The Royal Treatment: A Billionaire Prince Romance

by Erin Hayes

  He shrugs, and his cheeks turn bright red. "I don't know. I wasn’t trying to be mean. I..." He presses his lips together and shakes his head. "I haven't been very good about that, have I?"

  "Nope. But I forgive you."

  After that, we don't talk much more. We stay like this for a long time, not talking. Just lost in our own thoughts. The light in the garden gets darker, and I think the sun is setting. Daddy and Miss Ricci are probably worried about me right now. But I don't want to leave the prince behind. After all, us sitting here in silence is the closest thing I've had to spending time with a friend. And I realize that, if he doesn't hate me, then maybe there are a few other things about Dubreva that I may have to give a second chance.

  Finally, he says, "We should probably be getting back soon."

  I nod slowly. "Think we'll be in trouble?"

  He snickers to himself. "What we did is no worse than anything that Henry and Eric have done."

  I laugh, despite everything. He gives me a grin, and I find that I'm smiling at him, too. He puts a hand over mind and gives it a squeeze. My voice gets stuck in my throat, because he is basically holding my hand right now. Boys don't do that with girls.

  Maybe in Dubreva they do?

  "I know you want to move back," he says softly, not meeting my eyes. "But give Dubreva a chance."

  "And if I still don't like it?" I ask.

  He meets my gaze. "Then," he promises, "I'll take you wherever in the world you want to go."

  I don’t want to live in the past.

  That's what I told Ferdinand at the bar earlier. Yet I can't seem to stop living in the past, can I?

  Those words haunt me as jet lag keeps me up throughout the night. I'm pretty buzzed, probably borderline drunk, which had been my excuse for drinking as much as I did with Ferdinand. I wanted to be inebriated enough for sleep to come easily to me. Instead, I can't stop thinking about Ferdinand and the day I've had.

  Never in a million years would I have ever imagined that Ferdinand would be here, in Tokyo, and somehow stopped by the same temple I'm at as I'm mourning the loss of our unborn child. Coincidences are such strange things, and I'm not sure I believe enough in fate for something like that to happen.

  But what if there is a reason why we met again? Maybe it is to smooth over what happened between us. I came here for closure. Maybe this is the universe trying to help close the door on my past, so I stop reliving those days over and over again?

  If it’s a sign, I should take it as such.

  I roll onto my back and look up at the ceiling, giving a huff. Apparently, sleep isn't going to come easily, even though I've given it every opportunity. Drinks aren't cheap at the bar in the Shangri-La, yet they're letting me down horribly.

  I reach over to the nightstand and grab my phone, meaning to text James and see if we could chat. Given that it's four in the morning here, I'm sure he's probably busy at work and can't really talk at the moment. And my own thoughts feel...very private. Like there's only one other person who can really understand what I'm going through.

  My thumb hovers over the screen of my phone as I debate what I should do. The urge to talk to Ferdinand is driving me insane right now. About what, I'm not sure.

  I look up to see my purse draped over the chair in the bedroom. I twirl my thumb for a little longer, before I throw the covers aside, get to my feet, and retrieve the business card he gave me. I flip it over and chuckle, shaking my head. Both a prince and a therapist. Who ever knew such a thing could be possible?

  But, if there's anyone who can help me to sort through this swirl of emotion and memories, it's a therapist. The odds of him being up are slim anyway.

  Still, I text him. Thank you for a wonderful night. I don't sign it with my name, because I know that he would know who sent this.

  To my surprise, it doesn't take long for him to respond. Like he stayed up, just like me. Then again, I'm not really surprised, am I? The pleasure was all mine.

  I hesitate before sending my next message. But it's something that I've been struggling with for a long time now, and I should learn that there is no time like the present to fix something that's bothering you. I've held feelings and pain in for fifteen years and it still hasn't gotten any better. So I text him what I've been wondering for years now.

  Do you hate me?

  The first tears have fallen just as my phone rings. With shaking hands, I answer it, and he doesn't wait for me to say hi.

