Page 56 of Royally Knocked Up
“Enzo, wait a moment.”
“No,” Enzo said. “I’ll be here for the coronation, the way I’m supposed to be, but until then, I’m going to keep my distance, because I’m tired of this. I’m tired of feeling like I’ll never be good enough for you. But don’t worry, Father, you won’t see my name in the papers between now and then. I’ll keep a low profile. That’s what matters most to you, isn’t it?”
Enzo didn’t wait for an answer to that question. He turned on his heel and walked out of the throne room.
That was for you, Hailey, he thought, even though he knew perfectly well that she would never know what he’d done.
CHAPTER 22
ENZO
Enzo met Romano in front of the house. “You’ll give me a ride home, won’t you?”
“Of course, Your Highness.” Romano gestured to the car. “May I ask how it went in there?”
“Did you bring me here last night?”
“I did,” Romano said. “Your friend Luca called me to pick you up. I suppose you don’t remember any of that?”
“I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need to apologize, Your Highness.”
“No, there is,” Enzo said. “I shouldn’t have had so much to drink that I wouldn’t be able to be accountable for myself. You shouldn’t have had to deal with me in that state.”
“Well, it was no hardship at all,” Romano said. “I’m glad you got home safely, that’s all.”
“It isn’t going to happen again,” Enzo told him. “It won’t be like that in the future, Romano, I promise. Even if I do need a ride from you, I won’t be incapacitated like that.”
Romano gave him a gentle smile. “Truly, Your Highness, all you did was sleep on the way home. You didn’t cause me any trouble at all. But I must say, if you’re determined to turn over a new leaf, I support that — I think it would be to your own benefit to do so.”
Enzo nodded. “For now, I’d just like to go home,” he said. “I need to get some rest and start putting everything that’s happened behind me.”
He got into the car.
There was an envelope sitting on the seat.
He picked it up without examining it very closely and held it out. “You left something back here,” he said.
“Oh, that isn’t mine,” Romano said.
“What do you mean, it isn’t yours?”
“Have a look.”
Enzo turned it over.
His own name was written on the front of the envelope, in a feminine script that made his heart skip a beat.
He knew at once who must have written it, of course. Who else could it have been? Who could have gotten a letter to Romano?
It could only be Hailey.
“When did she give you this?” he asked quietly.
“Last night, when I dropped her off at the hotel,” Romano said. “I would have given it to you then, but…”
“But I was too out of my head to have even read it,” Enzo said moodily. He could have had this letter last night, when Hailey would still have been in the country! Would that have changed anything?
