Chapter 29
Eva
Iswallowed back tears, looking at the guards who'd helped protect me all my life. Now, they were keeping me from returning to Idaho. They were keeping me imprisoned. It made me wonder whether Father always had them around to make sure that none of us left.
My heart was breaking as I sat down on the extravagant bed and awaited my fate.
The betrayal was hitting hard and tears pooled in my eyes.
I knew if I ran toward that door, the guards would stop me.
But even if I managed to get past them, I would only make more trouble for Idaho and the others.
I'd seen what Father was capable of. He could destroy a person.
Not physically, he had no need. He'd just ruin their entire life in other ways. I didn't want that for Idaho.
Sadness crashed over me. This was inevitable. I knew from the moment we called my father that it would come down to this. I wanted to hope that I could change their minds. That Idaho could change their minds. But I knew better, deep down. I wiped away a stray tear as it rolled down my cheek.
Giving Idaho my innocence had only made my feelings for him stronger.
Losing him now was making me face those feelings.
He made me think that we'd change my father's mind.
It made me wonder if he'd decided against gaining favor with my father after all?
For the last few hours, he'd held me close, kissed me, and it was perfect.
I wanted to stay there in his arms. To stay here.
Voices raised out in the main portion of the suite, though they were too muffled for me to make out what was being said, they made hope swell in my chest. It crashed a few minutes later when Mother came back in and shut the door behind her.
"They're gone."
Clenching my teeth to contain the sob that wanted to escape, I looked away from her. She and Father were my captors.
"You'll see, Dear," she said, coming to sit next to me. "It's all for the best." Her soft smile fell, when I jerked away from her.
Standing, I went to the window, but we were on the back half of the hotel. I couldn't see Idaho. "I'll never forgive you for this," I told her softly.
"Eva," she pleaded. "You know we can't leave you here."
They always called me by my first name in public, but when we were alone with only family, and staff, they called me by a shortened version of my middle name.
That was why I went by it when I came here to America.
It felt like a way to separate myself from my family.
Now it was a bitter reminder that there was no escape from them.
"Why not?" I asked. "Because you don't trust me?"
"It's not about trust," she said, coming to stand behind me. "It's about keeping you safe." She put her hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged her off.
"I'm safe here," I argued. "You don't even know them. What they're capable of." I turned and glared at her. "If they wanted to, they could have taken down all of your bodyguards."
"Enough." Father stood in the doorway, glaring at us both. "We are leaving tomorrow morning and that's the end of it." He looked at me, his eyes softening slightly. "I've already spoken with the University, and they've agreed to let you transfer your credits over to the University of Luxembourg."
"No," I said, shaking my head. "I don't want to go." I was going to lose everything if they did this. My friends, my new life, Idaho, everything I'd come to love. "If you're insisting on dragging me home, I'll just leave again."
"You can try," Father said, his eyes hardening again. "But we won't make it easy for you. You'll be guarded around the clock."
"Louis," my mother said, worry shining in her eyes. "Don't be so harsh."
"It's for her own good," he told her. He looked back at me. "We will discuss this further tomorrow. In the meantime, I suggest you get some rest."
"Am I to rest with these creeps watching over me?" I demanded.
One of the men gave me a look of disbelief, but then schooled his features back into a blank mask. Part of their job was to ignore us. As if that was possible. It just meant that we never had true privacy.
"And am I to go home with only the clothes on my back?" I added.
"Eva," Mother urged. "Please. You must see reason."
"I do see reason," I told her. "You're not seeing it.
" I turned away from them both and went to the bed again.
Sitting down, I pulled the blankets up over me and rolled onto my side so I didn't have to look at either of them.
All this would make sense if I was seventeen years old, but I was too old for them to be ordering me around.
Only, I didn't have a choice. I had no money.
No job, other than the one my father gave me.
And if I tried to escape Luxembourg I would be detained at any port of entry I tried to go through. My father had ultimate control.
I sighed as I heard footsteps retreating over the soft carpet and the door shutting behind them.
A quick peek was all it took to see that I was, in fact, alone.
Laying my head back down, I let the tears wet my pillow.
I didn't blame Idaho for leaving. What else could he do? He was as stuck as I was.
