Harder. Faster. Keep pushing.
It didn’t matter if Serafia’s lungs were burning or that her leg muscles felt as if they could rip from her bones at any second. She had to keep going.
Just when she hit the point where she couldn’t take any more, she reached out for the console and dropped the speed on the treadmill by half a mile. Giving herself only a minute or two to recover, she then increased it by a whole mile. Her sneakers pounded hard against the rotating belt, which was reaching speeds she could barely maintain in the past.
But she had to now. She had to keep running or everything would catch up with her. It wasn’t until she could feel her heart pounding like Thor’s hammer against her breast that she realized she’d taken this too far. She reached out and pounded the emergency stop button, slamming into the console and draping her broken body over it. The air rushing from her lungs blazed like fire, her heart feeling as if it was about to burst. She’d run for miles today. Hours. Longer and harder than her doctor-appointed forty-five-minute daily limit.
And yet the moment she looked up, the world around her was just the same. The same heartache. The same confusion. The same anger at herself and at Gabriel. All she’d managed to do was pull a hamstring and sweat through her clothes.
She gripped her bottle of water and stepped down onto the tile floor with gelatinous, quivering legs. Unable to go much farther, she opened the door to her garden courtyard. The cold water and ocean breeze weren’t enough to soothe her overheated body, so she set down her bottle and approached her swimming pool. Without stopping to take off her shoes, she stepped off the edge, plunging herself into the cool turquoise depths.
Rising to the surface, she pushed her hair out of her face and took a deep breath. She felt a million times better. Her heart slowed and her body temperature was jerked back from the point of disaster.
And yet she was still at a loss over what to do with herself. She had returned home to Barcelona in disgrace. Her last-minute flight had delivered her home late in the night; she hadn’t even told her family or staff that she was returning. All she knew was that she had to get out of Alma that instant. She would work the rest out later.
Once she’d escaped...she didn’t know what to do. She had no jobs lined up for several weeks. She’d cleared her calendar when she took the Montoro job because she wasn’t sure how long it would truly take. The first few days in Miami had been excruciating and she’d wondered if two weeks would be enough.
Two weeks were more than enough, at least for her. And while she was relieved to be home, returned to the sanctuary she’d built for herself here, something felt off. She’d wandered through the empty halls, sat on the balcony overlooking the sea, lay in bed staring at the ceiling...the thought of Gabriel crept into everything she did.
Serafia swam to the edge of the pool and crossed her arms along the stone, lifting her torso up out of the water. She dropped her head onto her forearms and fought the tears that had taunted her the last few days. As hard as she’d resisted falling for the rebellious prince, it had happened, anyway. Even with the threat of returning to the spotlight, the potential for becoming queen and all the responsibilities that held, she couldn’t help herself.
And then he turned on her. How could he think she would do something like that on purpose? The minute she realized where they were headed, the panic had been nearly overwhelming. And then when he’d looked at her with the betrayal reflecting in his eyes, she felt her heart break. He was so used to people using and abusing his trust that he refused to see that wasn’t what she was doing.
Perhaps she should have stayed in Alma and fought to clear her name. Running away made her look guilty, but she just couldn’t stay there. Her family might have been from Alma decades ago, but she was born and raised in Spain and that was where she needed to be.
She just needed to get her life back on track. The dramas of Alma would fade, Gabriel would choose his queen and she would go on with her life, such as it was.
At least that was what she told herself.
The French doors to the courtyard opened behind her, and Serafia’s housekeeper stepped out with a tray. “I have your lunch ready, señorita.”
Serafia swam back to the shallow end of the pool to greet her. She wasn’t remotely interested in food with the way she felt, but it would hurt her housekeeper’s feelings if she didn’t pretend otherwise. “Thank you, Esperanza. Please leave it on the patio table.”
Esperanza did as she asked, hesitating a moment by the edge of the pool with a towel in her hands. She seemed worried, her wrinkled face pinched into an expression of concern. “Are you going to eat it?”
Serafia frowned and climbed up the steps. “What do you mean?”
“You barely touched your breakfast, just picking at the fruit. I found most of last night’s dinner plate scraped into the trash so I wouldn’t see it. I have all your favorite snacks and drinks in the house since your return and I haven’t had to restock a single thing.”
Serafia snatched the towel from the housekeeper’s hands, the past anxiety of being caught in the act rushing back to her. “That’s none of your business. I pay you to cook my meals, not monitor them like my mother.”
