Page 155 of Fallen Princess: Shadow Stalker

“They showed me proof.”

“It was planted to frame me.”

I cock my head at her. “Was it?”

“They’ve been in your life for five minutes, and you choose them over me.”

“You were never a choice to choose over. You were my loyal employee. They are my boyfriends.”

“I meant, you chose to believe them over me. How do you knowhewasn’t hired to hunt you?”

My eyebrows shoot up with crazy skepticism spreading across my face. She’s got out all the guns now, but she’s shooting blanks.

“And achieve what? Terrorize me into falling in love with them? That makes no sense.”

Catalina’s expression shifts, her features relaxing as if releasing tension. Her gaze softens slightly, and she gives me a subtle sigh, indicating her readiness to move on.

“Will I be able to collect my belongings at Terra Sands?”

“Yes, of course,” I say with a warm smile, making a mental reminder to go through all consumables and dump them before I move in with the guys. “You have access to the property before they begin renovating it.”

“When will that be?”

“Next week.”

“You’re rushing into this.”

“It feels right.”

“I should go,” she resigns from her argument, takes the file, and gets up. “I assume this is mine?”

“Please enjoy your retirement, Catalina,” I stand up to join her. “Regardless of what you think, you’ll always be an important person to me, but we need to go our separate ways.”

Rather than reply, she takes one final look at me. Mumbles something under her breath, which I don’t catch, smiles, and turns towards the door. She doesn’t turn to either of the two men waiting outside in the hotel hallway. Asher says something to Rick, then slips inside and strides over to where I am.

“Alright, babe?” he asks, concern all over his face.

“You heard?”

“Vaguely, only when your voices got a little argumentative. Technically hers, since you maintained your calm as much as possible under the circumstances.”

I lean over for a hug, and he welcomes me in his embrace. I rest the side of my face against his chest.

“Did you confront her about the barbituates?”

I adjust to face him while still maintaining our arms around each other.

“I did. She claims you guys framed her.”

He looks straight at me but says nothing. We discussed earlier that she might deny it even if she admitted it to Callum. I omitted to tell her he told me about their discussion because she would have used his past drug history against him.

“It doesn’t matter,” I add to Asher’s silence. “Escalating the issue will only prolong the inevitable and we have enough on our plate. She wants to pick up her stuff at Terra Sands, and I told her she has a week to do so.”

“You handled it as well as possible. How do you feel about it?”

“A little sad. At the same time, if the whole drugging issue had not been discovered, maybe it would have been harder to let her go. I thought I suffered from narcolepsy and needed her to nurse me when I was passed out. Despite all that, I think I gave her the best possible route to leave.”

“You did more than any employer would have done in this kind of situation. I think she was a little more attached to the job than a caretaker would be.”

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