Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 117920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
I can’t even say anything to Stella. All my protests fall on deaf ears. I just turn and head into the kitchen.
“I’m just looking out for you, Brother,” I hear her call softly after me. “You deserve to be happy.”
But she should know how much that’s not true.
* * *
I can’t stop thinking about what Stella said. Specifically, the “she might just feel the same way.”
But I certainly can’t take her advice and just tell Aurora.
First of all, I’m not even sure what I’d say because I don’t know what I feel, just that I feel it. Second of all, I’m her boss. Aurora trusts me. When I first hired her, I’d spoken to her contact at the placement agency in Paris and asked her why Aurora had left her previous jobs. Apparently at her last one, the father was a complete bastard. Sleazy, inappropriate, manipulative. The last thing I would ever want is for Aurora to think that about me, and if I do as Stella suggests, that’s exactly what she’s going to think.
No, I can’t break Aurora’s trust. I can’t act on whatever impulses I have, no matter how feverish they are. I wouldn’t ever put her in a position where she might give in to me out of duty.
But the thought alone makes me hard. The idea of her giving in to me.
That I could finally do all the dirty, wild things I’ve been dreaming of doing to her.
That I could finally unleash everything I’ve tried so hard to bury.
Then there’s the fact that she’d actually never do anything out of duty. There would be no “giving in” to me. If she didn’t want me, she’d be the first to vocalize it with no fear. That woman has a backbone made of steel.
“Sir,” Nicklas calls to me from the doorway to my office.
I look up from my paperwork, the endless paperwork of being a king. I really had no idea when I was younger that this would make up the bulk of my days. The reality of a monarchy can be tedious at times.
“I placed a call at the hospital for you,” he says. “They said she’s having a good day if you wanted to visit.”
The other day when I was talking to Stella I was reminded that I hadn’t seen my mother in a while. I had wanted to go while Stella was still here on holiday, so that we could do it together, but she and Anya have already returned back to England.
“Thank you, Nicklas,” I tell him. At least he makes the hard calls for me, but it’s not like he could go in my place. Not that I’d want someone like him to deal with my mother.
He nods, emotionless as ever, and I call to him before he leaves. “Do you know where Aurora is?”
“I believe she’s with the girls in the backyard. Playing in the snow and that sort of thing.” He says thing like it’s something distasteful.
“And is Maja here?”
“She’s with them as well.” Poor Maja. One of the reasons why we even got a nanny was so she didn’t have to be with them all the time, but she and Aurora get along so well, it’s like she’s an honorary nanny, just as the girls call Aurora an honorary goddess.
To me, of course, she’s a full-fledged goddess.
I get out of my chair and walk around the desk. “Thank you. Make sure there’s a car that can take us in a half hour. Find Johan.”
“A car for you and Maja,” he says, following me as I stride out into the hall.
“For me and Aurora.”
“Her? Why?”
The tone of his voice makes me stop in my tracks. It’s almost accusatory.
“Maja was just with her sister the other day,” I explain carefully as I look over at him. And it’s true. While I don’t see my mother that often, Maja visits her once a week.
He gives me an odd look. “It’s rather strange to bring your nanny, don’t you think? You’re bringing the girls, too?”
“It’s not really any of your business what I do, is it?” I tell him, unable to hide the sneer in my voice.
“It kind of is, sir,” he says. “It’s my job. It’s why you employ me. Isn’t it?”
We both well know why he’s employed here. It’s because I have no choice.
“Aurora has a way with people,” I tell him, and that’s all I’ll say. “Maja can look after the girls here.” I start off down the hall again.
“I saw what you gave her for Christmas,” he says.
Once again, I stop. Slowly turn around to face him. “Excuse me?”
“The vase that’s worth over a quarter of a million euros,” he says. “I was wondering why you didn’t have me procure it for you.”
Because I didn’t want him to even touch anything that Aurora might have in her possession.