Heartless Hero (Crowne Point 1)

I held out my left hand, where a simple rose gold ring wrapped around my finger and small, rough-cut pieces of translucent seashells refracted light. I thought it some kind of poetry to use my own jewelry.

I was saving myself, after all.

It didn’t matter there was no record of any marriage. I gave the press a good story and enough information for it to seem legit. Oh, what a scandal. I eloped right after the press announcement of my engagement. Everyone ate it up. I’d been on such good behavior, after all, but now I was back to starting fires.

“They came out this morning,” I said. “I fell in love with my bodyguard. All those late nights and close quarters. Guess they figured it out.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie. I had fallen in love. For the first time, I recognized the power in truth. It not only destroyed my mother but cut me in the process.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” she all but hissed.

“I imagine the acquisition will fall through. Marrying Ned will as well. You’ll take away my trust fund, my equity, and leave me with nothing, then kick me out. Oh, and you’ll have to disown me. Publicly.”

Her eyes slimmed. “You want a punishment?”

“A reward.”

I swear I saw a look of admiration in her face, but it faded quickly.

“I was never a princess. I was always a reject.”

A moment passed, Mom studying me like I was some new creature, not her daughter.

“Was it worth it?” she asked.

I would lose my family, my mother, my grandfather, and my siblings. I’d be left with no money—nothing. Was it?

Yes.

I kept waiting for the time I wouldn’t be afraid, as if that was the moment my love for Theo would become real, but love isn’t real without fear. Love is fear. Fearing it can be taken away, but trusting him not to. Jumping into a black abyss without a bungee cord.

?

??You might want to find that dog of yours before he runs loose,” she said obliquely. “Take what you want out of your room. I don’t know how you’re going to carry it, or where you’re going. I don’t care. You’re gone by tonight.”

Oddly enough, she wasn’t angry, and her eyes had softened.

I nodded, smiling now, and turned to leave, fully expecting to be cut out like the stories had led me to believe.

I was at the door when my mother’s voice stopped me.

“Abigail,” she said. I spun around, bracing for the next round of Tansy’s bullets. “That ring is quite lovely.”

It was the first time my mother had ever said anything about my handmade jewelry.

“See you at Christmas… daughter.”

Then she smiled. My mother smiled.

The gates to Crowne Hall were swarming with press, and Ned was just inside them, walking up the cobblestone steps. When he saw me, he ran.

“Why would you do this?”

“It’s all a mistake,” I said. “We can still be together, Ned. Run away with me.”

He ran a hand through his hair, obviously torn. I stepped closer to him, eyes big. Lush, green hedges fenced us, the flash of the paparazzi just a few feet beyond.

“We can live off the grid, foraging for our food. I saved all your roses”—lie—“we can eat them and live off our love.”