14. Paolo

CHAPTER 14

PAOLO

T his is not in any way how I was expecting to show Chloe my bedroom, but I need to take her somewhere quickly right now. If she’s seen, that’s going to raise way too many questions that I do not want to answer before we get our story straight.

Plus, if we’re up here, out of the way, she can shout at me and call me stupid. This is somewhere I can grovel for her forgiveness without being observed.

I can’t pretend it wasn’t good to see her. When she stepped out of the car, it all came flooding back to me. Seeing her face again, even if she looked unhappy — it made my heart flip in my chest. Her brown hair was streaked with gold in the sun; her angry green eyes were just as deep and gorgeous as I remembered.

And now she sits on my bed and fixes me with the most incredulous look I’ve ever seen.

“Okay,” she says, her face unchangingly stern. “Explanation time. Now.”

I open my mouth and close it again. There isn’t a single word I can say that will make any of this even remotely okay to her.

She stares at me expectantly, and when I say nothing, she bursts. “What the hell is going on? Why am I here? Why in God’s name do all these people think that I’m married to a royal?”

“Because you kind of are,” I say sheepishly.

The look on her face doesn’t improve. I know she’s waiting for me to say more, but what more can I say?

I know I owe her the truth. The truth is just hard to swallow.

“Okay,” I say, sinking to sit down on the floor, letting her judgment rain down on me from above. “Let me start from the beginning. A little over a year ago, I made some stupid mistakes and got myself banished from the kingdom.”

“Banishment?” she interrupts. “I didn’t think that was something that still happened.”

“Me neither,” I sigh. “But believe me, it does. And it was great for a while. I had fun. I just kept doing whatever the hell I’d been doing before — being an idiot, going out and getting drunk, hooking up with all the women I wanted. Those kinds of things. And then my grandfather died.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she says quietly, a flicker of genuine emotion flashing across her face. “That’s not easy.”

“No,” I agree. “It’s not. Especially when nobody told me, and I wasn’t invited home for the funeral.”

Her face finally gives way completely from sternness to pity, but right now I’ll take pity over anger. As long as I’m not being yelled at, I have a chance to make things right.

“So, I needed a scheme. A plan. Something that was going to get me back in. I needed some way to get home so I could pay my respects to my grandfather and — hear me out — the best idea I had was to find someone with Bellamari citizenship to marry me so I could sneak back into the country without flagging on any of the immigration computers.”

“So you did hunt me down!” Chloe says, her eyebrows knotting together at the betrayal.

I nod slowly. “I did. And I’m sorry. But I didn’t lie about needing a green card.”

“You just lied about which country you needed the green card for. And also, you know, being royal. You made up this whole stupid plan, what, just to sleep with me? To trick me into coming home with you? This was all just some game to you, wasn’t it? Some dumb game where you thought you would play with people’s lives like they don’t matter at all.” Her voice gets louder and louder as she goes on.

She’s really angry now. She spits the words towards me and they hit me like a venomous lash. I sit, head bowed, and take it all. It’s the least I deserve.

“Yes. How I found you… the coincidence of meeting you was a lie. I did construct a scenario. But the way I felt about you that night… that wasn’t a lie. Surely you know that.”

She doesn’t say anything to that. Doesn’t shake her head. Doesn’t move an inch.

I have no idea what she’s thinking now. I couldn’t even begin to guess.

“Say something?” I plead, glancing up at her after enough time has passed for the silence to be awkward.

Chloe sighs hard, her eyes softening when she looks at me. “What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know. Anything.”

Anything’s better than whatever this is.

She looks into my eyes for another long second, then lets out a harsh, bitter laugh. “I can’t do this,” she says, getting to her feet. “I’m going home. I’ve always wanted to come here, and you’ve gone and made this whole trip a nightmare. Actually, no — worse than that. You’ve ruined this entire country for me forever. I always thought the people here were supposed to be good, kind, honest — so I hope you’re happy that all of this has ruined everything for me.”

She shakes her head, her eyes shining with tears, and starts towards the door. “Goodbye, Paul.”

I jump up and hold out my hands to stop her, half in surrender, half-begging. “Chloe, please wait. Please. I know I’ve hurt you. Maybe I should have told you what was going on all along. But be honest — would you have paid any more attention to me if I had said, Hey, I’m a prince. Let’s get married ?”

Her breath catches and she hesitates, freezing in place. This means there’s still a chance. This means I can still get through to her.

If she really could never forgive me, she’d have walked out of here already.

“Look, I know I can’t ever make it up to you. And I get that. But if you just come to dinner with my parents one time, I’ll give you double whatever I already promised you. I’ll give you a guided tour around Bellamare. I’ll give you anything that you ask for. Please just do one more thing for me. One more thing, and then I can be out of your life forever.”

Her mouth opens, her lips quivering, uncertainty plastered all over her face.

“I know I’m not asking something easy,” I say, taking a step towards her. “But I’m on my hands and knees begging.”

“Are you?” she says, raising an eyebrow.

That makes me blink. A joke?

I feel like I’ve got whiplash.

“Do you want me to?” I say softly. “Because I will. If you want me to get down on my knees and beg you to stay, I will.”

As if all this wasn’t humiliating enough already. I suppose that’s what she wants. My utter humiliation.

And if I want her to stay, I guess I have to submit to it.

With a sigh, I start bending my knees as if to get down on the floor, and Chloe chuckles, waving her hand at me. “No, dummy. I don’t literally want you to get on your knees. Why would I want that?”

“Oh,” I say.

She stares at me again, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And then it dawns on me. She’s not running. She’s not even frowning anymore. All she’s doing is standing here, in my bedroom, arms folded, the faintest look of amusement on her face. The kind of look you have when you’re desperately trying not to laugh.

“Wait,” I blurt. “Does this mean you’ll do it?”

She nods slowly, allowing the smile to spread over her face. “It’s so completely against my better judgment, but yes. I’ll stay. This means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”

It’s my turn to nod slowly. “More than you could ever imagine.”

“And that’s why I’m staying,” she says. “I haven’t forgiven you. I can’t promise I ever will. But I’ll do it. I’ll stay for dinner. And if you show me around the country, I just might consider that whole forgiveness thing after all.”

“It’s a deal,” I say, letting myself return her smile.

And just like that, for the first time in months, the endless churning inside my chest quietens a little. Almost like everything’s going to be okay.