“You have to get out of here,” he snarls. “This is my hotel room. I paid for it. Get out, now. Or I’ll call hotel security!”
“Then I’ll go with him,” Liliana cuts in. “Dad, just listen to what we have to say.”
“To what? This madness?” Frank shakes his head. “I’ve been gone for days. Days! You’re trying to tell me that you’ve fallen in love so deeply you can’t bear to be apart – in days?”
“It sounds farfetched, I know,” I tell him. “I wouldn’t have believed it myself if it hadn’t happened. But it wasn’t even days. I knew the first moment I saw her. Lili is mine. I’m hers. It’s simple. There’s no way we could even fight it.”
“He’s right,” Liliana says, looking up at me with an adoring glance. “Dad, I felt it too. And the past few days have been amazing. He treats me so well. I’ve been so happy.”
“Of course, you have,” Frank retorts. “Do you know how easy it is to be nice and kind for a few days? You have no idea who this man really is. He could wait until I’m gone and then beat you within an inch of your life. He could be a serial adulterer. He might be a con artist, waiting to try and get money out of us.”
I stifle a smile at that last suggestion, even though this is such as serious situation. I meet her eyes, giving her the permission to say it. It would sound worse if I did.
“Dad… Nico’s rich. Like, really rich. If anything, he ought to be worried about me scamming him out of his money.”
“Which I’m not, by the way,” I say, slipping my arm around her. “Lili didn’t know how much money I have until she saw my house, and that was after we had already become close. Look, it’s simple. I want to be with her, and she wants to be with me. We’re both adults. I think it would be reasonable to allow us the chance to see if this works out.”
Of course, I have no doubt that it will. But I need to at least show that I’m aware of his doubts. I know how this must look from the outside. How can I explain that I was so sure about this immediately?
Frank’s face has been reddening all this while, and now he’s right in my face, pointing up at me. “You better get out of here before I do something I regret,” he hisses. “I’m not having your filthy hands on my daughter.”
Anger rises up in me, and I feel a caveman instinct telling me to react. To push him away, hit him maybe, get him out of my space. But he’s still Liliana’s father.
“Get away from me, before you regret it,” I tell him coldly. “I won’t hurt you in front of your daughter, but you don’t want to push me.”
“What are you doing?” Liliana gasps, trying to push her way between us. “Stop it.”
“I’m not going to accept this,” Frank hisses, refusing to move away from me. “You snake! I’m not going to let you take my daughter away!”
Seeing that we aren’t going to back down, Liliana gives a cry of frustration. I’m about to echo her sentiment when she whirls around, heading for the door.
“If you can’t behave like adults, I can’t stay here,” she says. “It’s too much. I can’t watch you fight. I’m leaving.”
Before I can say anything to stop her, she’s gone, the door slamming shut behind her in our stunned silence.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Liliana
I don’t go far, although I do go quickly. I don’t want them to be able to follow me and drag me back.
I’ve noticed several times that there’s a maintenance closet on our floor, not far away from my room. I quickly rush to it and grab hold of the door, putting myself inside. It’s small and dark, but at least it wasn’t locked. And it so close that I can still hear the noises from the corridor, even if it’s a little more muffled. There’s also a crack by the doorframe through which I can see the hall clearly, leaving me perfectly positioned.
I wanted to stop them from fighting, but my motive for leaving was also something else. I want them to worry about me, to be forced to get along so that they can go looking for me and bring me back. It’s an unfamiliar place, and dad was worried enough about me before. Nico, too, would want to protect me. Now I just have to wait.
But instead of their footsteps racing after me, I hear the door to a room being wrenched open, and then Nico’s voice. “She’s gone,” he says, sounding worried and angry. “You’ve pushed her away!”
“Me?”
I only hear my Dad’s retort before the door closes again, muffling their voices. I hold my breath, straining to hear – and soon I do. They must both be shouting at the tops of their lungs to be heard through the heavy doors, and though I can’t make out every single word, I can understand the gist of it.
They’re arguing again – this time, about who it was that upset me and pushed me to leave. I hear both of them accusing each other, both shouting and yelling. I can't quite make out the exact insults that they're throwing at each other, but they can’t be very nice. It sounds like it didn't work. Rather than making them come after me and resolve their differences, I've only managed to make them argue yet further.
Just as I'm thinking about coming out of my hiding place and confronting them again, I hear the door open. I freeze, waiting to see and hear what will happen. I hear my dad's voice, calling Nico names and accusing him of running away from the problem. But when Nico replies, he says something about not remaining where he isn't wanted.
I press my eye to the crack in the door, just in time to see Nico striding down the hall. A moment later, the door to the room slams shut hard, almost rattling the whole wall. They seemed to have finished their argument, but not by resolving it. Instead, they are even further apart than before.
I should have known this wasn't going to work. What was I expecting? That just because Nico was able to charm me, he would do the same with my dad? That just because I can see that he is the right one for me, everyone would be able to?
Well, it would be nice if the world worked like that. But it seems like it doesn't. And right now, the man of my dreams is walking away. Which means I can't stay in this closet, hiding, forever.
