A Love that Endures 3 Page 23

  “Let’s say that I believe you now. About Cassie. At least about not knowing that this side of her existed. And also that she seems to be. . . watching me.” Katy’s tone was just as firm as her grip on his hand, and she looked up into his eyes with determination. “Even so, I just found you, after five years of needing you by my side. If you think I’m going to leave you again, then you’ve got another thing coming.”

  David’s heart pounded and his face flushed at Katy’s words. It was everything that he had ever wanted to hear, and under any other circumstances it would’ve been all he needed.

  But Katy probably still didn’t realize quite what they were up against. Even if she was having reasonable doubts about Cassie’s guilt, until they knew for sure, they couldn’t take any chances.

  David turned back to Edward, and the driver seemed to get the hint, nodding and walking off again so as not to eavesdrop. While David trusted the man’s intentions, he knew that Cassie’s threats would be persuasive in their own right. It was better not to risk having anyone else overhear what he and Katy needed to discuss.

  When they were alone, he put his hands on Katy’s shoulders. To hold her close while he spoke to her, of course, so it would be easier to be discreet, but also just to enjoy the unbelievable fact that he really could touch her once more.

  “Katy,” he said, “We have to keep this between us for now. If you tell anyone that we’re together, they’ll just find a more creative way to tear us apart again. Trust me. Whoever is in on this and whatever the stakes are, the game itself is ruthless. We can’t let them win.”

  Katy’s eyes softened, and her shoulders sank in David’s hands. David wondered if somewhere, deep inside of her, she was coming to terms with his words.

  “I just don’t know what to believe yet. But if it is Cassie who was behind all of this, then what do we do, David? Because I can’t just go back to my old life like nothing has changed. I can’t let you go again. I won’t do it.”

  He released her shoulders, but she stayed close, leaning into him. “Either we run, or we fight,” he said, after a moment’s thought. “If we run, we might always be running. We’ll never know who precisely was lying to you and what happened to me. But I can live with that, as long as I have you.”

  Katy nodded, but the set of her brow already told him that she wasn’t sold on the idea. “And what if we fight?”

  David stared at her intently, a rush rising in his chest. “Then we don’t have to run. Not now. Not ever. But we will have to beat Cassie at her own game first. And anyone who’s working with her.”

  “You mean like my parents.”

  There was a long silence between them before David nodded. That was the Katy he knew—dealing with hard truths, even when she was reluctant to at first. “Or anyone else,” he offered.

  She shook her head, rubbing her forehead with one hand, the other resting on his arm. “Well, between those two options, my choice is obvious. But . . . I just still don’t understand this, David. I have never seen an inkling of anything like this in Cassie. I mean, it’s Cassie! You knew Cassie. She can get a little hot-tempered, sure, but she’s lovable. She’s a goofball, really. Not some master manipulator who can string all these people along.”

  David took a deep breath. He had resigned himself to Cassie’s guilt so quickly, but Katy was right. That Cassie had lied and manipulated and abused her power was almost certain, but there was still a chance that they were mistaken about her involvement in keeping them apart. And even if they weren’t mistaken, he knew that it would take a deep realization for Katy to begin to see past Cassie’s shiny façade. Past the friendship and sisterhood they’d fostered over two decades. But with the two of them working together, he still had hope that they could begin to chip away at Cassie’s fake, outward-facing persona and find out what all this nasty behavior was really pointing to.

  “Maybe you’re right. But, if she is involved, then I think Cassie must be getting something out of all this that we just can’t see yet. And that’s where we need to start. We need to find her motive.” He heaved a sigh. “In the meantime, you have to keep playing coy.”

  “But Edward . . .” Katy began, looking back at the driver as he paced back and forth a few dozen yards away. Her brow furrowed in thought. “He told Cassie. So I can’t just lie.”

  David nodded. “You’re right. You’re going to have to tell Cassie a partial truth. We need to keep letting her think that she’s in control, that we don’t know what she’s doing.”

