“So you decided to turn up eventually,” she said. “Where were you earlier?”
“Well, after last night I didn’t think you’d want to see me again.”
Behind her I could see a suitcase on the bed. Except for a few sundry items dotted around her room, it looked as though everything was packed tightly inside it.
“I shouldn’t have hit you,” she said. “I’ve never done that to anyone.”
She reached her hand up to my cheek and just the touch of her fingers soothed me.
“It's okay,” I said. “You were right to be annoyed, but you’ve got to believe me, I didn’t lie to you. I really wanted to tell you everything. It's just that the right time never came up.”
I looked again at the suitcase. At that moment it was a symbol of everything. It felt like every single second we spent together was packed into inside it, and in just a few hours time it would be leaving.
“Wish I didn’t have to say this, but I guess it’s goodbye.”
“It’s been a crazy week,” she said.
The two of us hung it in the doorway. From down the hall came the sound of drunken laughter.
“You better come inside,” she said.
I walked into her room and sat beside her suitcase, slapping the top of it.
“You’re ready to go then.”
“I suppose so,” she replied. “Time to go back to normality.”
“If only it could have all gone so differently.”
“I just wish you'd told me,” she said. “Why didn't you sooner?”
“You don't understand,” I replied. “If only you could know what it's like to live this life.”
“No, I know nothing of being a royal. What I do know is that you should have been honest.”
“Honest? You’re the one who just thought this was a bit of fun anyway. It wasn’t supposed to be anything, remember? It was all just fake.”
“You told me you loved me!” she said. “That’s when things weren't fake anymore.”
She stood up and walked over to the window.
“You made me look like a fucking idiot tonight,” she said. “You showed me up. I was all alone. You promised you’d be there and everyone kept asking about you. Everywhere I looked people's eyes were on me. They couldn’t stop gossiping about me. Everywhere I looked there was that photograph of me looking like some crazed attacker. Do you know what one blog called called me? A sexy, psycho piece of ass. What am I supposed to do when I see stuff like that?”
“Please. I know this must be horrible for you. I've been plagued by the paparazzi my whole life. They just make things up about anyone. I never wanted them anywhere near you.”
“Make things up?” she said. “What were they making up when they printed that photograph of you in that sex club.”
“That was the me before,” I insisted. “I’m not like that now.”
“It was just last week!” she spat. “How much could you have changed?”
“Everything has changed in the last week because I met you.”
She shook her head, opened the doors to the balcony and walked out in disbelief. The dark sky was fading, dropping like ink into the horizon. Day was breaking, but so was my heart.
“I can’t let you,” I said. “ I can’t just let you get on a plane and leave.”
“But I have to. Besides, it’s over, isn’t it? How could I be with someone like you anyway? You’re a prince! A literal prince. And a savage one according to the newspaper. They say you’ve been with thousands of girls! How many other girls have you told you loved in the last week?”
“Lizzie, I know how it looks, but the truth is that I don't throw that word around. I mean it.”
Angrily, she started slamming things into her suitcase.
“I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid,” she said under her breath.
It was like a dark pit was swelling up inside my stomach. Those fucking newspapers. They were ruining my life.
“Can you listen to me?” I pleaded.
“Just leave me alone. I’ve got a flight to catch soon.”
“I can’t,” I said. “I can’t just walk away.”
But it was obvious that's exactly what she wanted me to do. She proceeded to ignore me as she packed her things away, staring intently at her stuff so she didn't have to look at me.
“I never meant to hurt you,” I said.
“Yeah, well you did.”
“Lizzie...”
I edged toward her.
“Don't.”
It was like an invisible wall had been put up between us and I couldn't penetrate it, couldn't get any closer to her no matter how much I wanted to. I had no choice but to walk away. As I opened the door, I took one last look at her to take in her face.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you today,” I said. “I’m sorry you had to see all those things about me.”
“I’m glad I did because now I know who you really are.”
She didn't look up. Didn't even say goodbye.
I closed the door over as my heart sank. Once again, I felt my throat close up. As I walked away, there was one thought in my mind that eclipsed all others. I could live for another thousand years, and I would never meet anyone like her.
Lizzie
The minibus was waiting out the front of the hotel. I was the last person to get inside, and everyone else with sat ready to go to the airport, hungover, sticky with sweat, and thoroughly exhausted. But I wasn't ready to get inside just yet. As soon as I climbed aboard and we left the hotel it would mean the whole week would come to an end. I'd have to go home to rainy Mondays, long hours in the office with Adam over my head and sleeping and Christy's sofa. Although I was at least glad to think that as she was on her honeymoon with Josh, I'd get the house to myself for a couple weeks.
But of course, returning to normality wasn't what was bothering me the most. I stared up at the hotel to where Phil's suite lay. I could just about see his balcony if I squinted.