The hurt expression on the older woman’s face made her feel instantly guilty for snapping at her. Esperanza was the sweetest woman she knew and she didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Forgive me.” Serafia slipped down into the patio chair and buried her face in her towel.
“It’s nothing. When I don’t eat, I get grumpy, too,” Esperanza offered with a small smile. She was a plump older woman with a perpetually pleasant disposition. Probably because she got to eat and wasn’t eternally stressing out about how she looked. “But I worry about you, señorita, and so do your parents.”
Serafia’s head snapped up. “They’ve called?”
“Sí, but you were out walking on the beach. They asked me not to tell you. They seemed very interested in your eating habits, which is why I noticed the change. They said if you started visibly losing weight, I should call them straightaway.”
Great. Her parents were having her own employee spy on her. They must really be concerned. Serafia sighed and sat back in her chair. They probably were right to be. In the last few days since returning from Alma, she’d already lost five pounds that she shouldn’t have. She was at the low end of the range her doctors had provided her. If she got back into the red zone, she risked another round of inpatient treatment, and she didn’t want to do that.
Damn it.
“Thank you for caring about me, Esperanza.” Serafia eyed the tray of food she brought her. There was a large green salad with diced chicken, a platter with a hard-boiled egg, slices of cheese and bread and a carafe of vinaigrette. Ever hopeful, Esperanza had even included two of her famous cinnamon-sugar cookies. All in all, it was a healthy, balanced lunch with plenty of vegetables, proteins and whole grains. The kind Serafia asked her to make most days.
And yet she had a hard time stopping her brain from mentally obsessing over how many calories were sitting there. If she only ate the greens and the chicken with no dressing, it wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe one piece of cheese, but definitely no bread. They were the same compulsive thoughts that she’d once allowed to take over her life. She’d battled this demon for a long time. A part of her had hoped that she’d beaten it for good, but one emotional blow had sent her spiraling back into her old bad habits.
Habits that had almost killed her.
“It looks wonderful,” she said. “I promise to eat every bite. Are there any more cookies?”
“There are!” Esperanza said, her face brightening.
“I’ll take some of those this afternoon after my siesta.”
“Muy bíen!” Esperanza shuffled back into the house, leaving Serafia alone on the patio.
She knew she should change out of her wet workout clothes, but she didn’t care. She knew that she needed to eat. Now. Voices in her head be damned.
She started with one of the cookies for good measure. It dropped into her empty stomach like lead, reminding her to take it slow. Her doctors had warned her about starving herself, then binging. That was another, all new, dangerous path she was determined not to take.
Nibbling on the cheese and bread, she started to feel better. She knew that her body paid a high toll for her anorexia. As she was driven to exercise and ignore all the food she could, it made her feel terrible. Even this small amount of food made the difference. Picking up her fork and pouring some of the vinaigrette over the salad, she speared a bite and chewed it thoughtfully.
All this was in marked contrast to the way she’d felt in Alma. For some reason, her past worries had slipped away as she focused on preparing Gabriel to be king. Perhaps it was because he thought she was so beautiful, even with the extra pounds she resented. He worshipped every inch of her body in bed, never once stopping to criticize or comment on her flaws. That made her feel beautiful. When they ate together, it was a fun, enjoyable experience. She was too distracted by the good food and even better company to worry about the calories. There were a few days in Alma where she’d even forgotten to exercise. Before that, she hadn’t missed a day of exercise in years. When she was with Gabriel, she’d been able to stop fighting with her disease and simply live.
She had been doing so well, and the minute it was yanked away from her, the negative thoughts came rushing back in. She couldn’t do this. If there was one thing she’d learned in the years since her heart attack, it was that she loved herself too much to keep hurting herself.
Reaching for a slice of bread with cheese, she took a large bite, then another, and another, until her lunch was very nearly gone.
She couldn’t allow loving Gabriel to undo all the progress she’d made.
* * *
The report on Gabriel’s lap told him what he already knew in his heart, but somehow, seeing the words in black-and-white made him feel that much more like the ass he was.
Hector had done as he’d asked. His people in the press office had reached out to the author of the scathing article on the Espinas. It hadn’t taken much pressure for him to reveal that he’d been approached by Felicia Gomez. He admitted that while the historical portions of the article were researched and fact-checked, the insinuations of Serafia’s nefarious intentions were purely speculation based on Felicia’s suggestions. It didn’t mean that her family didn’t help overthrow the Montoros, but in the end, that really didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was that Serafia was innocent of all those charges.
