Page 25 of It Must Be Fate

“Are the cameras new?”

“Yup, as of yesterday,” I answer proudly.

“Nice. What company did you use?”

“I’ll send you their info. They might do a package deal discount if the rest of you are interested?”

“I’m in,” Rhys says. “Definitely.”

“Same,” Tristan says. “Very annoyed I didn’t think of this myself.”

“Count me in for the package deal,” Phoenix adds. “Although, I think —I think— we can afford it even without the discount. Haven’t checked my accounts in a minute but unless my balance has dropped nine digits since then, I should be good.”

“Speak for yourself. I’m about to be a dad, I need to start saving.”

Tristan gives Rhys an unimpressed look. “You signed a five hundred million pound contract extension last year, and that’s not even taking your endorsements into account.”

“Yes, but what if I have a daughter? I want my princess to have whatever she wants, whenever she wants it.”

“Fair enough,” Phoenix acquiesces.

“And five hundred million plus isn’t enough?” Tristan questions. “Good luck to the poor bloke who marries your hypothetical daughter. Better hope he’s rich.”

“He’d better be if he’s coming within spitting distance of my daughter. Now zoom in,” Rhys instructs me. “Can you see a bump? She’s starting to have a little baby bump, it’s so cute. I guess you can only really see it when she’s naked.” He straightens, coming suddenly to his senses. “Actually, what am I saying? Don’t you dare fucking look. Avert your eyes, wankers.”

Phoenix shoves him out of the way and pinches the screen with his fingers. “You think I give a shit about your fiancée? The only person I’m looking at is my wife.” He zooms until Six’s face takes up the entire screen. She’s looking at something off camera, her eyes widening in surprise. “She’s so pretty,” he says dreamily.

“You fuckers get your own feed. This is mine.” I slap Phoenix’s hand off my screen.

I zoom out and hear Rhys whisper a muttered “shit” as I make eye contact with Bellamy.

And I do mean,eye contact.

Because my fiancée is standing right beneath the camera, staring straight into the lens, her fists poised sternly on her hips.

“Looks like you’ve been caught out,” Tristan points out.

“No shit.”

She points a finger up at me and starts talking. I turn on the volume so I can hear her.

“Rogue Royal, you are in deep shit. I know that you’ll have gotten a state-of-the-art spy system so I’m willing to bet you can talk to me through this camera. Unmute yourself now.”

A smile curves my lips. She knows me so well.

“Hello, sweetheart,” I say. I see the girls react as my voice echoes through the kitchen.

“Don’t you ‘sweetheart’ me. This is why you were so chill earlier. You were spying.”

“I wasn’t spying.”

“What would you call this?”

“Not wanting to miss out on a single moment with you.”

I see her spine soften a fraction, a smile fighting to loosen the straight line of her lips.

“I didn’t have the volume on, I just wanted to be able to check in from time to time and make sure you were okay.”

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