Page 42 of His Beloved Princess
"I have a signed consent for this," I replied, chuckling at his flabbergasted expression. "It's the only way to put her in place without being physical." I shrugged when his eyes widened even more. He obviously didn't have any experience with someone like her.
"Does Electra know about this?" He asked, watching Rose on the sofa as she was screaming her lungs out, but the tape was blocking the sounds, so she was only making weird noises. I nodded towards the door for him to follow me out.
"I brought the contract home,and I wanted to show her what is between me and Rose, but you've gotten in the way," I answered, sitting behind Electra's desk, scanning the surface for some sign where she could be.
"You have a very weird life," Peter mumbled, sitting opposite me, shocked by what he'd just witnessed. "And you're a hypocrite."
I lifted my eyebrows at him, blinking in confusion. I completely missed his point, and he instantly noticed it.
"You're angry at me and your girlfriend for having sex before she met you while you still have something going on with your ex," he explained, frowning at me.
"I'm not angry because of sex," I objected, annoyance sneaking into my voice. "I'm furious because you both lied to me. And on top of it all, she said you fulfilled her secret fantasy. Of course, I'm losing my mind here!"
"I'm sorry for lying to you, Bastian. I really am," he claimed sincerely, clapping his hands together in front of his face. He looked like he was praying. "But please, don't ruin your relationship because of this. Only your ego stops you from moving on, and you know it." He slowly leaned into his seat. His eyes swirled with sadness, and even when I wanted to argue with him, I didn't say anything. We didn't need another fight. Yesterday was enough.
"I made that mistake with Layla's mother," he whispered. It sounded as if he was ashamed of himself. "Don't do it too. Believe me, you'll regret it for the rest of your life." He looked at me. His face was full of grief. I never saw him like this. He was very different from a man I had known almost my whole life.
"You still have a chance to put this behind you," he proceeded in a low voice, making me realize how broken he was. This wasn't about me and Electra. It was about him. My heart was skipping beats when I stared at his wretched expression. "You can make plans with her, come up with new fantasies, you can argue about things that really don't matter. Find her and go through all this mess together. It's the best advice someone who has already lost that person can give you."
"You loved her," I said, earning a confused glance from him. "The mother of your daughter," I explained when he didn'treact.
"It makes no difference if I loved her or not." He inhaled a sharp breath. His hands trembled. It was hard for him to talk about her. "She gave me a child. She was the most important person in my daughter's life, and I failed to take care of her. What does it make me, Bast? What kind of man am I?"
I didn't have answers to those questions, but I knew one thing. I would never in my life want to experience that kind of helplessness, which was written on his face. He was right. I had to find my girl and put things in order. At the end of the day, she was my everything, and I couldn't be happy without her.
22
Pain and Regret
Bastian
It was a mess—one horrible, absolute loss of organization and order. Electra was nowhere to be found for another week, and the girl trying to do her job failed miserably. I wanted to claw my eyes out of my skull as I glared at the two appointments at the same time.
I wasn't a magician; this couldn't work.
I slammed the door to my office with unnecessary force, groaning like a wounded animal to let out the frustration. I didn't know where my princess was. The whole company was upside down, and to top it all off, I couldn't leave the fucking place and go to look for her myself because shareholders had called an unscheduled meeting.
My father suggested helping me out, and after some thought, I agreed. I couldn't focus on anything but my girl.
I sat down behind my desk, loosening the tie around my neck. I fished the phone from my pocket, staring at the picture of my smiling princess, and I felt tears of pure helplessness and fear burning in my eyes.
At first, I thought Electra was kidnapped, and my men worked day and night to locate her. But then, after two days spent in Andreas’ house, I finally came home.Her diary and my contract with Rose were neatly placed on the coffee table in the living room. The red book was opened, and only one word was staring back at me, crushing any hope that she would ever return.
LIAR!
I inhaled a shaky breath. My hand trembled when I put the phone down and looked at the computer screen. I wasn't in the right state of mind to work. I couldn't think about contracts, numbers, or the stock market. My whole world was slowly crumbling down with every minute that passed.
I missed Electra so much it almost physically hurt. I felt like I was tied with a rope, stuffed into a black sack, and thrown into the water with a massive boulder chained to my leg. I was drowning, succumbing to the nothingness without the tiniest pinch of hope that I would ever emerge and take another breath.
I've never experienced anything like this. I lost people in my life. I made mistakes that cost me friendships and a woman I loved, but it was nothing compared to the emptiness that enveloped my still-beating heart. I was alive, yet I felt so dead.
"Hey."
I raised my head from the table, looking at Rose standing in front of my desk. I didn't hear her knock or enter my office, but I wasn't surprised to see her. I hadn’t answered her calls or replied to her texts. I knew that, eventually, she would come to visit me.
"What do you need, Rosalind?" I asked, leaning into my seat. I wasn't in the mood for her antics, especially when my contract with her was the reason behind Electra's disappearance.
"Why didn't you tell her about us from the beginning?" she inquired, sitting opposite me.
