“Don’t look so shocked,” Samantha said. “The statute of limitations for your little stunt four months ago is about to expire, and I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to kick your ass out of this country.”
“The people of this city love the Prince!” my dad bellowed, coming to my defense. Samantha turned to face him and she regarded him coolly.
“King Leopold,” she said politely. “The people may love him now, but when they see just what kind of mess he’s in, they’ll turn against him and want him expelled.”
I remain silent as Samantha walked up to me. “But it’s okay Derrick,” she whispered. “It’s not like you had anything worth saving up here anyways.”
I wanted to say something but too much was going through my head to reply before she continued.
“I mean, the woman you love, isn’t actually Daphne Apple - but I’m guessing you just found that out, right?” she said with an evil gleam. When I didn’t respond, she continued. “But did you know that she’s the one that’s been writing the gossip columns about you? That she works at News of the Times? That she worked at my instructions to destroy after your little rodeo at the CBC studios four months ago?”
Fuck. Me.
Now it felt like someone had taken off their shoe and slapped me in the face with it.
What the fuck was going on?
Tears fall from Alicia’s face as Samantha leaned close but whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Did you know her job was to write as much dirt about you as possible?” she asked. “That she came up with the name ‘Prince Sin’?”
Speech was gone. It felt like my heart was stabbed.
I didn’t even notice when Samantha gave the nod for the officers to march me out of my home and into the squad car.
Only this time as I exited the building, the press was waiting. I did the perp walk out of my building and into the waiting police car in a fucking daze.
In hindsight, I’m a fucking idiot. I was blinded by something. I’m trying to wonder if it’s love.
I should have wondered how a stripper as gorgeous as Daphne wasn’t more famous.
I should have done a background check on her.
I should have asked how she was able to keep supporting herself while she wasn’t working as a stripper. She couldn’t have had that much saved up.
I should have wondered how she was able to pull up some detailed searches on my father and mother. It never occurred to me that she had inside access as a journalist.
I should have realized that her sources on her fucking gossip column were none other than herself.
I’m a fucking fool, mate.
I stare at the bars to the holding cell.
This is where I belong.
27
Alicia
“Darling, are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Mom asks me as I get ready to leave One57. The King is standing next to her, a grave expression on his face.
It’s several hours after Derrick was taken away in handcuffs and I’ve just spent the entire time crying in my mother’s lap as the King and her have tried to calm me down.
I went through everything. How I jumped at the opportunity to teach Prince Derrick Blaine a lesson. How Mike helped me set up a secret identity. How this was supposed to only be a few articles before the DA took action and should have been over by now. But then how my apartment got broken into, Derrick saved me from Jake, and I finally gave into the fact that I had fallen in love with him.
“Oh, dear, you were in love with him even before you left St. Livy,” Mom told me towards the end.
I blush now thinking back to a few hours ago when I had looked at her with confusion when she said that to me.
She had only nodded her head and looked to the King with a slight smile.
“You were always so upset with him and he was always tormenting you that the King and I had several discussions after work,” she told me. “We got to know each other and that’s actually what started Leo and I on this journey we’re on together as well.”
I didn’t know what to say then and I don't know what to say now, but Mom continues, “When the King and I talked, we both found out that out of everyone both of you were always the ones that were secretly upset at each other. He thought you ignored him and you thought he tormented you.”
“It was pretty obvious it was love,” the King chimes in.
I smile, thinking of the two of them. At least Derrick and I were able to make someone happy.
“Are you sure you want to go back to your apartment?” the King asks me. “I think it’s perfectly fine for you to stay here.”
My eyes are still red from crying but I shake my head definitively. I can’t stay in Derrick’ place. Not until I get a chance to talk to him. I want to say how sorry I am. I want to apologize. But I don’t know where to start.