“The triangle is indeed a sucky shape. All those points and edges. People get hurt.”
People would get hurt.
And I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I also didn’t want to get hurt.
But it seemed like it would be impossible to accomplish both of those things.
After Giacomo woke us early in the morning for my flight, Kat mumbled not-nice things about his mother. She hated getting up early. But she did it, because she and Nico had agreed to drive with me to the airport since Dante had to stay behind to welcome the next girl and Kat wanted extra time with me.
I hugged everyone good-bye and thanked them and said I’d miss them. Dante hugged me the longest, and I loved being in his arms. He whispered something Italian in my ear, which was both unfair and hot. How could I have ever said yes to Sterling?
We got into the limo and waved good-bye all the way out to the gate, until we couldn’t see them any longer. Nico was on his phone talking in Italian and looking through his tablet. I heard him mention the word “London,” and remembered that they had an interview there after the visits to their family home finished.
“While you’re in London, you should egg Abigail’s house,” I teased.
“Do you have her address?”
“I’m kidding, darlin’.” That was a PR scandal I needed like a hole in the head. “Future Princess Eggs Soap Star’s Home!” “Should you be saying things like that in front of him? Does he know about your vengeful side?”
“Nico? When he’s like this he doesn’t hear anything. It’s like he’s not even here. We can talk freely.”
The future king was always busy. He and Kat were scheduled to get married this December, and then there would be a coronation where his father would abdicate and Nico would become king. I anticipated a huge bump in our tourism numbers.
I hoped my best friend could handle becoming queen. It made some doubt creep back in when I considered their busy schedules. If I did end up with Dante, how could I keep my company?
“What is that look for?” Kat asked.
“If I was with him, I couldn’t work.”
“Not true. I investigated. Prince Alex has an aunt who married into his family, and she ran a PR firm while still being a princess.” She looked far too smug.
Another reason shot down.
“Then there’s the womanizing.”
“Womanizing?” Nico asked.
“I thought you said he couldn’t hear us,” I hissed at her.
She looked surprised. “Usually he can’t.”
“Why would you say that about Dante?”
I started ticking things off on my fingers. “Um, the Internet. Living in the same house with him for the last few weeks. Watching him flirt with everything that breathes from the moment we met.”
He studied me, and I could get why Kat waxed on and on about his ice-blue eyes so much. They just seemed to pierce you. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” Color me thoroughly confused.
Nico put down his phone and his tablet, focusing his attention on me. “The Internet articles and tabloid reports were all a show for Rafe.”
“Rafe?” I was turning into a parrot.
“Rafe was engaged.”
Now Kat was the parrot. “Engaged? What? Nobody in this family ever tells me anything!”
“To his childhood sweetheart. She was murdered, and they initially suspected Rafe. There was a total paparazzi feeding frenzy. He had an alibi, and it was eventually discovered that she had been cheating on him, and the other man killed her. Rafe was completely devastated, and the tabloids refused to leave him alone.”
I exchanged shocked glances with Kat. Neither one of us had known anything about this. It was like an episode of Dateline.
“They hounded him relentlessly, even after he’d been cleared. So Dante stepped in and started putting on a show for the media so they’d leave Rafe alone. He dates a lot, but only with women who understand that it’s never serious and only for the publicity. My little brother is not a womanizer by any stretch of the imagination. It’s all pretend to protect Rafe. Dante is one of the most loyal, faithful people you will ever meet. In fact,” he said, giving me a pointed look, “he hasn’t been out with another woman since you came to Monterra.”