Chapter 79

Alexander POV

I had to respect Ella for handling the awkward situation so directly. She continually surprised me. She was a woman of many contradictions—intelligent and shrewd, but at times, surprisingly innocent and naive.

Yet, when it came to the most important things, she didn’t mince words. Despite the nervousness in her voice, she spoke clearly, stating exactly what she meant. I appreciated that, and oddly enough, it made me like her even more.

It was strange to admit to myself that a woman essentially rejecting me made me like her more. But it wasn’t really a rejection, was it? It was a confession.

Ella had admitted she had feelings for me; she just believed it was a bad idea to act on them. I found myself in the same position.

My own past experiences had shown me that I had no intention of ever settling down. And since I respected her so much, it wouldn’t be fair to string her along, getting her hopes up for something that could never be.

Not that I would intentionally string her along—there was just something about her that made me drop my guard, made me act impulsively. It was contrary to my nature and everything I had worked so hard to attain.

It was dangerous. But, of course, that danger only drew me to her more, like a moth to a flame. I was a man who had always enjoyed a bit of risk, so it wasn’t surprising.

What bothered me, though, was that I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what made Ella feel dangerous to me. Sure, there was the David factor, but I had no real fear of him. Despite his connections to dangerous people and his tenacity, when it came down to it, I was stronger—and he knew it just as well as I did.

No, it was something else about Ella, something I couldn’t understand. I had used every contact and resource at my disposal to look into her. I had far too many unanswered questions about her.

How did she know the things she knew? How were her instincts so sharp? I had a million questions and no answers.

It made August suspicious, and I couldn’t blame him. He was convinced that Ella had some ulterior motive for approaching me, but there was no evidence of that.

None of my investigations had revealed anything out of the ordinary. She was a perfectly normal woman.

In fact, until recently, she had seemed like a spoiled, ditzy princess. Every person I spoke to who knew her described her the same way: odd, awkward, and privileged. The only child of doting parents, she had never wanted for anything and had never worked a day in her life.

She couldn’t have been more different from me.

And yet, that description felt like it belonged to someone else entirely. The Ella I had come to know was far more complex, far more intriguing.

Something must have happened to her, something that changed her, and the thought had become an obsession for me. I couldn’t explain why—and I knew it was a mistake to become so interested—but I couldn’t help myself.

The danger factor went two ways. It wasn’t just that something about Ella felt dangerous to me—being with me was dangerous for her.

And she had no way of knowing just how dangerous. I couldn’t tell her the whole truth, couldn’t trust anyone with it. That was why I had to protect her.

What happened with David disturbed me deeply. Ella should have been safe under my protection, yet I had come so close to losing her. It was infuriating, especially given how sloppy David’s plan was. But maybe it only seemed that way because of the manic, frantic way he executed it.

The fact remained: he knew Ella’s schedule and her habits when she was in the capital. He knew about her bodyguard and the tea shop she frequented. And not only had he known all of that, but he had used it against her.

He bribed the barista, poisoned her drink, and came armed, ready to take James out of the picture.

I wasn’t lying when I told David that James was the only reason his plan failed. If James hadn’t had the sense to call me and alert me to the situation before he passed out...

I didn’t know what David planned to do to Ella, but I knew it wouldn’t have been good. He was obsessed—with her power, her position. To him, Ella was just a pawn. And I had no doubt David wouldn’t hesitate to break his toys if it suited his twisted agenda.

David’s connections to the Rogues were relatively new, according to my sources. He must have thought manipulating Ella would be easy, and in his desperation after losing control of her, he began reaching out to less-than-reputable friends to help fix what he had screwed up.

But it clearly wasn’t working for him. He was too brash and arrogant to navigate the criminal underworld. If he kept pushing his luck, he was going to get himself killed messing with the wrong people.

It took a cold, calculating person to survive with one foot in civilized society and the other in the underworld. David lacked both the intelligence and the level-headedness to pull it off. That only made him more dangerous to Ella.

And then there was Amanda. She seemed to have an even darker side than David. She’d been laying low since the wedding, and I couldn’t blame her.

If I were in her position, I wouldn’t show my face in public either. But I didn’t trust that she was gone for good. My contacts were keeping a close eye on her, and the minute she made a move, I’d know.

Ella and I weren’t going to be lovers, and we certainly weren’t going to be anything more than that. But she had become important to me, and I would use every resource at my disposal to protect her from those who meant her harm.

In return, I had no doubt that Ella would hand me the kingdom, whether she realized it or not. There was something about her that people loved—the public was drawn to her, invested in her, and they took her words seriously.

Ella spoke well of me, and having her by my side softened all the rumors and suspicions that had always swirled around me. Whatever the truth about me was, it didn’t matter. What mattered was the persona I projected.

And Ella made that persona far more palatable.

Ella wanted to stick to our contract, and so that’s what I would do. The agreement was simple: I would help her, and she would help me.

Our partnership would only end after I became king. Until that moment, she was my top priority. Anyone who threatened her was a threat to me, and anyone who made her unhappy would answer to me.

The sound of a phone ringing cut through my thoughts. Ella’s eyes went wide and she rushed to retrieve her phone from my bedroom.

She came back a moment later with the phone to her ear. She had a slight blush on her face and a concerned expression.

“Alexander, my father would like you to bring me home. He wants to talk to both of us about what happened yesterday,” she said hesitantly.

“We’ll be there in an hour,” I said, loudly enough for the phone to pick up my voice.

Ella looked at me apologetically, then turned her attention back to the phone. I went into my room to get dressed and allow her some privacy to speak to her father.

I knew I was setting a dangerous precedent, blurring the lines between the reality of our situation and the farce we had agreed to carry out. But the truth was, I didn’t care. I wanted to support Ella through this difficult time, and I knew that facing her parents would be easier if she wasn’t alone.

I enjoyed being around Ella. She made me feel lighter, in a way I hadn’t felt in years, and I wasn’t ready to let go of that feeling. Not yet. Holding on to it for as long as possible—however dangerous it might be—was worth the risk.