To Be Yours Again-Chapter 210 No longer needs me
Danica is lost. She’s trying to find a way out. On tiptoe, she walks past door after door, painting after painting, along yet another wood-paneled corridor, until she eventually reaches a pair of double doors. She pushes through and finds herself at the top of a grand, wide staircase carpeted in scarlet and blue, which leads to a cavernous dark hallway below. On the landing there’s a mullioned bay window, beside which stand two suits of armor holding what look like pikes. On the wall over the staircase is a massive faded tapestry, bigger than the kitchen table she saw earlier, that depicts a man on bended knee to his sovereign.
Well, Danica assumes he must be the sovereign, judging by the crown he’s wearing. On the opposing walls above the staircase, there are two portraits. Huge. Both men. One is from an ancient time, the other far more recent. She sees the family resemblance in their faces and has a flash of recognition. They each stare at her with the same imperious green eyes. His green eyes.
This is Lorenzo’s family. His heritage. She finds it almost impossible to grasp.
But then her gaze falls on the carved twin-headed eagles that sit on the newel posts at the top, the turns, and the bottom of the staircase.
The symbol he had told her about.
That belonged to his family.
Suddenly she hears him shout out her name. It startles her.
No.
He’s back.
He shouts again. He sounds panicked.
Desperate, Danica freezes at the top of the impressive staircase, staring at the history that surrounds her. She’s torn. From far off beneath her, a clock with a booming chime signals the hour, making her jump. Once, twice, three times...
“Danica!” Lorenzo calls again, nearer this time, and she can hear his footsteps. He’s running, running toward her.
The clock is still chiming. Loud and clear.
What should she do?
She grips the ornate eagle at the corner of the staircase as Lorenzo and the two dogs burst through the double doors. He stops when he sees her. His eyes sweep from her face to her feet, and he frowns.
*********
*LORENZO*
I’ve found her. But my relief is tempered by her aloof yet inscrutable expression and the fact that she’s wearing her old clothes and carrying a sweater and a blanket.
Shit. This does not look good.
Her stance reminds me of the first time I encountered her in my hallway, all those weeks ago. She’s clutching the newel post like she clutched that broom. My senses are on high alert.
Tread warily, dude.
“There you are. Where are you going?” I ask.
She tosses her hair over her shoulder with that careless grace she has and tilts her chin in my direction. “I’m leaving.”
No! It’s like she’s kicked me in the stomach.
“What? Why?”
“You know why.” She sounds haughty, her expression etched with righteous indignation.
“Danica. I’m sorry, I should have told you.”
“But you did not.”
I can’t argue with that. I stare at her while the hurt in her dark eyes burns a hole in my conscience.
“I understand.” She lifts one of her shoulders. “I am only your cleaner.”
“No. No. No!” I stalk toward her. “That’s not the reason.”
“Sir. Is everything okay?” Mona’s voice echoes off the stone walls and up the staircase from beneath us. I lean over the balustrade, and she appears with Jessie and Brody, one of the estate hands, in the hallway below. The three of them gape up at us openmouthed, like curious carp from the fish pond.
“Go. Now. All of you. Go!” I wave them away.
Mona and Jessie exchange anxious glances, but they scatter.
Thank fuck.
I turn my attention back to Danica. “This is why I didn’t bring you here. There are just too many people in this house.”
She tears her gaze away from me, her brow furrowed, her mouth a tight line.
“This morning I had breakfast with nine staff, and that was just the first sitting. I didn’t want to intimidate you with all...this.” I wave at the portraits of my father and my grandfather while she traces the intricate carvings on the eagle with one finger. She remains mute.
“And I wanted you to myself,” I whisper.
A tear slides down her cheek.
Fuck.
“Do you know what he said before you arrived?” she whispers.
“Who?”
“Julio.”
One of those fucking intruders at the Hideout.
“No.”
Where is she going with this?
“He said that I am your sex-toy.” Her voice is hushed, full of shame.
No! 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
“That’s...absurd. We....” It takes all my self- restraint not to pull her into my arms, but I inch closer, so close that the warmth from her body seeps into mine. Somehow I manage not to touch her. “I would say that you’re my girlfriend. That’s what fitting for the kind of relationship we have. Though I don’t want to presume. We’ve not discussed our relationship yet, as this has all happened so quickly. But that’s what I want to call you. Girlfriend. My girlfriend. Which means that we are together in a relationship. But that’s only if you’ll have me.”
Her eyelashes flutter over her dark, dark eyes, but she gives nothing away.
Shit.
“You’re a bright, talented woman, Danica. And you’re free. Free to make your own choices.”
“But I’m not.”
“You are here. I know you’re different from me, and I know we’re not economic equals, but that’s just an accident of birth...We are equals in every other way. I’ve fucked up. I should have told you, and I’m sorry, deeply sorry. But I don’t want you to go, I want you to stay. Please.”
Her fathomless eyes strip me bare as she studies my face, and then she turns her attention to the carved eagle.
Why is she avoiding me? What is she thinking?
Is it the trauma she’s just been through?
Or is it because those fuckers are out of the picture, so she no longer needs me?
