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“Thank you, Sebastian. You all may leave, I’ll be here for the night,” he said, and as they took their exit, I took a deep breath, only speaking once the door closed was behind them.
“While that does explain why you’re such an entitled prick,” I spoke as if it all meant nothing, lifting my fork and pulling the lobster meat from its small shell. “It still doesn’t explain why you are in my city and not in Monaco.”
“Is it your city, or your brother’s?”
“It’s the Callahan City. I am a Callahan.”
“But a Callahan still under another Callahan,” he stated as fact. Reaching it his pocket, he put a black velvet box between us. “You said you wanted power, respect, and recognition. You do not want to bow down to anyone…not even your brother. As my wife, you can have all of that. Your brothers will have to bow to you. Since I don’t have a last name, once I take the throne, you’ll forever be known as Her Serene Highness Donatella Aviela Callahan, The Princess of Monaco.”
He opened the box and inside sat a large, red, radiant cut diamond on a thin platinum, diamond-studded band. It was beautiful. I wanted it. I wanted all of it. However, reason stopped me from jumping in head first.
Getting to my feet slowly, smiling, I walked the small distance over to his side of the table, leaning on the edge right near his hands.
“A prince comes out of nowhere, offering me everything I want on a silver platter, that sounds too good to be true,” I whispered, pulling out my gun and pointing it directly at his chest. “And if it sounds too good to be true, my father told me to shoot first and ask more questions second. Seeing as how you’ve already been shot, I’ll skip to my question. Why me? I’m sure there is a duchess or countess or whatever somewhere in Europe that can be your princess. Me, I’m just a girl from Chicago.”
“Where in the hell have you been hiding that?” he asked, gesturing to the gun, baffled and amused but not afraid. He looked over me quickly as he tried to answer his own question.
I pulled back on the hammer.
“Just a girl from Chicago,” he laughed, grabbing my wrist and lifting my hand up until the barrel of the gun was at his forehead. “So then…the rest of the world knows you are a fighter,” he replied, using my own words from earlier against me. “Over the last two decades Monaco has become come a growing power in Europe. It is one of the very few monarchies left in the world which hold any real power. As you know, with power come enemies. Before my mother died, she looked high and low for girl who would make my position stronger, but would still be intelligent, beautiful, and charming enough to be a princess. And your mother appeared, promising you’d be everything I needed, and she was right. What use is a duchess or countess who is only well read with a pretty face? I need a woman who is not afraid to get her hands bloody.”
“And mine are already stained.” I grinned, putting the hammer back in place and shaking his hand off. Switching the gun to my other hand, I said, “Some fairytale this is.”
“Fairytales are for the weak-minded, Donatella. We don’t love each other. We don’t need to love each other. What we need is more power. One marriage and we both get it. Why rule a city when you could rule a nation?”
I stretched out my left hand and lifted the fourth finger. He took the ring from the box and slid it on to my finger. It fit perfectly, the flame of the candle reflecting in the red diamond. I couldn’t see myself, but I knew my smile must have been just as mischievous and depraved as his.
There was only one thing to say, and I said it proudly, “Long may we reign.”
“With all prestige and unwavering might,” he said, looking me in the eye as he kissed the back of my hand.
It might have been the wine. It might have been the conversation. It might have even been the sheer excitement of what was to come. It might have been all of those things all at once that made us both look at each other with lust.
Within a second his lips were on mine, his hard chest pressed up against me. One hand on my ass as the other grabbed my breast through my top. His tongue was in my mouth, brushing around mine. He was overwhelming. Every one of my senses was taken by him. We moaned into each other mouths, and I could feel him getting harder against me. He kissed me to take my breath away, to give me no space to deny him. His kiss moved from my lips, down my jaw and to my neck, sending chills down my spine.
I wanted him…but…
“Stop.” I didn’t just say it, I grabbed a fistful of his dirty blond hair and pulled his hair back, forcing him to him to look me in the eyes. The look of pain in his gray eyes, most likely from the bulge I could feel pressed against my stomach, told me just how he felt about being stopped. “A ring only gets you this far. I’ll need a crown if you want to go any further.”
Letting him go, I pushed back and stood up straighter, fixing my top as I walked to the stairs.
“How soon do you want it?” he asked and inhaled through his nose as he tried to calm down. “The bank is finished; the ring is on your finger. I need nothing else from Chicago. My father will step down from the throne on my thirtieth birthday. I need to be in Monaco by then.”
“And when is your thirtieth birthday?”
“Three days.”
This son of bitch.
“Give me twenty-four hours,” I replied, walking back up the stairs without saying anything else.
GABRIEL
Abandon everything you’ve ever known and follow me.
That was what I’d just asked her to do. She was born and raised in Chicago. When she spoke about it earlier, I knew she loved this city and I wor
ried she wouldn’t be able to leave. However, once again, she proved she was the woman I needed. Many people spoke about gaining power, but very few were willing to sacrifice to get it. Both of our families stood at the top because those who came before us were willing to put anything and everything on the line to get there.
