Page 70 of A Royal Disaster
“Charlotte Dupont arrived in the city today,” Fin said, speaking in hushed tones. Lena stepped back from the door, keeping her body in the shadows. The door was partially open and through the crack she could see Liam standing in just his trousers, his chest bare. Fin stood opposite him, red-faced and flustered.
“What the fuck is Lotte doing here?”
Freaking Lotte. She’d been right.
“I have no idea.” Fin issued a harassed sigh. “But I highly doubt it’s a coincidence.”
Liam raked a hand through his hair and muttered a curse.
“You need to tell Elena the truth. Before she hears it somewhere else.”
Liam stiffened. “That won’t happen.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Not with Charlotte in town,” Fin argued, shooting a glance at the mostly shut bedroom door. Lena held her breath, praying she was fully cloaked in the darkness. “Your mother is growing impatient and, if Charlotte’s arrival in New York is any indication, she’s not buying into this farce of a relationship, despite your best efforts.”
“Bollocks. This fake relationship was supposed to buy me more bloody time,” Liam hissed. “At least another year or two. I’m not ready—”
Devastation flattened her like a steamroller, and whatever else Liam had to say was lost to the roaring in her ears. He’d been using her this whole time. He’d pretended he wanted to help her fix things at the studio, pretended his motivations were entirely altruistic, but the truth was, he was using her. Helping her had just been a guise for what? Staving off royal suitors? Having a last hurrah before he settled down with a prim and proper Valerian noble?
Puñeta.
No wonder Charlotte thought her such a fool.
And she’d actually begun to believe they were building something real, something lasting. Shame burned her cheeks. She’d been a pendejo to think Liam truly cared about her. In what world did a crown prince marry a starving artist from the East Village? It didn’t matter if it happened in the movies, this was real life and things like that didn’t happen.
Not to women like her.
Her ex-boyfriend was suing her, for fuck’s sake. If that didn’t sum up the shitshow that was her life, she didn’t know what did. The fact was, no matter how hard she tried, she’d never be the kind of woman Liam could bring home to his parents.
Charlotte had been right. Liam was expected to marry well, and like the perfect royal he was, he’d do his duty when the time came.
The realization gutted her.
Lena padded to the bathroom and stripped off Liam’s shirt, throwing it over the marble vanity and exchanging it for her dress. She slipped it on and zipped it up, checking her reflection in the mirror. Her face was splotchy and red and her eyes were glassy, but it couldn’t be helped. The only thing that mattered now was getting the hell out of the hotel without making a bigger fool of herself.
What had she been thinking letting herself fall for him? That he was going to marry a disaster-prone American and they’d have a great big royal wedding and darling little Valerian-Irish-Nuyorican babies?
Lena bit her lip, fighting the tears that threatened to fall.
Yeah, she kind of had.
Which just went to show how naïve she’d been. Everything in her life ended in disaster. And she’d been a fool to think her relationship with Liam could end any other way.
…
Liam shut the door behind Fin and turned to find Lena standing in the bedroom door with her bag slung over her shoulder. Her eyes were red and her mouth was set in a grim line. She was fully dressed and he knew without asking that she’d overheard their conversation.
Fuck.
This wasn’t how he’d imagined telling her. He owed her an explanation, but he was unprepared. And, if he was being honest, he’d been cocky enough to believe she’d never find out. He’d been so sure he could find a solution to his marriage problem.
One that didn’t involve hurting her.
“Lena—”
“I found the file in your desk.” Her voice was flat, lacking its usual energy. He’d done that. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t lied to her directly. A lie by omission was still a bloody lie and if he didn’t find a way to fix this mess, his hubris would cost him the only honest relationship he’d ever had.
The realization settled in his gut like a stone.
