The Duty Of The Heir (Book 1)

THE DUTY OF THE HEIR BOOK ONE THE ROYAL HEIR’S BOOK THREE JOSEY MOOD CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Also by Josey Mood Acknowledgments COPYRIGHT The Duty Of The Heir (Book One) Copyright © 2019 by Josey Mood All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical reviews and certain other non commercial use permitted by copyright law. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or person, living or dead, is coincidental. ONE The warm September air is flowing through the streets of Wesbury. The town is bustling with activity as people go about their day. The city center is alive with energy, as shoppers, bustle in and out of stores and vendors set up their stalls. The sun is shining brightly through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Duke Presley's office as he finishes up some last minute preparations for the managerial meeting. The Presley Towers, a towering skyscraper in the heart of the town, is bustling with activities as employees bustle about, getting ready for the day. Duke glances at his watch and gathers his papers, preparing to make his way to the conference room where the meeting is set to take place. As the CEO and President of the Presley Group, a collection of some of the most successful corporations in the country, he is no stranger to important meetings. But this quarterly meeting is particularly crucial, as it will set the direction for the company for the next few months. He takes a deep breath and as he yanks his desk chair back to stand up, his cell phone rings from the desk. He looks at the caller and then quickly taps on the answer key. He has been expecting the call all morning.) DUKE “Hey, honey?” (For a moment, there is complete silence on the other end. He looks at the screen again. The call is still active.) VOICE OF AISLING “Du..ke...” (Aisling Presley, his wife’s cracking voice comes through.) DUKE “Aisling?” AISLING “We lost it again, Duke.” (Duke stands frozen in place, his heart pounding in his chest. He can feel the sweat dripping down his forehead as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. The room around him seems to spin, and he can feel his knees trembling beneath him. He shakes his head.) DUKE “It’s okay. It’s okay, babe. It’s not the end.” AISLING “It’s not okay, Duke. Don’t say that. This was our fourth cycle. We weren’t expecting to lose this too. This was going so well. The numbers were better than the ones we had in the previous cycles.” DUKE “You are right. It was going so well, but something might...” (She cuts him mid-sentence, impatiently.) AISLING “She was perfect. She was a healthy embryo, and the numbers were encouraging...” DUKE “Aisling, something must have happened along the way. Hopefully, Dr. Jones can explain this correctly to us when we sit down with him and what he would advise us to do next. I can fly down this evening, and we get to sit down with him tomorrow.” AISLING “Okay.” DUKE “Have you spoken to him yet?” AISLING “No. He is a little swamped this morning, but he has promised to meet with me shortly.” DUKE “So where are you right now?” AISLING “I’m still here, at the clinic with my mum waiting to talk to him to find out for the fourth time what the hell happened.” DUKE “All right. You need to relax, okay? I am going to make a few calls, and I will give you a callback.” AISLING “What are we going to do now, Duke?” DUKE “Let me talk to Dr. Jones first, and I will get back to you.” (He hears Aisling take in a sob-filled deep breath.) AISLING “Alright. I will be waiting.” DUKE “It’s going to be okay, Aisling.” (Lilian Presley, the Head of Corporate and Legal Services for the group, cautiously approaches the office door and gives it a light knock. She quickly enters the room and sees Duke, deep in conversation on his cell phone.) DUKE “...alright? You will have to stop crying. We are going to get through this, I promise. ....I will call you again.” (Duke ends the call and returns the cell phone to the desk. Lilian walks over.) LILIAN “They are waiting. We have to go now.” DUKE “Cancel.” (Lilian’s face falls. She casts him a disapproving look.) LILIAN “Cancel?” DUKE “Yes.” LILIAN “But why? Duke, you can’t tell me to send these people away. This is an important meeting.” DUKE “Can the meeting go on without me?” LILIAN “No.” DUKE “That’s why I need you to cancel because I can’t be there. Schedule for another time. Next week should be fine.” LILIAN “Why do you want to cancel?” DUKE “Because I just received a call from Aislingin Rich Oaks. Our fourth IVF cycle has also fallen through.” LILIAN “Oh, no. I’m so sorry. But what happened?” DUKE “Not known.” LILIAN “How is she doing?” (Duke shakes his head.) DUKE “Not good.” LILIAN “So what are you going to do? Are you flying to Rich Oaks this morning to join her?” DUKE “I don’t know yet. I have to speak to the doctor first.” (He takes a long deep breath.) LILIAN “Isn’t her birthday this Friday?” DUKE “Yeah, and with that timing of the embryo transfer, we were hoping to celebrate this birthday with the best news ever. We were overly hopeful with this one, and...” (He clasps his hands tightly.) LILIAN “I’m so sorry.” DUKE “So you should let them know that there is