It was goodbye forever, although I wished things had worked out differently. If only he'd told me who he was when we first met. If only I didn't have to see those newspaper stories. If only I didn't have to see the gruesome image of him in that sex club.
My mind was torn in two. On one hand he could be so sweet and attentive, could make love to me like nobody else could. He'd made me feel things no one else had. But on the other hand, I had to be realistic. I was just another girl to him. Just another conquest. For all I knew he could have moved on already.
I kept staring at his balcony. Was there a girl inside there now?
“Lizzie! What are you doing?”
Louise was shouting out the window waving her sun burnt arms.
“We need to leave now if we're going to make the flight,” she said.
I looked over at the minibus, then back up at the balcony before taking one last look at the beach.
“Can you give me two minutes?” I asked.
“Literally just two minutes,” replied Louise. “We've got to go.”
That was all I needed. Just two minutes to say goodbye to the best week of my life. I strolled onto the beach, feeling the sun on my face and the sand between my toes one last time. Breathing in the scent of the sea, I closed my eyes and thought of moonlit boat rides, the taste of margaritas, the taste of Phil's lips and the feel of his arms around me.
“Leaving already?” asked a voice.
opened my eyes and saw the bar manager, Richard standing in front of me. Not dressed like anyone else, he was sweating beneath a pressed suit and brown brogues. There was a peculiar look in his eyes and his skin was strangely pale and waxen. He looked as though he was desperate to say something but wasn't allowed to. I watched as he picked at the quick of his fingernails and nervously shuffled from foot to foot.
“You forgot something,” he said, his voice breaking so it came out like a squeak.
“Really?”
“A pair of earrings,” he said. “You dropped them and
I left them behind the bar for you.”
I raised a hand to my ear and tried to remember losing a pair of earrings. Was I really that drunk? No, I couldn't have been, and I wasn't the sort of person who went around losing jewelry.
“Do you want to come with me now?” he asked “It will just take a minute.”
Looking over at the minibus, I saw Louise growing increasingly impatient.
“But I really don't remember losing anything, and we have to leave now.”
“Really, it will just take a moment.”
Hesitantly, I followed him back inside the hotel, watching his peculiar gait. The guy walked as though he had a pole up his ass.
“Just in here,” he said, pointing into a small room near the fire escape.
“I thought you said you left them at the bar.”
“Oh, did I?” he laughed nervously. “I meant that I left it in this room behind the bar.”
Something didn't feel right, and I had a gut feeling that I should never have come back. A nagging voice at the back of my head told me to turn and go straight back to the minibus. There was just something I didn't like about the guy, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
“Please, do come inside,” he said, ushering me into the room.
I hung back in the doorway and looked inside. The room was dark except for a single swinging light bulb.
No way. I've seen far too many horror movies to go inside here.
“Please, come this way,” insisted Richard.
“No really, I'll just-”
A hand shot out the darkness. Before I could even register what was happening, it grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me into the shadows.
“What the fuck?”
The first thing that caught my attention was the searing heat that enveloped my arm as though it had been crushed in a vice.
“Get off me!”
Before I knew it, a hand was on my other wrist, and my arms were been pulled behind my back with such force my shoulder blades ached.
“What's happening! Who is this?”
I struggled as hard as I could, screamed and cried, kick as hard as my body would allow, but it was no use.
“Get off me. Get off me! Let me go, you bastard!”
It was all happening too quick. I couldn't process any of it. Then, when I thought it couldn't get any worse, a rag was wound tight around my face. It covered my eyes first, then my mouth. It smelled strongly of diesel and dirty water and instantly made me gag.
“Let me go!” I screamed again, but this time my voice came out muted.
The rag grew wet with my angry tears as I continued to kick and struggle. At the back of the room somebody laughed, and a second later I heard the words that would make my blood run cold.
“How much do you think the prince will pay for her?”
“I don't know,” replied Richard. “You're the pirates. That makes you the experts, right?”
I grew even madder and struggled even harder, but all I could feel was the strong hands on my arms holding me in place.
“You'll never get away with this,” I tried to say, and they laughed again.
With all my strength, I kicked one last time and felt my foot connect with somebody's leg. They yelped and reeled back.
“Bitch!” they shouted.
And a moment later I felt something hard and sharp hit me over the top of the head. I instantly saw stars, but as I tried to regain my senses, my legs grew weak and I felt myself fall to my knees.
Philip
I walked out onto the balcony and sipped my morning coffee. There was a minibus down at the parking lot, and at the front window I could just about make out Louise waving her arms and the sound of her frantic voice.
“Lizzie, where are you going now?” she shouted.
At the sound of Lizzie's name, my chest felt as though it had been wound tight with a rubber band.
Lizzie... Any second now she would be leaving forever.
Half of me told myself to just let her go. It was obvious she didn't want to see me again. But the other part of me just couldn't let her walk away like this.
