The small nick across his right eyebrow that would forever distinguish him from his identical twin. But only if you were close enough to him to see it. Or if his twin weren’t the starlit night sky to Valenti’s fathomless black hole.
Yin and yang. Two sides of an endlessly complex, priceless whole. Except she’d never found Teo as soul-searingly fascinating and hauntingly perplexing as she found Valenti. Even from a young age.
‘Lotte.’
The rumble of warning made her insides jolt. Made her gaze slide from his to the bed she would never be able to sleep in again. The bed she was sure Valenti would instruct Leif to remove and burn before sunrise.
Then she glanced at the faces of the people paid to handle her well-being. Those who took care of the practicalities while leaving her alone to wander the wilderness of her loneliness.
While they were devoted to her every material whim and plea, and on some level she knew they cared about her well-being, they wouldn’t be here if Prince Valenti Domene wasn’t paying their salaries.
Before abhorrent self-pity and claustrophobia of her gilded cage could suck her under, she shook her head. ‘I have a life. One I’m not willing to have hijacked by anyone. So yes, I’ll let the authorities do what they need to, but I also demand to know when I can return to my life.’
Even if that life left her increasingly only half fulfilled.
Even if that reality was—now that she didn’t have to fill her head with useless information like polo tournament etiquette or how to rectify the socialfaux pasof offending a man by stating an opposing opinion—shining a far too bright light on how empty and lonely her life truly was, now she was helping other women realise their dreams.
She pushed those tendrils of desolation far away as his lips flattened for one second.
‘Are you sure you want a timeline?’
Those tendrils morphed into apprehension. ‘Why wouldn’t I?’
‘Very well. At the very least one month or six weeks. Perhaps longer.’
‘You must be joking!’ It was the second time she’d proclaimed him humorous. Maybe it was subliminal wishful thinking. A gut reaction yearning for a time long gone. Because the last time she’d seen him crack a smile or approach anywhere near playful had been…
Her insides twisted. Then those twists knotted hard until her chest burned with the torture.
The distinct sound of the lift’s arrival galvanised movement from the security team. Silent commands were passed from Valenti to a handful of them. Nods of acknowledgment tumbled like falling dominoes.
Then he was ushering her out, a firm hand at the small of her back she was absolutely not going to think about.
‘I’ll be out in a moment,’ he rasped then stepped back and shut her bedroom door, temporarily severing the electrifying connection of his presence.
Her breath shuddered out, the sensation of having the air restored making her chest heave.
Like always, he’d arrived with the deadly power of a midnight sonic boom, turned her inside out, and left long before the devastation of his presence shattered around her.
But she wasn’t eighteen anymore, when she’d forced herself to label the feelings seething like hormonal explosions beneath her skin, ready to burst free if she so much asthoughtof him. Or nineteen, when she’d allowed those emotions to dominate her. To rob her so completely of common sense that she’d boarded a plane and presented herself in his beloved kingdom, hoping for some regard from the man who’d cared so deeply for her flesh and blood but it turned out, had beenpretendinga fondness for Lotte.
That reminder and the searing embarrassment it dragged along with it powered her feet and determination, and she watched with a weighty amount of glee as the guards jumped apart to let her through.
Just in time to greet the trio of policemen who walked in.
They were introducing themselves when Valenti joined her, his face set in even more icy resolution.
He crossed to the mantel where a small fire blazed in the hearth and positioned himself before it, arms crossed. Dominating the room with unmistakable authority.
Lotte wasn’t surprised at all when the police fell over themselves to start taking notes.
With each revelation that yes, she’d received uncomfortable messages from a stranger, that yes, she’d ignored most of themand that, yes, her unwanted admirer had become increasingly aggressive, finding ways to overcome her attempts to block him, the more rigid with deadly tension Valenti grew.
Until the police were casting him more wary glances than they were her.
To the point she was almost relieved when he returned to her bedroom with the uniformed men.
Lotte should’ve stayed put in the living room as agreed, but dammit, this was about her. She was damned if she’d turn into some meek doll just to please Prince Valenti Domene.
