"Lea!" Piper nearly ran across the space that separated them, throwing her arms around Alea, tears streaming down her face. "Lea, I thought you were dead."
She returned the hug, but Alea felt like she was on autopilot. She'd tried to think of any way to spare her men the pain of the hell they were all about to endure, the constant exposure to the vicious side of the press. But every road led back to one conclusion. They were better off without her.
Her cousins were standing around Tal's desk, all of them showing signs of the strain the last month must have placed on them. Rafe and Kade looked like they hadn't slept, and Tal had a grimness about him she hadn't seen since he'd married his Piper.
Piper stepped back, smiling at the men who had filed in behind Alea. "Dane, Landon, Cooper. Thank you so much for taking care of her. I heard how you managed to land the plane and get her to safety. You're heroes."
They were her heroes. How could she drag them into her world? It had been so simple on the island, but this was reality, and she feared that none of them were really ready for what it would mean to be married to her. Perhaps if she'd never been kidnapped, they would only have to deal with reporters taking pictures and asking intrusive questions about their love life. But now, these "journalists" were out for blood and called her very morality into question. How long could the press ask these questions before Dane, Cooper, and Lan would get tired of comforting or defending her? How long before they wondered if the reports were true? She had no doubt they would stand by her, but they would get hurt. How long before they resented her for their loss of privacy?
Tal walked around shaking hands with her men. "They are indeed heroes. The royal family cannot repay this debt to you, gentlemen. I will only promise this, no matter what happens in the future, you will always find aid and shelter in this house. I consider you family now."
Alea let her eyes close briefly because she was about to blow everyone out of the water. Damn. Damn. Damn. She didn't want to do it, but she didn't see another way to ensure their happiness. She hadn't been able to help the women she'd been trapped with, but she could help the men she loved.
She'd known the minute they'd been rescued, seen the speculative looks on the scientists' faces, that it wouldn't work. Not here. The island had been different. She'd been able to let go. There was no pushing away the past here.
The men began talking among themselves, and Piper started ordering food, talking to the staff about a fine welcome home dinner. Alea drifted to the window, staring at the gardens.
But all she could see was that young woman's face. She'd managed to pull up one of the many TV interviews Brittany Hahn had given to various media outlets. Apparently she'd been taken to the same brothel Alea had been held in. Brittany had been on a spring break trip to Mexico when she'd been taken for her youthful blonde beauty and sold into prostitution.
Alea didn't remember her. She'd been one of a hundred girls Alea had been forced to watch be raped and beaten as part of her "training." In the beginning, Alea had fought and screamed, but she'd quickly learned that they took her defiance out on the girls she was watching and not her. Oh, they would slap her, beat her silly, but the real pain happened to those young women.
Though she didn't remember Brittany, the girl remembered her. And hated her. She'd blamed Alea for her rape, claimed Alea loved watching others be hurt. She'd called the Princess of Bezakistan nothing but a sadist and hinted that other girls had claimed Alea herself helped hurt them.
Why was she spreading lies? Why was this happening? Pain ripped through Alea. She needed … god, she didn't even know what she needed, but she couldn't stand the waiting anymore. And she knew damn well, she wasn't going to bring these men into her hell.
Piper was right. Dane, Landon, and Cooper were heroes. They had saved her, and what did they get in return? Cameras shoved in their faces and their lives ripped apart in the press.
She'd seen that, too. The press had been busy, interviewing their families and the people in their hometowns, asking all kinds of intrusive questions.
Dane's BDSM leanings had been splashed across the papers, his military career coming into question again. His family had publically disowned him, even when they thought he'd been lost in the crash. He'd been labeled perverse by his ex-wife, who seemed to have taken special delight in detailing all his flaws.
Cooper's family had been inundated. As far as she could tell, they had been busy trying to keep reporters off the ranch.