She waves at me as I drive away, and I feel like we’ve turned a corner. Even if her sister is surprised, it doesn’t matter. Ivy and I can brave the media and go public with our relationship. I can tell my family, her family, the entire world that she’s the woman for me. I can hold her hand in public and call her mine.
Even if she’s worried about Margot, I know that this is a good thing.
Just me, and Ivy, and our love.
Or at least…that’s what I hope is going to happen.
The flight from Farcliff to Argyle is just over three hours. My home Kingdom is an island nation, just south of the Bahamas. As soon as we land, I glance at the palm trees and let a smile drift over my lips.
I can’t wait to show Ivy my home.
Leaning my head against the private jet’s window, I look at the tarmac and let out a sigh. The flight crew flips the staircase down and nod at me as I disembark. A royal car is waiting to take me to the palace.
Inhaling the tropical evening air, my heart beats easier. Soon, I hope to show Ivy what Argyle is like. I hope to take her here and introduce her to my family, and show her all the sights that I grew up with.
It’s been five long years since I was here, and I feel like a brand-new person.
When we get to the palace, Theo, Cara, Beckett, and Dante are waiting for me in the formal reception room.
Dante wraps me in a tight hug, spinning me around in a circle. Beckett still looks oddly angry, and I avoid looking at Theo and Cara just yet.
“Easy,” I laugh as Dante sets me down. “You’ll break my back all over again.”
“From what I hear, you’re indestructible,” he grins. Dante is just as tall as I am, and has obviously spent the past five years in the gym. His biceps are as big as my thighs. He’s a couple of years younger than me, and always followed Beckett and me around when we were kids. Now, he looks like he’s grown into a man.
My brother claps me on the shoulder, and I do my best not to stumble forward.
Theo and Cara step forward. I haven’t seen the two of them in three months, and I wait for the assault of bitterness and emotion that always washes over me when I see them…
…but nothing happens.
The lightness in my heart stays, and my smile doesn’t slip.
Striding over to my brother Theo, I extend my hand. Theo looks surprised, but he grabs my hand and pulls me in for a hug.
“Thank you, Luca,” he says, his voice muffled against my shoulder.
“For what?”
“For understanding.” He glances at Cara, who smiles softly at him.
Now that I’m not clouded by anger, bitterness, and prescription opioids, I see the look they’re giving each other. Cara and Theo are in love.
How did I miss this?
They’re head-over-heels with each other.
Somehow, I twisted their relationship into something that was done to purposefully hurt me. I made their love about me. My pain. My accident. My heartbreak.
Never once did I consider that it had nothing to do with me. Cara wasn’t climbing up the ladder. She didn’t do this because I was broken.
She married my brother because she loves him, and he loves her back.
Cara lets out a surprised yelp when I wrap my arms around her. I lift her up off the ground with a laugh, setting her back down and putting my hands on her shoulders.
“I’m sorry I was an ass.”
“I’m sorry I hurt you,” she replies.
I smile and shake my head. “I hurt myself a lot more than you hurt me.”
Staring at my family, assembled in the palace where I grew up, I let an easy smile drift over my lips. My heart beats slowly, and I think of the woman I’ve fallen in love with.
They’re going to adore her.
Waving to one of the staff members, I motion for a special box of baked goods that I’ve brought with me. The Spoonful of Sugar logo is emblazoned on the top of the box, and I flip it open, presenting it to my family.
“A special treat,” I announce. These are so much more than baked goods. They’re so much more than sweet treats. They’re Ivy in a box. They’re the woman I love, neatly arranged in delicious rows of sugar and pastry.
Beckett’s eyebrow arches, and he exchanges a glance with Dante.
Dante clears his throat. “We, uh, heard about this.” He nods to the box of treats.
“Heard about what?”
Beckett scoffs, shaking his head. “About your hooking up with both sisters, Luca. One wasn’t enough?”
