Even with a viper in my bed, I should have run then but I didn’t. I can only hope now that it isn’t too late. He promised me long ago that if I ever wanted to, I was free to go, but that I wouldn’t be welcome back. I pray he keeps his end of the promise.
I pack only what I need in a backpack and shove the stack of papers and photographs, the truth to his lies on top. I zip it closed and sling one strap over my shoulder. He can keep the dresses and jewels, I don’t have any use for fancy things like that back home.
“Ma’am?” Leo, my personal security officer asks when I open the door.
“I need to get to the airport,” I tell him. “Right away.”
He looks at me, his blue eyes watch and survey and I know that they see the truth. I’m running and I’m not even going to try and hide it.
“Have you spoken to His Royal Highness about this urgent matter?”
“Not yet,” I reply.
“Maybe you should—” he starts.
“The car, Leo,” I interrupt him.
“Yes, ma’am,” he says. “I’ll get it straight away.”
“Thank you, Leo… for everything.”
“It’s been my pleasure ma’am.”
And then he heads down the hall to arrange the car. I follow on his heels. There’s so much I will miss here, mostly people I have met. And there is also a lot that I won’t miss at all. Again, mostly people.
Harris, the driver assigned to me when I leave the castle without Rhys pulls around the corner and jumps out of the driver’s seat. He opens the rear door for me and I slide inside. Leo climbs in the front passenger seat with his phone to his ear. He might be tattling on me but I don’t care.
Not anymore.
“Where to, Miss?”
“The airport,” I answer.
“Are you meeting His Royal Highness?” he asks me. “And should I return to the castle for the rest of your luggage, ma’am?”
“No,” I answer his questions softly. I can hear the catch in my voice and so can Harris and Leo. “I won’t be coming back.”
Harris drives us through the castle gates and down the long and winding road that leads to the highway or whatever it is they call it here. It’s a two lane road that twists and turns down through the hills before it spreads out to four lanes across under a huge bridge.
The piano strains of an old Billy Joel tune fill the car softly, reminding me that life isn’t sunshine and rainbows and I need to remember that more hard knocks are handed down than not. And I should have already learned this particular lesson long before Rhys Alexander crashed into my life and made me fall in love with him.
But that’s just how it goes.
My phone rings and I press my eyes closed. I know exactly who it is. I don’t want to answer but that’s not right. I slide my finger across the cool glass to unlock it.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Where are you?” he demands, his brogue deeper and thicker than normal.
“I’m leaving,” I say quietly.
“Why?”
“I know,” I whisper. “I know it all.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” he says after a beat.
“I know it was all fake,” I say. “Every last bit of it.”
“Come back,” he changes the subject. “I’ll meet you at the castle.”
“I can’t do that.” The car lurches to the right but I ignore it.
“I’ll come to you,” he offers.
“No,” I whisper with my heart clenching painfully in my chest. “We had a deal.”
The car lurches again.
“Where are you?” Rhys asks and I look out the window and see that we’re almost to the big overpass just before the exit for the airport.
“It doesn’t matter,” I whisper. “I’m already gone.”
“No.”
“Ma’am,” Leo says. “I need you to put your seatbelt on.”
“What’s happening?” Rhys demands.
I move as fast as I can to comply. I drop my phone down to the bench next to me. I hear Rhys’s voice yelling for me but I can’t understand what he’s saying.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Don’t worry, ma’am,” Harris says.
“Watch out!” Leo yells and then the car is filled with the sounds of breaking glass and crunching metal.
My face smashes against the window next to me and an explosion of pain blasts through my face and in my brain.
I should have known. I should have run when I had the chance. I was never safe here. Not in this country, or in his castle, and I was absolutely never safe with Rhys.
“Stella!” I hear him shout. “Hen! Answer me!”
When the car comes to rest, only the last bits of of the song can be heard through the car and I sing the last line, a fitting end to my tragic tale, a life where if something awful could happen it would and the losses compound one after another. I should have stayed hidden in my quiet life all alone.
I had thought that he was my Prince Charming. That he was whisking me off to a fairytale life in a faraway land. But He’s not Prince Charming, Rhys Alexander is the King of Lies.
“And so it goes…”
“Hen!” he screams one last time, or more, I don’t know.
And then the blackness overwhelms me and I fade into nothing…
Once upon a time,
A girl was swept away to a castle in a faraway land,
by a handsome prince.
But when she looked around there were no princes,
no kings and queens and no happy endings.
Only monsters.
Acknowledgements
THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading Jules and Ryan’s story in THE PRESS SECRETARY’S PASSION. I so hope that the end of these stories leaves you feeling like they all got what they needed in the end. I so love when flawed characters find their forever person. Of course with a few twists and turns along the way. Thank you for reading this book.
The rest of these thank yous won’t go like they usually do. While writing this book, my dad became very ill. For those of you who have met and fallen in love with my dad at signing events, you know that he’s not your typical 72 year old. He’s strong and healthy. He works out daily and eats healthy foods, something I don’t understand, but I digress. He is healthy and on the mend but it rocked our world to see such a strong man brought so low.
You have a book to read because of the following people: Tricia Crouch, my fantastic PA and life runner. She jumped in and got shit handled the second she found out there was a family emergency. Kayla Robichaux, my editor, who often keeps me on track when I fall off. She makes sense out of the words that come out even when I can’t. This time was so much more. I can’t even begin to describe how much she sorted me out all while making sure my family was ok. And Emma and Stacy who offered to buy meals from as far as four hours away to across the world. They lovely ladies made sure we were ok and I know they were with us.
And last but not least, Alyssa Garcia, my publicist, graphic designer, bestie boo, rid or die. She kept me on track, she took my kids, and she ran across the street in the middle of the night towards an ambulance. I couldn’t have taken care of my people and finished this book without her.
And also my other bestie boo, my long time ride or die, Stephanie and her husband Reo who checked up on mom and I daily to make sure we were ok. To offer to run groceries or whatever else we might need.
And also thank you for those who won’t ever see this. Our friends and neighbors who stopped what they were doing, who ran next door, to help out my mom and to advocate for my dad when Sean or I were not there. Who opened doors and then closed them when I freaked out that my dad’s cats would get loose. (Remember the ladder incident?) Chrissy, Lee, Alyssa, and Adrian, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m so thankful that when we convinced mom and dad to move here with us it was to be surrounded by wonderful people.
Tonight, my son described our friends as the family God chos
e for us. Not the family we were born into, who we need, but the ones he knew we needed in our lives to make it better. At first I thought, what in the Big Love kinda hell is he talking about? But then it just clicked. He was right. These are the people we need to make our lives better, not just in an emergency or when we get something from it but always. To laugh with, to cry with, to celebrate joys and grieve heavy losses. I’m so glad this time we get to celebrate.
And last but never least, the blue eyed boy who stole my heart. I knew he was a good guy the night I met him, I knew he was a great man when I watched him hold his baby, and I saw his kind and patient heart as we get to grow old together and watch our children grown from babies who need us to independent people. But I also get to see the bond that he shares with my parents, his parents, our friends and family. I’ll love him in this life and the next. And I’m forever thankful that his beautiful heart decided on mine.
It was only ever you, babe.
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