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"Where are we?" I ask, when the cab stops outside a residence in Regent’s Crescent.
"This is our family's city residence. Kingsley lives here mostly. We can stay here while we’re in London."
My hands tug him back. "I'm not so sure."
He doesn’t rush me, just takes my hand and gently explains. "Okay, so Kingsley is at work, because he's Kingsley. Damien and My-Linh are here in London but they won't be around right now. I asked them to make themselves scarce, since you might not really be up so meeting people"
Always so, so thoughtful.
"Come on, we'll have a small wing in the back. There's a bedroom, bathroom and sitting room. You won't have to see anyone if you don't want to. You don't even have to see me if you don't want to. I can stay in one of the other guest rooms, which, I would like to add, my grandfather did not even wait two seconds after I graduated and moved to college before he had a decorator in there tearing down all my playboy posters."
I giggle at that. And he takes that to mean I'm ready to go inside.
I'm no stranger to opulence, especially in real estate, my parents liked to buy beautiful home, for no reason, other than to own them for a little while. My mother, with an eye for design, would play with the house until she was bored of it, then sell it off, never caring if she made a profit or loss. It was her hobby and my dad indulged her every whim.
The thought of them hurts so I push it back.
I'm not ready to go down that road again.
Kylian’s family's house is pure luxury and class down to the little Edo Kiriko glass bowl on the bureau in the foyer for everyone to put their keys in.
"Wow. This house is incredible. How long has your family owed this?"
"My great-great-great-grandfather bought it back in 1950, I think. As a silver anniversary gift for his wife for sticking by him from when he was a lowly baker, and all the way up to making his first million. He told her to go and point to whichever house she wanted, and he would make it hers. He probably shat himself when she went directly for the richest part of town.”
We both laugh in appreciation and Kiara says, "A woman who knows what she wants. I like her."
"I think you would've, she was wild. Took his money and ran with it, sometimes just standing at the market, and handed out wads of cash to people on the way in, so they could go all out. There's actually a little stall in Smithfield markets called Esme’s bench. Because that's where she could be found, eating a pie and having a cuppa after a morning of giving away her husband’s money."
"I knew it! I do love her."
He gives me a wink. "Yeah. She was a brat, too. "
"Wow, maybe I'm the reincarnation of her,” I joke.
The horrified look he gives me makes me laugh so hard it hurts.
A good kind of hurt.
Something about this house makes me feel comfortable, or maybe it's the man standing next to me, who hasn't let go of my hand since he found me at the park. Not when he flagged down a cab, not when he paid the driver, not the entire time we've been here.
He didn't ask any questions, either, just made sure I was okay, physically, then asked if I had a place to stay. I'd told him about the hotel but that the only things that I had were already on my body.
"Come on, let’s go get you settled," he says. “You’re probably exhausted.”
He leads me down a few hallways, past a large living area with a piano and bar, to a door that opens into a little private wing.
“The bedroom is back there, the bathroom is an ensuite. And behind that cabinet there’s a coffee and tea station.” He leaves to check something out. “There a robe in the bathroom. Do you want to write down some things you need and I'll get someone to go pick them up? Kingsley's assistant will be here later to see if there's anything she can grab for us. If you need it urgently, maybe his valet can go out and grab it.”
"Oh, my god, we really are back in England, aren't we?"
He grins. "We are. I miss it here. I love Hong Kong, but I grew up here. It's my home. In a different way than Hong Kong is home."
Somehow, I know what he means. "Do you ever think you'll move back here?"
"No time soon. Okay, I'll be in the main house if you need me."
Panic rises. "Where... are you going?"