He knew it. He knew it when he’d read the article the first time and he knew it when he’d thrown accusations at Serafia and watched her heart break right before his eyes. He’d been humiliated. Angry. He’d lashed out at her because he’d allowed his own fears to rule his life and publically embarrass him. It was easier to blame her in the moment than face the fact that he’d done this to himself.
Gabriel felt awful about the whole thing. Serafia had been the only person in his life he thought he could trust, and yet he’d turned around and abused her trust of him at the first provocation. It made him feel sick.
He needed to do something to fix this. Right now.
Looking up from his report, he spied Luca walking down the hallway past his office. “Luca, can you find out if the Montoro jet is still in Alma?”
Luca nodded and disappeared down the hallway.
Gabriel took a deep breath and resolved himself to his sudden decision. He didn’t entirely have his plan together, but he knew he needed to get out of Alma to make this happen. That meant getting on a plane. Serafia had returned to Barcelona. He was certain she wouldn’t answer his calls if he tried, and anyway, he knew in his heart that they needed to have a conversation in person. The only catch would be whether or not the jet was here. His father had sent for Bella to come to Alma. Gabriel wasn’t sure what day that was happening, but if the jet was with her in Miami, he’d have to find another way to get to Serafia. Could a prince fly coach?
He didn’t care if he was crammed in a middle seat at the back of the plane, he had to get to her. Saying he was sorry wasn’t enough. He needed to follow that up with how he felt about her. It had taken losing her for him to get in touch with how he truly felt. There was nothing quite like waking up and realizing he was in love and he’d just ruined everything.
But maybe, just maybe, apologizing and confessing his love for her would be enough for Serafia to forgive his snap judgments.
Luca appeared in the doorway, an odd expression on his face.
“Where’s the jet?” Gabriel asked.
“It’s still at the airport in Del Sol, Your Grace.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Tell them I want to go to Barcelona as soon as possible. I need a car to meet me at the airport and I need someone to track down Serafia’s home address. I have no idea where she lives.”
“Yes, Your Grace. I will see to all that. But first, you have...a visitor.”
Gabriel could feel his own face taking on Luca’s pinched, confused expression. “A visitor?” Could people just stroll up to the royal beach compound and knock on the door to join him for tea?
“Yes. It’s an old woman from Del Sol. She told the guards at the gate that she took a taxi out here to speak with you. She said it’s very important.”
Gabriel was certain that everything people wanted to say to the king was very important, but he was at a loss. He wanted to pack his bag and be in Barcelona before dinnertime. Certainly this could wait...
“She says it’s about Serafia.”
Gabriel stiffened. That changed everything. “Have her escorted into the parlor. Tell Marta to bring some tea and those almond cookies if we have any left. That will give us some time to make the arrangements before I leave.”
Luca nodded and went off to fulfill his wishes. Gabriel returned to his closet to pick a suit coat. He’d been dressing himself for the last few days and if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t doing a very good job. He knew that Serafia would want him to wear a jacket to greet a guest, especially an elderly one with more conservative ideas about the monarchy. He selected a black suit coat that went with the gray shirt he was already wearing. He knew he should add a tie, but he just couldn’t do it. He was in his own home; certainly he could get away with being a little more casual there.
By the time he reached the parlor, all his instructions had been executed beautifully. Marta had placed a tray of lovely treats on the coffee table and was pouring two cups of tea. Seated on the couch was a tiny woman. Perhaps the smallest he’d ever seen, withered and hunched over with age. She was at least eighty, the life shriveling out of her just as the sun had seemed to tan her skin to near leather. Her hair was silver and pulled back into a neat bun. She looked like everyone’s abuela.
“Presenting His Majesty, Prince Gabriel!” one of the guards lining the wall announced as he entered the room.
The old woman reached for her cane to stand and curtsey properly, but Gabriel couldn’t bear for her to go to that much trouble just for him. “Please, stay seated,” he insisted.
The woman relaxed back into her seat with a look of relief on her face. “Gracias, Don Gabriel.”
He sat down opposite her, offering the woman sugar or cream for her tea. “What can I do for you, señora?”
