by Renna Peak
“I did that for you, Elle. I thought… If I’d walked away from Karina, the press never would have left me alone. It would have been an even bigger scandal. And if I’d come and found you… You told me yourself that you refused to be painted as the other woman. There would have been no escaping this—you’d have been dragged into this mess along with us. I refused to do that to you.”
“You still could have called me and told me what was going on.”
“I could have,” I admit. “And maybe I should have. I just… How could I have asked you to sit back and wait a few months for me to play out some charade with another woman?”
“At least I would have known.”
“Elle, I thought this was what you wanted—for me to do the right thing, and to do it in a way that kept you out of it. You walked away from me that night, Elle. You didn’t stay with me to wait and see how everything played out. You needed to protect yourself, and I wasn’t about to tear down those walls and hurt you again.”
A single tear escapes from her lashes and slides down her cheek. “Then why do I feel like I’ve been kicked in the gut?”
I step forward and place a hand on either side of her face. My thumb brushes her tear away.
“You know how I feel about you,” I say.
“I thought I did… But then why the hell did you spend the last three months helping a woman who you don’t feel that way about? Who wasn’t even pregnant with your baby?” She pulls out of my grip again. “What she did was despicable, Leo, and rather than fight it, or talk to me about how we might work through this together, you chose to help her.”
“She was alone, and pregnant, and—”
“Other people can be those things too, Leo. People you claim to love.”
Wait—what?
At that moment, the door beside us swings open and a couple of attendants rush in, one with a stack of towels and blankets and another with what appears to be a basin of water. I’m slow to get out of the way, in part because my mind is still trying to process what Elle’s just said. She can’t really mean…
When I glance back at her, I realize she’s already lunged toward the door. She’s back out in the ballroom before I even have the chance to grab her arm.
“Elle!” I call after her.
She doesn’t stop. And she has a good head start on me, so when I step out into the ballroom, she’s already slipped into the crowd. I only see a glimmer of silver as she dashes through the dancing couples sweeping across the ballroom.
“Elle! Wait!” I call again. Several people near me look over in shock and surprise. I know I’m causing a scene, but I don’t care. I have to find her. Have to talk to her. I don’t care if the whole world knows it.
I dart across the room, dodging dancers and attendants and looking for any glimpse of that silver gown. Where is she? How did she disappear so completely?
And then I see it—a flash of silver, slipping out the door. I race toward it—
And I collide headfirst with a server carrying an entire tray of full champagne flutes. We both go crashing down, and glass shatters everywhere. Several dancers near us cry out in surprise, and one couple nearly trips over us before running into another pair. In a matter of seconds, the entire section of the room devolves into chaos, with dancers trying not to fall over us or slip on champagne and additional servers running over to quickly clean up the mess. I stumble to my feet.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble to the other man, reaching down and helping him up. “This is an emergency. I’m sorry.”
I don’t wait for his response. I dash across the ballroom, not even caring that a chorus of shocked gasps go up in my wake.
When I reach the door, Elle is nowhere to be seen. I have no idea where she might have gone—except away—but I will not rest until I find her. Even if it takes all night.
Elle
I wish I had taken time to get to know the palace better before I left last time. It’s little more than a maze, and every hallway looks the same. Leo had said something about having to memorize the artwork on the walls to learn where the rooms were—I realize now how brilliant an idea that would have been. It’s too bad it’s a little late now.
I need to get out of here. I need to get out of this dress, too—it’s feeling way too tight now, and I can barely breathe. But I can’t find my room and every staff member in this place has their attention focused solely on the ballroom—the halls are empty. If I had thought to bring my bag with me, I would just find an exit and haul my ass to the airport.
I’m pretty sure I’m going around in circles—I think I’ve seen the same painting three times now, though it’s hard to tell since most of the portraits on the walls are so similar.
After I round another corner, I nearly collide with someone. He turns and I’m relieved for a moment to see a familiar face.
Matthias catches me by the elbow before I stumble backward. He smiles. “Doctor? I was not aware you were a guest here tonight.”
“Queen Penelope…” I let out a little breath of exasperation—I realize now I have no reason to be relieved—Matthias is only going to contact Leo and tell him where to find me.
I set my jaw, looking the man squarely in the eye. “Matthias, can you please help me locate my room? Without telling Leo?”
The small smile he’d had on his lips falls into a near-frown. His brow furrows. “Doctor?”
“I just… I need to find my room. I need to leave the palace before Leo finds me. I just… I can’t deal with this right now. Can you help me or not?”
He gives me a small nod before he walks over to a telephone that sits on a pedestal near the wall. He lifts the receiver and says a few words before he sets it back down. He turns to me, the small smile back on his lips. “If you’ll follow me, Doctor, I’ll be happy to escort you to your room.”
I follow him through the halls—we walk for several minutes before he comes to a stop in front of a door that looks like all the others.
He motions at the door. “I believe this is the room you are occupying with Miss Simpson.”
