Chapter Twenty-Three
Ella
I pay the taxi my last seventeen dollars, and the man drives off without another word. My father’s mansion is in front of me, massive and stone with ivy crawling up the walls .
For a fleeting moment, I miss him again.
I think of how, after my mom died and before he married Livia, it was just the two of us.
Sometimes we’d eat spaghetti with ketchup for dinner, watching TV.
I know he wasn’t the perfect parent, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that he was just trying to do his best in the wake of my mom’s death .
But I sigh, shake my head, and make my way toward the house. I’m barefoot, but the grass is soft between my toes. I don’t know how I’m going to get Thomas’s friend’s shoes back to him, but I’ll have to find a way .
The gate clicks softly toward me, and I let myself in through the door to the servants’ quarters, holding my breath.
I know that if the three of them are awake — and, God forbid, if they’ve noticed I’m missing — there could be hell to pay, but I’m honestly not worried.
I’ve still got plenty of time to change, shower quickly, then make them coffee and breakfast before they have any idea that anything happened .
As I walk down the hall, holding my torn dress together with one hand, I think one last time about turning around and going back. Maybe if I told Grayson everything he would help me. After all, last night was amazing , and that must mean something— right ?
I roll my eyes at myself .
Everyone knows about Prince Grayson, I think. The moment you wanted to do something besides have sex, he’d get bored and start looking for someone else .
Better to leave on your own terms, like you did, rather than have him kick you out unceremoniously .
Last night was amazing — better than amazing — but there’s no way it can happen again. This is my real life, and that was fantasy .
With a sigh, I push my bedroom door open, already running down the list of what I have to do that day — breakfast, wash the floors, laundry and ironing, dust the sitting room — but then I stop in my tracks, the list fading instantly from mind in shock .
I just stand there, my bedroom door half open, totally frozen .
Run, I think. Maybe you can just run and this will work .
But I don’t. I’m like a deer in the headlights, and besides, where would I run ?
“Good morning, Ella,” says Livia from the chair she’s sitting in, her hair pulled back, her eyes ice chips. “Late night ?”