I had an awful, sour taste in my mouth. I wasn’t sure if it was caused by jet lag, lack of sleep, or a combination of both. I could barely drink my coffee that morning, knowing what was going to happen when I arrived at work with no article.

Leaving Luke was the hardest thing I had ever done. I didn’t care that his mother hated me because I wasn’t a woman she had chosen for her son. But I did care that Luke’s father—Erol Shaman—was dying and he hadn’t told his family. It was only by mistake that I stumbled upon him and his doctor speaking in confidence about his terminal diagnosis. The king had asked me to keep his secret, putting me in an awful position with Luke.

After arriving in Qatar, Luke and I had become much closer than I ever imagined. I knew I had feelings for him, but after his mother told me that Luke was in love with me and that she didn’t think I was in love with him, I had a lot to think about. Adding the secret of his father’s illness had sent me off the deep end.

I couldn’t be with Luke after having this terrible secret on my shoulders. Luke and I would have no chance if I told him what I’d heard. Erol would never accept me into the family after that. He and Abir were the only ones who didn’t sneer at me when I walked into a room.

Besides, it wasn’t my place to spill their family’s secrets. My boss, Mr. Fraser, wanted an article about the king stepping down from the throne and revealing if Luke was going to take over. But after meeting Luke and his family, I wanted to keep them safe from the media. With the extra story about Erol’s illness, Mr. Fraser would want both stories. Both stories would tear into Luke’s life like a knife, and I would be to blame.

There had to be something else I could do. I was torn between my job and my feelings for Luke.

Briefly, I thought maybe Luke had put me in this position on purpose. He might have created those feelings between us so that I wouldn’t write the story. But I knew that couldn’t be true. He didn’t have to invite me into his home and life. He could have continued to ignore me until I left England.

His mother was right. He did have feelings for me. But I’d come to England to get a story. My livelihood relied on it. A long-overdue promotion did as well.

Never before had I been put in such a situation that ripped me in two. Reporters didn’t have these feelings for their subjects. But every time I thought of meeting with Mr. Fraser, Luke’s handsome face popped into my head.

The feel of his hand in mine was like a corporeal ghost by my side, urging me to do the right thing.

But what was the right thing? Luke knew that I wanted to interview him for a story and he had answered my questions. I already had all I needed and a second story, as well. But having dinner with him on that last night together had been unbearable. There he was, utterly oblivious to his father dying, and I stood between him and his father’s last days.

Unable to take it anymore, I had fled without explanation. What his father did with his family was their business. It was a cruel business, but it was best for me to stay out of it.

Arriving at work that morning, I struggled to get the front door open while holding my coffee and breakfast. I thought it was a sign for me to leave the office and go back home, but I knew I was just making excuses. Mr. Fraser and I would have to work something out. He knew I wanted the promotion, but I had gotten in too deep with Luke and had to find a way to crawl out of that hole with my dignity and my career intact.

Going up to the second-floor, the newsroom already bustled with activity.

Glancing in the direction of Mr. Fraser’s office, I slinked by his closed door without him noticing.

Once I reached my desk, I took a breath. It was a short reprieve from what I expected to be one of the hardest days of my career, but I at least wanted to eat breakfast before I passed out.

My coffee burned my tongue as I gulped it down, but the caffeine rushed through my veins, and I immediately felt perkier.

“Good morning,” Natalia said from behind me.

I turned in my chair and smiled at her. “Hey.”

“How was your first trip out of the States?” Natalia pursed her pink lips, and I wasn’t sure if she was making fun of me or not. She was one of the select few reporters who traveled around the world on a regular basis. Her exotic appearance made her a prime candidate for international travel. She didn’t look American and hid her Southern drawl well when she needed to.

“Good,” I said.

Natalia stood, unfolding her legs-for-days from under her desk. She came over to my side and leaned against my desk as if she were showcasing it for The Price is Right. “I need to hear more about it than that. You went over there to talk to a prince.”

“I did,” I said, opening my bag and pulling out my chocolate croissant. Luke had ordered one the morning that we’d met in his favorite cafe. Now I was hooked.

“Did you get the story?” she asked, her brown eyes wide with interest.

“I got a story,” I said, keeping it vague on purpose.

“How was the prince?” she asked. “I bet he’s gorgeous in person.”

The caffeine in my body heightened my annoyance with the conversation. She wasn’t going to stop until I gave her something.

“He is,” I said, playing it up for the conversation. Even though Luke was drop-dead gorgeous, I wanted to make her a little jealous that she wasn’t selected for the job. Then again, Mr. Fraser had said that other reporters here weren’t able to get the job done in the past. Maybe that was why he’d sent me instead of her. Maybe she had failed and wouldn’t admit it.

I told her about meeting him—not that I stalked him at his office and his favorite coffee shop—then him whisking me away to his family’s palace. I didn’t need to exaggerate to get my point across. It really had been like a fairy tale.

