Page 51 of Lorenzo & Lily

You’re not alone anymore. The words brought tears to her eyes. She couldn’t believe them yet. She’d thought before that others wouldn’t leave her alone, wouldn’t leave her to fend for herself. It would take some time for her to believe those words again, from anyone. “Okay. Let’s see how the day goes.”

“Good. One more thing: the press releases will go out on a staggered schedule after you’re both safe at the castle. It should hit the Italian press sometime around noon. You should prepare yourself, just in case your family contacts you.”

Her eyes went to a picture on her night stand, one of her and Lily together at the beach, taken by a passerby. Her family were not in any of the pictures in her house, because they chose society over her and their granddaughter. They had her new number, as she’d contacted them once Lily had been born, but they’d yet to use it. She was more than prepared in case they called her; she’d thought of their next conversation often over the years.

“I’m ready. Can we make it clear in the press release I don’t have anything to do with them? I’m sure once they hear, my parents will release a statement praising you or some such nonsense to make it seem as though you’re a beloved member of the family.”

“Hmm. You do have a point. I don’t know if this initial press release is the way to express that, however. I don’t want to give the press a chance to bring you down.”

“They’ll do that anyway, though, won’t they? Won’t I be labeled as the heartless bitch who kept you from your daughter?”

“No.” His voice was harsh and fervent. “I won’t let them tear you down for entertainment value. I probably should have run the press release by you first, but we’ve exaggerated things a bit.”

Uh-oh. “What does that mean?”

“With your move into the castle, though it’s not explicitly stated, the assumption will be that we’ve decided to move forward with a relationship.”

“What?” Her voice started as a screech, then to a harsh whisper when she remembered Lily sleeping in the next room. “Don’t you think that’s something we should actually decide before you announce it to everyone?”

“Lily–”

Her heart started beating faster. She felt trapped, cornered. History was repeating itself and she felt mind-numbingly out of control. “You took away my choice. Just like everyone’s done to me my whole life.”

“Lily, my God. I never meant–”

“Nobody means to do it, but it happens all the same. They take me for granted and push me around.” She shook her head. “I thought you’d be different. I thought this would be different.”

“It is. Lily, please.” His anguished voice was not enough to distract her, though it did give her pause.

“I was going to give us a chance. Give our relationship a try. I’d just decided last night after you left.”

“Lily.”

“What’s the point now, since my feelings doesn’t matter?”

“They do matter. Lily, please. The press release is just to manage things, just for the press. I’m not trying to force you into any kind of decision. I’m just–”

Realization dawned on her. “Trying to make yourself out to be a family man? If you infer we decided not to have a relationship when we found out about the baby, that gives you an excuse for sleeping around the last several years.” She scoffed and fisted her hand around her phone. “And how will you explain how I’ve been living? Surely the daughter of a prince would have better accommodations.”

“We don’t need to go into details like that. If we ever do, however, we’ll just say we wanted to give Liliana a life away from the spotlight and the press for a few years.”

“You think anyone will really buy that?”

“It’s not uncommon. Other European monarchs have done the same.”

“Those children are often, and wrongly, considered less worthy, or something equally heinous. I don’t want that to happen to our daughter.”

“Would you rather I tell them the truth? That a mysterious someone conspired to keep you away from me, which kept my child from me as well? The press will dig deeper, but they’ll leave Liliana alone. They’ll dig into your family’s past, which is not unexpected, and they’ll try to figure out how we met.”

She gasped. “Are you revealing your last mission to the press?” She never thought that would happen.

“I also made some decisions last night. I can’t reveal everything that happened to me, but I can reveal I was deployed and needed help when I came back. I’ve wanted to destigmatize mental health issues for veterans for a while now, and I think this is the time to do it.”

Damn it. It was hard to be mad at him for wanting to do something worthwhile, but she felt as though it was at her expense. “That’s a very worthy goal, but I don’t agree that a press release announcing our daughter exists is the best place to bring up our history, nor for you to make a plea about mental health.”

“I realize that. I’ve being doing press releases a lot longer than you.”

Her skin felt hot, as though she’d been slapped. Her fears came tumbling out. She didn’t know enough, wasn’t experienced enough, wasn’t worthy enough to be his, to be a princess by his side.

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