I shake my head vehemently. I've already hurt Max enough. The last thing I want to do is go public about what happened between us. “I won't do that.”
“We’ll pay you well. You name the price.”
“That story is not for sale.”
“What will you do then?” she asks.
“I don't know,” I reply truthfully. “I've hardly even caught my breath after Miranda Thorne’s revelation today.”
Judith harrumphs. “I can't stand the woman. She's made a deal with the devil, if you ask me. She'll get her comeuppance.”
“One can only hope,” Nona admonishes.
“While you work out what you're going to say about you and the prince, we will pay you handsomely for Valentina Romano’s fullexclusive story.”
“Do you mean about what happened with her father?” Nona asks.
“About all of it. The country now knows that my top journalist not only had a rather thrilling love affair with Ledonia’s most eligible bachelor, but she’s also the daughter of a disgraced lord and has been in hiding for years. It’s gold!”
“It’s not gold. It’s my granddaughter’s life,” Nona grinds out.
“Of course it is.” Judith drains her glass and rises to her feet. “Have something on my desk by the end of the week, Valentina.” She pauses. “Valentina. I’ll need to get used to that.”
I stand. “The story won’t be about what happened between the prince and me.”
“Make it about the real you and your father, and we’ll see about that later. Now, it was a pleasure to meet you, Lady V, and you, as it happens,Valentina.” She marches out of the living room only to reappear. “Is there a back door? I’d rather not have to fight through the rabble again.”
I take her to the back door where she reminds me to send my story to her, and then rushes away, leaving only a cloud of her perfume in her wake.
Chapter 28
Valentina
I sit at my desk in our dusty old library, staring at an empty screen. I can still hear the journalists outside several days on, and I do my best to block out their constant, intrusive noise.
I let out a breath as I run my fingers through my hair, now the natural brunette I’ve not seen since I was a teenager. It’s a small way in which I can shrug off my past, show the world the real me.
I’ve looked like my Fabiana personafor so many years, when now I look in the mirror, I’m someone I don’t recognize. It’s an odd sensation, but one I find I like.
I’m not pretending anymore. I’m Valentina Romano. If I’m not your cup of tea, don’t drink me.
I type a sentence and then delete it. Then another and delete that. Where do I start with this article? There’s so much that’s happened in the past weeks. I’ve gone from being Fabiana Fontaine, a royal journalist who hid my identity behind my entertaining, sometimes frivolous reports and TikToks, to a woman who fell in love with the prince. Now,I’mthe story, hunted by the press, hiding out in my nona’s house, a prisoner of a different sort.
What’s more, once I was a woman who wasn’t looking for love. I didn’t think I even needed it in my life. Now, I’ve fallen for a man who won’t see me. A man I’ve not heard from since that fateful day at the palace.
A man I can never forget.
My heart literally aches when I think of what I’ve done to him. What I did to myself. He opened up to me, allowed himself to be vulnerable with me, and in return I broke his trust by not telling him my truth.
If I could go back…But I can’t. What’s done is done. There’s no point in even thinking about it.
All I can do now is move forward with my life as Valentina Romano and try to right some of my wrongs.
I type a few words and then stop to read them.
My apology will never be enough,by Fabiana Fontaine
Yes. That’s it.
