Page 49 of Maid for the Alien Prince

I could, but he was still the only friend I’d ever truly had.

Camila sighed. “All right. Then how about this: Make him leave, let him learn from his mistakes and return later. If he comes back a better Ulsen, then—maybe—you can hire him back. But not in a position of power. He has already proven he can’t be trusted.”

I couldn’t help but grin at her. “How did you get so smart?”

“A lifetime of watching my father at work.”

“He sounds like a good man,” I said.

“The best. Maybe, if we play our cards right, he could come back and run the palace again for you. But for now, it’ll have to just be us.”

“Us?”

I wrapped her in my arms and we kissed, our hands exploring each other’s bodies—although I doubted there was a single inch of her that I had not already fully appreciated.

She kissed me on the lips and pulled back. “As for firing Ges, consider this. Earlier, you saw Emma’s beaten and swollen face. Her whole body looks the same. Now, I want you to imagine me looking like that.”

I blinked, and in an instant, I saw Camila’s body covered with those ugly bruises and sores… all caused by Ges.

And I realized her point.

If I had not rushed to save her yesterday, then it would have been her who would have been beaten to within an inch of her life, and not Emma.

Emma had simply been Ges’ second choice of victim. He would never have beaten her if he’d gotten his way with Camila.

Dark anger seethed within my heart, and I knew then I was capable of almost anything.

“Let me check the books,” I said through gritted teeth. “In the meantime, have him brought to my office.”

“He won’t be awake yet.”

I glared at her. “Then wake him. His Prince demands his presence.”

Camila beamed at me and managed a curtsy. “As you wish, Your Highness.”

Very proper, I thought… until she paused at the door, blew me a kiss, and left.

* * *

By the time the heavy knock came at the door, I had finished going through the accounts and discovered exactly what Camila said I would.

Countless withdrawals, made without any note of explanation. In total, it totaled a small fortune. If this was true and what had happened to Emma had been willful aggression, what else was Ges capable of?

The idea of me ultimately being the one responsible for casting innocent farming families out into the street was disgusting to me. It reminded me of the all-too-familiar sensation of me and my father being cast into the streets through no fault of our own.

There had been no one to help us then, but now, perhaps I could repay fate a little.

“Come,” I said.

I shut the accounts and tuck them into one of the lower desk drawers.

Ges poked his head around the doorframe, his thinning hair sticking up at odd angles, his eyes still swollen and groggy with sleep.

“Someone said you wanted to see me now?” he said, with a little bite to each of his words at being disturbed so early.

“Yes. Come in.”

Ges shut the door behind himself. He swaggered into the room, looking every bit like he owned the place.

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