Greg was lying in the prison bed with an Oleander bracelet on his right
wrist. It was getting boring. How did inmates entertain themselves
here? There has to be something’, he thought to himself. He sat up and
looked around the small space before hearing heavy footsteps getting
closer to his cell. A policeman emerged, unlocked his door and said,
“We need you to be ready in the interrogation room. You have a visit
from the Crown.”
Of course he did. As he left his confined space without another word,
he was secretly impressed that his cousins got to this phase o ffacing
him in prison in such a short span of time. He and his animal thought
the two would take at least a month before the King came down here
and used his Authority to make him vomit whatever sh*t there was in
his head.
But Greg wasn''t worried. He had already told Billy to activate Codes
Orange and ck, which would involve the evacuation of everyone
under his care and supervision. They would''ve been safely evacuated by
now. Even if that goody-goody cousin of his forced him to spit out
whatever he knew, his information would be outdated and useless. His
people were safe, and that was all Greg needed for now.
Then again, maybe he didn’te for information. Maybe the other
Duke just wanted to kill him for what he did to his Duchess.or maybe
the King wanted to beat him up for falling in love with his mate...or it
was both.
They reached an empty room with a one-way mirror, and the policeman
got him to sit while he waited He doubted that he''d be able to see
Lucianne. After handing over the recordings, his secret that he kept to
himself hade out. There was no way his cousins would let the
Queene after the police handed them the report.
He waited for two minutes and started getting bored, so he got up and
his back faced the door as he stretched out his body to stop himself
from falling asleep. The door opened, and without turning around, he
scoffed darkly and spoke in arrogance, “I must say, I''m impressed. Here
I thought your slower brain would take more time to...” he turned, and
saw a beautiful Lucianne looking straight at him, making Greg''s cocky
eyes widened in horror and guilt before he fell on one knee and said,
“My Queen. I am so sorry. I convey my most sincere apologies. I
thought you were—"
“The King?” Lucianne asked as she remained standing in her navy blue
dress.
Greg looked uneasy when he nodded and said, “Or the other Duke... I
didn’t think your mate would allow you in here.” What the f*ck were his
cousins thinking?! If it were Greg, he''d never allow it.
Lucianne nodded with a t smile and said, “Well, he wasn''t going to.
Have a seat, your Grace.”
“He wasn''t going to? She argued her way toe here? This had to be
important’, Greg thought to himself.
As soon as they were seated facing each other at the small square
table, Lucianne’s eyes were pinned on her entwined fingers before Greg
asked, “What seems to be troubling you, my Queen?”
Lucianne looked like she was choosing her words carefully. Finally, she
spoke, “The monarchy is submitting a rmendation, and we can''t
come to a consensus of what we should propose to the legal system
without knowing why you chose to...incriminate yourself.”
Greg raised his eyebrows and answered, “Wasn''t that the right thing to
do, my Queen?”
Lucianne locked her eyes with his and said, “You very well know that''s
not what I meant, your Grace. You could have done this years ago. Why
now?"
Why now? She was still asking that despite the recordings? He looked
away as he uttered, “I doubt you''ll believe me when I say this but.” he
cleared his throat and continued, “It''s...difficult...to not give you what
you want.” 1
That answer and his uneasy demeanor were enough to convince
everyone watching them that Greg was sincere, that this was NOT a
tactical move in some hidden scheme. There was no scheme. His voice
echoed only vulnerability.
Lucianne felt her mate''s jealousy building up strong and fast, so she
moved on to her next question, “When you helped start the corruption
scheme, no doubt not knowing that the Kyltons were the people you
were working with, did you feel that it was... wrong?”
Greg heard the hopefulness in her voice. She came to help him. It was
so difficult to not fall even harder for her when she did that.
They probably couldn''t reach a consensus on the monarchy’s
rmendation because Lucianne somehow hoped that he was sorry
for what he did. But Greg knew better.
He looked at the ground when answered her question, “No, I never felt
that way. I''m sorry, my Queen.”
Lucianne digested his response before she asked, “You''re sorry for not
finding corruption to be wrong?”
