Page 43 of Off-Limits To The Crown Prince

His friend looked drawn and tired. As if he carried a burden too heavy for one man. No enthusiasm left in him. Stefano hadn’t been the same since Hannah had left the palace. Alessio thought it was managing the press fallout, the work since. He began to realise how much he missed, and how this might be something more.

‘What do you say?’ Alessio asked.

‘I say we’ve both made terrible mistakes, and now it’s time to face them.’

Something about the weight of those words carried a warning that things might never be the same again. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘You’re not a stupid man, my friend. I don’t need to point out your grave error. As for mine...’ Stefano handed Alessio an envelope. ‘My resignation.’

A terrible cold settled over Alessio, even in the middle of Lasserno’s glorious summer. As if everything were changing and he would be the ultimate loser. Stefano stood back. Formal. Aloof. An employee and nothing more. Alessio wouldn’t accept it. Right now, things needed to stay the same.

‘No. Whatever the problem is, I’ll fix it. Do you need a holiday? A pay rise?’

Stefano laughed. There was no humour in the tone. It sounded like a mockery of all things happy. ‘Ever the Prince. There are some things you can’t repair with money or power.’

‘Why are you doing this?’

Stefano didn’t answer. He turned, walked towards Hannah’s painting. Alessio wanted to hide it. Keep it to himself. Such a deeply private piece left him vulnerable, as though everything about him was set to be exposed, his darkest hopes and dreams, which only Hannah knew.

‘She’s in love with you,’ Stefano said.

‘What?’ A bright burst of something perfect, like hope, tore through him. A cruel sensation when he had nothing to hope for after what he’d done.

‘As I said, you’re not a stupid man.Lookat the picture.’ Stefano pointed at it, his finger stabbing the air. ‘What you need in your life, Alessio, is someone to see you likethat.The man behind the mask of the prince. You also need someone in your life you can look at as you looked at Hannah in that very moment.’

Inside heknew. This was a picture painted by someone who saw the soul of another person. That didn’t come simply by fine observation. It was more. Hannah had quietly given him her heart somewhere in the two weeks they’d been together. He’d selfishly taken it, and cruelly rejected it when she’d asked for nothing in return but his respect.

The problem was, he’d given her his heart as well, which was why everything seemed broken. Because she’d taken it back to England when she’d gone, and now he was left only half a man.

‘Isthiswhy you’re resigning?’

Stefano slowly shook his head, as if the movement was too wearying to bear.

‘I’m resigning because, whilst youmightbe able to repair your great error, I can’t repair mine. You want to know who leaked to the press? I did.’

Alessio dropped into the chair behind his desk. He had no power to move, like a child’s toy whose batteries had gone dead.

‘You threw Hannah and me to those leeches?’ A wicked fire lit inside, the burn threatening to overwhelm him. He clenched his fists. If he hadn’t known Stefano his whole life he might have thrown punches in this moment. But there was so much he’d missed with Hannah, what hadn’t he seen with his oldest friend?

Stefano shoved his hands in the pockets of his trousers. Dropped his head. ‘Only about your visit to the hospital. What I failed to recognise is that small piece of information would start press interest about what else you might be doing in secret.That’swhat led to them discovering about you and Hannah. And I’ll never forgive myself for it.’

It was as if the floor fell out beneath him. Alessio gripped the arms of his chair to hold himself stable when nothing in his life was any more.

‘Dio!Stefano. Why?’

‘You hide all of yourself. What you present to the world is a version of who you think everyone should see. Yet that image didn’t comfort the people of Lasserno. It made them fear they were getting someone who didn’t care for them at all, and that opinion was bleeding into the press. I thought a small glimpse of the private man would help show people who you truly are. And that it would allow you to see past the constraints you impose upon yourself, to thepossibilities. Instead I caused greater harm.’

Alessio nodded. What more could he do? He’d lost everything. Hannah. His best friend. He couldn’t fathom Stefano’s betrayal. He couldn’t forgive himself for what he’d done to Hannah, driven by fear of finding something real.

‘You need a person you can trust in this position. I’ve arranged for someone temporary to take my place. There were a few good candidates in the palace.’

‘That’s...acceptable.’ Alessio didn’t know what more to say. His world crumbled around him with Stefano the last brick to fall.

His friend walked towards the door of the office for the last time. Just as Hannah had walked away only months before.

‘My family has served yours for centuries. But you must believe this has never been work for me. It’s been my pleasure as your friend.’

He then stopped...hesitated with his hand still resting on the doorknob.

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