Page 134 of The Royal Art of Revenge

“That would be your fault, William.”

Once again, he freezes.

“She’s been here for more than two years and she’s gotten… what? Scraps of attention when she does something you deem acceptable? Like taking the blame for Jasmine’s wrongdoings?”

Panic flitters across his face, and he opens his mouth to respond, but I beat him to it.

“Oh, don’t deny it. You see, you might not listen to your daughter, but I do. I listen to every word she tells me, and I believe her. That’s why I don’t buy the story that Jasmine was so provoked by Harriet that all she could do was resort to violence.” I link my fingers together and stretch them out in front of me, cracking my knuckles. “Harriet has been nothing but provoked since the day she returned to St Peters, and she has yet to strike anyone. And not once has anyone tried to protect her. Yet one little slight towards Jasmine and you’re rushing to excuse your younger daughter’s actions with a consideration you’ve never shown to your eldest.”

“Our bonds are very different. I mostly raised Jasmine. There’s twenty years unaccounted for in my relationship with Harriet, and—”

“That’s a coward’s excuse.” The words come out harsher than I intend, and I sit up straight, staring at him. “It’s a weak sack of bullshit, and you know it. You’ve erased Francesca from this house, and I don’t doubt you’d have happily continued living as if Harriet never existed if she hadn’t come back. If Her Majesty had approved Jasmine as my fiancée as you’d intended, would you have ever come clean about Harriet’s return? Or would you have sent her away to live under a secret name for the rest of her life? You used and continue to use her trust fund against her, after all, so I wouldn’t put it past you.”

He sits upright and slams his hand on the desk. “Your Royal Highness, that—”

“Get your daughter in line.” My cold words reverberate through the room. “I do not care if Harriet kicks her, bites her, or runs her over with a freight train in front of an entire crowd of people on live television. I do not care how ‘provoked’ Jasmine believes herself to be. After everything she’s done to Harriet, she can take it.”

“That’s hardly fair.”

“Not fair? Might I remind you that your daughter physically assaulted someone who is soon to be a member of the Royal Family? That she’s lying in bed in this house right now through nothing more than Harriet’s sheer grace?”

His grip on his glass tightens with a twitch, and his whitening knuckles tell me everything I need to know about the temper he’s trying to keep under control.

One that, ironically, he shares with the daughter he seems to so dislike.

“The only reason Jasmine wasn’t arrested and charged is because Harriet pleaded for her to be let go. And let me make it very clear, William.” I stand up and flatten my hands on the desk, staring down at him. “I do not agree with her. I don’t believe she should have been merely escorted away. If I had my way, your precious youngest daughter would either be in a jail cell or out on bail right now, not dillydallying about scot-free to whine about how hard done by she thinks she is.”

He flinches away from me.

“If she ever—and I mean ever—lays another hand on my fiancée, that’s exactly what will happen to her. I will personally make sure she’s arrested and charged with the highest crime possible. Don’t think I will stop there, either. I will hit this household where it hurts until the lesson has been learnt.”

William’s cheek flush, and anger makes his jaw tick. “Are you threatening us, Your Royal Highness?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m threatening you. I’m threatening you, your family, your business. I’m threatening everything you hold dear.” I hold his gaze unwaveringly. “You know better than anyone the power the Royal Family has—the power we can have should we choose to wield it. If anyone touches her again, I will make your lives miserable. I told you before that I chose her, that I choose her, and I meant it. This isn’t a game or a passing fancy. Harriet will be my wife, the Crown Princess, the future Queen, and I will not have her disrespected. I thought I made that perfectly clear in our first meeting.”

He swallows, backing down. “Yes, you did.”

“Evidently not to Jasmine.”

“I will speak with her.” He briefly closes his eyes and rubs his forehead. “Her behaviour was, of course, unacceptable, regardless of her reasonings.”

“It will not happen again. Not if she wants any semblance of a happy life.” I push away from the desk and straight up, still staring down at him. “I’m not the only person in this city who would move Heaven and Earth for Harriet, merely the first. I’m not even close to the worst person Jasmine could cross. You would do well to remember it.”

He swallows, then bows his head. “I understand. As you said, it won’t happen again.”

“Make sure of it.” I walk around the desk towards the door when his voice rings out.

“Would you ask her to visit?”

I stop.

Am I hearing things?

Did he just fucking ask me if Harriet would visit?

I turn to meet his gaze, and he flinches again. A brief flash of panic crosses his face when I don’t speak, but just as he opens his mouth to presumably take it back, I scoff.

“Why would she want to return here?”