Page 54 of The Cinderella Prince

I had been so focused on entering the room that I had completely forgotten to prepare myself to see Tristan. Hestood tall and broad and beautiful under the portrait of Louis Montclair.

My hands trembled, and I closed them into fists. Air drained out of my lungs, and my gaze locked onto his face.

Tristan’s lips quivered, and he pressed them tightly together. The corners of his mouth moved just enough to form something like a smile to greet me. He gazed at me across the long sitting room, his chest rising and falling lightly as he breathed in and out. He wore that sexy sleeveless shirt I loved and a pair of light brown pants with a darker brown belt around his waist. His bare arms were tense, his biceps swollen like he was holding something heavy.

“Tristan,” I whispered, barely in control of my voice. It was on the verge of cracking. It took all the strength I had in me to stop myself from leaping toward him and hugging him. He had come all this way for me after everything I had said and done.

And he had walked right into a trap.

I gave you up, I thought.I gave you up so you wouldn’t be crucified by the press, so you could live your life freely and away from all the scheming that is so natural to my kind.Regrets welled in me. Perhaps I should have stayed and risked my brother’s wrath. Perhaps Tristan’s arrival had changed his mind.

“Tell him,” Alexander said.

I clenched my teeth, never breaking the eye contact with Tristan. He wore a pleading look that broke my heart.

“Cedric, you need to tell him,” Alexander warned me. “Tell your lover you don’t want to see him.”

My gaze snapped to Alexander’s face.

“And tell him what will happen if he doesn’t leave,” Alexander said.

So, the threat stood just as tall and unbreakable.

A little smile touched my lips. It was total defeat, and the fight hadn’t even begun. I’d lost everything. But I smiled regardless. Tristan was here. I had expected never to see him again, but he was here, in this room.

I turned to Tristan and kept that soothing smile on my face. It was more melancholic and apologetic than bright and loving. “Tristan,” I said as I made my feet carry me closer to him. I crossed the room, and Alexander followed until I stood a couple of paces away from my beautiful boyfriend. “Why are you here?” I asked softly.

“I came to get you,” Tristan said simply. “To…rescue you.” He laughed very softly when he said that. “I can’t help it. It’s who I am.”

I nodded, holding back the tears as best I could. “It really is.” I made another step toward him. “I hope you never change.”

Tristan let out a little laugh, his eyes glimmering, his fists shaking like he had to fight them to remain still. “Are you ready to run away again?” he asked, but he didn’t mean it. Some part of him maybe hoped I would say yes, but we both knew that this was a goodbye.

“Tristan, I’m sorry about the way I left,” I said, pretending Alexander wasn’t in this room at all. “I thought that if I could just make you hate me for a little while, it would keep you from doing something stupid. Like flying all the way here.” We both laughed at that, and the sadness that gripped my heart rightened. “I should have told you.”

Tristan nodded. “You should have.”

“But I know you wouldn’t accept a defeat,” I said. “Because that’s what this is. We lost.”

Tristan nodded. “You’re right.” He glanced at Alexander behind me, then returned his gaze to me. It was so dark and fiery. It was a chocolate fountain with big, black pupils and brimming tears that he blinked away. “I don’t accept it.”

I had expected as much.

“Cedric,” Alexander said warningly.

I snapped my head around. “I’m doing it, dammit.”

My brother took a step back in total silence.

“What’s he talking about?” Tristan asked with absolutely no respect Alexander expected. It entertained me madly.

I opened my hand and offered it to Tristan, who took it carefully. My fingers threaded with his, and he waited. “Alexander is right,” I said. It made Tristan wince, but he listened. “He knows what’s going to happen if we are together. The media will…they’ll pull you apart, Tristan. You’ll never be like everyone else again.”

Tristan rolled his broad shoulders. “I’d have you.”

It shredded my heart. “You don’t know what paparazzi are like, Tristan. They’ll look for drama, and if they can’t find it, they’ll make it. They’ll dig up everything about your life until they make you fight them. And when you do, they’ll win because it’ll be their headline.”

“I don’t have anything to hide,” Tristan said.

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