Kingdom Fall

It wasn’t like she’d given me a choice, so I headed back to the waiting room to get Lizzy.

“Princess, let’s go,” I said, holding out a hand to her.

She came, and I almost said, “Good girl.” But she wasn’t my submissive. She was more. She was my wife, and we had to decide what to do about that.

Dad wouldn’t be needing his driver, so I had him pick us up at the hospital. When he pulled up at the white limestone townhouse, which looked deceptively small from the outside, I was taken back to the past.

I remembered one time when Dad brought me outside to make a snowman. It was the holiday after my first semester of boarding school. One time he wasn’t too busy conquering the world—or he’d felt guilty. I could almost hear the ghost of our laughter when I got out of the car after Lizzy.

“Let me know if you need anything, sir.”

“Thanks,” I said to the driver and walked slowly up to the house. I hadn’t been here since this past Christmas, when Mom insisted we have a family holiday. Looking back, she’d probably seen the writing on the wall. Now that she and Charles were out of my father’s life, I wondered if I’d come home more often. I’d made a point to stay away. I generally met my father in the office.

“Wow,” Lizzy said. “It’s impressive.”

I stopped at the door. “For a museum, not a home.” At her quizzical expression, I added, “You’ll see once we get inside.”

Before we entered, she tapped her foot. “Heated sidewalks, huh?”

“Yeah,” I said with a frown and used a key I hadn’t used in forever to let us in. Normally, someone would be here to greet us since I only came around when there was a gathering, and my presence was required.

The double doors opened into a large foyer. This area could be locked off by the inner doors if necessary, leaving only a door that led to the library and office. That meant my father could host parties or attend to business matters at home.

“I feel underdressed,” she said, sounding awestruck.

“One of the reasons I don’t come here often.”

Her eyes were everywhere, not that I blamed her. There was so much to look at—from the ornate plaster and woodwork, to the lavish paintings and furnishings. We hadn’t gotten far when she veered off toward the open doors that led into the two-story library.

“I’ll give you the grand tour later. First I need to feed you.” The jury was out if that was my dominant need to protect or if my growing feelings for her were to blame. “Do you want to take the elevator or stairs?”

“Which floor are we going to?”

“The third.”

“We can take the stairs. I’ll follow you.”

“Ladies first,” I said.

“Thanks, but I want to watch your ass on the way up.”

I chuckled. “What if I had the same idea?”

“I called dibs,” she said, waving me forward.

The woman had a way of making me smile like no other.

We walked into the enormous kitchen I hadn’t spent a lot of time in growing up. Then again, most of my childhood had been spent at the school in upstate New York.

“Have a seat.” The island I indicated could have comfortably sat twelve. I checked the fridge and it was stocked as expected. My father could want anything at any time, so his housekeeper generally kept a little of everything on hand. “How do you feel about salmon? It’s quick and easy and takes seasoning better than most proteins on short notice.”

“How do you feel about cooking it?”

I grinned. “It’s not cooking itself.”

She had no idea what it meant for me to cook for her. My need to protect extended to making sure she was taken care of on every level.

“That would be better than my hands on it. And remember this, you could spoil this girl.”

“There are other ways you can spoil me.”

She pointed at me and grinned before asking, “Does your father cook? This is a big kitchen and would be wasted if it isn’t used.”

I laughed. “Dad cooking? No, he has a live-in housekeeper. She does most of that. Mom cooked occasionally if the housekeeper wasn’t around and Dad didn’t want to go out.”

“One housekeeper for a place this big?”

“She does maintenance. A crew comes in once a week, or more if Dad has guests.”

Her eyes bounced all over the room.

“Go ahead,” I said. “You want to explore. Dinner will be ready in fifteen.”

She left, and I prepped the food before making calls.

“Kalen,” I said when he answered. “I need you to call Dad’s lawyer. He wants to expedite the divorce.”

“So you know?”

“Mom left me a screaming message once a few months back. I heard the word divorce before I deleted it.” I didn’t involve myself in my parents’ affairs as they’d been involved very little in mine. They’d never appeared like they were a happy couple unless it was in front of guest. Otherwise, they did very little together. The divorce changed very little from my point of view, and at this point, I didn’t care if they stayed together or not.