Above All Else

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Scalding tears blind me when I find them both in one box no bigger than a drawer. Alexander and Samuel, both unharmed. I lift Alexander out of the box, gasping for breath.

"Billie, grab Samuel. We need to leave. Hart and you three will remain to clean this up," I utter, looking from my guards to the dead man with no name on the ground. I cradle Alexander's head, hurrying for the door. I pass by Hart and the man at the front desk, head down towards the ground. The sun is out as I walk to the car, breathing in deeply.

"Billie, I need you to take them to the airlift. Have someone call the Queen on the way to inform her of their safety."

"Of course, sir... but where will you go?"

"I have some business to handle before we take off," I murmur, pressing my lips to Alexander's hair. He's quiet, already asleep. I turn, handing him over to one of the guards, hating every moment of it. My eyes drift to Samuel, in Billie's arms. He's half the size of Alexander and his eyes are still open.

I swallow, looking to Billie. "Go now, and have men sent back for Hart. I want you to head back to Nicole's home after you hand the kids to the Queen. I will take the Audi there... alone."

...

"You were telling the truth," I utter by the stairs of the basement. Jack Crow has left the room, headed for the airlift. It's just me and Nicole. I've made sure to clean the blood and bruises on my face the best I could, wanting her to know that her plan didn't succeed. She didn't kill me.

Her fingers are swollen and disfigured on one hand, a gruesome sight. Her head, which was dangling towards the ground, slowly lifts until her eyes meet mine. I see the fear in them.

"Are you going to torture me yourself?"

"No."

"Is he coming back?"

"No, he is gone," I murmur, letting go of the railing. I walk towards her, holding glasses between my fingers and a bottle of wine in the other hand. "I hope you don't mind. I am suddenly rather thirsty."

"It's your wine, anyway. Everything in here is yours," she mutters, low.

"But I gifted this to you," I say, with a forced cheerfulness as I pull in another dusty chair towards her. "Doesn't that make it yours?"

"No, it makes it a handout. A ploy to silence me."

"Maybe that's what you wanted to believe it was."

She shakes her head. "It's what it was, Henry. You couldn't have a disgrace like me nearby."

"It was Parliament's decision to remove you from England, Nicole. I will admit I didn't fight amiably to change their minds, but I did fight so you and your son would have everything you'd need. You were family."

"I still am your family," she whispers, and my lip curls with anger.

"You are nothing to me, certainly not family, Nicole."

"I'm sorry, Henry. I-I know that doesn't mean much right now... but I am. I feel like I've been blinded by my anger."

I tilt my head, pouring the red wine into the glasses. "And you've seen the light?"

"Yes. I have, I promise you."

I look up at her, smiling softly. "Well, I am glad to hear that." I take out the key to her handcuffs from my pocket and her eyes widen slightly. I remove the cuff holding her unharmed hand to the chair, leaving the other in place. And then I hold out one of the glasses of wine.