章 309: Chapter 309
"I can't believe it." Maggie said, looking at Auggie, shaking her head.
"Maggie, it's the truth. And that's just all I know. I'm certain there is more." He said.
"Erik? Mr. Perfect Prince? No. I'm not buying it. Maybe Sebastian is the evil one. Maybe this is a set up." Maggie said, sipping her coffee.
"Sebastian do-right? No. He wouldn't hurt anything. Our entire lives, he was always doing the right thing. We would buy bait to go fishing and he would slowly release all the worms back into the dirt. It makes sense, Maggie, for him to be the rightful heir. He's the best man I know." Auggie said. "It's in his blood to be good. His mother and father were damn saints."
"I just can't believe all this about Erik. Your father, yes. But not Erik." Maggie said.
"Believe it." Auggie said.
"And what about Pearl? Is she in danger?" Maggie asked.
"Not with Bash around. I can assure you, she's safe with him." Auggie said.
"So this means you aren't heir to any throne. You're not even Royal, Augustus." Maggie said.
"My love, that is just fine with me." Auggie said. Maggie hugged him."Me too." She said, looking up at him and smiling. "I love you. Thank you for being so brave and trying to keep me safe." Maggie said.
"Always." He said, holding her tightly to him.
*************
Pearl sat at the edge of her bed and exhaled. She was so sad about how this turned around on her. Just like Rhys, she thought. Then she remembered what Gail told her. "Think back and make a list of all the red flags, learn what you chose to ignore. That's how you do not repeat this again."
She closed her eyes and thought back I've the last year.
He showed up at her house, uninvited, in the middle of the night when he knew Rhys wasn't there.
He bought a house next to Rhys specifically to stalk her. A 10 million dollar home.
He gathered intel on her prior to even meeting her. He stalked her for over a year.
He coincidently ran into her at the Chateau and then in Italy.
He knew her marriage wasn't real.
His words at Auggie's polo match after she told him he seemed like a good man.
"That's one side of me." He had said with a devilish grin.
He had memorized her speech, word for word.
She replayed the conversation between her and the Prince of Monaco. "I just know how Erik is and you seem like the kind of woman that would not like the kind of man he is." Pearl wasn't sure how to respond. She got the impression there was some kind of underlying issue between he and Erik.
"I appreciate your concern but I assure you, I'm very capable of taking care of myself." She had said. "Being around him in any capacity, you would have to be." He said back before Erik interrupted them.
How he had dressed in disguise in New Orleans, trying to get her to betray him.
His eyes in Rome and the chilling look he gave her.
Sebastian's warnings "There is more. And there are others. I hope someone like you would consider this before marrying him. That is just advice. Nothing else." Sebastian said.
Erik, telling her repeatedly that he wasn't a good man. His own mother telling her how surprised and happy she was the Erik was behaving normally again. They all knew he was like this and they all enabled him and allowed it. Everyone. Except Sebastian. He stood up to him and became the black sheep because of it. These people were sick. Even Rhys tried to warn her.
And then it hit her. The biggest red flag of all. How perfect for a man who likes to abuse women to start a charity that tries to save abused women. It was the grandest show of deflection she had ever seen but that's what it was. She covered her mouth and felt her heart race. "That's why he picked me." She said out loud. She was the perfect mailable target. The easiest. He knew she had been married to a gaslighter for years. Her father abused her. She would believe anything he told her and any acting on his part would be considered chivalry to a woman treated like that all of her life. He stalked her, learned her, told her everything she wanted to hear. Behaved like a chivalrous knight. My god, she thought. He was a monster this entire time and she was too manipulated to see it. He was good at deception. The best. She put her head in her hands and cried. Sebastian knocked softly on the door.
"Come in." Pearl said.
He saw that she was upset. He sat next to her on the bed and held her hand.
She turned to him and told him everything she had just listed in her mind. What she had realized.
"Yes." He said. "I believe you are correct in thinking all of that. I hate it. I hate it for you and for Mara for... Anna. And all the other women he has affected. The other one he killed. But Pearl, there is one thing he didn't plan on in all his meticulous scheming." He said, looking into her eyes.
"What's that?" She asked.
"Me." He said.
She smiled.
"And you, with your strength and intellect. Oh no. He should have studied more." He said. He kissed her cheek and said, "Come, it's time to lay out this plan and meet the team." He stood up and took her hand, leading her downstairs and to the car.
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