Page 7 of The Prodigal Prince

* * *

For half a second,Fiona almost felt bad for slapping Maximilian.

Then she remembered how he stared coldly at her before turning and walking away without so much as a glance backward.

Leaving her staring after him, pregnant and alone in the world.

Leaving her to raise their son alone.

Herson.

Her son she needed desperately to find.

And Maximilian was going to help her.

He had connections. Even if he hadn’t been seen in years, he still had to have connections.

“He’s missing?” It didn’t sound as though she’d need to convince him of any of it.

Not that Gray was his son.

That Gray was missing.

“Come with us.” One of the hotel’s security officers ushered them toward the building, but separated her from Maximilian.

“We’ll be checking into this Maximilian guy,” he told her quietly.

She shook her head. “He had nothing to do with Gray’s disappearance.”

“He’s your son’s father?” the man pressed.

“Yes, but he had nothing to do with this.” She hadn’t seen him in years, no one had as far as she knew, but Maximilian couldn’t have had anything to do with Gray going missing.

He looked at her intently for a moment, then nodded. If he was any good at his job, he’d continue to check both of them out anyway.

They reached the resort’s security office with her a few steps in the lead. “I need to talk to Maximilian privately please.”

The head of security hesitated then motioned toward an empty conference room.

Fiona didn’t look back as she went into the room, staring out the window until she heard the door close.

“I deserved that, Fi.” When she couldn’t see him, she found his voice easily recognizable.

She wrapped her arms around her waist and hugged herself. “I know you did.” Fear for her son coursing through her tempered her anger at him.

For now.

“What are you doing here?”

She could hear him suck in a breath. “Keeping an eye on both of you.”

Fiona blinked and turned. “What?”

Without his glasses, his blue eyes were just as striking as they’d been years earlier.

Maximilian motioned to one of the chairs next to the table. Fiona had no doubt he would have held it for her if he’d been closer. Once she had taken the seat, he brought a box of tissues and set it next to her before sitting down across the table.

He took a deep breath and stared at his hands before looking back up at her. “I walked away for a reason, Fiona. It had nothing to do with you or the baby, per se. If it became known that I had a child, especially a son, that child would be in grave danger. Life-threatening danger.”

---