Page 56 of The Prince's Green Card Scheme

I close my eyes tightly. “No,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Miguel,” says my father as if I hadn’t just spoken, “asked us to declare a national holiday for his joyous day. You see, when things are done properly, we like to celebrate in this country. We like to do good things for our people. And we like to make sure that our family is well looked after.”

My fists are clenched so tight under the table that I’m leaving little crescent marks in my palms. I know he’s just doing all this to get at me, but itisgetting to me. He’s making me look bad in front of Chloe. Right now that hurts more than anything in the world

I glance over the table at her, trying to decode the expression on her face. She still looks sad. Is it because she’s falling for my father’s propaganda? Is she believing what he’s saying about Luca and Miguel? I hope not.

I’m not perfect, but surely she knows me better by now. Surely she’s seen enough of me to know that this is just my father’s mind games.

I try to catch her eye, wanting desperately for her to look at me so I can make some expression to say this isn’t true. Not that it’s all untrue — there really was a national holiday when Miguel got married.

But the thing thatisn’ttrue is the way he’s suggesting that, because I didn’t do the same as my brothers, I am a lesser person.

Maybe I am.

It’s taken me all this time to see it. But in the last month I’ve gone through a bigger journey of realization than at any other time of my life.

They wouldn’t listen if I did, but for the first time in my adult life, I feel like I could stand up to my parents and say, “No, I’m not a dumb child. I know who I am. I know who I want to be — and the person I want to be is the kind who marries Chloe because she’s normal. Because she’s kind. Because she makes me into a better person.”

But that would only fall on deaf ears, so I keep my mouth shut.

I might be changed — but I’m still a coward. All this conversation is making me want to do is run away and hide in a deep, dark hole.

Maybe exile was better for me. At least when I was in exile, nobody was judging me. Or at least, I couldn’t see it. I wasn’t living it every day.

Two months I’ve been back, and I’m trying so hard not to fall into my old ways. But every time my parents speak to me like I’m stupid, it gets so hard not to live up to those old expectations.

I glance at Chloe again, and this time she does catch my eye. She offers me the faintest of smiles. It’s enough to give me some hope. It’s not much, but I’ll take it.

We just have to get through this. Once my parents see that we mean it, they’ll back off. Once we make it clear that this is who we are, and we’re not going to change it, they’ll stop bothering me about it.

This is what they’ve always wanted, anyway. Me to get married. Me to become a better person.

We just have to show them.

And maybe get married again, properly. But that’s a conversation for another time. A time when Chloe doesn’t look so scared and close to tears.

Why did I have to get sat so far away from her? Why can’t I take her hand and run?

Why can’t this just be over?

CHAPTER 27

CHLOE

Every second I spend here makes it more and more obvious why Paolo decided he needed to escape. It’s not what I would have done, but every third sentence out of his parents’ mouths seems to be some sort of comparison to his brothers. I don’t think I agree with Paolo’s past ways, but I am definitely coming to understand them.

It can’t be easy when nothing you do is seen as being right. If anything, all this conversation is doing is making me long for my mom again. I miss her so much.

I wish Paolo had the kind of support she gave me when he was growing up. Maybe he would have turned out differently.

“So what does your father do?” asks the queen.

I chuckle awkwardly. “My father’s dead,” I say.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she says with the practiced tone of someone who doesn’t really care but has learned how to pretend that she does.

“But he is the reason I always wanted to come here,” I add. “He was from Bellamare. If it wasn’t for him, I would never have met Paolo at all. I wouldn’t have had something to talk to him about, a connection.”

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