Chapter One #3
Something flickered in her eyes, followed by a wave of pink in her cheeks before she turned her head sharply, directing her focus to the front doors of the lift.
But while he couldn’t immediately decipher that expression, that whisper returned, a little more persistent.
A little more abhorrent. Because it was unthinkable. In this lifetime or the next.
Because he would be heaping dishonour on top of a multitude of failures and sins.
The doors opened to the trio of staff who covered Lotte’s penthouse apartment.
Leif, the butler Valenti had hand-selected five years ago for his past military expertise, bowed when he saw him, followed swiftly by Ada, the housekeeper, and the young maid. ‘Your Highness, I’m so sorry, we weren’t aware you were coming. We would’ve been better prepared.’
Valenti caught Lotte’s pursed lips before she walked past him into the living room.
‘It was unscheduled,’ he replied, then froze when he saw their unease. ‘Something has happened. What is it?’
Leif exchanged a wary look with the housekeeper. ‘It might be nothing—’
‘Tell me,’ Valenti insisted. ‘Now.’
Leif exhaled. ‘I think it’s better if I show you, Your Highness.’ His gaze darted to Lotte. ‘And it would be better if you stayed here, miss—’
‘Absolutely not. And I really wish everyone would stop treating me like I’m some fragile flower.’ Whirling around, she headed where Valenti remembered was her bedroom.
His hand circled her arm for the second time, pulling her into his chest before she’d taken the second step.
‘And I really wish you would stop manhandling me, Your Highness.’
His title from her lips was all fire and zero respect, which alarmingly ignited sensations he’d rather not experience.
With her. ‘Stop diving headlong into danger and I might consider it,’ he replied.
Then watched affront leach the colour from her cheeks for two seconds before it came flooding back. A delicate pink.
An alluring—
‘How dare you! I have a right to go anywhere I please. This is my home.’
‘Paid for by me,’ he muttered in her ear. ‘Or have you forgotten that too?’
A dash of hurt accompanied the fury this time, then naked pain as memories shadowed her eyes, darkening them from ice to cerulean blue.
Valenti bit back a curse as she yanked herself free. Things had gone from bad to worse, starting with the urgent text he’d received while in Cartana with Teo and Azar.
It had elevated the threat level of one of Lotte’s followers on social media. Valenti knew a handful of pesky individuals always needed deeper scrutiny with any client seeking security, especially if that client had a substantial online presence.
Just as he’d known his ward’s active social media presence would draw the inevitable trolls. His cyber experts had quickly identified the problematic ones, his team successfully neutralising any hint of a threat.
Except one had slipped through the net.
Because everything was safe and sound…until it wasn’t.
He pushed back another wave of harrowing memories and captured her gaze, ensuring she didn’t miss the severity of his command.
‘You can come with me. But you do not move from my side. Agreed?’
Perhaps the gravity of the situation finally filtered in. Perhaps the memories had done their job of reminding her of their loss.
Either way, she jerked out a nod.
But Valenti didn’t feel in any way appeased as he strode down the short hallway, her wrist held firmly in his hand. Her pulse fluttering beneath his thumb.
He yanked his mind back from dwelling on how soft her skin felt. How delicate and smooth. Because Dios mio, he had no business even thinking it.
Then he stopped thinking altogether when he saw the deeply disturbing scene splayed out before him.
Lotte sucked in a sharp breath, her face leaching of all colour as her hands flew to her mouth. ‘Oh my God!’
Valenti pulled her closer, glad he hadn’t let her come in here alone.
Spread out on her bed were over a dozen pieces of lingerie, each one pinned with a shiny red plastic heart. The kind usually tossed into a gift box.
The rage that hadn’t dropped below a simmer since he received the text resurged, threatened to boil over.
He rounded on the men and women filling up the room behind him. ‘How the hell did this happen? How did an intruder gain access to her room without anyone noticing?’
Staff and security team alike flinched at the lava-hot demand. Valenti throttled back the deep urge to fire everyone on the spot. But his attention was diverted when she took a step towards the bed.
‘Dios, what did we agree, Lotte?’
‘I just want to see—’
‘Absolutamente no! You don’t touch anything until the authorities have been through here.
’ His gaze clashed with the head of her security detail.
The man pulled the phone from his pocket.
Valenti switched his gaze to the housekeeper.
‘Ada, one of my men will drive you to the nearest House of Domene boutique. It will be open for you. Get Lotte everything she needs for an extended stay away from this apartment.’
Ada bobbed a curtsy. ‘Yes, Your Highness.’ She hurried out, the young maid on her tail, as Lotte frowned.
‘Wait, what are you doing? Valenti—’
He pressed his thumb firmer against her wrist, heard her sharp intake of breath and saw her swallow. His silent admonition only lasted ten seconds before she was glaring at him.
‘We need to talk about this. You know that, don’t you?’
He texted his twin with his request before sliding his phone back into his pocket, and met sparking blue eyes.
Over her head, he saw Leif position himself in the doorway to her bathroom, a determined look on his face that made Valenti’s gut clench tighter.
Valenti sensed that whatever was in there, far more than what was on his ward’s bed, was why the housekeeper hadn’t wanted Lotte to come in here.
Returning his gaze to her, he leaned close once more, ignoring how the sweet fragrance of her scent sparked pockets of sensation within him. Sensations he wasn’t going to examine.
‘If you insist. But it won’t be right now, pequena.
What you want or believe or disagree with doesn’t matter anymore.
You have a stalker, Lotte. One whose existence you’ve treated with astonishing disregard.
And while you might rail and hiss that it offends your feminine sensibilities, know that in this moment, only what I say goes.
Know that until I’m one hundred percent certain that you are safe, I won’t relent or retreat.
Know that until such time when we’re free of each other, you belong to me. ’