Forbidden Fate (Crowne Point 3)

My towel fell to the floor. I walked into my closet and ripped off an empty hanger, throwing it to the ground.

I had to buy the Crownes presents, every single one of them, including cousins I didn’t know the names of.

I ripped another velvety soft hanger off the softly lit walls. Empty. All. Empty.

I dropped to the floor amid broken and empty hangers, focused on breathing, on not passing out. I knew who’d taken them.

The servants.

They were still trying to drive me out.

I needed to buy a whole new wardrobe. I’d need to somehow hide all of it so the servants didn’t see, or I’d just keep losing money.

I’d have nothing when I left. I wanted to save the money for my baby. Nothing for a new life…

A sound startled me out of my thoughts. I looked up, finding West watching me. He was in a burgundy suit with a dark-blue bow tie that somehow worked, in a way only a rich person could pull off. And I was…naked.

I was fucking naked.

I hurriedly reached for my discarded towel.

“How long have you been standing there?” I asked, scrambling to my feet.

“I knocked. Thought I heard you. Sorry, Angel.” His brow furrowed at the mess I’d made in my closet.

“I…” I held out a finger, as if I’d find my point. “I, uh…”

“The servants are fucking with you,” he said easily. He bent down, picking up my discarded hangers, the pearls that had come flying off their handles when I’d broken them.

“West, you don’t—”

“I want to help. Let me help.”

I couldn’t just sit and watch him clean up my mess, so I got down on my knees as well. Together we cleaned up the rest of my panic attack.

“Thanks,” I said, once everything was piled up. “How did you know? About the servants?”

“I’ve seen plenty of servants fuck with each other back at the manor.”

We were still on our hands and knees, facing each other. Wet hair had fallen across my eyes. One of my hands held my towel together, and the other kept me righted on the floor.

“They’d been nicer lately. I guess I just thought…I don’t know I hoped they forgot about me.”

“Firing one of them quiets them for a little, but in the long run, pisses them off,” he said.

I wrinkled my brow. “But I haven’t fired anyone.”

“Angel…” He laughed, trailing off like I was missing something important, then West pushed my hair behind my ear. “Have you given any more thought to my offer?”

His offer…to give him a chance? A real chance?

“Don’t let me interrupt.” Grayson’s icy voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I jerked my head in the direction of his voice, finding him in the doorway.

His eyes flamed, taking in me and West, on the floor, West’s hand resting on my cheek. I felt like I’d been caught by a lover.

I stood. “What the hell?”

“Oh r