Lorenzo & Lily (Royals of Valleria #8)

by Marianne Knightly

  Lily’s mother, Saskia, curtsied to his parents while her father, Bernardino, bowed. Then they turned to him and did the same. Before he could berate them, Saskia spoke.

  “Your Majesties, it is such an honour to see you again.”

  Genevieve, now standing beside Gabriel with an impassive expression, smiled lightly. “Is it? I wish we could say the same.”

  Saskia, her nose tipped slightly up, stretched her face into a tight smile. “Your Majesty, of course it is. Especially now that our families will be joining.”

  Saskia glanced for the first time in Lily’s direction, and gave her a once-over. “Cecilia, you do look rather gaunt. You’ll have to freshen yourself up prior to the wedding. Perhaps a little work around the eyes.”

  Bernardino nodded. “Indeed. It wouldn’t do to have my daughter looking as old as you do. You’ve waited too long to get married as it is. We wouldn’t want to draw any further attention to your age.”

  Lily paled even further. As she opened her mouth to speak, Genevieve spoke first.

  “How dare you?”

  Saskia blinked. “Pardon, Your Majesty?”

  Genevieve fisted her hands at her sides. “No, I don’t believe I will. How dare you insult Cecilia? How dare you come see her at all?”

  Bernardino spluttered. “Your Majesty, she is our daughter, of course–”

  Genevieve was having none of it. “She was your daughter five years ago when she became pregnant and you abandoned her.”

  Bernardino sucked in a breath. “Well, Your Majesty, wasn’t it your son who abandoned her? It’s not our fault he didn’t live up to his responsibilities.”

  Gabriel’s eyes flashed. “How dare you speak about my son in such a manner? How dare you speak to us this way at all? We are the king and queen!”

  “You are not my king and queen. We owe you no deference unless we are in public.”

  Gabriel’s voice went dangerously low. “Is that so? Well, then. Perhaps we will make the entire situation easier for you. You need not show us any deference at all, particularly since, after today, you will never be allowed to see your daughter, granddaughter, or any of us.”

  “What–”

  “Nor will you be allowed in Valleria or near any of our family ever again.”

  Bernardino gasped. “You would not dare keep us from our daughter.”

  Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest. “Try me.”

  Bernardino’s nostrils flared and he pointed at Lily. “We are the only chance that troublesome girl of ours has to become something. If we don’t act now, her daughter could become as worthless as her.”

  Lorenzo’s head was about to explode. How dare that son of a bitch call his daughter worthless and Lily useless? Lorenzo stepped forward to respond, but rage turned his attack physical rather than verbal.

  He punched Bernardino in the face.

  Bernardino cried out, his hands covering his now bloody nose. “You punched me! My God. What kind of prince are you?”

  Lorenzo unclenched his fist and shook his hand out. The ache he felt in his knuckles was a welcome one. “One that protects his family. Lily and Liliana are ours now. We will make that clear to the press and public. You will not come near us, as my father said. You will never see either of them, nor any of us, after today.”

  He stepped forward again and felt a thrill when both Saskia and Bernardino took a step back. Good; he wanted Lily’s parents to be afraid of him. “Do not even think about testing us on this. Do you understand me?”

  Saskia puffed up her chest. “I want to see my granddaughter.”

  “You didn’t want to see her four years ago when she was born,” Lily said, and all eyes turned to her. “You didn’t care about my child when I called you from my hospital room after a complicated birth.”

  Lily stepped forward. “You didn’t care when I told you I was pregnant and asked for your help. You didn’t care when you cut me off financially, leaving me practically penniless with a baby on the way.”

  Saskia sneered. “You were a disgrace. All of society was talking about it. We had to publicly disavow you.”

  “Yet it didn’t stop there, did it? For five years you have not cared about me, or my child. And I just have two words for you.”

  Saskia gasped. “Cecilia.”

  “Thank you.”

  Her parents blinked.