  "No," he says softly. "I don't hate you, Alexandra."

  A laugh escapes my lips that's a half-sob. "Why not? I abandoned you when we hit a rough patch. I gave you up. I—"

  "I don't hate you," he repeats, his voice stronger now. "It was...a really hard time. And I was angry at you at the time. But that was grief. I don't blame you for anything you did. I don't blame you what you needed to do to cope with it."

  I cast my eyes up to the ceiling again, as more tears fall faster. I feel so broken, like there's no part of me that can ever hope to be whole again. "I haven't been coping, Ferdie. I've just been living a nightmare. Day to day. I hate myself, so I understand if you hate me."

  There's such a long pause on the other end, I almost think he's hung up. "We were really young," he tells me. "Too young to go through something like that. Married couples divorce over that all the time. It's really hard to recover from that."

  "Have you? Recovered, that is?"

  "No." The one word ricochets through me as I listen to him speak. "It's been really hard, Lex. I've done whatever I could to try to take my mind off it. I made some terrible choices in the past and let Henry down. But..."

  "But it doesn't feel right," I agree. Something loosens in my chest, and I let out a sigh. "I've been that way too." I sit back in bed and pull the blankets over me. "Did I wake you?" I finally ask.

  He chuckles mirthlessly. "No. I was awake when you texted me."

  "Jet lag is awful, isn't it?"

  "That it is," he says with a sigh. "Especially when you have so many things on your mind."

  I look out the window, overlooking Tokyo, and see the neon lights and the city glittering below me. "Do you have a view of the city from your hotel room?"

  "Yes."

  "It's like the city has jet lag and doesn't sleep, either," I murmur.

  "You always did have the craziest imagination, Lex."

  "I had to, to keep ahead of Eric and Henry." I fluff the pillows behind me. "You had to think crazily back then."

  "And now one is next in line for the throne and the other is a father. Who would have thought?"

  "I would think that's plenty of reason to get out of Dubreva for a while," I say honestly.

  "Aye." And then I wonder if he's thinking about that first conversation we had in the garden of the palace. When he promised to take me anywhere in the world if I wanted to leave. My childhood love turned into a man that I know both intimately well and not well enough.

  "How long are you planning on staying in Tokyo?" I ask suddenly.

  I hear him sigh on the other end. "Not sure. Long enough to escape the cameras that are on my niece. She's beautiful and she deserves an uncle who cares, but...it's hard," he admits.

  "It is," I say. Ever since I moved to America, I've had friends who have gotten married and had kids. And there's always been this jealous piece of me that resents the fact that they can be happy when I've just been miserable. I haven't told anyone out of fear that I sounded like a terrible person. Because I am, for being jealous of their happiness.

  The last time I was truly happy, I was with Ferdie.

  I swallow thickly. "And what are you planning on doing in Tokyo?"

  He laughs softly. "I've been retracing our steps here, actually.”

  "Really?"

  "Yeah. A lot has changed over the years. But some things still remain the same. I even found the store where I bought your engagement ring."

  I nearly drop the phone as the memories come flooding back to me. It seems so long ago, I almost t
hought it was a dream. "Can you take me there?" I find myself asking. "I just want to see it again." To make sure it’s real.

  Again, another long pause. And then, "As you wish.”

  16

  Alexandra

  “I can’t believe it’s still here.”

  I stand next to Ferdinand outside of the jewelry shop. It’s strange how time makes legends out of memories. I remember certain pieces of that night when we went to go get my engagement ring. From the way the moonlight glinted on the pavement to the way Ferdie looked that night, everything has a haze of rose-tinted glasses. The jewelry store is a little more rundown than I remember, but that may be more of a factor of time than my memory being incorrect.

  It makes me a little sad.

  Ferdinand smirks and puts his hands in his pockets. “I almost didn’t believe it myself. Not until I was here yesterday.”

