“God, I hope it’s not the Duke of Cornhole,” Magnus says, getting to his feet. “With those ears, I bet he hears everything.”
I hear the front door open and Einar talking to someone in Norwegian. He sounds rather gruff and angry and I can’t understand what he’s saying.
“What is he saying?” I ask Magnus, but Magnus is already heading out into the hall. I catch a look of fear in his eyes.
This isn’t good.
I get up from the couch and hurry after them.
I round the corner into the foyer and stop dead in my tracks when I see who is at the door.
Heidi Fucking Lundström.
Standing there in a big, furry coat that makes me cringe thinking how many bears probably died for it, holding a manila envelope in her hand. Behind her in the driveway is a waiting car with the prime minister’s insignia on it.
Her eyes are wild and dark as she looks at Magnus, shaking the envelope at him and the moment she spots me, they seem to turn into something more wicked.
“I guess you need to hear this too,” she says in English.
Magnus gives me a wide-eyed look, his jaw firm, shaking his head for me to stay back, but there’s no way that is happening.
I go over to them. “What is this? What’s going on?”
Heidi looks up at Einar. “I don’t think you should stay for this. Unless you think I’m a threat.”
Einar glances at Magnus, waiting for his instruction.
Magnus just gives him a solemn nod.
Einar walks off, though I know he won’t go very far.
Which makes me wonder, she said she wasn’t a threat but usually people who say that are. Is she carrying a knife with her?”
“How did you get in here?” I ask.
“Took my father’s car,” she says with a shrug. Then her eyes go all blazing hot again and she looks at Magnus. “So nice of your mother to invite me to the wedding. I know that had nothing to do with you.”
“What do you want, Heidi?” Magnus says, crossing his arms and taking a wide stance with his legs.
She’s not intimidated. “What do I want? What do I want?” She lets out an acidic laugh. “I want a palace, just like this one. Maybe this one. I want prestige and money and adoration. I want my face on a coin. I want a title. I want the power that my father refuses to give me. I want every single thing that Princess Ella here has. Including you, Magnus. Especially you.”
And this chick is on the one-way train to Crazy Town. Next stop, Delusionville.
I look at Magnus, brows raised, my mouth open. I would laugh but there’s something about her delivery, something about the fact that she’s actually here, having, what, stolen her father’s car, that makes me think twice.
This isn’t funny.
This isn’t going to end well either.
“Heidi,” Magnus says as gently and sternly as he can, “you know that what we had is over. I’m married to Ella now. She is my wife. We are very happy. I know you tend to get, uh, wrapped up in things and feelings, I know you have your issues you need to deal with, but I promise you, this isn’t the answer. We had a nice time. It’s in the past. I moved on and you need to too.”
She stares blankly at him, her lower lip trembling for a moment.
Then she tilts her head and says, “No.”
“You need to leave,” Magnus says after a beat, seeming a bit taken aback by her reaction, just as I am. “If you don’t leave, I will have to make you leave.”
“I’m not leaving until you know the truth,” she says, then looks at me. “Until she knows the truth.”
She slaps the folder against Magnus’s chest.
“What is this?” he asks.
“It’s a paternity test.”
My stomach sinks.
Oh my god.
No.
“A…what?” Magnus asks, quickly fumbling to get the papers out of the folder.
“A paternity test,” she says. “I’m pregnant, Magnus. And you’re the father.”
No.
There is no way.
“She’s lying,” I manage to say, my words choked, my hand at my chest as if to keep my heart intact. “This is impossible.”
She gives me a sharp smile. “It’s not impossible. We last had sex in mid-September. That was four months ago.” She reaches forward and taps the folder. “That proves everything.”
I can’t believe this is happening.
This can’t be happening.
My chest is constricting, I don’t think I can breathe.
Magnus looks absolutely dumbfounded, his face growing pale. “I never gave you my DNA.”
“If you think my father doesn’t have your DNA on file somewhere, you would be sorely mistaken.”
“You’re not showing…” I say, but I trail off as she opens her coat and pulls up the sweater she’s wearing. She’s a thin girl but her belly is definitely sticking out and round, more than the beginning of a bump.