  Lily face twisted into a forced smile. “That’s right. Thank you. Though the last several years have been difficult, they would have been much more so with both of you around. You constantly demean me, and you’d have done the same to Liliana.

  “If she’d been around you, she wouldn’t be the happy, confident, beautiful–” Lily’s voice broke and she cleared her throat. “Beautiful little girl she is. I’ll do anything to protect her, even if that means I never see you again.”

  Bernardino frowned, his hands still holding his nose, while Saskia gaped. “We are your parents!”

  Lily snorted. “Only biologically. You didn’t do much for me beyond that.”

  Saskia pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. “What about your brother? If you refuse to see us, we won’t let you see your brother, either.”

  Lily let out a soft breath. “I can’t say he did much for me, either. You pitted us against each other so much, I can’t trust that he would treat me any different than both of you have. Maybe, after all he’s been through – going to jail, the public scrutiny – he’s changed, but I can’t take that chance.”

  Saskia huffed. “We never wanted a daughter anyhow. We were hoping for a spare son, not a useless daughter. We don’t need you.”

  “Then you don’t need us as well,” Genevieve replied. “If Cecilia means nothing to you, we, the royal family, can mean nothing to you, either. I’ll make sure the press is made aware of your stance with the family and with Valleria.”

  Bernardino’s voice was extremely nasal when he spoke. “How will you explain that to the public? Banning us from Valleria? You can’t explain it, can you?”

  “No, but we can.” Lorenzo took Lily’s hand. “The right interview with the right journalist will turn the public in our favor, and turn them even more against you. You know it’s true. You know the public is clamoring for news about us.”

  Lily’s parents blanched.

  “However, if you leave here without incident and without inciting the press, we might diminish the hatred aimed at you both. You’ll sign some specific non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements before you leave here today, as well as a pledge to stay away from us, no matter where we are, for the rest of your lives. That means, if we go to Rome and you happened to be there, you go somewhere else. Do you understand me?”

  Lily’s parents looked at each other, then looked around the room. The reality of the situation must have sunk in, because Saskia said, “We’ll agree to those terms.”

  Thank God.

  “As long as we can attend your wedding.”

  Fucking assholes.

  “No fucking way.”

  “We want–”

  “I don’t care what you fucking want. You try to push this, I will do everything in my power to have Lily’s trust – the one who are currently living off of – returned to Lily, with you forced to make any payments for funds you’ve already withdrawn.”

  Bernardino spluttered. “You! I! Never!”

  “That is our livelihood,” Saskia cried. “How will we live if you take it away? No, we do not accept this. You will not take away our funds, and you will invite us to the wedding.”

  “No,” Lily said. “No. You are gone. You are done. You want my money? Fine. I’ve lived without it for years, and I don’t need it, though I do want it. Go ahead, though. Take the trust and be gone. I want nothing more to do with you, and I do not want you at my wedding.” Her voice broke again, and almost broke his heart as he listened.

  “I don’t want you. You’re my parents. I love you, but I don’t like you very much. In time, I’m sure I’ll
stop loving you, too. I’ve already stopped hoping for a shred of acceptance from you, stopped waiting for the smallest indication that you loved me for anything at all.”

  Tears were flowing down her cheeks, but her face was resolute. “I don’t wish you ill will, I truly don’t. I just don’t wish to ever see you again. And I never, but never, want you near my daughter or any other children I might have.”

  She gave Lorenzo’s hand a squeeze and let go. She walked to her mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Goodbye, Mother.”

  She stood in front of her father; no kiss for him. “Goodbye, Father.”

  She walked to the door and opened it, the guards outside coming to attention as it did. Her fingers stayed wrapped around the handle as she spoke to the guards. “Take them to the waiting room. They need to sign some documents and they’re not to leave the hospital until they do so. They are not to speak to anyone, and they are not to be left alone. You may have someone look at his nose, but that’s it.”

