Page 5 of The King's Secret Baby

Frustration wells up as I realize I’ll have to tell my editor I couldn’t get the story. All that work, wasted. This was my big break, and I blew it.

CHAPTER 3

LUCA

Ileave the conference room with long strides, fighting the urge to turn around and go back in — but not for the interview.

Instead, I want to spend more time with that captivating journalist. More time drinking in her brown, doe-like eyes. More time having her study me with that scrutinizing gaze…

Yes, I understand that if only I had acquiesced and gone along with the interview, I would have gotten more time with Hailey. But the whole thing felt like a charade, utterly pointless. I couldn’t stand sitting in there humiliating myself any further.

Shaking my head, I try to focus on the task at hand — avoiding my father. He’s somewhere in this hotel, and if I see him right now I might explode. So I set off briskly down a random hallway, keeping my eyes peeled for guards.

Of course I run straight into my father as I round the corner. He frowns, bushy grey eyebrows drawing together.

“Shouldn’t you be in that interview, Luca?” he asks, tone dripping with disapproval.

I sigh, shoving my hands in my pockets. “It wasn’t going anywhere. She just wanted to talk about my becoming king and what I like to do for hobbies.”

My father’s scowl deepens. “As she should. You’ll be king someday, yet you refuse to take your duties seriously.”

Anger bubbles up in me. “How am I supposed to take them seriously when you won’t even let me sit in on the council meetings?” I demand. “I wantrealresponsibilities, not just waving to crowds.”

“You’re not ready!” he snaps.

I scoff and shake my head. “You set that interview up because you wanted to distract me, didn’t you? You wanted me to feel like I was actually doing something for once, so that I would stop asking you to give me some real responsibilities.”

My father’s face remains impassive, giving nothing away. But I know him too well. I know the way his eyes twitch slightly to the left — a tell of his discomfort. “Luca, that isn’t true.”

“You’re lying,” I spit out, my words echoing through the long corridor.

There’s a small moment of silence as we stand off, father and son lost in a power struggle. Then, his gaze hardens.

“That’s enough, Luca,” he says sternly. “You’re behaving like a child.”

“A child? You’re the onetreatingme like a child!” The words burst from my lips before I can stop them.

“Then stop acting like one,” he retorts, with an amount of control that makes me hate him.

It’s not the first time we’ve locked horns, but something about this time feels more momentous, like we’re both finally speaking the things that we’ve wanted to say for years.

“I’m thirty.” I slap my hand with the other one. “I have a degree in business from one of the best schools in the world. I’ve grown up watching you make deals and make peace. What else could I possibly have to learn?”

My voice is higher than I want it to be. I don’t want to shout, but it’s getting harder and harder to slow this maelstrom down.

“Your… mother…” His upper lip trembles.

Oh, no. Not the “your mother” card.

She died when I was so young that I don’t even remember her. Father doesn’t talk about her much, but even after all these years, he clearly reveres her. He never married again; to my knowledge, he never even dated another woman again.

Because no one could compare to her.

It’s romantic, really. Except for when that reverence gets in the way of my life.

“She didn’t want you to be pushed into the crown,” Father says. “She asked me to keep you out of it for as long as possible.”

I shake my head. “What? Why?”

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