I open the door and peek out, checking first that my dad isn’t actually standing outside of the room. As I suspected, the corridor is empty, and I quickly dashed towards the elevator. I call it, but when the doors don't open immediately, I realize that it must be on the ground floor still. After all, Nico just rode it all the way to the bottom. That means it will take some time to return, and if I want to catch up with him, I can't wait.
I head for the stairs, taking them two at a time as I rush down like crazy. I almost feel like I’m going to trip several times, but somehow by a miracle, I manage to keep my balance. Then I’m in the lobby, bursting out in front of the startled receptionist, but Nico is nowhere to be seen.
I dash up to the reception desk quickly, leaning on it to get her attention. “Excuse me, the man I came in with,” I say.
“Yes, he just walked out the front doors,” she says, blinking at me.
“Did you see which way he went afterward?”
“I think he went towards the parking lot.”
Of course. He drove us here. Damn – and he must have gone after his car. I have to catch up with him, before…
And I’m just rushing outside the doors when I see his car pulling out of the parking lot and speeding away, out of my reach.
No.
I’m not going to let him get away.
There is a row of taxis parked outside the hotel, waiting for tourists who need to be taken around. I jump into the first one, pointing to the road ahead. “Follow that car,” I tell him, only to be met with a puzzled look in the rearview mirror.
“Lady, this isn’t a movie,” the driver tells me, in an unfamiliar accent. “I can’t just go after someone. I need to know where we are headed.”
I bite my lip fiercely, thinking. “Okay,” I tell him. “To the Monaco marina. We can catch up with him there.”
I’m sure that’s where he will be. He told me that he goes to his boat whenever he feels stressed or
tired or just wants to get away from the rest of the world. Right now, in this situation, there is nowhere more natural for him to be.
I just hope that I know him as well as I think I do.
The taxi driver does his best, racing through the streets as much as possible. But of course, there are delays in traffic, and we have to pass through customs like usual. By the time we pull up near the docks, I’m beginning to lose any hope of getting there in time. I throw a few bills - the remnants of my vacation money since Nico hasn't let me spend anything at all since my dad left - at the driver and jump out, running down the street.
I don't care that people are staring at me. I don't care what anyone might think. I just need to catch him before he gets out on the water. If he's gone, it will be too late.
I see his boat up ahead, and a flare of hope in my chest is soon replaced with a flare of fear. He’s no longer tethered to the dock, but instead is slowly backing out into the water. If I don't get there in time, if he doesn't hear me shouting for him, then I will have to watch him sail away.
I start shouting his name, shouting it at the top of my lungs. I'm beginning to despair when at last I see that the boat has stopped moving, and in fact, has reversed its progress to begin to drift back towards the dock. I reach the end of the narrow strip of the walkway that reaches out into the water, panting for breath, leaning on my knees for support as I look up.
The boat is coming back. Nico is coming back.
I watch him with tears in my eyes, standing behind the wheel as he guides the boat back to my side. I don’t even let him touch the dock fully before I climb on board, using the by-now-familiar footing to avoid falling into the water. I jump right for him, throwing myself into his arms.
“Don’t leave,” I tell him, my face pressed against his chest.
“I wasn’t leaving,” Nico says. “Well, not for long.”
I look up then, into his face. I was more worried than I realized, I guess, or allowed myself to think about. Now that I’m here with him, tears of relief just want to spill down my face.
“But you’re on your boat,” I say.
“I was just going to take a couple of hours,” he says, and sighs. “I thought if I could get out into the open water, clear my head, I could come up with a plan of attack.”
“Attack?” I say, wincing at the word.
He shakes his head. “You know what I mean. A plan to show your father I’m serious about you. We weren’t getting anywhere back at the hotel, so I figured I should take some time to think things over. I wanted to let Frank cool down, too. This way, I could go back and try talking calmly again.”
I rest against his chest again, holding him tightly. “I don’t think it’s going to work,” I tell him miserably. “I think he’s too angry.”
“Lili…”
I look up at his serious tone, to find him studying me closely. “What is it?”
“If it comes to it…” Nico glances away, down at the water beside us. “What will you do? Go home with him?”
I bite my lip, thinking.
“No,” I say, at last. It hurts to say it because I know that I will lose my family. But it’s also the indisputable truth. I know what my heart wants. “I’ll stay here with you. But, Nico, I really don’t want things to end like this. He’s my Dad. I want him to be happy for me. To accept this.”
“Then, I’ll try my hardest for you,” Nico says softly, stroking a hand over my hair. “Let’s stay here at the dock. Maybe in an hour or so, if you call him, he will want to come and talk again.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Nico
By the time the next morning comes, I know that Liliana is feeling worse than ever. She barely slept at all, tossing and turning, and that in turn kept me awake.
Yesterday afternoon, we continued calling Frank over and over again. When he answered the first time and realized that I was with Liliana, he refused to answer any of our calls again. Today is his last day in Monaco. We both know that he is booked on a flight and that if he goes, it won't be easy to see him again.
