Heart of a Liar

by Ella Miles

Her body trembles, and then she screams, “Fuck, prince!”

  13

  Ivy

  I can’t believe I just let Luca fuck me up against the window. I can’t believe I just let him fuck me in a room with a building full of people. I still can’t believe that he is a lawyer. And I definitely don’t believe that he is a prince.

  I don’t look at Luca as I get dressed. I just quickly throw my clothes on and then try to determine how I’m gonna get out of this office with the least amount of embarrassment.

  Luca comes over to softly kiss me. “I know you are ready to run, but I’m not ready to let you go.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. Not until I have some answers.” I stare at the door.

  “But I do need to use the restroom and get out of this office building as quickly as possible,” I say. I blush.

  “You’re embarrassed because my colleagues heard you, aren’t you?”

  “No.”

  “Liar,” Luca says.

  “Fine. I’ll own up to my lies, unlike some people. I don’t want to see anyone after they heard me having sex with you.”

  “But I want to introduce you to everyone. Maybe then you’ll believe that I’m a lawyer.”

  I walk over to the diplomas hanging on the wall to study them further. They look real. But then a piece of paper isn’t that hard to fake.

  “I’ll believe you when you get the lawsuit against me dropped.”

  Luca smiles. “Done.”

  I wrap my arms across my chest, trying to comfort myself. I look over at Luca, who is looking at me with an expression I’ve never seen before. He opens his mouth, like he wants to say something but is holding back.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  Luca frowns and narrows his eyes. “I have so many things to tell you, so many things to explain, and I have no idea where to start.”

  I swallow down the lump in my throat. I don’t want him to see how nervous I am. “Whatever it is, just tell me. It can’t be any worse than all the lies you’ve already told me.”

  Luca walks closer until we are face-to-face. His hand gently caresses my neck, and his thumb strokes my cheek. His eyes search mine, trying to find the answers to questions that he hasn’t even asked yet.

  “I wish I had never lied to you.”

  I feel every single one of his words. I understand. I feel the sadness and pain he feels when he says those words. But it doesn’t really lessen my pain.

  “I wish your words could help me forgive you.”

  He closes his eyes, like my words sting. “I should have never come here. I should’ve let you be happy. Now, I’ve ruined everything.”

  I narrow my eyes, trying to understand. “But I wasn’t happy.”

  In that moment, we don’t think about the lies. We don’t think about the fact that we don’t have a future together. That there’s no way to fix what’s broken. We passionately kiss each other. We grab on to one another like this is the last time we will ever kiss, ever touch. And it could be.

  As much as I love being in his arms, I can’t keep doing this. I’ll always wonder if he is lying or telling the truth. I’ll always wonder if he really loves me or is just playing games for some unknown purpose.

  We slowly pull away. I blink back tears in my eyes. This feels like good-bye.

  “I’m just going to go to the restroom, and then we can go.” I don’t wait for him to respond or to try to stop me.

  Instead, I run out of the office and into the hallway, no longer caring if anyone sees me. I remember that I saw a restroom down the hallway on my left. I quickly walk there, trying to keep myself together for just a few more minutes until I make it to the restroom. But I don’t make it that far. I take three steps and then crumple onto the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

  My life is such a mess. I’m in love with my ex-boyfriend, whom I can’t trust. I’m being sued for everything I own. I’m about to lose everything, except for my pets. If Skye finds out that I slept with Luca, I don’t know if I would even have her.

  Someone walks by while I’m crying on the floor, but I don’t care who it is or what they think of me. I cry a second longer, and then I grab on to the wall and stand up. Tears still stain my eyes as I walk, but I finally make it to the door.

  I enter and am thankful that no one else is inside the small restroom. I walk over to the sink, and I stare at myself in the mirror. I grab tissue and begin trying to make myself look like I wasn’t crying. I don’t want Luca to know I was crying. If he knew that I was crying, he would probably use it to his advantage and do something nice for me that would make me fall even more in love with him.

  I shake my head. How can I be in love with such a lying bastard? I should make an appointment with a psychologist because there has to be something wrong with me.

  I splash water on my face, hoping that will help a little. I hear the door to the restroom open and close, but I don’t bother looking up. I don’t want to make eye contact with whoever just came in. I don’t want to have that awkward conversation where someone asks me what’s wrong when all they really care about is gossip. The woman enters one of the stalls, and I intend to be gone by the time she gets out. But she moves fast and flushes before I have a chance to leave. There’s only one sink, so I know I need to let her use it.

  “Sorry. Excuse me,” I say as I dry my hands on a paper towel.

  When I turn around and look at the person who just came out of the stall, I freeze. A man is standing in front of me. I look around, expecting to find a urinal, thinking that I went into the wrong restroom in all my haze of tears, but I don’t see one.

  “Excuse me,” I say, trying to push past the man to exit the restroom.

  But he doesn’t move.

  “Are you Ivy?” the man asks.

  “Yes. And you are?” Maybe someone came to find me because this isn’t really Luca’s office. Maybe we’re breaking and entering.