  Katy contemplated this for a moment. “I’m not sure what to tell her about tonight. Other than . . . exactly what she wants to hear. That finding you was a mistake. That you’re everything she claims you are and more. That I’ll never be fooled by David Rosen again.”

  David didn’t know whether the words stung or made him feel victorious, now that he knew Katy didn’t truly believe them. It was a difficult concept to grasp.

  Katy grimaced. “Ugh. I don’t even want to say those things out loud. I’ve spent so long hearing that kind of thing from everybody, and I can’t stand it anymore.”

  David reacted swiftly, touching two fingers to the underside of her chin and gently lifting her face in his direction. His lips wanted desperately to meet hers—to find that place and never leave again—but he knew that they could never be together safely unless they took care of everything else first. And so he restrained himself, looking deeply into her eyes instead.

  Katy’s hands reached up to touch his face as she gazed back up at him. He wondered at that moment if she felt the same way he did: as if no time had truly passed at all since they’d loved each other in Cambridge. As if the love they shared now was the same, or deeper, than it had ever been. Looking into her eyes, he thought he could see it.

  At last, he grinned. “You don’t have to believe it.”

  After a pause, Katy grinned too.

  “Was that a joke? Really?” she asked.

  “I’ve been sad enough for one lifetime,” David said. Unable to resist, he leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Katy’s beautiful mouth. They clung to each other then, briefly, and in the way Katy embraced him, held him tightly, he knew that they were both wishing more than anything that the fight was over and that now they could just be together, without interference or manipulation.

  But it wasn’t going to work that way. Not as long as they didn’t fully understand why Cassie would want them apart, if she was truly the one pulling the strings. Why she had been doing all these nefarious deeds, if not. If there could be anyone else involved in this campaign of lies and bad behavior.

  “When will I see you again? And how?” Katy asked, when she finally managed to extricate herself from David’s strong grip.

  “I’ll write my number down for you. But you’ll need to go get a second phone, so we’ll be able to talk in private even if our devices are compromised,” David said, patting his pockets for a receipt or scrap of paper. “Mine’s just a burner phone. Isn’t connected to my name or anything. That might be a good idea for you too.”

  Katy nodded while David scribbled his number down. When he passed it to her, she pocketed it carefully.

  “Will you be okay?” she asked.

  “I have a room at the Wayland.”

  Katy’s face screwed up. “I called the Wych Elm and they implied they’d kicked you out. How’d you manage to get a room at another fancy hotel?”

  “Um . . . it’s under my dad’s name,” David replied sheepishly.

  Kind of a major detail, mate.

  Katy’s mouth dropped open, looking like it was caught between gaping and smiling.

  “I’ll tell you the story later,” he said. “But for now you need to respond to Cassie and get back to her, before she starts getting too suspicious of your story.” David hated saying it. He wanted nothing more than for her to stay with him forever. But this was important. He had begun to lead her back to her driver in his haste, knowing that every additional second in the car park was work
ing against them now.

  “Okay,” Katy replied, falling into step with him. “Just promise me something.”

  David stopped and faced her. “Anything.”

  “Promise me that I won’t lose you again, David,” she said breathily, the tendrils of her blonde hair flowing around her face in the wind.

  David said one more simple word before he kissed her again, a passionate goodbye that was meant to only be temporary.

  “Promise.”

  30

  Katy

  “I went to find David. We talked.”

  Alone in the dark SUV, with a nervous Edward at the helm, Katy had finally worked up the courage to respond to her cousin.

  In the long seconds that ticked by before she got a response, Katy tried to consider the two perfectly opposite images she now had of her cousin. She knew Cassie as the lovable and supportive best friend that she had always been. That Cassie was a little girl who had been overlooked by her parents for far too long but had grown into a compassionate and funny young woman, nonetheless. The Cassie Katy knew only ever wanted the best for her. She was always there during her times of doubt and stress. Time and time again, she’d told Katy that they weren’t really cousins, but more like sisters!

