Only once they heard her exit the apartments all together, did Alex speak. “I spoke to your parents.”
She raised her eyebrows in surprise, then relaxed into resignation. “Oh?”
He stayed by the door but shifted on his feet. “They told me about all the threats and hate mail you’ve been receiving.”
“Oh.” Was he really all that surprised by it? Everyone in the family got threats, and she’d certainly gotten them once their relationship was revealed. Some people hated that she’d married the most eligible bachelor in Valleria.
He shook his head. “Rebecca…why did I have to learn about it from your family?”
“That, right there,” she said, pointing at him.
His face crinkled in confusion. “What?”
“You said ‘your family’, as if they’re only mine and not yours. Yet, when it comes to the royal family, it’s ‘ours’. Do you see the double standard? I’m expected to immediately accept your family as my own, but you never even consider accepting mine as yours.”
He looked dumbfounded. “I-I didn’t even realize I was doing that.”
“Well, you do. You have since the beginning. I kept hoping things might change, that maybe you just needed more time.” She stood and started straightening the papers in front of her, for no other reason than to keep her hands busy.
He took a cautious step forward. “This is an important point, and I do want to come back to it, but we need to talk about the threats.”
She shook her head. “So what if I kept them from you? So did Marcello, at my behest. So did all the other security personnel who worked on them.”
He took another step forward. “But why didyoufeel the need to keep them from me?”
“I ‘needed’ to keep them from you because you never listened when I talked about them anyway. You dismissed my concerns and my fears. I couldn’t trust you with them after that. Other concerns, sure, but not these.”
“When did I ever dismiss them?”
She crossed her arms and tilted her head in a ‘Really?’ gesture. “Not long after I moved in here with you. I told you the public wereupset and were saying things, but you basically said to ignore them and not to worry. But those messages kept coming. When I tried to talk to you about it again, you said didn’t want to hear it anymore, so I stopped sharing.”
Fuck, was she right? “I’m sorry, truly. I don’t recall this, but I’m sorry, truly. If I said that, I was likely trying to be dismissive of the assholes saying bad things about you. I doubt I was trying to be dismissive ofyou.”
She scoffed. “You said ‘if’ you said that. Do you doubt me right now?”
“No! I don’t. I believe you, but I don’t remember it.” He moved slightly closer. “I’m so sorry. I never should have dismissed you or your concerns in that way.”
Her breath came out staggered, as if she were trying to hold back tears. “I try so fucking hard, Alex, and it’s like it’s never good enough. It’s up to me to make all the sacrifices. I knew I’d have to do that to some extent since I was the ‘outsider’ marrying into the family, but?—”
“You’re not an ‘outsider’, you never have been. You grew up on the palace grounds.”
“That proves the point. I grew up on the grounds, not in the palace itself. It’s worlds apart.” She shook her head and moved a few steps away. “And you’re fixating on the wrong thing again. Stop policing my words and saying they aren’t valid. Theyarevalid tome. I need you to start listening to me.”
“I am listening. Iknowyou sacrificed a lot to be with me. I’m not insensitive to that.”
“And yet, you still think it’s fine for me to sacrifice a relationship with my parents, who you don’t consider family, by the way.”
“That’s not true!” He groaned in frustration, then took a deep breath. “I didn’t realize how I was behaving, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think of them as family. It just means I was raised to think ofonlymy parents and siblings as true family. This is an adjustment for me, but itisone I’m willing to make.”
“You won’t keep me from them anymore?”
“No. I never wanted that in the first place, not really. I do, however, want you to start coming to me with your concerns—allyour concerns—too.”
She rubbed her hands over her face and sighed. “I’m so tired, Alex.”
He moved to her, and cautiously put a hand on her arm. “I know and I’m sorry I haven’t been there like you needed me to be.”
She shook her head. “You’re busy, I know you are. I know it’s a bother to have to consider my feelings all the time.”