I frown, and Dante pulls his phone out of his pocket. He taps the screen a few times, showing me the headline of a gossip magazine.
My stomach drops.
Ivy was right. The pictures were posted right away, and they’re all over the internet.
I should have stayed with her.
33
Ivy
When I walk through the front door of my sister’s mansion, I feel incredibly tired. My feet hurt, and I swear they’re starting to swell. All my shoes are tight.
I trudge over to the kitchen and scrounge for some leftovers, eating them cold as I stand over the sink. I listen for noise, but don’t hear anything. Margot must be asleep.
Laying on the couch in the living room, I stare at my phone and try to stop myself from texting Luca non-stop. It feels selfish to want him beside me all the time, but I’ve gotten used to his presence. I flick the television on, and my eyes glaze over as I watch something I don’t care about.
I doze off.
When I wake up, I jump off the couch at the sight of a man in the shadows. Hunter steps forward, his face black with anger.
I’d gotten used to his absence while my sister was at the facility. Seeing his sniveling, sneering face turns my stomach. His eyes are full of fire, and his lips curve downward when he sees me wake.
Grabbing my arm, he pulls me up to stand. “I need to talk to you,” Hunter hisses.
I yank my arm away from his grip. “First of all, don’t touch me. Second of all, I’m tired, and I just want to go to bed. Whatever you want to talk about can wait.”
Margot appears in the doorway. Her face is lined, and she won’t meet my eye. She moves to stand next to Hunter.
My heart starts to thump. Something’s wrong. Do they know about Prince Luca?
“What game are you playing right now, Ivy?”
I arch an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“You’re supposed to be supporting your sister, not sabotaging her.”
“Sabotaging her? Everything I do is to support her. I was the one to pick her up from the facility, not you, remember? I brought her to the hospital. I put my entire fucking life on hold for her!”
Margot flinches, and shame burns my cheeks.
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Hunter’s eyes flash, and my anger flares. He nods to the door. “What about that silly bakery, huh? You think that helps Margot? Your face plastered all over the internet trying to leech off her fame.”
“Leech?”
I don’t like Hunter on a good day. And today? Today I can’t fucking stand him. I make a mental note to get the locks changed and never, ever give him a key.
Shaking my head, I cross my arms. “Listen, Hunter, I know you think you’re the most important person in the Kingdom, but newsflash: you’re not. You have no right to shit on me the way you’ve done for the past few years. You’re my sister’s agent. You work for her. Nothing more.”
Hunter arches an eyebrow, and his eyes turn flinty. He pulls out his phone, tapping on it a couple of times before turning the screen toward me.
If my cheeks were hot before, now they’re on fire. Hunter shows me a picture, and I know exactly when it was taken—just a few hours ago. I have my hand over the Prince’s crotch, and our kiss is open-mouthed and downright dirty.
It looks intimate. It was intimate. Five minutes earlier, the Prince was buried inside me telling me he loved me.
My heart thumps, and I look away fr
om the screen. Hunter scrolls down, and I see a picture of the Prince kissing me on the deck of the yacht. The headline screams:
Mystery Woman: Identified!
Hunter arches an eyebrow. “You’re not even going to try to explain this?”
“What is there to explain?” I growl, taking a step toward Hunter. Margot still hasn’t looked at me. Her face is shuttered, and I hate that she hasn’t said a word.
“Well, for one, what fucking game you’re trying to play here.” Hunter points between the photo and me, arching an eyebrow as if it’s completely impossible that the Prince would be interested in me.
Pain pierces my heart, because that’s exactly what I believed for a long time.
Hunter knows my insecurities, and he digs them out from the depths where they hide.
Squaring my shoulders, I shake my head. I’m not going to let him tear me down like this. The Prince loves me. He told me so. Luca has been the single most supportive, loving person I’ve ever met. He’s made me realize how much I’ve been ignoring my own dreams.
He’s made me feel worthy.
Before tears fill my eyes, I jerk my chin toward the door. “Leave.”