  The guard closest to her nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

  Bernardino sneered as one guard took hold of his arm, but said no more. Saskia’s face had paled, and her lips remained pursed as another guard began to escort her from the room as well.

  “Aren’t you even going to say goodbye to your daughter?” Lorenzo asked, unsurprised they weren’t planning to. “You’re never going to see her again.” Lorenzo couldn’t help but feel that Lily may want the closure, though she would never give up face to ask for it.

  Sarcasm dripped from Bernardino’s words. “Goodbye, daughter. I wish you a pleasant life.” He jerked his arm in the guard’s hold and they walked out.

  Saskia’s face was even, all trace of emotion once again wiped clean. She spent a long minute gazing at her daughter. “Goodbye.”

  A guard escorted her out, and Lily closed the door behind them. She placed both hands on the door, and rested her forehead against it. “It’s over.”

  “Lily.” Lorenzo walked over and rubbed a hand down her back.

  She turned into his arms and burst into tears.

  “Let it out, baby. It’s all right. You’re safe here.” He shifted his eyes to his parents. They’d both defended Lily, and protected her and Liliana with their actions. “You’re safe with us. All of us.”

  “Re-re-really?”

  “Yes,” his mother said softly and touched a hand to her back. “You are. I’m very sorry about what’s happened, but we’re a family now.”

  Lorenzo locked eyes with his father. “We need to move forward.”

  “Together.” Gabriel placed one hand on Lily’s back and the other on his.

  “Together,” Lorenzo repeated and kissed Lily’s head.

  It took a few minutes for her to stop crying, a few more after that to settle enough to pull back. “Th-Thank you, all of you, for supporting me and Liliana.”

  Gabriel took her hand and kissed it. “My dear, we may not have had the best start, but we do care for you, and not just as Liliana’s mother.”

  “Absolutely,” Genevieve agreed. “I hope one day you can forgive me – that you all can – however, even if you don’t, know that we’re behind you, one hundred percent.”

  Lily glanced at Lorenzo, then back at his mother. “I can’t speak for Lorenzo, but I forgive you. You stood up for me against my parents. Even though it took several years, as soon as you found out about Liliana, you did what you could to bring Lorenzo and I together. If you’re accepting me for Liliana’s sake–”

  “We’re not,” Genevieve said, her voice firm and unwavering. “You’re a wonderful person. I didn’t see it all those years ago. I should have. The truth is, after thinking about it, I realized that you reminded me so much of myself.”

  His mother? Like Lily? “Mama.”

  “It’s true. My family is not the easiest, either. I won’t go into details, but I know some of what you’ve suffered. I suppose, in standing up to your parents, I was standing up to my own, in a sense.”

  Lorenzo thought about his maternal grandmother, Helen. She was a bitch, and had treated Rebecca like shit right before the wedding. Helen did seem to share certain personality traits with Saskia.

  He now had the uncomfortable realization of how his mother must have been raised, by a scheming bitch of a mother more concerned with social status than her own child. Though his mother had behaved terribly in keeping him and Lily apart, she had always been a loving mother to all of them. Even being queen never kept her from being present in her children’s lives, even though she likely never received much love from her own mother growing up. She could not have had an easy life.

  He suddenly pitied his mother, though she wouldn’t want his pity. “I forgive you, too.”

  His mother gasped. “Lorenzo.”

  “I only hope all of you can forgive my outburst earlier.” He turned to Lily. “I’m sorry I punched your father.”

  She gave him a small smile. “I’m not. Is that wrong?”

  His father wrapped an arm around his mother’s shoulders. “Not in the least. I wanted to do it myself.”

  Lorenzo’s heart started beating faster as his words came out in a rush. “Just because I punched him doesn’t mean I’m regressing, or that I have rage issues, or that–”

  “Of course you don’t, my son.” Gabriel leaned over and kissed his forehead. “I know you don’t.”

  His mother kissed his cheek. “We know, Lorenzo.”

