The Unexpected Journey-A Prince Harry Fan Fic

Chapter 181

The nude pictures of Maddie dropped over night. There was no warning, no heads up, no calls for comment. They just appeared and were instantly everywhere. It didn't matter that they were fake and it didn't matter that there was a long ago issued injunction barring their use. This was war and whoever it was who was saddling up next to Ernie in Nebraska was hitting back against the Sussexs, back against the Royal Family.

And they weren't pulling any punches.

The loud ring of the landline shattered out into their room, waking them both from deep, heavy sleep. Maddie sat straight up in bed, a panic already washing over her as Harry reached for the phone, knocking over several items on his nightstand as he did.

"Yes?" He answered, his voice rough with sleep. Watching him closely, she began to mentally prepare herself for something big; a death, an accident. Maybe a war. She didn't know for sure what was going on, but she did know that that phone hadn't rang once in the entire time she'd been sleeping next to Harry.

She watched and listened and she jumped when she heard his voice turn sharp and angry.

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" His eyes whipped around to look at her, his hands pushing the blankets from his legs, rising to his feet unable to contain the energy that was piping through his veins.

Maddie couldn't move, couldn't find her voice to ask him what was happening so she sat there and she watched Harry's face drain of color. "What do you mean they're..." He reached for his cellphone, tugging it up, listening to the other person on the other end of the phone as he slid his fingers over the screen. "Oh my God..." He whispered, his eyes staring down at the screen, the image glaring and bright as he nodded his head.

"What..." She managed a whisper, seeing the tension on his face illuminated by the light from his phone.

"Jesus Christ. I thought we took care of this?! But then how in the hell...Well what do you want me to...Fine. Yes. We'll get dressed right now. See you soon."

With a storm of anxiety brewing in her stomach, Maddie watched as Harry placed the phone back on its base, the slow, quiet way he moved only making her more nervous.

"Harry?" Her voice cracked, her mind scattered as she tried to figure out what in the hell could be going on that made him so angry, that required them to get out of bed and get dressed at four in the morning on the day of Trooping The Colour.

His fingers stayed wrapped around the phone as he took a breath, as he tried to calm himself. His knuckles were white and his face was red and were it not for the sleeping baby down the hall, he would have ripped the phone out of the wall and thrown it through a window.

Maddie gulped at the dryness in her throat. "Harry what is it? Is everyone okay or..."

His head nodded slowly as he had to consciously tell his hand to let go of the phone. Turning to face her, he caught the look on her face; the panic and the fear and God how he wanted to scoop her up and take her away from all of this. "Everyone is...ha...everyone is fine."

"Then who is coming over here at four in the morning?"

"Thomas," Harry answered, his tone cold and businesslike, desperately trying to keep his anger in check as he looked down at his phone, sliding his fingers over the screen. "You should get out of bed and get dressed and..."

"You still haven't told me what..." Without word, he handed his phone over to her, nodding down to the screen illuminating their dark room. When she looked down, when she saw those photos that she thought were buried deep in her past, the gasp that pushed from her mouth was painful to the both of them. "But..." She stammered, shaking her head as she began to scroll through them. It was like deja vu, the first time she saw them clear and vivid in her mind. She had been Harry's girlfriend then, a private citizen. Somebody had threatened to print them but she was able to shut it down, she was able to call them off.