She took a sip of tea, and then set it down on the china dish with a shaky hand. “Thank you for taking the time to see me today. I know you are very busy. My name is Conchita Ortega. In 1946 when the coup happened, I was just fifteen years old and working as a servant in the Espina household. I have seen what was published in the papers over the last week or so, and now I have heard that Señorita Espina has left Alma.”
“Señorita Espina was only working for me for a few weeks. She was always supposed to return home.”
The older woman narrowed her gaze at him. “I understand, Your Grace, but I also understand and know amor when I see it. I know in my heart you were a couple in love and those vicious lies have ruined it. I had to speak up so you would know the truth.”
Gabriel listened carefully, his interest in what the woman had to say growing with each additional word she spoke. Even though he didn’t hold the past of her family against Serafia, it would help to know the truth of what really had happened back then. This woman might be one of the only people left alive who knew the whole story. “Please,” he replied. “I’d love for you to tell me what you know.”
She nodded and relaxed back in her seat with a cookie in her hand. She took a bite and chewed slowly, torturing Gabriel by delaying her story. “By the time everything fell apart,” she began, “the hurt feelings about the broken engagement between Rafael the First and Rosa Espina were nearly a decade in the past. Rafael had married Anna Maria, Rosa had married another fine gentleman and the young Prince Rafael the Second, your grandfather, was seven years old. All had turned out for the best. The Espina family would not, and did not, conspire against the Montoros during the coup. In fact, they were your family’s closest confidantes.”
“How do you know?”
“At fifteen, I was like a little mouse, moving quiet and unseen through the house. I was privy to many discussions with no one giving any thought to my presence. I was serving tea when Queen Anna Maria came to the Espina Estate in secret. She’d come to ask your family to help them. Alma had weathered the Second World War, but they feared the worst was yet to come for them. Tantaberra was growing in power, staging large demonstrations and causing unrest all over Alma. The royal family was worried that they were losing hold of the country.
“The queen asked the Espinas to help them protect Alma’s historical treasures by smuggling them out of the country before things got worse. The Montoros had to stay as long as they could to appear strong against their opposition, but they feared that when they did leave, they’d have to leave everything behind. The queen couldn’t bear for such important things to be lost, so they arranged for the Espinas to move to Switzerland and take the country’s most important historical artifacts with them.”
Serafia had mentioned that her family lived in Switzerland before moving to Spain. The article had said the family fled before the coup, which was interpreted as suspicious at the time. “What kind of things?” he asked.
“The royal jewels and stores of gold, an oil portrait of the first king of Alma, handwritten historical records of the royal family...everything that would be considered irreplaceable.”
“Were they successful in smuggling everything out?” he asked.
“Yes. I helped load the ship myself. They sailed from Alma with all of their things and a secret cargo of Alman treasure. They traveled down the Rhine River to Switzerland, arriving just weeks before everything fell apart. Your family was not so lucky. They fled to America with nothing, leaving everything else behind for Tantaberra to claim as his own.”
“What about you?”
“I had the option to go with the Espinas, but I couldn’t leave my family behind. I stayed. But I’m glad I did so I could be here to tell you the truth. The Espinas are not traitors. They’re heroes, but no one knows the truth.”
“Why doesn’t anyone know about this? Not even my father has mentioned it.”
“It is likely he does not know. The queen orchestrated everything and may not have told anyone in the family so they could not be tortured for the information. It was a closely guarded secret and everyone was instructed not to speak of it while the Tantaberras were still in power. At the time, they had ties with Franco in Spain and they feared that if anyone knew the truth, their network would seek out the Espinas and retaliate. They were instructed not to breathe a word to anyone until the royal family was restored officially to the throne again.”
“Do you think the family still has the treasures after all these years?”
“I have no doubt of it. I ask you to reach out to Señor Espina in Madrid. He can tell you the truth. After all these years, I’m sure he will be happy to return the royal treasure to where it belongs after the coronation.”
Gabriel was stunned by the entire conversation. Apparently this information had not been passed down through the generations the way it should’ve been. But as they finished their tea, a plan started to form in his mind. He arranged for a car to take Señora Ortega home and finalized the preparations for his flight. Instead of going to Barcelona, he decided a visit to Madrid to see Serafia’s father was in order. If her family had his country’s treasures, they needed to be restored to the people. Once he knew for certain the story was true, he intended for the whole country to know the truth about the Espinas. They deserved a parade in their honor, and all the vicious rumors to be put to bed once and for all.
And while he was there...he wanted to ask Señor Espina for his daughter’s hand in marriage.