  That was the Cassie Katy had always believed in. The one she’d thought she’d known.

  But now she had been introduced to a side of Cassie that was strange and frightening. This Cassie was apparently ruthless in how she treated those she considered “lesser than.” She was apathetic to the plights of others, quick to step on someone else if it raised her up, and always vying for complete control of Katy’s perception of the world around her.

  But how could someone Katy knew so well be such a monster on the inside? Katy just couldn’t believe it. She still saw Cassie the way she always had.

  And yet . . . now there was a seed, just a seed, of doubt.

  When Katy’s phone buzzed with a response from her cousin, she felt her chest go cold—though whether it was from anxiety, indecision, or fear of this new side of Cassie, she still couldn’t tell.

  “Katy! OMG. What happened?!”

  It pained her, almost physically, to respond to Cassie with a pure lie, but if David was right, then this was the only way to move forward. And he’d made a fair point—they had to consider all the options while they were figuring out who was behind everything. Besides, if David was wrong, she could—she would—apologize to her cousin later. And Cassie would understand. Right?

  She swallowed and typed, “I was an idiot, Cass. All along. You were right. Everyone was right. He’s a creep and a liar and a coward. I was just too stupid to see it then.”

  Even as Katy hit send, already feeling terrible at the things she was saying about David, she worried if she had gotten the tone right. Would Cassie see right through this ridiculous lie? Would she want details that Katy wasn’t able to respond with on the spot? Katy had never been a very good liar, frankly. And now there was so much on the line. She was very glad she didn’t have to tell this to her cousin’s face—yet.

  But Cassie’s prompt response seemed genuine, almost anticlimactic.

  “I’m here if you need to talk, Katy. I’m sure that was hard and I hope you know that I’m always going to be on your side. No matter what.”

  As the SUV steered Katy back toward the palace, she wrestled with her thoughts. What a generic message. It had almost nothing to do with what I sent. Is Cassie being genuine?

  Or has she always been lying?

  * * *

  Katy managed to avoid Cassie, Oliver, and her parents for most of the next day as she tried to decide what her next steps would be.

  Mostly, she’d stayed in her room, ducking in and out of other palace rooms like a ninja when she was forced to venture out—several times to eat, and once she’d even convinced her guard to allow her on a short solo shopping trip during which she managed to discreetly purchase a new phone on a by-the-minute plan under a false name.

  Even better, she’d managed to avoid having any uncomfortable confrontations. As far as the rest of the palace and her family knew, with the exception of a brief moment of drama, nothing much had changed in Katy’s life. She hadn’t even told anyone that she was single yet. And Oliver wasn’t the type to go announcing that information on his own so soon.

  But even with all her efforts at deliberate avoidance, a last-minute decision forced her hand.

  “Hey. Didn’t want to bother you today since I’m sure your head is still in a weird place,” the text from Cassie read. It was late in the afternoon by that point, and Katy had been waiting for Cassie to reach out; it was entirely normal, since her cousin always noticed when she didn’t come down to breakfast or lunch. “But I invited the king and queen to dinner tonight to meet Boris and I was hoping you’d come. Character witness and all that.”

  Cassie ended her text with a wink emoji.

  Everything still seems so normal between us. Is there any way that David and Edward could’ve gotten it all wrong?

  Realistically, Katy couldn’t think of a good reason for Cassie to be directly interfering with people’s employment—or tracking her own movements, which it seemed more and more likely she was doing—if there wasn’t a devious factor at play somehow. And she had gotten Edward to spy on Katy. So, reluctantly, she kept her guard up and continued to question everything around her.

  If she wanted to keep up the charade of things still being normal, however, then she was going to have to do some things that she really didn’t want to.

