“You mistake me for my brother.”
“Then ask your brother.” She stepped away from the table, her eyes blazing. “My twin, Stephen. My best friend, my Carlos, went to war and never returned. The only answer we got from the Pentagon is that he was under the command of the Joint International Coalition out of Cathedral City, and if we wanted answers, we had to inquire with your Defense Ministry.”
“Then inquire. Surely your father has connections.”
“He meets with silence and steel doors. He can’t get answers. We’re told only that he died in a firefight. A hero, they say, but we’ve no medals. No accolades. No honor ceremony.”
The drumming in his ears muted her words.Corina . . . What are you asking of me?“Believe me, I’m limited in my executive privileges.”
“Then find a way. Speak to Nathaniel. Hire a private investigator, a skilled thief who can break into the Defense Ministry, I don’t care. Just find out what happened. Nothing has been the same since he died. I lost everything. My family. You.” She bit her lower lip and fell silent.
Stephen wanted to pace, but his ankle revolted. He pulled out a chair and sat down hard, his thoughts churning, his heart raging.Tell her. Just tell her.But he could not. His confession lay so deep, not even the earthquake of her request could raise it to the surface.
After a moment, he peered up at her. “And if I can’t find out what happened to him? Are you going to just leave the papers unsigned? Surely you want to move on with your life, marry again.”
Her laugh pierced his soul, inspiring a mocking chortle from his demons.You fool. You’re not worthy.“My l ife s topped the d ay Carlos died. My parents still grieve. They’ve had no closure. Our house, once alive with laughter, is weighted with sorrow. My father can’t stay in the house for more than five minutes. My mother can’t leave. They weep for Carlos as if we’d just covered his grave with fresh dirt. For the past five and a half years I’ve straddled my heart between the two of them, trying to be a bridge, to create some sort of happiness, trying to be the family we used to be. But they are not healing, Stephen. They want to know what happened to their beautiful boy, their star, the heir to the Del Rey name and dynasty.”
Corina leaned toward him, placing her hands on the arms of the chair, boxing him in. “If it means I stay married to you in an effort to help my parents, then I’ll pay the price. The question is, doyouwant to pay that price? No truth, no signature.”
Oh, didn’t she seem puffed up and pleased with herself. “You must be joking.” He fired back, mounting his own resolve.
“Am I laughing?”
“Corina, our relationship has nothing to do with your brother’s death. We can’t remain in limbo—”
“Sure we can. In fact, we’ve been in limbo for five and a half years. We just didn’t know it.” She squinted at him with a curled lip, and his heart trembled. “Since the day I saw you after you returned from Afghanistan, bruised and cut up, silent and sullen, I knew something was up. Something you were not telling. And I can’t figure what or why. But you know things and I think you can find out about my brother.”
“I told you. After the explosion I realized I couldn’t put the House of Stratton at risk. I would’ve had to give up my rights to the throne if our marriage had gone public. I was wrong to marry you in secret, breaking Brighton law and risking the Crown. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“So you were madly in love with me during your entire deployment until . . . when? I hear nothing from you after Carlos was killed. I was worried sick, wondering if something had happened to you too. I called and called, flew back to Brighton. I was about to go to the King’s Office when I found you in my flat that New Year’s Day.”
He knew all of this. Why did she feel compelled to recap it? “Corina, there’s no need—”
“Oh, there’s a need. I want to see if I have my facts straight.” She paced around the kitchen and then into the living room before going on. “I fly over to Brighton, my heart in my hands, seeking the solace and comfort of my husband after losing my brother, hoping and praying you are all right, wanting to comfort you and be with you. But what greets me? A man of steel, and not of the Superman variety. Cold, hard eyes like polished blue stones. I go to kiss you and you push me away.”
The details dug into his dry, fallow ground. He’d wanted to take her in his arms that day. Hold her, make love to her, feel alive again. But all he saw was blood and death. “Corina—” Stephen shoved to his feet, the past all too present.
“I asked what was wrong, what happened in Torkham. You said an explosion. I touched the cuts on your face, on your hands, your arms, but you pulled away, telling me without any warning that we were through. The whole marriage had been a mistake.” She gripped his shoulders and shook him. Hard. “I was madly in love with you. I gave you my heart, my soul, my body. And you crushed me without reason.”
Crushed. Nathaniel’s word. He trembled at her confession, avoiding her eyes, drawing his rugby-trained shoulders back and breaking free of her. “I’m sorry.” He swallowed his confession. “But it must be this way.”
“Why?” She leaned to see his face, but he’d had enough.
“Because, Corina . . .” His voice boomed through the expansive loft, “I said so. Enough. Will you sign the annulment papers or not?” He braced himself with a hand on the table.
“You know my stipulation.”
“I don’t accept your stipulation.”
“Too bad. You can’t have everything your way, Stephen. I’ve had too much time to think about this. No news, no signature. Find out what happened to Carlos and you’re a free man.”
FIVE
Her condo echoed with their argument long after Stephen left. Weak with ebbing adrenaline, Corina shut off all the lights except the ones glowing from her glass-front kitchen cabinets.
In her bedroom, she shoved open the balcony doors and stepped into the night, into the stiff breeze off the brackish river and the song of crickets. Long angles of light fell over the waters from the homes and businesses across the way on the barrier island. Draped in a strand of Christmas lights, a small sailboat drifted toward the high, arching causeway.
Stephen. He’d come to see her. But not to claim her as his own, to confess his love, but to reject her all over again. Corina leaned on the rail and dropped her head, vivid emotions churning through her, tears sailing down her cheeks.
