Page 14 of Roses are Royal

“Oh, it’s nothing really. There was just something written on the mirror in the bathroom that doesn’t make any sense. I’m guessing some boyfriend or husband thinks their girl was cheating and was just trying to scare her.” Now that I’ve had more time to process everything, that actually feels like a logical excuse for what happened and is setting my nerves at ease a bit. Especially considering I have to stay there tonight.

“What did it say?”

“Huh?”

“Rose, what was written on the mirror?”

“Oh, ‘Hello, Princess.’ So weird, right? I’m guessing a jilted lover’s quarrel or something silly. No one has ever called me princess either.” What kind of lovey-dovey bullshit is that anyway? Do women even like pet names? I hope whoever she is will break up with him because I guarantee she deserves better than whatever psycho would break into her hotel room and write some lazy message on the mirror. Ruining her lipstick, no less! I know lipstick is the least of my worries at this point, but still…it’s the principle of the matter. Do men even realize how expensive makeup is these days?

I’m momentarily lost in my thoughts that I don’t register right away that Dante hasn’t responded until he abruptly stands from the booth.

“I have to go,” Dante states as he fishes several hundred-dollar bills from his wallet and tosses them on the table.

“What? Why? Our food hasn’t even arrived yet.”

“I’ve lost my appetite. You can box up whatever you don’t eat.”

“Um, oooookay. At least let me cover the meal. It can be a business expense.” I’m standing now to match Dante’s frantic energy.

“No.”

“No?”

“No.”

I’m locked in a stare off with Dante when Shirley arrives to deliver our two plates of food. I wasn’t really hungry before, but now that it’s here, it smells amazing. Damn him for ordering my favorite meal.

“Shirley, can we get these both boxed up to go?” I ask Shirley without breaking eye contact with Dante. This woman must think I’m incapable of eating a meal at this diner because this is the second time in two days I’ve asked to have my meal boxed up before I’ve even touched it.

Shirley looks back and forth between Dante and me. We haven’t moved from our standoff.

“I’ll be right back,” Shirley responds, clearly exasperated with an accompanying eye roll. I am going to tip this lady like crazy and likely never show my face here again.

“You need to eat,” Dante insists.

“And I will, if you let me pay.” Ha! Got him. I can sense his indecision lingering.

“Fine,” he grits out.

“Fine,” I add with a triumphant smile.

Shirley returns with both meals boxed up and drops the check on the table. I make sure to scoop it up before Dante has a chance to change his mind.

“I’ll email you an update on delivery timelines once I get home tomorrow and will let you know when I expect to return.”

With a nod and a scowl, Dante grabs his boxed-up food and storms out the door. Sheesh, what’s got his panties in a twist? He didn’t actually want to pay that bad, did he? Maybe a few days apart will be good for both of us. I seem to press that man’s buttons no matter what I do. I turn to Shirley with my credit card to cover our meals, but with a smirk on her face, she informs me that Dante already paid her directly before leaving. I will see that infuriating man let go of control at some point if it’s the last thing I do.

16

DANTE

Icouldn’t sit in that diner another minute knowing someone had been in her room, touching her things, invading her space, knowing who she really is. As much as I wanted to spend time with Rose away from the confines of work, her safety is more important. I barely have my car parked in my garage before I’m forcefully shoving the door open and striding into my house.

Once I’m in my basement, I sit down at my desk and pull up the camera feeds I have inside Rose’s hotel room. I only briefly looked at them before storming off to find her earlier. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it’s not what greeted me on the screen.

Not a scrap of fabric in her room has been left intact. It looks like a tornado hit her room. The manager clearly hasn’t touched the room to clean it up since I’m looking at the live feed. I scan the bedroom for anything else that could give me a clue about who did this before I switch to the bathroom camera. I put a camera in here for safety only, and I haven’t watched any of the footage, but I need to see the message left on the mirror for myself.

My blood runs cold when I see the red writing left on the splintered mirror, and I immediately know it was left for me. But who the hell knows Rose is here? Or that she even exists? I move my cursor over the rewind icon so I can see who dares to threaten her. Luckily, Rose wasn’t in the room when this happened, or she might have gotten hurt or worse, taken. But from the looks of her things and the message on the mirror, this was meant as a threat and a scare tactic.