I nod, forcing a smile. “Thank you, Matthias.”
He bows his head. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Doctor? Anything at all?”
“Yes, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I would love it if you could arrange a car for me so that I can leave as soon as possible.”
“Of course, Doctor. With pleasure.” He bows his head toward me again. “I can have someone waiting for you within ten minutes. Or within any timeframe you desire beyond that.”
“Ten minutes is perfect.” I force another smile. “Thanks.”
He nods his head deeply again. “Of course, Doctor. I’ll wait for you here and escort you when you’re ready.”
I bob my head and reach for the handle of the door. “Thanks. I’ll be quick.”
I go into my room and peel off the goddamn dress I swore I would never wear. I put on comfortable clothes—the flight back to Los Angeles is long and I just want to sleep and never think about tonight again as long as I live.
I never should have come here. I don’t even know what I had been thinking—part of me knows Victoria talked me into this trip for her own needs—for her career. But I have to admit I was willing to ignore that—hell, I was eager to ignore it. I did this to myself. There’s no one else to blame. It may not have been my choice to attend the birth of Karina’s child, but I had been pretty fucking stoked to be here before that. To see Leo. Part of me hoped if he even saw me again, he’d drop everything. That he would choose me.
But that didn’t happen and I was an idiot for thinking there was any chance it would. Apparently, pretending to be the father of a child to trick the media is a way better use of Leo’s time than him choosing to be with me. Part of me thinks both he and Karina are brilliant for using the paparazzi for their own gains—God knows the media have used both of them enough in their lifetimes. And I guess whatever it was that Leo got out of his arrangement with Karina was worth more
than what we’d had together. Ending our relationship was a price he had been willing to pay.
And that’s all I really need to know. He knew. He knew the entire time we were apart that Karina’s baby wasn’t his, and yet he still chose her over me.
I came here to find out if he thought he did the right thing. And now I know. I should be happy about that, and yet, somehow, I still feel like I’ve been betrayed. He might want to blame this on me—I was the one who left, after all. But he knew that woman was lying and he did nothing—nothing—to try to tell me.
It’s a bitter irony, what’s happened. He left me to claim responsibility for a child that wasn’t his. And now he’ll never know the child who actually is his own. What’s even sadder for Leo is how the media is going to mock him for this—whatever it was that made him do what he did for Karina is going to blow up in his face now. He’s going to look like a fool when the true paternity of Karina’s child is revealed.
It serves him right. And I know it does, at least on some level. But it doesn’t stop my stomach from twisting with guilt, assigning blame to him like this.
I’ll go back home. I’ll decide what I’m going to do about this pregnancy—if I can even carry it, knowing what I know now. I still have a few weeks to make my final decision, but it seems almost easy now. And if I end it, at least I can deny that there was ever really anything between me and Leo.
I was a diversion for him, just like I thought. And the second a better opportunity came along, he took it. He left me so he could be a media darling again—to be the center of the paparazzi’s attention. He was given a choice—and he chose the life he’s always known. The one he’s probably always wanted. The media might be about to make a fool of him now, but I need to accept that he’s already made a fool of me.
And maybe I will sell my story. Maybe I can do exactly what Karina did—I can sell Leo out for as much as someone is willing to pay me. And unlike her, I really can take a paternity test and prove that Leo is the father of my baby.
But I don’t need to think about any of this right now. There’s a long plane ride home—and at least a few weeks before I need to decide one way or another.
I go into the bathroom and scrub my hands—trying to wash away all memory of the birth and having seen Leo again—before I shove my things into my bag and hurry back out into the hallway.
Matthias is there waiting for me by the door. He nods at me and leads me to the rear entrance of the palace—the same one Leo and I had entered when he first brought me here months ago.
He extends his elbow to guide me down the stairs to the driveway. I gingerly place my hand on his arm—it’s dark, and I’m not the most graceful of creatures, even when I’m not a little off kilter from an event-filled evening.
He leads me to the waiting car. The driver opens the rear door and I slide into the seat. The door closes before I notice Leo is sitting beside me.
I reach for the handle to open the door to get back out, but he grabs me by the wrist before I can pull it open. “Elle—”
“Damn that Matthias.” I let out a small groan in frustration. “I asked him not to tell you—”
“And he said as much. Of course, you did only ask him not to tell me that he had escorted you to your room. You said nothing about him not telling me that you had requested a car.”
I glare over at him. “You people and your fucking nuance.”
He grins and lifts my hand to his lips. He kisses each of my fingers. “Is it true?”
“Is what true, Leo? That Karina’s child appears to be full-term? That there is no way you could have fathered it based on the time of your affair with her? Yes, that is very true. I imagine the press is going to have a field day with both of you when they find out you’ve been playing them—”
“Ah, but there are no members of the media present this evening.” He shrugs. “And I have no reason to believe they will find out at all. Not until a paternity test has been performed. And that will just further the interest in the story—the media will be dying to find out who the real father is by then, which was all part of the plan.”