This is my last chance.
The minibus' engine started as Louise shouted even louder.
If I was going to do something, I had to do it right now.
“Fuck it,” I said. “I have to try one last time.”
I took off, sprinting down the hall and diving inside the elevator. When I reached the ground floor I caught sight of Richard sauntering out from the bar.
“Good morning, Your Highness.”
“I didn't realize you were still here,” I seethed. “I placed orders to make sure you would leave.”
“This is my last day,” he replied. “And a very sad day at that. I will surely miss this place.”
He gave me a curt nod and walked away. He was always a peculiar fellow, but today he seemed even stranger than usual, more furtive, more secretive, but I didn't have time to think about him right now.
Out in the bright sunlight, I rushed toward the minibus.
“Wait!”
I caught up to Louise's window and peered inside.
“Where's Lizzie?” I asked.
“Disappeared inside with the bar manager.”
“Really? I just passed him.”
Behind her, people were starting to become impatient.
“We're going to miss our flight if we don't go right now,” someone huffed.
Louise looked at her phone for the time and started biting her nails.
“We're really cutting it fine,” she said. “We've only got twenty minutes to get to the airport. We'll just make it if we leave now.”
She looked back out the window again and sighed.
“Where the hell did Lizzie go?”
She glanced back over to the hotel, but there was no sign of her.
In the back of the minibus where it was getting hotter by the second and people were getting more and more annoyed, everyone started mumbling and moaning and checking their phones.
“We need to go now!”
“We'll never make check-in at this rate.”
Louise looked around her at the discontent mob and made a decision.
“Right, let's go,” she said to the group.
Leaning out the window, she placed a hand on my arm.
“Tell Lizzie to take a taxi to the airport. We can't all miss our flight. Shit, I feel terrible but... you know. What can we do?”
She squeezed my hand for a second and then the minibus rolled away. I watched it disappear out the parking lot before I turned my attention back to the hotel. Lizzie was with Richard... Why would she possibly be with him?
Walking back inside I approached the eerily empty bar. There was no sign of anybody, but I noticed the door to the back room was slightly ajar. I felt the urge to creep over. It was pitch black inside and the darkness was accompanied by the peculiar smell of diesel.
From behind me, footsteps echoed across the empty room. I spun round and saw Richard. He looked surprised to see me, but not one bit pleased.
“Lizzie. I heard she was with you,” I said not wasting any time.
“Excuse me, Your Highness.?”
“Lizzie, the girl I was with all week.”
He cocked his head to the side like an inquisitive pigeon, hummed and thought for a second.
“No, I don't think so,” he replied. “I'm dreadfully sorry, but your sources must be mistaken.”
He walked away, slinking behind the bar over to the fire exit where he disappeared inside the darkened room. He closed the door with a clatter, and a second later I heard the lock being turned.
Weirdo.
I turned on my heel to walk back out to the foyer, but out the corner of my eye I saw something rushing down the main stair case. I soon realized it was Stephen running at full pelt with a piece of paper and his hand.
“Philip, where have you been?”
“I was just- “
“Look at this. It was just pus
hed under the door.”
He thrust the paper into my hand, and I looked down, confused.
“What the hell is this?”
“A ransom note,” he replied. “I've alerted the palace.”
My eyes scanned the letters. The handwriting was little more than crude chicken scratch as though it was written by somebody who had just learned to write. Its demand was simple, but chilling.
Deliver 10 million dollars and we'll return the girl.
It felt as though time stood still as the paper trembled in my shaking hands like a leaf in the wind.
“Cover the whole island,” I told Steven. “Get everybody out now!”
But I needn't have bothered telling him a thing because he was already talking into his earpiece doing everything he could to get the whole team mobilized. As I stared at the letter, I wondered who could do such a thing, and only one name came to mind. One name that had always set me on edge.
Richard…
I took off running back to the bar, and I saw instantly that the door to the back room was now open.
“Where are you, you bastard? I know you're back here!”
But as I entered the room, I saw it was empty. Beneath my feet, something sticky caught the sole of my shoe. I lifted up my foot and saw blood. It was fresh and viscous and made the panic course through my veins.
So she was here. He did have her!
It felt as though my body was pumped full of rocket fuel. I needed to act, needed to find her! I glanced around, desperate for a clue, and that's when I caught sight of a figure dashing down the fire escape. There was no mistaking the pale face and the stuffy suit.
“Richard, you son of a bitch!”
I gave chase, rushing down the stairs two a time. He heard the rattle of my feet on the metal steps and glanced up, a look of terror sweeping across his face. He ran faster, his spindly legs carrying him as fast as his terrified body could take him. He may have been fit and wiry, but he was nothing compared to me. I threw myself at him, jumping down the last few steps. Landing on top of him, we both tumbled onto the asphalt.
Royally Damaged Page 18
