The door opens and Nicole wipes her cheeks, murmuring, “Please.”
“Is something the matter?” A woman asks in a posh voice.
Victoria Clifford, Nicole’s mother, stares between us with a cool, welcoming expression.
“Nothing is wrong, Mother,” Nicole pleads with her eyes again.
She’ll end up falling, but I don’t have time for her now.
“May I help you?” Victoria
asks me.
“Yes. I’m here to see Lord Clifford.”
49
Levi
The king always falls down without his queen.
* * *
Astrid’s father stares down at me even though we’re both sitting at his office.
Uncle says that aristocrats are like that. They like to look down their noses at people. They like thinking they have royal blood and whatnot.
At the end of the day, moguls like the King Enterprises are the real royalties.
However, it’s not my name that I take pride in as I meet Lord Clifford’s icy stares.
It’s not my past or my present.
It’s the future. Mine and Astrid’s.
Lord Clifford listens with a blank expression as I tell him everything I uncovered.
Once he finishes watching the clips of footage I sent, he closes the laptop. Aside from the slight tightening in his jaw, he doesn’t show any reaction.
Man of steel. Just like Jonathan.
His desk is large and made of mahogany wood, but aside from the laptop and his glass of scotch, there aren’t many belongings.
“You do realise that there’s enough evidence to implicate you for arson and withholding evidence. You’re already eighteen, so it’ll be full charges,” he speaks in a calm and composed tone as if he’s in a meeting at the House of Lords.
“Actually, there’s no proof of me doing any arson. I know all the cameras, so I made sure to move in their blind spots. As for withholding evidence, the police lost the footage. Their incompetence isn’t my fault. Last I checked, recovering a spoilt flash drive I found lying about on our property isn’t a crime. Putting all that aside. In case of any charges, Jonathan will make sure I come out unscathed.”
Lord Clifford’s lips pull in a sardonic smile. “You’re that scoundrel’s blood indeed. Does he teach you to be dicks?”
“It’s natural. Comes with the family name.”
He raises an eyebrow. “But he’s holding you on a leash. What you just did will ruin your future and force you to spend seven more years under that tyrant’s hands.”
“How…” I clear my throat. “How did you know that?”
“You think I wouldn’t search the background of someone I found in bed with my only daughter?”
“Touché.”