  “Dinner sounds great!” Katy typed into her phone with a frown on her face. Of all the places in the world, a fancy restaurant with Cassie, Boris, and her parents was currently one of the least appealing. But not going would definitely raise some eyebrows—both Cassie’s and her parents’—and Katy couldn’t risk that right now.

  Not when she didn’t know what was going on with the people in her life. And not when she had so much on the line.

  Katy showered and dressed, fretting all the while. As she applied a light dusting of rouge to her cheeks, she considered texting David on her spare phone.

  But what if Cassie spots my burner phone during dinner? What if it falls out of my clutch or I accidentally grab it in front of everyone? It was hard enough avoiding suspicion in the shopping center, worrying the whole time that Cassie would wonder why my regular phone was turned off. A second phone that no one knows about . . . how suspicious would that look?

  So, in the service of secrecy, Katy managed to suppress the urge. David was right; they had to be as low-key as possible until they knew more about what, or who, they were up against. She dressed, quickly and perfunctorily, slipping into a knee-length gown and tossing a throw over her shoulders, and then made her way down to the main drive. By the time she’d made it to the chauffeured cars, she knew she was in the clear for at least a little bit longer, since Cassie and Boris and her parents would’ve already left.

  Not really like me to be the one who shows up fashionably late, but hopefully they’ll just blame it on my wounded sensibilities.

  She rode into the heart of the palace district in style in an antique Bentley, and, when she arrived, was pleased to find that there were no photographers or paparazzi there to make an already-painful evening any more difficult.

  Katy was led back to a private room in the back of the upscale French restaurant that Cassie had chosen. The rest of the party—all close family, with the exception of Boris—stood to greet her when she approached the candlelit table.

  “Katy! So glad you came,” Cassie said first.

  “Of course,” Katy replied, smiling, probably too widely.

  Did that sound sincere enough? Can she see right through me right now?

  But Cassie simply embraced Katy like she always did and kissed her gently on the cheek. When she pulled away, Boris stepped forward.

  “Glad you’re here, Princess. Now we can order.”

  Katy’s fake smile grew sourer at his barel
y polite greeting. The king and queen stepped forward next, seeming uninterested in critiquing Boris’s lack of manners.

  “Bit late, dear,” the queen said chidingly.

  “But you look lovely, which more than makes up for it,” the king added good-naturedly. Which was about what she expected from both of them. Normal behavior from parents. Check.

  Katy hugged both of her parents and then took a seat at the table. As Boris flagged down a tuxedo-clad waiter, she spread an elegant cloth napkin over her lap and tried to gather her bearings.

  Everything still seems so normal. It’s just like every other family gathering we’ve had. I still just don’t understand. Does this mean that lying to me is part of their ordinary lives? Or am I the one who has it all wrong somehow?

  The dinner went by in a quite ordinary fashion. The queen made a few snide comments about the timing of Cassie’s wedding, but Cassie simply shrugged them off. No one mentioned Katy and Oliver’s breakup, confirming Katy’s intuition that Oliver wouldn’t share the uncomfortable news of his own volition—and his mother seemed to have kept her suspicions to herself, too. Thankfully. Boris barely spoke. When he wasn’t snacking on something or picking his teeth, he was playing a popular game on his smartphone or staring off into space.

  It was all just as Katy would’ve expected. And yet a dark cloud hung over her, suspecting what she did now.

  It’s highly likely that someone at this table is guilty of framing David, ruining his life, and betraying me. But who? Cassie? Just my parents? All of them?

  It was hard to eat with those thoughts on her mind.

  Toward the end of the evening, though, something came up that struck Katy as decidedly unordinary, startling her out of her quiet haze of worry. It happened as Boris and the king ordered a few items off an extensive dessert menu, and the queen casually told the table about the rulers’ plans to travel back to Lorria.

  “. . . usually fly. Can’t remember the last time we didn’t, actually. But I quite like the idea of taking a more leisurely means and seeing the sights . . .”