Page 224 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 5-8

Gustav raised his eyebrows. Even when he had gotten kicked out of school, his father had not raised his voice—or shown any emotion beyond disdain. It was a reminder of how much his father wanted and expected control.

“Let’s begin,” said Gustav smoothly as Livia sat in the chair between his father and him. “I have a public campaign ready to launch that details your spending over the past five years and proposes an alternate plan for investing in the country.”

Livia stilled, and Gustav had to force himself to keep his gaze on his father.

“You have given me every reason to destroy your public image and take away your power. But my wife has challenged me to think beyond revenge.” He flashed his father a tight smile. “I admit, I am out of practice.”

The room was silent, and his father’s jaw flexed in unspent anger. Jacard was silent, his brow was deeply creased. They were both waiting to hear his next move so they could each figure out their most advantageous position. Not so long ago, the power he was wielding would have invigorated him. But right now, he just wanted to finish this conversation so that he could talk to Livia alone.

“Do you have contact with my brother?” he asked the king.

His father frowned. “He has been located.”

There was an uncharacteristic uncertainty in the king’s voice, and Gustav noted the evasiveness in his answer. There was something Gustav was missing about his brother’s disappearance. Whatever was keeping his brother away, his father was clearly not privy to it. Which implied a distance between the two men that Gustav had not suspected.

“Then you can pass on this message,” he said. “Livia and I, together, will control the money from this marriage. I am giving both you and Edvin two weeks to propose spending plans that put the welfare of this country at the center. Those plans will be considered alongside our clean-energy initiative, when Livia and I make decisions.

“I may be the Bastard Spare, but I am still a member of the royal house, and I will not waste this position on my own gratification. And that includes revenge.” He glanced at Livia, then turned back to his father. “I will not drag your excess spending to the court of public opinion, but you are done spending the country’s money on thinly veiled personal gratification.”

“I don’t care where the money goes.” Henri Jacard pounded the back of the chair with both hands. “I arranged this marriage for the benefits of a royal title, and now Livia is part of the scandal of the month. This is a breach of contract.”

Gustav froze as this new possibility spread out in front of him. Livia would have no reason to stay. “Are you suggesting you would annul the contract?”

“And the marriage.”

A familiar, dark thundercloud hovered, its dangerous bolts ready to strike at the nearest target. If Jacard annulled the contract, Livia could leave him and marry another royal. Just a few days ago, he would have been venting his anger into coldly weighing different paths to renegotiate, to make sure he maintained control of the situation. But instead, all he could think about was those last words. Her father would end their marriage.

Slowly, he turned to Livia. “Is that what you want?”

She met his gaze, and it felt as if everything that had happened between them since the day he showed up at her apartment passed between them. His manipulations in bringing her to the church, and the kiss at the altar that had hinted at something different. Her demand that they spent their married lives a continent apart. Each night on the boat that had brought them closer instead. Their last fight that had made the distance feel unbridgeable.

Was it? Could she trust him after everything that had happened between them? They had started on unequal footing, and he would never be a man for whom compromise would come easy. But as he looked at her, he knew that there was nothing more that he wanted than a life by her side, and he was willing to work as hard as he could for it.

You know me. Do you still want me? It was the question he had been too afraid to ask, and now it hung between them.

His heart thudded ominously in his chest as he waited. Finally, her bright green eyes met his, and when they softened, it was as if the weight that he had held up for his whole life, the armor that he had been holding could finally be lowered.

Then she looked at her father. “I want this marriage.”

Chapter Fourteen

The rest of the conversations went by a haze. The looks her father threw her way, everything from accusation to confusion, barely registered. The only time she spoke up was when her father pressed the king about the PR mess of the last few days.

“I want that fixed,” she said to the king. “If I see the words Bastard Spare in the news again, I will assume it is your work.”

Less than a week ago, Livia had found the king intimidating. Now she saw only entitlement. Maybe it was simply that the past few days had cut through the maneuverings and pretenses, leaving bare what was most important. Or maybe all she could focus on was the hope she had seen in Gustav’s eyes.

They walked out of the room and through the long, gilded halls of the castle, the way they had just a few days before, when he had cornered her into marrying him. Livia glanced up at Gustav, but his expression was unreadable. He was the same man, she thought, and yet everything felt different.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Somewhere far away to talk.”

They exited to an interior courtyard of the castle, and she followed him across the cobblestone under the cloud-heavy sky and into the sleek, black SUV that was waiting for them. It was only when the door closed and the car pulled away that he turned to her.

“Livia,” he whispered, his eyes soft. “You’re here.”

He rested his hand on her cheek, the way he had in the hallway of her apartment. And in that moment, she believed it was possible that everything that had once been broken and lost could be whole again. The fractures were still there, but she believed there was a chance they could fit together, stronger than before. She was trying so hard not to hope for too much, trying to tell herself that they still needed to figure out how to be together. But as they drove across the strip of land toward the city, Livia closed her eyes, suddenly overwhelmed by the mess they had made of their relationship.