Page 2

CHAPTER 2

TRISTAN

“What else do I have going on?”

Parker looks at me, a sardonic eyebrow raised. “Sir, I’m your protection detail, not your secretary.”

I point to the phone that’s on speaker, giving him back as good as I got. “I wasn’t asking you.”

“He was asking me .” The voice of the woman who keeps my life together comes over the line. Kate is new, but damned if she’s not the best assistant I’ve ever had.

“Yeah, I was talking to Kate. What else do I have going on?” I ask again, daring Parker to interrupt this time.

“The rest of your week appears to be on the light side. No appearances, a few interviews.”

This news gives me hope. “Maybe Amelia and I can get out of here early on Friday? We’re heading up to the beach house.” Which is what I want more than anything. Time alone with her has become my favorite way to spend a few hours, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make it a priority.

She’s flipping through papers if the sound coming over the line is any indication. “You can leave early in the morning if you really want to.”

This is music to my ears. If there’s anything we need to keep our sanity, it’s our weekends away. Although we’ve been able to spend all of them since we got married at the beach house, there’re some times when we need it more than others. This is one of them.

“Let’s plan on it.” I point to Parker, making sure he’s good to go. “Eleven on Friday?”

He nods, which is all I need to verify we’re leaving the city.

“Should be doable,” she answers. “Make sure you get what has to be done, completed, and I’ll be okay with it.”

“Shoot.” I grab my pen. “Tell me exactly what you’re expecting.”

She starts in with an itemization of tasks as I scribble furiously, trying to keep up. I find a handwritten list is more tangible to me rather than an electronic one. “The most important is to make sure the interviews are done before you leave. If you want me to, I can move them up and have it all completed in one day.”

“That sounds amazing.” I stop writing, thinking of what I can do with the extra time. “Can you please get with Shannon and make sure she knows I’m trying to get us out of here early on Friday?”

“Okay, give me a couple of hours, and I’ll report back with what I’ve got for you. I’ll also loop Shannon in.”

We end the phone call, and I turn to look at Parker. There’s a conversation I’ve wanted to have with him. Now seems like the perfect time. “Did you find anything at the beach house or on the security footage?”

He shakes his head. “I know you said you felt like someone was watching you, but there’s nothing I’ve found.” He rubs at his beard. “Could it be that you’re slightly paranoid now that you have a monarchy and a wife?”

“I’m many things.” I rub my hand over my forehead, hoping to dull the pain gathering behind my eyes. “Paranoid isn’t one of them.”

“Are you sure? My king, there honestly wasn’t anything I saw.”

Something about this doesn’t sit right with me, but if Parker says he hasn’t seen a threat, then I have to believe him. He’s the one person in my life who never lied to me. “We’ll keep an eye out, won’t we?”

He tilts his head to the side. “When do I not make sure you’re protected, sir?”

I have to hand it to him, I am constantly safe. I can count on two fingers the number of times I’ve been worried when Parker was in charge of my care. Both instances were freak accidents, not something I would ever blame him for. “Never,” I admit. “But I have more than myself to think about now.”

“You and the queen are my top priority.”

“If it comes down to it, I want you to take care of her and not me.”

“No can do, sir, and you know that. You have to be the one I’m worried about. You run this country.”

“But without her, it won’t matter,” I argue, feeling the despair in the pit of my stomach.

“It has to. If anyone, friend or foe, sees she means that much to you, they’ll target her.”

What he says is true, but how does one turn off love and adoration? “How am I supposed to hide it?”

This is the part I find difficult. Prior to Amelia, there wasn’t anyone who had me, not like her, and now the thought of losing her, of not being as happy as we are in this moment, is enough to send me into a tailspin.

“I think you’ll figure it out.” Parker has a seat in the chair in front of my desk. “In my experience, when we have someone to fight for, it comes naturally.”

“Nothing like this has ever been natural for me. You know how my parents were.”

“The way you were brought up doesn’t have to define what your future holds.”

“Huh,” I grunt. “Easy for you to say.”

“It honestly isn’t, but when I look at the two of you, I see a bond so strong I’m not sure anyone or anything will ever be able to break it. What you have is special, and I know asking you to dial it back in public isn’t what you want to hear.”

“If I do it too much, will there be an issue with that?”

He shrugs. “The public will do whatever it is they want. They’ll believe what the media feeds to them, or they’ll see what’s in front of their own two eyes.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I always am.”

I throw a pen at him, which the fucker catches one-handed. As much as I appreciate him being number one at his job, sometimes I’d like to best him. “Yeah, yeah.” I shake my head. “Let me get busy.”

He laughs. “I’ll be outside if you need me.”

I watch as he leaves. This is one of the only times a day I’m alone. After lunch, figuring out the last half of my day. It’s the few hours I can truly be myself. Reaching up, I loosen my tie, unbuttoning the two buttons at my throat and making room to breathe. Standing up, I take off my coat, rolling up the sleeves to my elbows, before sitting down and pulling the papers on my desk directly in front of me.

There’s not a lot here, a few issues that have become extremely important to me since I became king, but most of this is tedious and time-consuming. Parker and my adviser tell me I should hire someone to take care of things like this, but it almost makes me feel as if I’m not doing my job.

My father did a lot of his leading in name only. Me? I want to do mine from the front. If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s how not to lead, and my legacy will be much different than the one before me. Even if it was a huge point of contention with dear old dad.

“Tristan, you have to prove to your people that you won’t bend.”

“I don’t agree. Sometimes you have to so that the country doesn’t break. There’s not a one size fits all manual for leading.”

“Yes, there is,” he argues. “I’ve given you the best economic platform to stand on in decades, and you’re going to run it into the ground.”

“The top one percent of our people has food on the table. The other ninety-nine? They’re doing their best to have a table to put food on,” I yell, wanting him to see things from my perspective.

“The top one percent is what makes this country thrive.”

“No, it doesn’t. They don’t do the hard work that no one else wants to do. They hold the purse strings, but without the workers, where would we be?”

I’m breathing hard, wishing he would see the truth.

“If there’s no money, then there’s nothing to run the country with, Tristan.”

“Dad, if there are no workers, then who runs the country?” I counter.

He doesn’t say anything, just shakes his head as he crosses his arms over his chest. “We’re not going to be able to come to an agreement about this.”

“You’re right, we won’t,” I agree. “There’s no way you won’t convince me the richest of this country are the most important.”

Sighing, I lean forward, grabbing my pen, getting to work. Thinking about my dad will get me nowhere. Instead I need to focus on what I can change, not my past. My past is what got me here. My future is what will keep me where I am.

For this country, for Lia, for any children we might have, the future needs to be bright. It has to be.

I won’t allow it to be anything but.