Chapter 5
"Philippe is here?" I blurted, utterly shocked.
Michel nodded. "His guards called me during the drive so I could let the building security know."
"Did they say why?" I was extremely happy to see my brother, but something had to be wrong if he'd come here, particularly unannounced.
Michel shook his head. "They wouldn't tell me. Then Philippe picked up the phone and told me it was too important to discuss in any way other than in person."
My first thought was that my brother might be sick, or maybe one of our parents, and he wanted to break it to me in person. But I couldn't see him coming here for that. He would have asked me to come home.
"Do you want me to take Dani home?"
I grunted in frustration. "No. I told Dani we needed to talk. If I send her home now, she's going to freak the fuck out. I'll just have to figure something out so I can talk to Philippe in private."
"His guards will be at your front door," Michel warned me.
Son of a bitch. Then I breathed a sigh of relief. "She's grown up with bodyguards because of her wealth. She knows you're mine, so I don't think she'll find it odd that my brother has security."
"Tristan?"
I schooled my expression and turned my head to smile at my princess. She'd climbed out of the car and was watching us curiously. "Is everything okay?"
"Absolutely, princesse. Michel was just telling me that my brother dropped by for a visit."
Dani's face lit up, and she beamed a smile at me. "That's fantastic! I can't wait to meet him." Her expression turned cheeky. "And ask him about all the embarrassing stories from your childhood."
I lifted my chin at Michel, then grinned at Dani as I walked to the trunk of the car to retrieve our bags. "I'm sure he'll be more than happy to take the opportunity to embarrass me."
Dani giggled and walked over to take the hand I held out. "Don't worry, my brothers and sisters will no doubt spill all my secrets."
We entered the building and got lucky when there was an open elevator waiting. As we ascended to my floor, I pulled Dani into my body and kissed her. I poured all of my love into it, hoping she would feel the depth and remember it when I told her the truth.
"I love you. More than anything. Tell me you know that deep down in your soul."
Dani glanced up at me with her lips curved down and her eyes worried. "Is everything okay?"
"Just tell me," I insisted.
"Of course, I do, Tristan. It's every bit as much as I love you."
The elevator dinged, and we stepped off. Turning to the left, we saw two large men dressed in black and obviously packing, standing in front of my door.
Both guards had been with my brother for at least a decade. They smiled when they saw me approaching and nodded respectfully before murmuring, "Bonsoir, Votre Altesse."
Shit. I muttered a greeting back, then hustled Dani into the apartment before she could ask any questions.
"Um…did I just hear them call you ‘your majesty'?"
"Yes," I grunted as I set our bags down and reached for her hand.
"Was that a joke?"
"Un blague?" my brother asked.
Our heads turned toward the living room to see my brother standing by the door to the balcony.
"Yes," Dani replied in French. "A joke. They called Tristan ‘your majesty.'"
Philippe"s gaze shifted to me, and he quirked a brow, then looked back at Dani. "Your French is flawless."
"Merci."
"You are Tristan's girlfriend?"
"Fiancée," she corrected. "Dani."
I glared at Philippe. He knew exactly who the fuck she was to me.
"Is that so? Well, Dani, since the cat seems to have Tristan's tongue. Let me introduce myself. I'm his brother, Philippe. Crown Prince of Auclair."
Dani gaped at my brother, and I scowled, pissed as fuck that he'd blurted it out like that. "Crown Prince?" She slowly turned her head to look at me, her eyes wide and filled with hurt. "And that would make you…"
"Runner-up," Philippe quipped.
"Ferme ta gueule," I growled. I shackled Dani's wrist, worried that she was about to make a run for it. I turned to face her and sighed. "Princesse…"
"You lied to me," she stated as she stared at the floor, her voice filled with anguish.
I started to argue that omitting wasn't lying, but really, whether it was or not, she didn't deserve to be contradicted. I'd hurt her, and that was the only truth I cared about. "Yes," I admitted. "I regret it more than you could possibly know, princesse."
"Don't call me that," she rasped, swiping angrily at the tears that were beginning to fall.
My heart fractured. "That's what you are to me."
"Because you are literally freaking royalty, Tristan."
"Doesn't that tell you how much you mean to me, Dani? I've known since the moment we met that you were meant for me. My princess."
"Why did you lie, then?"
I sighed and held my hands out to my sides. "I'm used to keeping my royal status under the radar. When I meet people who don't know who I am, I appreciate being treated like a normal guy."
"You thought I would treat you differently?" The hurt in her voice intensified, and I wanted to beat my head against a wall.
"No, baby. I'm saying it was instinct."
"Then why continue to keep it a secret?"
I huffed out a frustrated breath and ran my hands through my hair. "I didn't intend to keep you in the dark this long. But then you told me how much you hated being in the limelight growing up, and I started to freak out that you would leave me when you discovered who I was because it meant being in the spotlight again. I started to tell you so many times…"
"How could you propose to me without telling me who you really are?" She was playing with the ring, but I took it as a good sign that she hadn't yet taken it off.
"That isn't who I am, Dani. You know the real me. It's just a title, and even though I deal with media shit from time to time, I'm only the spare, princesse."
One corner of Dani's mouth lifted, and I felt the crack in my heart become just a tiny bit smaller.
"Uh, Brother," Philippe interrupted.