Looking around, I searched for the phone I'd dropped onto the bed earlier. It was gone. I had no way of communicating with the outside world. It wasn't long before exhaustion pulled me under into a restless sleep where dreams of Idaho and our future together were ripped away from me.
* * *
"Good morning!"
I groaned and pulled the blanket over my head as Mother opened the curtains and let the sunlight in to assault my eyes. "What time is it?"
"Time to get up," she told me cheerfully. "We have to be at the airport by ten."
"I'm not going," I grumbled, rolling away from her.
The bed dipped next to me as she sat down. "You don't mean that." She put her hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged her off.
"Yes, I do." I sat up and glared at her.
"Don't you want to see your sisters? Your brother?"
"Of course I do," I told her. "Just not at the cost of my freedom."
She clicked her tongue, studying me. "You act as if we hold you prisoner."
"You do, Mama."
Her sigh was deep. "I've never understood why you feel this way. None of your siblings share your belief."
"Because they're all too scared of Father to say anything different," I snapped. "And because they're all content with the life he's given them. I'm not."
She shook her head, reaching out to stroke my hair back from my face.
"You've always been different." She smiled.
"Not in a bad way, just...different. You and your sisters loved to sit out in the gardens with your tutors.
Next thing I knew, I'd get a message that my Eva is stripped down, playing in the fountain rather than learning about mathematics.
" Sadness filled her eyes. "I always knew one day, you'd do this. "
"Do what?" I asked.
"Try to get away from all this."
"Then why are you standing in my way?" I demanded. "I don't understand, Mama. Don't you want me to be happy?"
"Of course I do," she replied, tone fierce. "But most of all, I want you to be alive. And safe."
I pulled my hair up into a bun on the top of my head. "You don't understand. Those men you sent away last night? They wouldn't let anything happen to me."
"You don't know that," she argued.
"Yes, I do," I told her. "They're good men and they care about me."
Her eyes narrowed slightly. "And what exactly does that mean?"
I looked away, unwilling to admit my feelings to her. She didn't deserve my secrets. Not anymore. "Nothing."
"I-I'll see if I can convince your father to give you a little more freedom," she told me. "But he's not letting you come back here. And until he confronts Richard, and you prove not to be an escape risk, he's not going to ease up."
"It doesn't matter," I told her. Having more freedom back home didn't mean going out on my own on occasion.
It meant going out with bodyguards standing ten feet further back.
That wasn't what I wanted. Getting up from the bed, I smoothed out the clothes I'd slept in, trying to force some of the wrinkles out.
Ignoring my mother, I went out to the main area and sat at the table next to Father.
"Eat."
I ignored him and the food. I wasn't hungry. Silently, I stared down at the plate in front of me.
"Eva." My name was a sigh. "You know I can't-"
"Are you going to send someone to get my clothes?" I asked. "Or are we just abandoning them here?"
"Thomas will go."
"Can I go with him? I'd like to say goodbye to my friends."
Father looked over at me with a dour look on his face. "I'm not foolish enough to send you there. Your young man will never allow you to come back."
My heart jumped in my chest at his words. He was right. Idaho wouldn't let me go. Which was exactly what I wanted. But it wasn't what Father wanted. It wasn't what Mother wanted either. They were taking away everything I cared about and expected me to just be okay with it.
"I'll have Thomas get your clothes," Father said again, standing up from the table. "Though you'll have to change on the plane."
Our private jet had plenty of space for changing, even a bed if you needed to lay down. Crossing my arms over my chest, I fell back into silence as Mother joined us. They spoke together about the trip and upcoming appointments as they ate. I ignored them, staring out the window at the desert below.
When it was time to leave, I followed them out of the room and toward the elevator. The bodyguards were silent shadows around us as we walked through the lobby and got into the waiting car. As the driver brought us to the airport, I watched as all my dreams fell away.
The plane was ready when we arrived and we were quickly ushered inside. Father's pilot was standing near the front of the plane. "Your Highness," he greeted with a nod.
"Good morning, Jack," Father said as he moved past him.
I took the furthest seat from my parents and we all waited in silence for Thomas to return and the flight to begin.
This was it. I was going to be taken back home and locked up in the palace.
It was the end of my freedom. The last time I'd see Idaho.
My heart broke in two as I curled up on the seat, staring out the window.