone. I tapped my pen against my mouth as Brat leaned back and stretched his arms over his head. He looked down at my paper and jumped from his chair, grabbing the notepad from my hands and tossing it into the fireplace.
“What are you thinking man?” Brat sounded shocked and appalled.
“I got to do what I got to do,” I replied, straight-faced.
“Okay, well before you go starting to assassinate people, hear me out,” he replied.
I watched as he walked over and grabbed his notepad off the table, giving me a sideways look as he began to pace the floor. He scanned his finger down the lines and lines of notes on the page. When he had gotten himself back together, he stopped in front of me like he was presenting to a board.
“Here is what we can do,” he explained. “There is legal recourse we can take here. Blackmail is a crime, especially against the Royal Court. Now, if we brought in a few trusted advisors, they could build a legal defense against Reg, barring him from speaking about Adriana, and possibly giving him a good amount of jail time for blackmail.”
“But what advisors could we bring on board that we trusted enough with that kind of information? I couldn’t be sure that it wouldn’t get leaked. And in the end, when all the court proceedings became public, so would her past. Either way, we would be exposing her, one way would just be controlled, while the other would be in Reg’s hands. Man, this seems impossible.”
“It’s not impossible,” Brat said with frustration. “We have to try to deal with this in a way that doesn’t dig an even bigger hole for us.”
I tossed the pen across the table and put my head down in my arms. I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept well in days, and I was so wildly out of it, I had actually considered murdering someone. There had to be away around this that didn’t include destroying my bride and my child in the process. No matter what Adriana said, I knew if the truth came out, she would be mortified, and possibly never forgive me. No matter what understanding we came to, I knew my past actions played a role in our future. I picked my head up as Brat’s phone vibrated against the table. He reached over and pressed the button, looking down at the screen. His eyes grew wide for a moment before he turned toward me. I lifted an eyebrow at his reaction and grabbed his phone from his hands. What could it possibly be now?
“Wait, how do you work this thing?” I tilted the phone back and forth trying to see the video he pulled up.
He grabbed it and set it up in front of us. As the screen popped back up, we watched as Adriana, dressed in a beautiful suit with perfect hair and perfect makeup, sat down on the couch in the Queen’s interview room. My mother was standing behind her and a journalist was to the left. I looked at Brat with panic, and he put his hand on my shoulder. She was getting ready to tell her story, and there was nothing I could do to stop her.