Page 33 of Royally Matched
Lily headed back down the hall and looked for her earring on the floor where she had just been with Max. From down the way, she could hear him speaking to someone. At first, she didn’t pay attention, until she heard him say one name. “Starla.”
“How did you get in here?” Lily heard Max ask the other woman.
“I’m Starla Stone, Max, I can get in anywhere I want. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for a while, but that guy you’re always with—Patrick I think his name is—told me to stop calling. I think he blocked my number and hasn’t been giving you my emails.”
Lily inched along the wall until she could see them, but remained out of sight. She knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but Max was her fiancé and she needed to know what was going on.
“Maybe you should take the hint,” Max stated with irritation audible in his voice. “He’s doing that because I’ve moved on.”
“I think you want to, and you’re trying to replace me, but you can’t. I saw the news reports about you and that vapid skank. It’s why I came. I thought you should know before you get too serious with her, I’m pregnant. And before you ask, yes it’s yours.”
“Do you know how many royals have claims of babies every year? This isn’t a new trick you’ve come up with,” Max accused.
“I thought you might say that. It’s why I brought this,” Starla stated, pushing a piece of paper towards him.
“What’s this?” he asked in confusion.
“It’s a sonogram, Max. In other words, a picture of our baby. If you look at the due date in the corner, it shows when I got pregnant. It was when we were together.”
Lily tried not to gasp. The news made her heart lurch with a flurry of mixed emotions. What was she going to do? She loved Max, but she couldn’t ask him to pick her over his baby. A royal baby would mean he had to marry Starla in order to avoid a scandal. And since Lily and Max hadn’t officially announced their engagement, the king and queen could quietly demand they end it without anyone knowing. This baby meant her life with Max was over.
“I can’t believe this,” Max muttered under his breath. “What am I going to do?”
“I’ll tell you what you’ll do. You’re going to put me up in that swanky palace of yours until the baby comes, or I’ll go public with my pregnancy and how you jilted me.”
“That’s not how it happened, Starla. I didn’t know you were pregnant.”
“But the press doesn’t know that. Who do you think they are going to believe, a pregnant woman or a known playboy?”
“Fine, Starla, you can stay at the palace, but just until we figure all of this out.”
“That’s fine, Max. You’ll come around to the idea of being a daddy and parenting with me soon enough.”
Heartbroken, Lily didn’t wait to hear anything else. She rushed down the hall and fled into a dark corner of the ballroom to hide. Once the wedding events were over, she would quietly leave Triola forever.
