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I’ve seen myself to the airport. And don’t worry, I have enough money to fly coach. Well, enough of a credit limit.
I’ll never forget you.
Love,
Hailey.
I crush the note in my hand as nausea overtakes me. I feel like I’ve fallen off a cliff, and there’s no bottom.
I fall and fall, yet I force my mind to devise a plan. What do I do now?
Airport, you fool. Get to the airport now.
I won’t alert the palace drivers or go with security. All of those arrangements would take too long.
I sprint to the garages, tucked away beyond the garden, cursing that we don’t have an average-sized house with an attached garage. I could be gone by now.
Doing my best to keep my head about me, I choose the least noticeable car in the collection. Finding the correct set of keys takes another several minutes because I don’t know my way around this garage. If I’d called a taxi, I could be there by now, but that would only draw unwanted attention, and no taxi in the land would drive fast enough under the circumstances.
Using the service entrance at the property’s back gate, I manage to drive off undetected. Even if security does realize what I’ve done, I don’t care. They can chase me to the airport for all I care.
One frustrating thing about a tiny island kingdom is that there exists only one commercial flight per day from our capital city’s airport to the U.S. If I remember correctly, it leaves in less than an hour.
I floor the gas pedal, exceeding 130 kph on the main thoroughfare, and pray to the gods that Hailey didn’t decide to fly to a larger European hub for the first leg of her journey to America.
* * *
It doesn’t take long to spot Hailey in the small terminal, clutching a boarding pass, her elbows on her knees, and one of my suitcases at her feet.
My heart finally moves from my throat to my chest, where it batters my ribcage.
Her cheeks are stained with tears.
“Hailey.” Her name is all I get out before she looks up.
I catch the haunted look in her eyes. I freeze, not knowing if she wants me to come to her.
“I’m sorry for stealing your suitcase,” she says thickly, rolling the suitcase toward me.
“I do not care about the suitcase.”
“I didn’t take anything else. Except for the headband Sable made for me. And I needed something to carry airport souvenirs in for folks back home. But if you want the suitcase, you can take it. I’ll buy a tote bag or something. You can take the headband back to Sable. She might want it; after all, TikTok won’t shut up about the dang thing.”
She’s babbling about suitcases and souvenirs. Does she really think I’m here for any of that? “Hailey. Stop.”
She sits up and shows me her palm. “Let me finish. I didn’t even pack a hairbrush. I came here entirely dependent on a man. I got caught up in the fairy tale. It’s embarrassing, and that’s pretty fucked up when you think about it. And then I started thinking that maybe my idiot brother was right in his own way. He warned me. He said your family would see me as gold-digging trailer trash. He was wrong about most of your people but right about your parents. I didn’t want to believe it because how could someone as good as you come from people who treat outsiders like garbage?
“But then I heard what Etienne said. They’re not going to announce our engagement tomorrow. When I heard that, I decided to leave. Game over. It was fun while it lasted, but I won’t hang around for the humiliation.”
What have I done to this poor girl?
“Are you finished?”
Her chin trembles. “No. Yes. I’m also pretty mad at you for abandoning me for hours, but I’m out of words right now.”
In a flash, I’m on my knees in front of her, my arms bracketing around her hips on the bench.
“I took too long to carry out my plans, and now your mind is telling you stories. False stories.”
