All his life, he had people deciding his fate which was why he’d rebelled against what was best for him. Maybe Anna was right to leave him because he shouldn’t have put his mistakes on her shoulders or anyone else’s. So that ended. Now. “You’re not controlling me, because I’m the future king.”
His father said, “You have never referred to yourself that way, until now.”
Maybe his father understood. He watched as the dark storm came toward the island. Soon the island would face another battering so the interviews had been canceled. They would stay in the castle tonight, which meant Anna couldn’t leave, not yet. “Francesca is my problem, no one else’s.”
His mother then said, “Have Pierre-”
“He will follow my directives,” Leo stated. It was time he fixed his own mistakes, no matter what they were.
His father chuckled. “Protect our family name, son. It’s paramount that the people trust us.”
“Always.” He hoped that protection included his unborn child. This time he was fully going to make all choices, in everything.
The staff was closing all the windows as water pellets hit the glass.
Tonight’s storm would be intense.
He’d changed out of his suit and into black jeans and a plain t-shirt. The castle and island had weathered storms for millennia, but in the event there was a problem he could pitch in and help.
The castle was quiet except for the whipping winds. Anna wasn’t at his side and he missed her.
His heart was still sore—what would he say to Anna?
A divorce didn’t solve anything. Part of him wanted to break something, but he couldn’t. The gym wasn’t going to help so he picked up the phone and called someone he hadn’t talked to in a long while. The phone clicked on the second ring and he answered as a greeting, “Katherine.”
His sister sounded like she stretched before she said, “I hadn’t expected you to call. Aren’t you on your honeymoon after your whirlwind wedding?”
Whirlwind was a great description of the past forty-eight hours, but he’d go back to that later. Choosing Anna had been the most natural fit. The storm outside pelted the windows. “I wish we could have waited for you and your husband to arrive.”
His sister scoffed. “Mom and Dad finally cornered you to agree to what they’d been planning for a year.”
Shocked, he asked, “What?”
His sister laughed like she always did when she had an opinion he’d usually ignore, but today… he listened as she said, “Mom hired Anna to watch her and see if she should be your bride. You weren’t making the best choices.”
His thumb tapped the window pane as he tried to put what his sister said together with what Anna had told him. “Mom made a promise to Anna’s mother to watch out for her.”
His sister whistled. “That explains why she even knew her name. I wondered about that part, though I have a hard time imagining our mother befriending anyone socially beneath her.”
So his family all knew why Anna had been hired as his secretary for the past year. He closed his eyes and listened to the rain fall as he said, “Doesn’t matter. And Mom was young once.”
“You’re right.” Katherine asked, “Are you not happy? I saw how you went to Anna all the time whenever I was visiting the parents. For any little thing.”
So everyone had paid attention to his every movement, which shouldn’t surprise him. He’d been in the spotlight since his birth. He stood taller as lightning flashed outside. “Francesca is pregnant.”
His sister’s intake of breath told him plenty. “Oh, baby brother.”
Leo needed to handle this without interference and his sister was probably the one person he trusted to not tell him what to do—she would expect for him to handle everything. “I have Pierre handling negotiations for her silence.”
“And Anna?”
The reason he’d called was Anna, as he needed a clear head but he said firmly, “Neither she nor our mother will make any decisions.”
Katherine’s tone grew clipped. “She’s being consulted?”
“Mother?” he asked to clarify. Asking Anna to help had been a mistake.
His sister then said, “No. Anna. Your wife.”
