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The royal family weren’t the only ones who mattered. Not even Nataliya.
That’s not the way the world became a better place, and Jenna believed in change.
She didn’t mention the whole “sex to get her out of her apartment so it could be searched” thing. Jenna accepted that Dima really hadn’t seen the sex as a convenient diversion, but something inevitable between them.
She could not deny that inevitability with any level of honesty either.
“You don’t know what measures the prince has taken to protect the other people your assistant spied on through you. Maybe give him a chance to tell you before you write him off completely.”
“I told you—”
“That you have no future because you can’t have children.”
She sucked in air, the truth something she hadn’t needed to say out loud since her decision at the age of twenty-one to make sure the genetic disease that killed her brother could not be passed on through her.
When she and her two younger siblings had been tested for the gene, only she had been a carrier. For Jenna, no other decision could be made but to have a tubal ligation and prevent any chance of her passing the gene on to the next generation.
Luke cursed. “I didn’t say that to hurt you.”
“I know.” She wished she could say it didn’t hurt, but the wound she’d thought healed long ago felt fresh and new.
“My point is, it’s not the roadblock to a future with Prince Dimitri you think it is.”
“I know you believe that.”
“But you don’t.”
“This is a nonsensical discussion. You do realize that, don’t you?”
Luke let her change the subject, but Jenna kept thinking about her brother’s suggestion that she take time off over the following week.
CHAPTER EIGHT
WITHEACHDAY,it grew harder for Jenna to go into her office, and the idea of taking time off became more appealing.
A last-minute emergency at work made it possible for her to avoid her video chat with Nataliya, but Jenna knew she couldn’t avoid her BFF for long, and she needed to make some hard decisions about her relationship with the royal family.
Either she sucked it up and dealt with the compromises she had to make, or she walked away.
Her current level of exhaustion wasn’t helping her apply rational thinking to it either. Jenna had had trouble sleeping ever since discovering she had been spied on. She would wake up in a cold sweat convinced she was being watched, only to have to convince herself it wasn’t true before going back to sleep.
Ifshe could go back to sleep.
Even though all her clothes and accessories had been cleared, she’d been dressing without her usual styling as well. She hadn’t carried a purse since the night she’d made love with Dima.
She’d gone out and bought a new laptop bag, but for some reason couldn’t make herself use a purse at all.
The job she had always loved was now a source of irritation and frustration. Jenna didn’t want to return emails or calls from designers wanting to give her an early peek at their new collections.
Jenna wasn’t just avoiding Emma’s calls. She still found answering the phone nearly impossible.
No question, she needed a change of pace.
It started with asking for time off. If she came back with the intention of staying at the magazine, she would request a change of office locations. She would give up her window to get away from the sense of violation she felt every time she walked into her office.
Her boss approved the leave without a single argument, and Jenna went home, not sure if she was going to take a trip or just putter around her apartment for the next two weeks.
Her phone rang as she was walking in her door. Jenna grabbed it from her jacket pocket, where she’d been keeping it, and glanced at the caller ID.