When I finished my story, I took a breath. Falling into the memory of my trip with Luke had brought back even more of the feelings that I had for him. I liked him. A lot. But was this love? Was his mother telling me the truth—that he loved me? Or was she trying to scare me away? Surely, any woman who went to the palace on the arm of a prince had some idea that she had the chance to become queen, but Luke and I had both been lying to his family about having a relationship. Did he love me or was he just playing the part in front of his family?

Natalia crossed her arms and her thin eyebrows arched.

“What?” I asked.

“So, what is your story about?” she asked.

“The prince’s rise to the throne?” I couldn’t help it coming out as a question. I wasn’t sure what story I was going to tell yet.

“Sounds to me that you have a lot to think about,” she said.

“How so?” I asked.

She sighed and pursed her lips as if she were hiding a smirk. “Sounds like you’re writing a romance novel.”

“It does not,” I said.

She shrugged. “Whatever you say.” She returned to her desk and shoved her earbuds into her ears before grabbing her mouse and getting back to work.

I sat at my desk, allowing what she’d said to sit in the back of my mind. Was she throwing me off my game, or did she think there was something between Luke and me? The way I described him might have made her think so. I hoped it didn’t sound that way to Mr. Fraser when I inevitably went into his office to explain what happened on the company-sponsored trip to the UK.

I finished my breakfast and downed my coffee, but for some reason, it felt like my last meal.

Shaking the grim thought away, I pulled up the files I’d generated while I was overseas. They contained information on Luke and his entire family, his business, and several websites of information on his out of the spotlight personal life. From what I gathered, he didn’t have much of one.

I was so engrossed in my research that when my phone rang, I jumped so high that I landed on the edge of my chair. I reached for the desk phone and pressed it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Fraser wants you in his office now,” Chelsea, Mr. Fraser’s secretary, said into the line.

“Oh, okay. Does he—” The line went dead before I could finish my question. I knew she was busy, but she bordered on rude most of the time.

I grabbed my USB from my computer and my notebook before heading toward Mr. Fraser’s office.

“Good luck,” Natalia chirped without looking up at me.

I gritted my teeth and attempted to take a full breath. Why the hell didn’t I just get the interview from Luke like I was supposed to? Why did I allow my emotions to mess with my work?

I was so screwed.

I knocked on the door that had “Editor in Chief” etched on a placard next to it. I rarely went into Mr. Fraser’s office. If he wanted something, he or Chelsea sent me an email. Going inside was reserved for the reporters he’d put on a pedestal. Half the time, he yelled at them for something, but before going on this trip, I had wished I was important enough to get yelled at by him. Now, I knew what was coming and I dreaded it.

“It’s open,” he said from the other side of the door.

I steeled myself and opened it.

I plastered on the biggest smile I could. The one that I would have worn if I was about to be promoted. While the expression was natural, the feelings accompanying it weren’t. They were twisted and utterly confusing.

“Let’s get down to business,” he said, gesturing to the chair in front of him.

I sat on the edge of the leather seat, holding myself upright so I didn’t slip off it and onto his floor. I was already embarrassed enough not to have a story to hand to him.

“I’m interested to hear what type of story you’ll write for me from your trip,” he said.

He clasped his manicured fingers together atop his desk and stared at me with those small beady eyes of his. He was a tall man but round around the middle with a receding hairline. I tried to focus on his faults to calm my nerves, but it wasn’t working. Besides, he didn’t need a promotion. I did.

While the story about Luke’s father being ill and dying before his son took the throne would get me the promotion that I wanted, I had promised the king not to tell Luke. If the Dallas Post published that story before Erol told Luke, then I would have broken that promise.

I couldn’t do that to either of them.

I sighed, kissing my promotion goodbye. “He only spoke to me about the business.”

“What business?” Mr. Fraser asked.

“The oil business. I couldn’t find out anything—”

“Wait, one second,” he said, holding up a finger at me as if I were his kid and not his employee. “You went to the UK and then to Qatar, and all you want to give me is a puff piece about his family’s oil business? A business that has been written about to death by a dozen other outlets?”

“Yes.”

“Goddammit, Sophia. I sent you to get a story. I went against my gut with this one, and look where that got me. You can kiss that promotion goodbye. In fact, I might have to fire you for wasting my time and company money.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I hadn’t let myself entertain the possibility of getting fired over this. If that happened, I would never be able to get a job at another newspaper.

“Hold on,” I said.

“What is it?” he asked.

“There was something that I heard around the palace,” I said.

He leaned closer to me. It wasn’t much, but I had his attention. I had to think quickly.

“I need more time,” I said. “They trust me. Luke—the prince—he will invite me back if I ask. I can get the scoop and an even bigger story for you.”

“Why didn’t you lead with that?” he asked. I wasn’t sure he was convinced.

“I—uh—I wasn’t sure if I was welcomed after the weekend. I didn’t have enough time to research, but if I go back, that will be my sole purpose.”

Mr. Fraser worked his jaw. He could never resist a juicy story. Even just the prospect of one. Little did he know that I had nothing. Maybe I was as good of an actor as Luke’s mother had said.

“Let me think about it and get back to you,” he said and waved me out of his office.