  I cock my head to the side and look at him from the corner of my eye. He’s wearing jeans again. I still can’t get over him looking so...normal. Granted, a prince like Ferdinand could never be that normal. But when he met me downstairs for us to go visit the jewelry store in Harajuku, I couldn’t help the feeling that this was familiar. It feels like being with Ferdie is something that I should have been doing for most of my life.

  I glance around the area that surrounds the shop. Harajuku is busy with people bustling about. Like many places in Tokyo, there is a mix of tourists and locals flitting about, and I can’t help but smile.

  “How did you ever find it?” I ask in awe. The more important question I should be asking is why. Why did he bother to find a random jewelry shop that we found as teenagers and made broken promises to each other?

  Why did I care to find this place as well?

  Maybe I want to convince myself that the choices I made then were correct. The thought makes me uneasy.

  Ferdinand shrugs, although I notice that his gaze has darkened, like he’s having similar thoughts. “I wandered around until I could find it. I knew it was here somewhere.”

  “It must have taken a while,” I remark, nodding at the skinny roads that lead past it. “It’s pretty well-hidden.”

  He laughs. “I know. I’m surprised we ever found it in the first place.”

  That night was magical for me. I swallow uncomfortably and walk up to the glass, noting the wood-like grain in the metal of the rings. I bite my lip to keep from gasping in awe. The store may look older, but the jewelry on offer looks no less amazing.

  I wish I somehow had kept my engagement ring or at least had a picture of it, because it was unique and unlike anything I see in the window. The technique is still apparent, but nothing has that delicate edge of the ring Ferdinand bought for me.

  “What did you do with it?” I ask. “My old engagement ring?”

  He sighs. “I carried it with me for a while. Hoping you’d come back.”

  Suddenly, I’m aware of Ferdinand’s presence next to me, standing close, like we’re as intimate with each other as we were fifteen years ago.

  “I brought it with me to Afghanistan when I was deployed overseas. But then…” His voice is soft, contemplative. “I threw it away. In the sand. Couldn’t find it ever again, no matter how hard I tried.” He scoffs. “A stupid, stupid mistake.”

  Yes. But I also understand why. As silly as it sounds, I completely understand why he did such a thing. I lashed out in those first few months, too. Made stupid decisions.

  We’re alike in those ways.

  I close my eyes and let out a low breath. All I have to do is reach out and he’ll be right there…

  And the thing is, I want him near me. The past twenty-four hours have awakened feelings that I’ve held a tight leash on since I was eighteen. I feel his eyes on me, questioning, wondering what I’m thinking.

  I’m not exactly sure what I’m thinking. Everything is so muddled and confused.

  An unfamiliar, heavily accented voice breaks through my conflicted thoughts. “Welcome, welcome…”

  I look up and see that the door to the store is open, and a gentleman with graying hair and a neatly pressed suit is gesturing for us to come inside. “Jewelry for the couple, yes?”

  Panicked, I look to Ferdinand, and his cheeks color as he holds up his hands. “No, we’re not here for—”

  “Yes, yes, come in,” the gentleman says, holding the door open. “Jewelry for all occasions. Have you been here before?”

  I exchange a glance with Ferdinand, and he hesitates as he looks at the man again. “A long, long time ago, I wouldn’t think—”

  But the man gives us a wide grin. “I remember you. Engagement ring for the happy couple. So young.”

  I freeze. “How did—?” But no, surely he’s being a salesman or calling our bluff. Yet, how many people like us come through Harajuku more than once? Especially to a small jewelry shop that’s out of the way?

  But the man grins, and something flickers in my memory, and my heart shudders to a halt as I walk past him into the store. Ferdinand follows me, and as I look around, vague shadows of my memory come into hyperfocus.

  Not much has changed at all.

  I swallow thickly and resist the urge to run my fingers over everything to make sure that I’m not dreaming.

  “How are you doing?” the man asks as he comes behind the counter. “You looked so happy fifteen years ago.”

  “How do you know us?” Ferdinand asks suspiciously, his eyes narrowed.

