Page 53 of Fake Dating the Prince

Brayden closed his eyes and imagined he was curled up next to Flip. His eyes burned.

At least he could tell Lina the truth. He settled back against the seat and counted the miles to the airport.

FLIPreturned from police headquarters exhausted, with a splitting headache and a heavy heart. He hated seeing the toll dealing with her brother took on his mother, and he was glad he didn’t have to explain the man’s sudden reappearance to Clara. It would be up to Ines to decide what to tell her.

All he wanted was to relax by the fire with Brayden and maybe a stiff drink. Never mind the proposal for now—after the day he’d had, the mood hadn’t just been killed, it had been hanged, drawn, and quartered. He could try again tomorrow.

But when he pushed open the door to his apartment, something felt off. “Brayden?”

No Brayden on the couch, by the fire, or at the table. Flip left his shoes on and ventured into the bedroom to change—no Brayden there either. His parents had both been with him deciding what to do about his uncle. Ines and Clara wouldn’t want company.

Maybe he’d decided to try out sightseeing on his own?

In his socks and underwear, Flip dug his phone out of his jacket pocket and turned it on for the first time in several hours. Nothing from Brayden… but he did have a message from Celine.

Taking Brayden to airport. He says family emergency. Everything okay?

Oh God. That didn’t sound good. Why hadn’t Brayden called him?

He had wandered back out to the living room to check if he’d left a note when the next message, timestamped a few minutes later, pinged on his phone—Something seems off, though. Too quiet. Why aren’t you with him?

And finally—Did you break up?

Flip’s heart hit the floor. He could feel the blood rushing from his face, and he dropped onto the couch before he could get lightheaded. Had Brayden guessed that Flip was going to propose and decided to spare him the indignity of refusing to his face? But that seemed unlike him.

Perhaps he really had an emergency and had to leave. But if so, why no message? He must know how important he was to Flip. Flip had been in the middle of telling him as much when he had to leave.

Ignoring the pit opening in his stomach, he started a new text message to Brayden.Where are you?He should get all the facts before he started to panic. That seemed like the rational thing to do.

So, of course, that was when his father dashed into the room without knocking, breathing hard, the suit he’d worn to the police station in disarray—jacket open, tie flung over his shoulder. “Flip! I made a— What are you doing? You have to get dressed.”

Flip stood, knowing he needed to act, but something in his father’s tone made him suspicious. “You made a what?”

Irfan waved a hand. “It doesn’t matter right now. Brayden’s gone and you have to go after him.”

“Yes, I know. Celine messaged me. But I don’t know where, or why, or what any of it means—”

His father pushed him into the bedroom. “He asked Celine to take him to the airport. He said he had a family emergency.” Irfan made a scoffing noise. “An obvious lie. If he’d had an emergency, you’d have gone with him.”

“Yes, Iknow,” Flip repeated, automatically putting on the sweater his father thrust at him. “How doyouknow? And what else do you know that I don’t?”

I should have talked to him.Something must have spooked him. Flip had been so sure Brayden felt the same way he did. He didn’t think that had changed, not judging from how sweet Brayden had been since they returned from their trip, how tender. “Why would he…,” he mumbled, half to himself, as he put on the trousers Irfan held out.

He couldn’t have said exactly how he knew. His father was an excellent actor. Butsomethinggave him away, and Flip whirled. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Irfan protested, taking half a step back with his hands raised.

Flip wasn’t convinced.

“Okay, maybe I tried to nudge him a little bit while we were out shopping,” Irfan admitted. “I thought maybe if I hinted that I knew your relationship was fake from the beginning, he’d sac up and tell you he’s in love with you and you would make the whole thing real before he went home and left you with a broken heart!”

Flip froze with his hand on his fly. “I’m sorry, you didwhat?”

“It works in the movies!”

“Dad!” Flip finished zipping and ran his hands through his hair.What a disaster.“You’re going to tell me everything on the way to the airport,” he said darkly. Then another horrifying thought occurred to him. “Oh no, did you tell Mom?”

“What do you take me for? Of course I didn’t tell your mother. I love you and I don’t want you to die.” Irfan pushed him toward the door. “That doesn’t mean she didn’t find out on her own, so for both our sakes, let’s hope you can fix this before she stops pretending she doesn’t know.”

---