I'm trying to think about what my strategy is for if he really does go home without speaking to her. Do I really charter a jet like I suggested before? Do I leave it, or try to get them to talk online? How can I make her smile again? All I know is that my beautiful angel needs her dad to be on her side, and that means I have to make it happen, one way or another.
We eventually went back to the house, where I’m glad Liliana left all of her clothes that I had bought her. If she hadn't, we wouldn’t have anything for her to wear. Not that that would be a great tragedy, at least for me. But she does have to look respectable at least if we're going to go out in public.
She’s just dressing after her shower when her phone rings. Both of us look at the buzzing device, exchanging a glance before she picks it up and answers it.
“Hello, Dad?” I brace myself against the dresser as I listen, anxiously trying to figure out what he’s saying on the other end. “No… No, I stayed with Nico last night. What? No, Dad. No, I’m not… just listen to me for a moment, please? I’m not getting on the flight. … No, I’m serious. No, Dad, I mean it. I’m staying here in Monaco. I… No, listen, I… Dad? Dad…?”
She turns to me with a morose expression. “He hung up.”
“I’m sorry, angel,” I tell her, moving over to pull her into my arms. “I am. Maybe we just need to give him some time.”
“But I…” Liliana starts, then takes a shuddering breath. “You’re right. Time. Right.”
I have the feeling I know what she wanted to say, as she lays her head against my chest again. I feel the fabric of my shirt getting damp with her silent tears. She doesn’t want to wait or give him time. It will hurt her every moment that they’re apart and arguing. She doesn’t want to leave things this way.
Which means it’s time for me to step up. I know what flight he’s supposed to be getting on. I don’t think he will respond favorably to me turning up, but maybe I can send someone. One of my employees, maybe my assistant, can go there and intercept him, stop him from getting on the plane. Talk him into getting an exchange for a flight in a few days. Maybe if I offer to put him up in a hotel, or even allow him to stay in one of my spare rooms, he will rethink.
All I know is, I have to think of something fast.
I head downstairs to make breakfast for us – pancakes, because I have a feeling it will cheer Liliana up somehow, like it does in the movies – and lose myself in cooking. I don’t cook often, because it always seemed pointless to do it for myself. But I can make pancakes for my love. Why not?
I’m just flipping the last one when I hear a chime at the gate, signaling that someone wants to come in.
When I see who it is on the cameras, I almost drop the dishtowel I’m holding.
“Liliana,” I shout, pressing the buzzer to open the gate. “Liliana, come down here.”
When she does emerge from the stairway, she looks up and sees the food on the table – and assumes that’s why I wanted her here. “Oh, thanks, Nico, but I’m not really…”
“Lili,” I interrupt, nodding towards the door. “Look.”
Then she turns and sees him, her father, standing sheepishly just inside the door, looking so out of place in my home.
“Dad?” she says, and the rush of joy on her face – even though he hasn’t yet said a word – tells me that I need to make this right. I can’t let Frank leave her without at least partially mending some bridges. She would never recover.
“I’m here to take you to the airport,” he says, his voice rough and flat.
That’s when I see her face fall – and with it, it feels like my own heart is breaking.
How can he do this to her?
“But, I told you,” she says. “I’m staying here.”
“No, you aren’t,” Frank says. “It’s not real, Liliana. This is all just some vacation fling. He’s not going to let you stay with him, not really. The second things get more serious
, he’ll throw you out on the street. I’ve seen men like him before.”
“If I may,” I say, stepping forward calmly and speaking up. “I’m afraid you’re wrong about that. I’m the one that invited Lili to stay here with me in the first place.”
“You expect me to think that you actually want her to move in with you? That you’re going to take her on, even though she has no job here, no prospects?”
I almost want to laugh. “You think she needs a job to stay here with me? Look around.” I spread my hands wide to demonstrate our surroundings. “She already has everything she needs. She has her clothes upstairs in my closet. Anything she wants, I can give her. I want to give her everything.”
“What are you talking about? Her clothes are in the car,” he says, jerking a thumb back towards the door. “You left them in the room yesterday.”
“My new clothes, Dad,” Liliana says quietly. “Nico bought me new things because I didn’t have the right clothes for some things. He’s given me everything I’ve needed.”
“This is just puppy love,” Frank scoffs. “You won’t want him when the shine wears off. And he won’t want you.”
“I will, Dad,” Liliana says, and I look over to see her eyes shining in her face. “I love him. I really do.”
“And it’s the same for me,” I say. “I will always want her. And I’m prepared to prove that to you right now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Liliana
I look around at Nico, wondering what he can possibly mean. Prove it? How can he prove it?
“Then do it,” Dad says challengingly. I know what he’s thinking – I know him well enough to figure it out. He can’t imagine a single way in which Nico could prove it, so that’s why he’s making this challenge. He thinks that after a few minutes more, we can both walk out of here and go home, and there won’t be any way for me to argue.
But he doesn’t know my Nico.
“Alright,” Nico says, and turns to me. His gaze meets mine and I see something there that makes my eyes widen. Something like pure love in his face, an emotion so strong I can hardly name it. “I wanted to do this in a more romantic way, but… for now, I guess this will have to do.”
Meet Me In Monaco: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Page 9