“No, I’m not leaving before you explain yourself. Our teams worked very hard on crafting the perfect relationship between the Prince and Margot. She goes to fucking therapy and you swoop in and snatch him away?”
“I didn’t snatch anything,” I snap. “They were never together.”
Margot makes a noise, finally lifting her eyes up to mine. “And whose fault is that?”
I swallow thickly. “We love each other.” My voice is small, and suddenly love doesn’t seem like enough.
Hunter just laughs, the noise peppering my chest like a million tiny knives.
“Fuck you, Hunter,” I snap.
“No, fuck you, Ivy,” Margot says. “I think it’s time for you to leave. You want to be independent? You want to run your own business? So, do it. But you’re not riding on my coattails anymore.”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Tears sting my eyes.
She tilts her head. “I just saw a poll online, and apparently sixty-eight percent of people think you’re prettier than me.”
I shake my head as my chest hollows out. “Margot, that’s just the internet. It’s stupid.”
Margot scoffs. “I can’t believe I never saw it before, but they’re right. You are pretty, with those big, unique eyes of yours and all your multitude of talents. What am I? A washed-up starlet with an anxiety disorder, and—” She stops herself, inhaling sharply.
Hunter’s lips twist into a cruel smile. “The articles say his nickname for you is ‘Poison.’” He scoffs. “That’s accurate. You’re nothing but a poison to this family.”
How did the media know that?
My thoughts swirl around me, and I blink back a fresh wave of tears. Margot’s face is impassive, and Hunter motions toward the door.
“Let me grab a few things,” I say, squeezing the words out through my tightening throat. I trudge up the stairs and put my things into a bag, not even sure where I’ll sleep tonight. The bakery? Georgina and Giselle’s house?
When I go back downstairs, Hunter has his arms around Margot’s shoulders. They watch me leave, and the weight of their stares almost crushes me. When I get to my Vespa, I lean against it and let myself cry.
With trembling hands, I dial Luca’s number. He answers on the second ring.
“Hey, babe.” His voice is like a soothing balm on my aching heart.
“They know.”
“I shouldn’t have left.”
“They kicked me out,” I sob. “I’m going to the twins’ house. I knew Margot wouldn’t be happy.”
Luca lets out a string of expletives, saying he’ll be on the first flight back. As I cry, I manage to talk him out of it. I know he has to be with his family. We both have our own things to deal with, and I don’t want to be the one to pull him away from it.
Luca’s quiet for a second, and finally sighs. “Why would they think I would continue pretending to be with Margot after she gets out of the facility, when everyone knows that she overdosed? That wasn’t in the contract. I’m with you.”
I frown, taking a breath as I process his words. My head is a mess. I’m vaguely insulted by what he just said, but I can’t figure out why. He wouldn’t want to be seen with Margot when she gets out of the retreat?
I shake my head.
It doesn’t matter—he’s not with her. He’s with me.
He just said so.
Still, that familiar protective instinct arches up inside me. “What’s that supposed to mean? Why does it matter that Margot left to go heal herself? You should be supportive of her. You should be happy for her. For me.”
Luca lets out a sigh. I imagine him raking his fingers through his hair. “I am.”
“Didn’t sound like it.” I stare into nothing, trying to understand why I’m mad. Margot just kicked me out, and now I’m defending her? What’s wrong with me?
Maybe it’s just the tiredness that seems to be sinking deeper and deeper into my bones with every passing day. Maybe it’s the emotion of seeing those pictures online.
Maybe it’s the fact that after everything is said and done, I still care about my sister more than I care about anything else. Even when she hurts me, kicks me out, and treats me like I mean nothing to her.
Luca groans on the other side of the line. “I’m with you, Ivy. I didn’t mean to insult your sister. If I could, I’d jump on a jet and be there first thing in the morning. I love you, Ivy. It’s just…”
“Just what?”
