Page 35 of Royally Matched

“Don’t talk about her that way, and if you must know, she told me she is leaving the country. I need time to process all of this before I decide on how to move forward.” Pushing past Starla, he rushed down the hall, wanting to escape to his room and fall asleep. Maybe when he woke up, all of this would be a bad dream.

* * *

Lily handed the last of her luggage over to the palace servant. “Thank you. I will be down in a few minutes.”

She took one last look around the room before grabbing her purse and coat. It was time to put all of this behind her again. This time though, no matter how hard her parents begged, she would never return to Triola. There was too much pain for her here now.

Lily weaved through the hallways of the royal court areas, trying to avoid as many public places as possible. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, or come up with an excuse why she was leaving court.

From a nearby room, Lily heard a muffled voice from behind the door. It sounded as if it might be Starla. Lily knew the pop star was staying at the palace. Was this her suite?

Lily wasn’t sure why, but something prodded her to lean closer to listen. When she did, the voice became clearer, and she wascertain it was Starla.

“Yes, it’s working, JoJo. I’ve got Max’s attention again, which is exactly what I wanted. I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news say he had replaced me with that basic local girl. No one can replace Starla Stone,” she stated with indignation.

A few moments passed while Starla must have been listening to the other woman, then she responded. “Well, it was a last resort… No, he has no clue about the truth…How will I fix it? That’s easy, he’ll agree to a quickie wedding. Once we’re married, I can fake a miscarriage. He’ll never know the difference.” Starla let out a laugh as she added, “I know. I mean being a pop star is great, but every girl dreams of being a princess. There was no way I was letting Max get away.”

First, shock, then disgust, and finally fury settled in Lily’s heart. Starla was lying about the baby and she was using her lie to manipulate Max. There was no way she would let her get away with it. She needed to find Max and tell him the truth.

Lily rushed through the palace until she reached Max’s suites. She hoped he hadn’t left for the day, and more importantly, he would still be willing to listen to her.

She could tell from his expression earlier in the day, she had hurt him deeply when she refused to work with him regarding the situation.Rather than go to God in prayer about it, she let her fear cause her to push him away rather than fight for the one man she loved. Now, even if he couldn’t forgive that, she still needed to save him from the clutches of a woman like Starla. Even if Lily didn’t end up with Max, he deserved far better than that.

Lightly, she rapped on his door. “Max, are you in there?”

A few moments later, Max opened the door. He was wearing a t-shirt, his hair was tousled, and his eyes red. Had he been crying?

“You haven’t left? Did you change your mind?” he asked with a hopeful tone.

“I need to speak with you, Max. It’s of the upmost importance.”

“What is it, Lily?” he said, gesturing for her to come into his room.

“I just heard some troubling news.”

“What now? I don’t think I can take one more thing,” Max said with exasperation.

“I just overheard Starla talking with someone. She is lying about the baby.”

“You’re certain?”

Lily nodded. “She said once you married her, she planned to fake a miscarriage.”

A look of hurt and anger crossed Max’s face. Lily reached out and placed her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry, Max. I don’t want to hurt you, but you needed to know the truth.”

“You’re right,” he said, pulling her into his arms, and adding, “Of course, you’re right. Thank you for telling me.”

“No matter what happens, I only want the best for you, Max,” she muttered against his chest. “I will always love you.”

Max leaned back and stared at her, his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. “You’re talking like we’re not getting back together.”

“I… I just assumed after all that’s happened—how I reacted—you wouldn’t want things to go back to the way they were before.”

“You’re right; I don’t,” Max said, “I want things to be better, and by you coming here to help me, even with the crazy idea in your head I wouldn’t want you back, shows me we’ll be even stronger because of this. It’s shown both of us, we truly love each other.”

Lily nodded. “I do, I really do, Max. I love you so much, I didn’t even feel like I was me without you.”

“Well, you never need to worry about that again. I’m going to marry you, and you’ll be stuck with me forever. First, we need to go kick Starla out on her lying lip-syncing rear end.”

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