“No, I''m sorry for disappointing you.” Greg still couldn''t look her in the
eye when he said in a low voice, “I may not agree with my cousins on a
lot of things but if they told you that there''s no use in showing me
mercy, my Queen, I have to agree with them. I have
done unforgivable things. Everyone knows that.” 2
“You''ve also donemendable things. Not many people know that.”
Lucianne said encouragingly, using the voice she only used when she
spoke to her friends and allies. Greg never heard her speak to him like
that before today.
The Duke looked at Lucianne in disbelief right after she said that, and
she continued, “I doubt you wanted the shelter of prison. And you knew
that handing over the evidence AND yourself with it would only make
your life more difficult than if you chose to run away. But you stayed
anyway. And I don''t see any fear in your eyes, your Grace. All I see is
certainty in what you''re doing. There''s another thing...”
Greg waited, and she said, “You confessed to giving Annie the infertility
poison, even though you could have kept it hidden, even though you
could''ve brought that secret to your grave. Confessing to harming the
Duchess only makes your situation worse, not better. But you did it
anyway.”
"Admitting to crimes that grave is far frommendable, my Queen.”
Greg muttered. How could she see any good in that? There was
NOTHING right about what he did.
Lucianne let out a sharp breath and muttered, “You and your cousins
are equally stubborn, more alike than any of you would admit.”
Greg hated that he was behaving like his slow-thinking cousins, and he
hated more that he upsetted Lucianne but he didn''t know, what to say
With another sigh, Lucianne said, “Let''s try it this way: why did you
admit to sterilizing Annie when you didn''t have to?”Property belongs to N?vel(D)r/ama.Org.
Greg swallowed a lump in his throat, and thought about lying. But that
would only disappoint Lucianne even more if she found out the truth
later. Even if he wanted to lie, his animal wouldn''t have allowed it. They
already upsetted her. They were not going to do that again
Greg took a deep breath before he said, “Because...when I found out
that you...sumbed to the same poison, my Queen, I wanted nothing
more than to capture, torture and kill the person who was behind it. In
my mind, the ones behind such an inhumane crime shouldn''t be given
a chance to escape or to live.”
Lucianne internalized his frank response before she asked, “So, you
regret what you did?”
Greg scoffed and said, “Regret seems a little too noble, my Queen. I''d
say that I''m merely offering someone the chance that I didn''t get
myself.”
Lucianne furrowed her eyebrows, crossed her arms and leaned back
into her chair as she challenged, “And how is offering someone a
chance to capture, torture and kill you not noble, your Grace?”
“Because I was the perpetrator. Nobility requires something less...
malicious.”
“So, you''re saying that offering your life is not noble? It''s malicious?”
“My Queen, you really don''t have to do this. I turned myself over
because I figured what I did was...not right. Just think of it as me...
respecting the system.”
Lucianne muttered to herself, “Hm. Didn''t expect you to respect
anything, to be honest. This is good progress. So,” She looked at him
and continued, “If you were to see...the Duke or Duchess, would you
have anything to say to them before they tortured or killed you?”
Greg pondered for a moment, and reluctantly looked at the one-way
mirror, knowing that the others, including the Duke and Duchess, were
watching him, as he said, “When I did it, I wasn''t sorry. But...after it was
used on the Queen... I started to... rte to pain that I have caused you.
Both of you. I admit that you both will feel a deeper pain, a greater loss
than the mild one I experienced but...I have no excuse. You have every
right and reason to kill me for what 1 did.” He looked back to Lucianne
and said,” As do you, my Queen.”
Lucianne offered a small smile and said, “If I wanted to kill you, your
Grace, I would''ve done it by now.” She stood from her seat, and Greg''s
animal was saddened by the thought of seeing her go. He stood when
she did, and Lucianne thrusted out a hand for a handshake.
Like the previous time, Greg stared at her small hand for a moment
before he took it, bent down and pecked a polite kiss on the back.
Lucianne took back her hand, and smiled meekly as she said, “Thank
you for your time and for the evidence, your Grace.”
“It''s a duty and a pleasure to serve, my Queen.” Greg uttered
The moment Lucianne stepped out of the door, Xandar''s jealousy and
insecurity diminished...until he noticed Sebastian Cummings walking
past the room he was in with the others.