“It’s just that, you know… Being seen with her would have a negative impact on the royal family of Argyle. You understand that, right? It would never be allowed. But it’s a moot point, because I’m not with her. I’m with you.”
I don’t know how to respond.
“So it’s okay to be with the sister of someone who overdosed? Wouldn’t that impact your reputation, too? Am I soiled goods now, as well?”
Luca takes a deep breath. “I’ll deal with my family. They’ve seen the articles, and they haven’t kicked me out.” I can hear the grin in his voice, but I don’t laugh.
“Too soon, Luca.”
“Sorry, babe. I just want to be with you, Ivy. You know that.”
I nod my head, sniffling, but a torrent of emotions is coursing through me. I’m being torn apart by everyone in my life.
Luca wants me to forget about my sister and pursue my own selfish dreams. Hunter wants me to be a doormat for him to walk over on his eternal climb up my sister’s ass.
But it’s Margot I’m most worried about. My sister, who’s relied on me since we were little, who has provided me a life I never could have created on my own, who’s everything to me, stared at me like she didn’t even know me.
I feel stupid for thinking she’d be happy for me. I’m an idiot for thinking she’d understand my relationship with Luca.
How am I supposed to choose between them?
“I got to go, Luca,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Call me when you get to the twins’ house, okay?”
“I’ll text you.”
“Ivy…”
“Bye, Luca.” I hang up the phone before he can say anything else.
Pain shatters through my chest. How is it that a few hours ago, his voice made me melt, and now it makes me recoil?
I can’t get rid of the nagging feeling that my fairytale is coming to an end. It was too good to last. There was too much happiness in a short amount of time, and I can feel it slipping away like sand through my fingers.
Texting Georgina that I’m coming over, I don’t even wait for a response. I know it’ll be okay for me to sleep there. That’s one good thing about having two best friends.
I swing my leg over the scooter, turning the key in the ignition. The scooter roars to life. There’s a finality to the sound that I don’t expect. I’m about to drive away
from my sister. My family. My entire life.
For what? For a man who would toss my sister aside so easily?
I lean into the scooter, speeding down the streets. Even the whip of the air around my face does nothing to calm my nerves.
Something has changed, but I’m not sure what.
34
Luca
Leaving Ivy behind feels wrong. Every hour I spend in Argyle feels wrong. The elation that I felt when the plane landed has evaporated, leaving a hole in my chest in its place.
Ivy needs me. I should be with her.
Taking a deep breath, I shake my head. She needs time with her sister. There have been huge changes in her life in the past couple of months, and I need to respect the time it takes for her to process things.
If she sounded distant, it’s because she needs to come to terms with things. Margot will come around. She has to.
I overanalyze the entire phone call as I make my way to my childhood bedroom. When I walk inside, a wave of nostalgia hits me.
I wish I could show this to Ivy. This room is where I grew up. This castle is my home.
As much as I resented my family sending me away, and as much as I hated the fact that they never visited, I know now that I pushed them away. A lot of the pain that I felt was my own mind. I tortured myself, and now it feels good to be home. The only thing that doesn’t feel good is the fact that Ivy isn’t beside me.
Cringing at my own comments over the phone, I promise myself I’ll make it up to Ivy. I know she cares about her sister very, very deeply—more deeply than I can understand.
Ivy sends me a message to let me know she’s safe at the twins’ house, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
Before I fall asleep, I vow to return to Farcliff as soon as I can.
The next day, there’s a big ceremony to welcome me back to Argyle. I’m surprised to see the crowds that gather in the streets as we drive through. People have t-shirts with my face on them, they wave signs, and scream my name.
Dante grins at me from the seat behind me, shielded from the crowds by dark-tinted windows. He hasn’t had his face shown to the public in years. “You’re a hero, Luca. We broadcasted a video of your first steps, and the whole Kingdom celebrated for three days.
Royally Unexpected 2: An Accidental Pregnancy Collection (Surprise Baby Stories) Page 19