Page 25 of The Duke

Trane nodded. “I should feel more satisfied with that.”

“I know. But we still have a facility to repair and an interrupted summit to carry out…and your girlfriend was involved.”

“How can you still even call her that?” He narrowed his eyes. “No. I don’t want to talk about it.” He turned back out the window and again, Lucan wisely kept to himself.

The anger coursed through him on the current of betrayal and real sadness. He had again hoped to work through some things and at last have Seraphina in his life. Her career was a real problem. It didn’t have to be, but she placed such a high importance on her stories, on reporting, on her sources. He gritted his teeth again. Even if they are known terrorists. Instead of pounding something with his fist, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “How far away are we?”

“Arriving now.”

They pulled into a nondescript building. Lucan’s thumbs flew across his phone. “All the countries’ leaders participating in the summit have been accounted for and moved for security purposes. We will meet here in the upstairs conference room. No press.”

Trane nodded. “Perhaps we could video the proceedings.”

“Yes, taken care of. They will have a live stream for our country’s local networks.”

“Thank you Lucan.” He appreciated his brother’s thoroughness. The very best at what he did, instead of hiring a head of security, he preferred the job himself.

They were shown to their rooms, much like a typical hotel room, but without windows. And Trane fell into bed.

Hours later, still not asleep, Trane received the text he wanted from Lucan. “Every Environ leader in custody.”

“Thanks brother.”

The next day, all the world leader representatives gathered around a table and signed an agreement, the furthest reaching of its kind, committing each country with shared sea shoreline to better care for the precious resource. Trane breathed in with pride when the last signature sealed their agreement and they all stood and clapped. King Nico Valdez stood and clapped him on the shoulder. “I can’t think of a better person to lead us in this. It is through your excellent vision and decades’ long Valdez and Torren tradition, that we were able to work through our differences, compromise where needed and create such a productive synergy. May we keep our agreements and have the beautiful sea to enjoy and subsist on for many decades to come.”

They clapped again, everyone cheering for Trane. He waved them to quiet. “Our excellent work today could never have been accomplished without the commitment of each of you to preserve something beautiful. May our children’s children praise our names.”

Lucan stood to inform them of the security protocol. With the Environs detained, they were free to come and go as they pleased and were invited to continue with the evening’s events.

Trane shook hands with each member of the summit who he had come to admire and appreciate. And then he and Nico and Lucan were alone.

Lucan gathered his papers into a briefcase. “Trane. She didn’t know.”

“But how could she not know? And this whole thing just highlights one more reason we can’t make it work. How can I be with someone who keeps these connections, who puts the story before the crown.” Before him. It hurt. And he wasn’t ready to try again. No matter how much his arms ached to hold her and his heart longed to hear her laugh.

Chapter 15

Every text she sent Trane was not returned. She left messages on his voicemail, even called his assistant. She half-heartedly considered having her royal liaison contact his.

She had praised him with well-deserved accolades in her coverage of the terrorist attack and the subsequent summit proceedings. The Vadlez family were model examples in all of their reactions, in their efforts to preserve the environment, in their reactions to her initial inflammatory articles. The boy she had fallen in love with in high school had become a man she could truly admire.

And she trailed far behind him. How could she have been so foolish. She checked and rechecked her sources, but nothing in EcoFresh indicated their connection to the Environs, that theywerethe Evirons. Every time she thought about it she cringed in embarrassment. And vowed to guard her first-hand knowledge closer, to keep her trusted friends tighter and vet out the others. She sighed. She hated to live that way. Her nature, open, friends and acquaintances important, she wished to trust everyone and be trusted in turn.

Her phone rang. “They’re ready for you.”

She smiled. A press association award from her country. And several others as well. Her article on change had spread throughout the world, and she was now quoted on talk shows and among environmental experts. She was pleased with the attention but mostly because they always included Trane and his efforts and used the Torren nation as an example, the summit as a document to duplicate in other areas. She felt like she had given all Trane’s hard work a voice and a path out into the world.

And she would at last receive her award. A check mark ticked off a box in her mind. Pulitzer hovered on that list also, but it faded. More than anything, she just wanted to keep getting helpful stories into the hands of those who could use them most, to motivate change.

When Seraphina entered the room, lights flashed and a sea of black and white and glitter and color stood and clapped.

Her throat constricted as she paused to let her gaze linger on the crowd, on their smiles and show of support.

And then she almost tripped up in her heels. Trane stood at the back of the room. He nodded in her direction and then slipped out of the room.

Tears filled her eyes and fell down her cheeks. He had come. He might never speak to her again, but he had come.

Chapter 16

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