Page 26 of Corrupted Queen

She twirls a bunch of chow mein around her fork and shoves it into her mouth, eyes rolling to the back of her head. We fall into a comfortable silence while Alexis devours her food. I’m pleased to see her looking a little less miserable.

When Alexis’ plate is mostly empty, she pushes a piece of chicken around absently and stares at it. “Gabriel …”

I look up. “Yes?”

“Did you know my dad?” she asks. “Like, did you talk to him?”

“Not often.”

“Did he ever mention me?” Her voice is small, like she is afraid of what the answer will be.

“No,” I admit. “I didn’t even know he had a daughter. But like I said, I didn’t talk to him often. He was my father’s friend, one of many, so I didn’t pay much attention to him.”

She looks up at me, narrowing her eyes slightly. “I would argue that killing him entailed paying him a lot of attention.”

There it is—a whispering of the wit that endeared Alexis to me from the first moment we met. I am glad to see it returning.

“I suppose it was more that I tried to ignore him, until I couldn’t ignore him anymore,” I answer.

“Why not?” she asks. “How did it ... happen?”

I take a breath, and weigh the words in my mind. I consider telling her everything, revealing the rest of my secrets to her now, but decide against it. I don’t want to upset her further.

“Are you wondering if he mentioned you because you worry that he didn’t love you?” I ask. “Or are you searching for proof of it?”

Her eyes go back to her plate. “I don’t know. I always thought he loved my mom. He would spend hours at her bedside, reading to her, updating her on everything that was going on in the outside world. I would never have questioned his affection for me before, but knowing what I know … The man who raised me seems like an entirely different person from the one I saw on that video. I just want to know if any of it was real.”

I rest my fork on my plate and lean back in my chair. I don’t know what to tell her.

The baby monitor crackles to life from my pocket and Harry’s screams rip through the room. This doesn’t sound like the typical crying that Harry does. He usually works up to it, sniffling and gurgling first.

“Monster!” he wails, driving a spike of fear through my chest.

Alexis and I are on our feet in an instant, and we both take off toward the nursery, bounding up the foyer stairs and sweeping past the bewildered guards. Alexis goes to Harry while I check the closet and Alexis’ bedroom for possible signs of an intruder. The window is secure, and everything is as it should be. Of course it is. He’s safe here. I have guards watching him twenty-four-seven.

Alexis has managed to quiet him down by the time I am finished, though he is still breathing rapidly.

“It was a nightmare,” she says soothingly, running her fingers over his wet cheek. “It wasn’t real.”

“Monster,” he whimpers.

I can only imagine the kinds of monsters Harry might see in his dreams. To this day I don’t know what Andrew Walsh and his thugs did with Harry during the three days Alexis and Harry were held captive, but considering how poorly they treated her, I suspect I don’t want to know. And I hope when he is older, he doesn’t remember.

I lean back against the wall as my heartbeat slows. Alexis begins to sing softly. I probably take as much comfort in the song as Harry.

I would do anything to keep Harry from meeting another monster, but my nightmares are far from over. That means his are too.

10

Alexis

Harry runs ahead of me, squealing with delight at the freedom the long hallway provides. I stride after him, holding my hands out for when he inevitably falls. When he reaches the end of the hall, he turns and runs into my arms.

“Good job, little guy.” I nuzzle against his head. “Do you want to keep going?”

“Ya!”

I hold him a second longer, straining to hear through the door we just happened to stop beside. If Gabriel is watching the cameras, I’m not doing anything suspicious. I’m certainly not eavesdropping. I’m just helping our son develop his muscles and balance and using the hallway that stretches between the nursery and Gabriel’s office to do so.

---