My mouth falls open, but I snap it closed. I guess Leo—and probably the rest of his family—don’t realize that there very much is a member of the media present at the festivities this evening. I have to press my lips together not to burst out laughing. It serves them all right. And I hope Victoria pounces on the opportunity—it’s the breakthrough she’s been waiting for.
He must think I’m feeling something else, because his smile falls to a frown. “Elle, what you said in the storage closet…” He searches my eyes. “Did…did I misinterpret? I know you were being vague, but it seemed to me you were trying to tell me something.”
“Go fuck yourself, Leo. That’s what I was trying to tell you.” I pull my hand away from his and I turn my attention to the driver, who has just taken his seat behind the wheel of the car. “The airport, please.”
The driver nods and the car begins to move.
“My plane can be ready in an hour, Elle. I can fly you anywhere you want to go.”
I keep my gaze fixed on the windshield in the front of the car, though I can’t really see anything between the light in the back of the car and the darkness outside. “You can go fuck yourself in your plane, Leo.”
“Elle…” He lets out a long breath and I can feel his eyes on me. “If there’s something you’re keeping from me—”
I turn to him, glaring. “I said that you can go fuck yourself, Leo. I’m not sure what you don’t understand about that.”
“I understand that you’re angry. But as I explained to you earlier, the choices I made, I made because of you—”
“No.” My voice is flat and I shake my head. “No, you don’t get to pin this on me. I told you to do what you did when I thought you were that baby’s father. I wanted you to make the right choice when I thought you had a responsibility to that woman. But you knew. You knew—”
“And I tried to tell you as such. Really, Elle, I told you that evening before you left me that the child wasn’t mine. You chose not to believe me—”
“I chose?” My eyes narrow to slits. “I had no part in your choices, Leo. If you would keep your fucking dick in your pants once in a while, you wouldn’t find yourself with illegitimate children—”
“One child, Elle. Not children. And that child isn’t mine, as you’re now well aware. There are zero children, illegitimate or otherwise.” He cocks his head. “Unless you are admitting something else to me…”
I’ll be goddamned if I’m admitting anything to him, especially now. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Leo.”
He lifts a brow. “Really? Somehow, I think if I keep you talking, Elle, you’ll admit it whether you want to or not.”
“Go. Fuck. Your. Self.” I clench my jaw and fold my arms over my chest. I hate that he knows me this well—I hate that my mouth betrays me more often than not. And I really hate that he knows it.
He’s silent for a moment, and I can feel him staring at me. “It’s unfortunate that you took off that dress. I barely had a chance to tell you how beguiling you looked in it. And I had hoped beyond measure that I would have been the one removing it from your body tonight, Elle. You have no idea how many times I’ve fantasized about doing just that in the past few months.” He reaches out and touches the skin on my upper arm, his finger tracing just below the sleeve of my top.
I flinch away from him, turning my gaze out the window. “Is there a way to turn off the light back here?” I call out to the driver.
He nods and the dim lighting in the back seat goes out a moment later.
“This is fine. I prefer the dark, Elle. There are four other senses that are heightened when vision is taken away. Shall we see which of them we prefer more?”
I feel his finger on my arm again and I try to twist away from him. “If I rip your tongue out, Leo, I won’t have to hear you. And you won’t be able to taste anything. I suppose that will take u
s both down to three. And if I break your hand the next time you touch me, you’ll be down to two. Which one will you want me to take out next, Your Highness? Shall I punch you in the nose so that you can’t smell anything?”
“If you must. But you forget, even if you do break my hands, I’ll still be able to feel you with my body. I’ll still feel the way you move beneath me—the way you feel around me when I make love to you. And I’ll still be able to hear your cries of pleasure. The way you’ll beg me to bring you to the height of your ecstasy—”
“Stop. Leo, seriously. Just…just go fuck yourself.”
“And yet…” His finger is on my upper arm again and he lets out a breathy sigh. “Yet, I don’t believe that is what you want at all, Elle. I don’t believe the person you want me fucking is myself…”
“This isn’t going to work. You’re not going to talk me into anything tonight, Leo. I swear to God it isn’t going to work this time—”
His hand drops and he lets out a small groan in frustration. “Tell me what will work then, Elle.”
“Nothing. Nothing is going to work. You made your choice, Leo. Now you get to go live with it. With her. And her baby.”
“Karina and I had an agreement—and that arrangement ended when the child was born. You don’t understand, Elle. I can be free of her now.”
I say nothing—I just try to watch the passing lights as we drive through the city.
He finally breaks the silence after several minutes. “You aren’t really planning to get on an airplane tonight.”
“I definitely am, Leo.”
“Then I shall accompany you.”
“You won’t…” I groan. “Look, Leo, you don’t have to do this, okay? I’ll leave—I’ll be out of your life forever. And then you can go make a fool of yourself in the media or wherever you want without any consequence. I can take care of myself. I’m fully capable of taking care of every damn thing by myself.”