  An overwhelming sense of relief filled him. It seemed his family – all his family – was finally ready to stop babying him and start trusting him again.

  Thank God.

  “I’m going to give Corrado a call, and have him send the documents over that need to be signed.”

  As his father pulled out his phone, his mother pulled out hers. “I’ll get the others working on the press statements in the meantime.”

  Knowing his parents had the situation well in hand, Lorenzo pulled Lily into his arms. “I am sorry about something else.”

  Lily tilted her head to the side, her lips tipped down. She looked so much like Liliana in that moment, he almost smiled. “What?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you how much you meant to me all those years ago. If you’d believed how much I loved you, how much I needed you, maybe you would have come directly to me when you realized you were pregnant. You’d have known that I would have chosen you, if a choice was to be made. I would have chosen you and our daughter.”

  “It isn’t your fault.”

  “It isn’t yours, either.”

  She shook her head. “I had a hard time believing you really loved me, that anyone could. I was so…broken, I guess. It’s a mess, isn’t it? Everything’s a mess.”

  They’d both been broken, hadn’t they? “Life’s a mess. Life is messy. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it.”

  He took in her tear-stained cheeks and softened lips. She was stunning. Absolutely stunning, inside and out. “God, Lily. Don’t leave me again. Promise me.”

  He kissed her, forgetting his parents were nearby, forgetting that a hospital full of family and staff were just outside the door. “Promise me you’ll never leave.”

  “I never really did, though, did I? I never really left you, and you never left me.”

  She was right about that; he’d never stopped loving her, no matter how much he tried to deny it. “Promise me, please.”

  “I promise,” she whispered. “I’ll never leave you.”

  “Thank God. I’ll never leave you or Liliana, either.” He kissed her, hard and deep and long, then buried his face in her neck.

  “Was that a proposal?” she whispered.

  “Not even close. When I propose, you’ll know it.”

  In each other’s arms, neither of them felt broken at all.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Hector Perez made his way slowly down the street, limping slightly as he went. Some glanced at him and quickly averted their eyes, others stared, still others didn’t
notice him at all.

  Sometimes, he wanted to be noticed, to be recognized for everything he’d been through.

  Other times, he wanted to blend in and disappear into the crowd without a second thought.

  Today, on his first outing in months, he wished he could disappear.

  Anyone looking at him wouldn’t know he had prosthetic legs. Since he was wearing long pants, they’d likely assume he was disabled in some way, or injured. He was, but it wasn’t his legs that were the problem; it was his heart and his head.

  He turned a corner and a woman strode by, giving him the once-over. She smiled as she took in his toned arms and muscular chest, easily visible through his fitted t-shirt. Her appreciation flitted to surprise as she noticed how he walked. She frowned in confusion and walked away.

  He wore sunglasses, not to shield his eyes from the sun, but to shield his expressions from those he passed, from those just like her who didn’t know how to approach him or speak to him. He was just a goddamn person, no matter how fucked up he was. Why was that so hard for people to see?

  As he approached the Royal Court, a local pub close to the MARC, he wondered if he should have smiled at her, to help put her more at ease. He shook his head free of that thought. It’d been a long time since he smiled, and he’d forgotten how to do it. He didn’t have a normal smile anymore, it was wonky. His laugh wasn’t much better.

  He thumbed the talisman in his pocket: a small pink and white seashell. For some reason, it gave him strength as he opened the pub’s door.

  He shifted his sunglasses to rest in his hair, and it took his eyes a few moments to adjust to the dimmer light in the room. It was everything you imagined a European pub – one that was mostly local and not as touristy – to be. The bar and furniture were carved from a dark wood, finished with a gloss that had faded over the years leaving scuff marks and gashes visible. The booths featured seats in a dark red, many of them with visible rips or tears. Though the lighting was low, the bar was lit more brightly, shelves of liquor displayed against a slightly smudged mirror. It was late in the afternoon, yet business was bustling. Easy conversation and laughter surrounded him.