AllFreeNovel
Share Us
16
TABLOID PRINCESS
Rada ledme up an ornate staircase to the second floor. Theo stood at the base, watching us ascend. I glanced back once—only once—and kept my pace with Rada. It was strange, the suddenyankI felt in my chest, like I’d been tied to Theo but was now thinning out the string.
This would be the first time in twenty-four hours I wasn’t in the same room as him.
“Here we are.” Rada pushed open the double doors to what must have been her master bedroom. It, like the gray room below, exuded a soothing sanctuary, with that effortless flair I wished with all my being I had. If there was a time I’d ever own my own property, it would be designed exactly like this.
Creams, silky whites, pale blues. The king-sized bed wouldn’t dare house any springs and would be the pricey, squishy foam that fitted to one’s body like a lover. The pillows were long rectangles, temporary cuddle-buddies for those nights when the lover wasn’t available, all ensconced within a billowing, silky canopy.
My eyelids went heavy at the sight. All I had to do was merely rock forward and I’d land face-first in the divine comfort.
“In here,” Rada said.
She’d disappeared through an ornately carved wall, potentially the entrance to a walk-in closet. If I didn’t trail behind her closely, I’d lose her in this maze of a house.
“I’ve found the perfect dress for you.”
I followed her voice, discovered the line in the wall, and pushed it open. Rada stood among soft chiffon, intricate lace, designer cutouts and red soles on shoes.
Now, I’d have to add all items of her closet to my property list.
“I think we’re the same size,” Rada said. She held out a red floor-length dress with a deep V at the cleavage. It would fit me like an hourglass.
I approached, running the material between my finger and thumb.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I breathed. The real thing didn’t come close to my rentals, or the few dresses of my own I’d acquired and left folded in Verily’s closet. I turned in a slow circle, eyeing every piece of silk, sequin, and crystal in the custom-designed closet. The smallest drawers caught my eye, four nestled one on top of the other underneath shelves for handbags that cost more than a year of Verily’s rent. As I gently tugged on one, I half-knew what would greet me but was still bowled over by the sheer sparkle.
Diamonds, pearls, emeralds, other jewels I was unfamiliar with, and … what was that? I peered closer. On instinct, I picked it up, inspecting it, then shoved it under my shirt as insurance for later.
“Try it on,” she said when I turned back around. “I’ll be waiting in the bedroom.”
It wasn’t until I raised my head and realized Rada had walked out and shut me in her closet, that I got a clue. Rada was being much, much too nice. The dress dropped with a clatter.
That bastard. Theo locked me in here so I wouldn’t accompany him to this duke’s estate and play him under the table.
“Hey!” I yelled.
Theo was going to leave me in his house until he deemed it necessary to let me out. Damn if I’d let him, damn, damn,damnhim—I’d show him what it meant to take me out of my country and into someone else’s only to have me safely stored away in designer clothing like a rich, trophy wife—I’d friggin’ bare my teeth at the asshole and bite whatever exposed skin—
“Trouble with anything?”
The closet door opened without a struggle. Rada lay supine on her bed, sipping champagne that she had brought up when I wasn’t looking. There were two glasses.
“Um,” I said. “No.”
“You don’t like the dress?”
“Actually—” I was halfway to turning back into the closet but changed my mind. “I do have a question.”
She waited.
“Why are you being so nice to me? Right now, I mean.” I gestured to the bedroom door. “Downstairs, it was like I didn’t exist, and now…”
Rada tutted. “Darling, after all this time, you must understand the play by now.”
