Page 5 of Lily and the Billionaire Prince

“Hey, there, Lily.” His voice made her blood curdle. How had she ever thought the sound was appealing? It was as slick as grease and just as oily.

“I don’t have time to talk right now. I told you not to call me.”

“Aw, come on, sweetheart,” he said.

“Don’t call me that.” She balanced a hand on the wall for support and stared out the window at the sky’s cheerful blue and the ocean’s spread to the horizon. She wanted to cross that ocean. She wanted to venture anywhere but here. “I’m hanging up now.”

“That could be a mistake.” His tone brushed shivers down Lily’s spine. He’d used that tone plenty of times and the results had never been good. Once he’d taken a hammer to her bedroom and broken every porcelain doll she’d inherited from her grandma. They were one of the few keepsakes anyone in her family had of Nana Josephine, and he’d shattered them without a thought.

Damon had held things over her in other ways, but she finally got the courage to leave him. Unfortunately, she hadn’t known he still had the emails.

“Wouldn’t Mommy and Daddy love to know their precious heiress is living down in Florida, making beds and changing towels?” Lily closed her eyes. He knew she’d been promoted as Mr. Elir’s executive assistant, yet he never failed to remind her of her humbler beginnings at the hotel. “Who was the celebrity they’d lined up to represent their company? Patrick Billingsworth? I’m sure they lament losing the impact such an important spokesperson would have had. What would they think if they knew it was your fault?”

Patrick Billingsworth was America’s hero. Starring in thrillers and romantic comedies alike, the actor had the face of Apollo and the versatility of a jack-of-all-trades. He was good at anything he did—or at least the roles he played had made him appear as much. And he’d been pursuing a contract with King Toothpaste to be their spokesperson.

Shame welled within her.

“What do you want?” She didn’t need to ask. His request was the same every time. The creep was the reason she’d foiled the contract with Patrick Billingsworth. Lily had tried deleting the evidence of her mistake—several emails held proof of what had happened—but somehow, Damon had retrieved those emails. He knew she was the toothpaste king’s daughter, who would have been set to inherit his company and he played that angle like a fiddler.

But she couldn’t keep giving Damon money. He’d already taken what she had of her inheritance. Then, she’d lost all access to not only her family, but also the money, and Damon only demanded more.

She’d had nowhere to turn. Hoping to be rid of him and start over, she’d left Westville and fled to Florida, but he’d followed her here. He’d threatened if she tried leaving again, he would release the emails, and where she was already on such shaky ground with her family as it was, her strained relationship with her parents couldn’t handle the truth of her indiscretion.

“I need money.”

Lily leaned her shoulder against the wall, grateful to be on an abandoned floor. Here she could say what she needed to without being overheard. “I don’t have any money to give you, you know that.”

“But I’m in a scrape, baby. This idea is the one. I know it’ll work this time. I need ten grand and last I heard, that was pocket change for the Hopes.”

Tears stung her eyes. Every few months it was a new idea, a new business venture. And this one would fail just like all the rest had. “You know I can’t go to them.”

“I know you’ll do anything to keep me from sharing the compromising emails I have. You’ll find a way to get the money. Meet me tomorrow night at my apartment or you just might get an unwanted surprise on your social media feed.”

The line clicked.

Lily backed into the wall, tears building behind her eyes. She wished she could move on again. Disappear where he would never find her, but there was no way she could leave. Not without him exposing her.

“What do I do?” she breathed, feeling helpless and completely alone. She couldn’t go to her parents. They’d never approved of him and they’d threatened her inheritance because she’d chosen to date him. He was the reason she would never go into her parents’ company. He was the reason she couldn’t go home because she was too ashamed to let them know the truth of what had happened.

And now he was demanding ten thousand dollars by tomorrow when she needed every penny she made to pay her rent, feed her fur babies, and keep eating. She’d been saving money—her escape fund—but he couldn’t know about that.

She’d worked for Ahmed Elir long enough, she supposed talking to him about her dilemma might be an option…but no. She could never stoop that low to ask that much money of her employer.

“Not to interrupt but—who am I kidding? I fully intend to interrupt.”

Lily startled and whirled around. Her vision went blank. A man with noticeably steely eyes and wayward hair bent on misbehaving smirked from his leaning position near Room 903 behind her. With his angled features and full, smirking lips, he had all the look of a man who’d been caught doing something wrong and not caring in the slightest.

Lily staggered, wiping hard at her cheeks and attempting to regain her composure. “I—I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize anyone else was here.” What a stupid thing to say. She knew if the prince wasn’t here already, he would be coming to these rooms, and soon. Her intent in coming to this floor had been to introduce herself to Prince Henrik, but not like this.

And he was definitely the live version of the pictures she’d been ogling the night before.

Prince Henrik kicked away from the wall and swaggered toward her. Eyes locked, disarming her every thought, he made things worse by speaking with his incredibly appealing accent and said, “Sounds like you’re in some kind of trouble.”

She fought the emotion in her voice. “It’s nothing.”

Even the prince’s shrug was careless. “That didn’t sound like nothing. Sounded very much like you are, how do they say, painted into a corner?”

With this admission, he stepped closer. “I would like to help.”

---