  “Sorry, I can explain—”

  The man doesn’t let me explain. Instead, his fist starts flying toward my face.

  14

  Luca

  I run my hand through my hair.

  I just had one of the best experiences and one of the worst experiences of my life at the same time. That was one of our best times having sex. But it also felt like good-bye. And I’m nowhere near ready to say good-bye to Ivy. I haven’t had a chance to explain. She deserves the truth. Hopefully, she will give me a second chance. That’s all I want.

  But the way that Ivy just ran out of here, I know that I’m not going to get that second chance.

  I bend down and start picking up the picture frames and papers from the floor. I slowly gather them up and then take my time as I put them back on my desk. I use it as a distraction really. A way to give Ivy more time to herself. Because I know that’s what she wants right now. Time to think. And I want to give her a lot of time because it gives me time to think, too. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to tell her the rest.

  But, when I finish putting everything back together on my desk, I can’t wait any longer. I walk out of my office and start making my way down to the restroom to wait for her. One of my colleagues, Bruno, stops me before I get to the restroom.

  “Hey, bro. You’re not supposed to be working tonight, are you?”

  “No.”

  “Um, then why are you here?” Bruno asks, being nosy.

  “Just showing my girlfriend my office.”

  Bruno’s eyes widen, as he finally makes the connection. I’m sure he heard the sex noises earlier and is now realizing that it was me and Ivy.

  “Sounded like you two were having a good time. Good thing the boss doesn’t usually work on Friday nights; otherwise, you would’ve gotten a stern talking-to.”

  “Good thing then because I don’t know if I can handle a stern talking-to,” I say sarcastically.

  “You definitely can’t. The boss has a way of making you feel really horrible.”

  “I really should be going.” />
  “Oh, yeah. I should be going, too. I should be working or something,” Bruno says.

  We go our separate ways.

  I don’t want to talk to anyone else in my office. I don’t want to hear about meaningless things about our job. The people here think what we do is important. I’m sure it is to some people. But, to me, they are the little things.

  I stare at the restroom door, waiting for her to open it, but after five minutes, it doesn’t. I grow worried that Ivy is more upset than I thought. Or maybe she left and got a cab or something to take her home. Either way, I need to know now.

  I push the door open as I say, “Ivy?”

  I look around the corner at the sink, but no one is there.

  “Ivy?” I shout again.

  I bend down to see if I can find her in any of the stalls, but I don’t see anyone. I push each door open, but no one is inside. She’s not here.

  Shit.

  I run back out of the restroom and down the hall, toward the elevators. I see Marsha, our secretary, sitting behind her desk.

  I stop abruptly. “Marsha, have you seen Ivy?”

  She looks at me, confused.

  “Have you seen the woman I came up here with? She’s black. She has long, curly black hair. She’s thin and beautiful. She was wearing a dress, and if you look closely, she is covered in dog hair.”

  “Oh. She just left.”

  “Shit.” I run my hand through my hair as I start running down the hall after her.

  “But you should know that she was with another man!” Marsha yells after me.

  I freeze. Ivy wouldn’t have been with another man. She’s not that cruel or heartless to do something like that to me.

  I backtrack to Marsha. “What kind of man? What did he look like?”

  Marsha shrugs. “I don’t know. Medium height, medium build. He was balding a little, and he looked upset about something. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Probably just a friend. There’s nothing going on between them. You look about a million times better than he did.”

  This leads me to be even more confused. I pull out my cell phone and dial Ivy’s number, begging her to pick up the phone. She doesn’t.

  I run to my car and drive as fast as I can toward her home.

  I knock loudly on her door. No answer. I have to break the window to get inside her home, but I don’t care. I’ll fix it later. When I enter, I expect to find her angry and upset because I just broke the window. I expect to find her curled up on the couch with her dogs and cats. But I don’t see any signs of her anywhere in the house.

  I take the next hour to try to calm myself while I wait for her to come home with some other guy. She doesn’t come home though. Another hour passes, and she still hasn’t come home.

  I try calling her again and again and again.

  No answer.

  I don’t know why it takes me so long to realize I fucked up. It just hits me. And I know what happened.

  I pick up my phone and dial Skye’s number. “Skye, can you take care of my dog and Ivy’s pets for me? Can you do that?”

  “What the hell happened?”

  “I fucked up.”

  15

  Ivy

  I slowly open my eyes. Nothing feels right. My body is sore and stiff. When I move to look at where I am, my neck throbs. My hand moves automatically to grab my neck to keep it from aching. But, when I move my right hand, my left hand comes with it.

  I see the rope tied loosely around my wrists. My heart races at the sight. My throat tightens up, making my breathing difficult. I use my arms to push myself into a seated position and try to figure out where I am. I look down at my feet that are also tied together with rope.

  The room moves hard to the left, and I fall back on my side again, unable to keep myself upright due to the ropes.

  I’m in a van, I realize immediately. A dark, dirty van. Tied up in the backseat by myself.

  I’ve been kidnapped.

  Kidnapped!

