Chapter 12 - THE FILE FROM VARENNE
The file contained photographs from the night Helena’s father died.
King Frederick had officially passed away after complications from heart disease.
That was what the world had been told.
Evelyn’s documents suggested something else.
Medication records.
A private physician’s handwritten notes.
A photograph of Helena entering her father’s room forty minutes before his death.
Daniel stared at Evelyn.
“What are you implying?”
“I’m not implying anything.”
She smiled.
“I’m saying Queen Helena’s succession may not survive a scandal.”
Sophie looked horrified.
“You’re threatening her.”
“I’m protecting us.”
Daniel picked up the file.
“Where did you get this?”
Evelyn said nothing.
“Mom.”
“From someone who understands that royal families are businesses too.”
Daniel drove directly back to Washington.
Helena agreed to see him after midnight.
She wore black trousers and a gray sweater.
No crown.
No makeup.
Just the woman from the bookstore.
He placed the file on the table.
Her face changed when she opened it.
“Where did Evelyn get these?”
“I don’t know.”
Helena examined each page.
Some were real.
Some were altered.
That made them more dangerous.
“This note is authentic.”
Daniel watched her.
“What happened that night?”
Helena sat down.
“My father was dying.”
She looked at the photograph.
“He had been in pain for months.”
“Did you give him medication?”
“No.”
“I held his hand while his doctor adjusted it.”
Daniel sat opposite her.
“Could any of this hurt you politically?”
“Yes.”
“How badly?”
“If released selectively, very badly.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Then we get ahead of it.”
Helena looked at him.
“We?”
He hesitated.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“For what?”
“For not defending you sooner.”
Helena’s expression softened.
“That is not the only wound between us.”
“I know.”
Silence settled between them.
Daniel looked at her.
“I am still angry.”
“You should be.”
“I don’t know whether I can marry someone who hid this much from me.”
Helena nodded.
“I understand.”
“But I also know my mother is trying to destroy you because I chose you.”
Helena shook her head.
“No.”
“She is trying to destroy me because I refused to become useful to her.”
Daniel considered that.
Then he smiled faintly.
“That sounds like you.”
“What does?”
“Correcting me when I’m trying to be dramatic.”
For the first time since the wedding, Helena laughed.
The sound disappeared quickly.
Daniel touched the edge of the file.
“Someone inside your palace gave this to my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You have a traitor.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother has been working with them for months.”
Helena looked toward the dark window.
“Possibly longer.”
Her encrypted phone rang.
She answered in German.
Her face drained of color.
Daniel stood.
“What happened?”
Helena lowered the phone.
“My private secretary in Varenne has disappeared.”
“Who?”
“Matthias Keller.”
Adrian entered the room behind them.
He looked furious.
“He disappeared forty minutes ago.”
Helena stared at him.
May you like
Adrian continued.
“And palace security found sixty-eight million dollars transferred into an account under his wife’s name.”