  “I sold you your engagement ring,” the man says with a delighted chuckle. He gestures for us to come closer, and as I do, I realize why he’s so vaguely familiar to me. He was the assistant that night that helped me to try on my ring and rang me up.

  How the hell does he remember something like that, when I barely remember it myself?

  The man catches my shock and reaches behind the bar and pulls out an old photo album that’s filled to the brim with pictures. “I took a picture of you.” He flips through the book, and after a few moments, he lands on a page, opens it wide, and puts it on the counter for Ferdinand and me to see.

  Sure enough, my eighteen-year-old face is smiling widely back at me, embraced in a younger Ferdinand’s arms. We look so happy, so young, like the world hasn’t shat on us just yet. Fuck, I didn’t remember that, but seeing this picture now, the moment comes back to me.

  My breath catches when I see that I’m holding up the hand with the engagement ring. It’s more beautiful than I remember. My fingers trace the ring on my finger, and I hear the man’s gasp. Then I see why. Because he’s noticed that there is a different engagement ring on that hand.

  “New ring?” he asks. Almost like he’s disappointed. And looking at the ring James gave me, I do note that it is pretty classic and elegant yet isn’t as unique as the ring I see in this picture. I debate what I’m supposed to say when Ferdinand cuts in for me, giving the man a tight smile.

  “We lost it,” he says softly. “A long time ago. That’s why we’re back, to get a new one.” I give him a warning glare, but he ignores me as he leans closer to the man. “But I don’t see anything similar in the window.”

  I could kill him for this. What the hell is he thinking?

  I don’t even get a chance to chide him, because he doesn’t look my way. The store clerk shares a conspiratorial smile with Ferdinand.

  “I see,” he says. “We no longer make rings like that because they are fairly fragile.” He frowns as he spins the album back toward him so he can get a better look. “I can talk to our artist to see if he can make another.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to do that,” I start, but the man ducks into the back of the store. I glare at Ferdinand with gritted teeth. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I hiss at him.

  He shrugs. “Let me do this, Lex.”

  “I can’t go back to America with another engagement ring,” I tell him. The thought is so absurd, I laugh out loud.

  “It’s not an engagement ring, and it’s not for you,” he tells me softly.
“It’s for me.”

  Those words stop me in my tracks. “Ferdie…”

  He meets my eyes, and my insides incinerate at the heat in them. Fuck, he’s so close to me. I wish it was like old times, when I could cross the distance between us and tell him that I don’t need jewelry or trinkets. But Ferdinand is a grown man now. A billionaire, and a therapist. And maybe this is a part of his healing process.

  So when the store clerk comes out and says that he can have a ring made, I bite my tongue and let him measure my finger to get a size. I don’t protest. I just go with the flow.

  Because I think Ferdinand is hurting as much as me. And if he needs this, I shouldn’t get in the way.

  We’re both healing. And who’s to say what that looks like?

  “Sachiko showed me this place,” I tell Ferdinand as we duck into the ramen shop she took me to yesterday. “It’s the best ramen I’ve ever had.”

  He raises a skeptical eyebrow as I lead him to the vending machine where we order. “Interesting choice in...server?” he murmurs, stroking his chin.

  I shrug. “It’s efficient. You choose what you want, and it prints out a ticket which tells them what to make.” I pull out my purse. “I’ll cover it. And if it’s bad, you can choose the next restaurant.” When he blinks in confusion, I realize my mistake.

  “There will be a next restaurant?” he asks softly.

  Shit, I’ve fallen back on old habits. Banter with Ferdinand comes easily, even after so long. Our time at the bar at the Shangri-La showed that we can still carry a conversation together. And teasing him like I just did shows that if I’m not careful, I could go too far.

  I give him a tight smile. “If you don’t like this, we can go to another lunch spot of your choosing.”

  There, not a promise of dinner or anything tomorrow. It doesn’t feel like plans for another date.

  He wanted to go to a sushi conveyor-belt restaurant—like old times—but that felt like we were retracing too much of our steps from the jewelry store, as we had gone to a sushi restaurant before buying the engagement ring.