  I feel the panic rising in my chest. I don’t understand why I would be kidnapped.

  Are they trying to get money from me? Are they going to rape me? This doesn’t make sense.

  I sit up again, and this time, I hold on to the handle on the door to keep myself upright. I try to remember what happened. I remember being with Luca. I remember having the best sex of my life and then nothing. I don’t remember who kidnapped me or how I was kidnapped.

  Maybe they drugged me.

  My body hurts, but other than a slight pounding on one side of my head, I don’t feel like I was seriously injured. I don’t feel like any part of my body has been hurt. Still, not being injured doesn’t do much to calm me.

  I need a plan to get out of here. Now. Who knows where they are taking me or what they plan on doing to me once I get there? And I’m not going to stick around long enough to ask them what they plan on doing with me.

  I start pulling on the ropes attached to my hands, trying to wiggle them free. It takes a minute and then another, but my hands finally wiggle free.

  “Do you really think the royal family will pay big bucks to get her back?” a man’s voice says from the front of the vehicle.

  I freeze.

  “Yes. We’ve been through this. They won’t want another scandal. If she is the future princess, then they will want her back. They will want her back to keep her from talking at the very least.”

  Talking? Talking about what?

  “I still think we should have kidnapped the prince. They would have paid more for him than the girl. We don’t even know if they are serious about her being the future princess. What if she is just a fling? What if the prince doesn’t really want to marry the girl?”

  “They will still pay. Relax. We have photos of the two of them together. We will spread those pictures to the media. The royal family will have to admit that the two of them are dating. They will have to pay. They will have to do anything and everything to get her back.”

  “But I thought we wanted to get the royal family back? Make a big scandal?”

  The other man who seems to be in charge says, “God, you’re an idiot. We’ve been through this before. That is why, when we give the girl back, she’ll have a bomb attached to her. We are going to blow them all up. That will make a big splash.”

  The other man laughs. “I can’t wait.”

  I unfreeze. My hands start shaking. These guys are crazy. But they have convinced me of one thing. Luca is a prince. A fucking prince.

  But I don’t have time to worry about that. I have to get free. I have to warn him. Even if these two don’t seem like the brightest guys on the planet. Even if they didn’t even know how to tie my hands up tight enough so that I couldn’t get out of the ropes. They might not have much experience with kidnapping, but I’m going to take them at their word and assume that, given the chance, they are going to kill me. And Luca, too.

  My hands cling to the rope at my feet, desperate to get it off so that I can make a plan to get the heck out of here. The rope is tied in a bizarre knot, and my fingers are still shaking and sweaty. I struggle to get the rope untied. With each second that passes, I feel my time is running out.

  My mind drifts to Luca. He was telling me the truth. For once in his goddamn life, he was telling me the truth. I want to tell him that I know he was telling the truth. I would give anything to be in his arms again. I would give anything to kiss him one last time. I would give anything to tell him how I really feel even though I shouldn’t. That I love him more than anything even though he hurt me. I need to tell him that I love him. Even if I don’t know what that love means.

  The van turns hard to the right, and I tumble over to the floor again. I hit my head as I fall. The pounding in my head returns and forces me to focus on the task at hand. I have to get free. I can’t think about Luca.

  I work furiously, trying to get the ropes off my feet as fast as possible. Each second that passes causes my heart to speed up to a dangerous level. My hands are s
haking so badly that I’m afraid I’m never going to be able to control them again.

  I pull hard on one of the ropes, and my eyes widen as I watch the rope start to unravel. I pull harder and harder, forcing the rope to slither off my ankles. I pull so hard that it is burning my legs as it rubs against my ankles. But, within seconds, my legs are free of the rope.

  I’m free, I think.

  But that’s not quite true. I’m free of the rope, but I’m still stuck in this smelly, disgusting van with two lunatics who want to kill me and the entire royal family.

  I pull myself up into a standing position as quietly as I can, trying my best not to alert the guys in the front of the van that I’m free.

  I walk over to the side of the van that has a sliding door on it. I unlock the door and then hold on to the handle, waiting for the two guys in front to slow down to give me a chance to jump out. But seconds pass and then minutes, and the van never slows down. The driver speeds around corners, never really stopping. The windows in the back are blacked out, so I have no idea where I am. I have no idea if I’m in a busy city or out in the middle of nowhere.

  I feel my time running out, so I take a chance. I throw the door open. I see concrete whizzing by my feet, but I don’t take a second to think about how badly it’s going to hurt. I just jump.

  I don’t land on my feet. Instead, my body collapses on the hard concrete. But I don’t wait to see if I broke any bones or if I bruised any part of me. Instead, I push myself up and start running. I don’t look back to see if they’re following me. I just run until I find a small store and duck inside.

  I breathe heavily as I enter what I realize is a small coffee shop. I walk to the back and take a seat in a corner table, trying not to draw any attention to myself. The waiter brings me a menu, and it’s immediately clear that I’m not in the US anymore. The menu is in a language I don’t recognize, and as I glance around the coffee shop, I realize the building is quite old, possibly built hundreds of years ago.