I swung my gaze in his direction and shot daggers at him. I should have taken Dani back to our bedroom to talk. But I was afraid that if we were near a bed, I would try to convince her with orgasms, and she needed to make this decision uncoerced.
"We need to talk before you say anything else." He stared directly into my eyes, and I could see how serious he was. "It's important. For both of you."
I didn't want to listen to what Philippe had to say. I wanted to focus on Dani, but something in his eyes, his demeanor, worried me. "Fine."
"I'll…um…get going," Dani muttered, making a move toward the door.
"No!" I shouted, grabbing her hand. "Please. Don't leave. We need to finish this discussion." She looked as if she was wavering, so I said again, "Please."
After a long pause, she nodded. "I'll go to the office and work on a paper."
"Thank you, princesse." She didn't correct me, and hope trickled into my chest.
When she was gone, I turned to my brother and crossed my arms over my chest. "What the fuck is so important that you had to come here and possibly ruin the best thing that's ever happened to me?" I seethed in French.
Philippe stuck his hands in his pockets and swiveled around to look out the sliding glass door. "Knowing you've met someone makes this so much harder," he murmured. "I can see how much you love each other."
Dread filled me at the torment I heard in his voice. I wasn't sure what he was going to say, but I knew it wasn't good. "What's going on?"
He pivoted once again, and his eyes were on me, but they seemed to be looking right through me. "I…I met someone, too."
I cocked my head to the side and studied him, confused. "That's great, Philippe. Our parents must be thrilled. Why do you look like you're about to step in front of a firing squad?"
"Because you will probably want to kill me when I tell you the rest." He huffed a frustrated breath and ran his hands through his hair, something we had in common. "She's related to Nic DeLuca."
I blanched, then shook my head, sure I hadn't heard him right. "DeLuca? Nic DeLuca, as in the Mafia boss who owns half of Manhattan and is related to the mob princess who owns the rest?"
"Yes."
I grimaced. "By marriage or blood?"
"Blood."
"Distant cousin?" I hoped.
My brother shook his head. "You got half of that right, but she's a first cousin."
"Well, fuck."
"Exactly. I don"t care about her family, but you know our countrymen will. I've met Nic and most of his family," Philippe confessed. "I truly believe he wouldn't do anything to hurt my woman or me, or mess with the monarchy. But I can't convince everyone in our country of that. And if someone ever wanted to take us down, all they have to do is imply that the DeLucas are influencing the monarchy."
I ran my hands through my hair, then clenched the strands, pulling on them as if it might clear some of this shit in my head. What he'd said all ran together until it finally hit me. "You're going to abdicate."
Philippe nodded.
"Son of a bitch." This was not what I'd expected of my life. I always knew it was a possibility if something happened to my brother. And I'd been trained my whole life how to be king—like any good spare. But I had no desire to rule, and I never expected to become king because my brother fell in love and stepped down. "Philippe…"
"I hate that I'm dumping this on your shoulders. It was never your ambition. But if you don't step up, the Beauchenes will become the new royal line."
Fuck, fuck, fuck.The Beauchenes were our father's sister's family. "They're lazy, entitled, selfish assholes," I snarled. "They have no sense of pride or duty, and they would bankrupt the country within five years."
Philippe nodded. "I know you forbade me to do it, but I did a deep dive into Dani."
"Qu"est-ce que c"est que cette merde?" I cursed in a low growl. I was shocked and angry that he'd invaded Dani's privacy, especially when I'd explicitly told him not to.
"I knew you were hopelessly in love with her, and I needed to know if she could be queen. I know you're pissed, but what I found was only positive. I know our people will love her."
Taking a deep breath, I wandered to the balcony and yanked the door open, needing fresh air. I grasped the wrought-iron railing and leaned forward, looking up at the stars.
Philippe stepped out behind me and closed the door. "I'm sorry, Tristan. I don't know what else to say. Except that I have no doubt you will be an excellent king."
"I don't want to be king," I muttered. "And Dani…fuck, I don't know if she would…I know she loves me, and I'm pretty sure she would agree if I asked. But she'd be fucking miserable."
"There is no other option. You understand why I have to do this. I love her and will give up anything to be with her."
Twisting my head in his direction, I scrutinized him as I asked, "Even if it means condemning me to a life I never wanted? Me and Dani. "
Philippe put his hands in his pockets, and his head fell forward, then he looked up and met my gaze with a determined glint. "Even then. She will always be my priority."
The bitch of it all was that I couldn't even blame him.
I shifted to face him with my arms crossed over my chest and my hip leaning on the railing. "There's a solution we aren't seeing. There has to be."
Philippe half smiled and chuckled. "We should call Céline. She's always been the most logical of the three of us. She"s practically the face of our family these days anyway." He laughed ruefully. "We've pawned off everything we can on her, and I should feel guilty, but she's so fucking good at it all. And she doesn't seem to mind. But she could probably help because she knows the laws inside and…" Philippe trailed off.
I imagined the look on his face mirrored mine because I was pretty sure we were having the same thought. "Céline."
Philippe frowned. "The law says the throne passes to the male heir."
"There has to be some way around it," I insisted. "Dad is the fucking king. He should be able to change an archaic law like that."
"We need to go home. We'll all figure this out together."
I nodded. "I need to talk to Dani and pack. We'll meet you at Teterboro in a few hours."
"Bringing her to meet the family, huh?" Philippe's tone was teasing.
"No time like the present."