Holy fuck.
I can only shake my head and try to process it.
But I can’t.
I can’t.
This can’t be happening.
This is going to change everything.
Everything I have is going to disappear.
“You’re lying,” I tell her again, finding my voice, the last shred of hope I can cling to. “You’re lying just like you lied about the sex video. You leaked it, you shared it. You wanted the publicity. This is the same. Well I’m telling you, it’s not going to work.”
She bares her teeth at me in the nastiest smile. “It’s working because it’s the truth. And soon, every single person will know that I’m pregnant with the Prince’s baby, a baby conceived while the two of you should have been together. If you think I’m going to just let Magnus off the hook, oh boy, you poor little girl, you’re sorely mistaken.”
Magnus is silent, stewing, simmering. His eyes are flickering with a mix of rage and shame. “What do you want?”
She laughs. “Isn’t it obvious? You.” She points at me. “Her. I want her life. And I want her out of the picture.”
“That’s not going to happen,” he says in a calm, measured voice. “She’s my wife.”
“And I’m going to fuck shit up for both of you, so you might as well let her go before I do.”
“I’m not letting her go,” Magnus says. “We just…we just have to figure something out. Money. That’s what you want, it’s money.”
“It’s you. I have money.”
“Listen, Heidi. I’m sorry…”
“Are you telling me that the Crown Prince won’t support his child? Is that the kind of father you want to be? The world is going to judge you on this, but you should be judging yourself. This child is going to grow up without a father’s love.”
Oh my god. I’m going to be sick.
This is actually happening.
He’s going to be a father, a father of someone else’s baby.
I can’t handle this.
“Heidi, have some compassion,” Magnus says, his voice barely a whisper. He’s losing the fight and he knows it.
I know it.
Oh god.
“You have some compassion for me,” Heidi says. “I’ll let you keep these files just in case you don’t believe me. Trust me, I have more than enough copies at home, you know, in case my father or the press wants to see. Perhaps your father, hmmm?”
“Look,” Magnus says, gasping for air as he runs his hand through his hair, tugging on the ends in frustration. “Let’s just…I need to process all of this. So does Ella. Give us a few days and then we can figure something out.”
Heidi crosses her arms and looks between the two of us, smiling at our stunned and staggered expressions. Smiling because she’s winning.
“Okay. I’ll be back. But just so you know, there isn’t much to figure out, Magnus. Everything going forward is all about you and me. It’s that simple.”
Then she turns around and flounces out of the door and down the stairs.
Magnus barely has enough strength to close the door behind her and collapses against it, staring at the tiled floor in a daze. “This isn’t happening,” he says. “This can’t be happening to us. Not now. Fuck, not now!” He yells and pounds his fist against the door.
I should calm him down but I’m equally as mad, and as the seconds go by I find myself growing more mad at him.
“Say something,” Magnus says, glancing at me through his hair in his eyes. “Please. Ella. Say something.”
My mouth opens, trying to find words. Heat builds behind my eyes. “I can’t believe this.”
“I know…”
“I can’t believe you.”
He glances at me sharply. “What? Me?”
“Why did you have to sleep with her of all people? Aren’t you picky at all? Don’t you have standards?”
He frowns, incredulous. “What does that have to do with it?”
“Because you slept with her and you probably knew she was bad news. Now she’s here, trying to ruin our lives. Oh my god, Magnus. We’re newlyweds. We just…this isn’t fair. I didn’t…I can’t do this,” I tell him, doing everything I can to hold back the tears. “No, I can’t handle this, not right now.”
“Ella, please. Don’t do anything.”
“I need to think. I need to…Magnus. Don’t you know what position this puts me in?”
“Don’t you know what position it puts me in?”
“Yes. As a father. Because you reap what you sow,” I say bitterly, practically spitting out the words.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. You fucked her, over and over again, not caring that she was nuts. You make this god damn sex tape. You do all these things because you don’t have a fucking brain, because you’re reckless, you’re irresponsible, you’re selfish.” I know what I’m saying hurts him, but I can’t stop, the frustration and fear is too strong. “It’s your inability to think about any consequences that got us into this mess!”