"I’ve been trying to get a hold of you," my dad says when I finally answer his call. He’s been trying to call me, but I've been busy with Nicole most of the time. The rest of the time, I just didn’t answer, but he doesn't need to know any of that.

"I’m sorry," I say. "You’ve got me on the line, now."

I've been dreading this conversation with my father. There are four days left before my return. I can't imagine any other reason he'd call than to arrange what needs to be done. My father never calls just to catch up.

"I've booked the plane for you," he says. "Hermann will be there on Monday morning to pick you up. I expect you to be at the airfield at six, sharp. I don’t want Hermann to go out of his way to get you, and then you’re late."

I roll my eyes. We pay Hermann to go out of his way, to wait, to do whatever it is that's expected of him. He works for us. I don't work for him.

"I’ll be there," I say. "Can’t afford to miss that flight, right?"

"Are you trying to make a joke?" my father asks.

I sigh. "Of course, not."

After a moment of silence, where I can imagine my father’s irritated look, he carries on.

"I’ve also arranged for someone to take care of your furniture. They will move it and sell it off."

I sit down on the edge of my bed and lean my elbows on my knees.

"Why are you organizing everything for me?" I ask. "I can take care of it."

"I know you can. But like you said, you’re very busy. And I don’t want you taking any chances. I know you’ll try to extend your stay any way you can. I need you back here doing your duties. I’m making sure everything goes according to plan."

Right, the plan where I have to serve my country for the rest of my life. The bit of freedom I've experienced here, the person I’ve become, has just been an illusion. I've never belonged to myself, no matter how much I’d entertained the idea. I would never belong to anything other than Elanda.

"What you will do while you’re waiting for the plane to take you home is take care of whatever business you have left there. You will come to Elanda with no loose ends. I have a strict schedule lined up for you, and you will not have time to return to the States any time soon."

I know what he's trying to say. Say my goodbyes. End all relationships.

"I can’t travel?" I ask.

"You will be traveling. A lot. We have many meetings to attend with other world leaders. It’s important they get used to your face. America is not our most pressing concern, though. We will get there in due time."

I listen to my father ramble on about politics. It's the only thing he can ever discuss with me. Nicole had mentioned that I never spoke about them. It's hard speaking about people I don't know. She’d said that I was hard to read, that I was difficult to get to know without asking questions outright.

The truth is, I'm not sure what there is to get to know anymore. I'm a product of my circumstances now. What do I have to offer her that's unique and my own, not influenced by who I'm supposed to become?

Not much, I suspect, so far. And not much at all when the time comes for me to take my rightful place as leader of a country.

"Don’t disappoint me, Thomas," my father says. "You are the only heir to the throne. If you don’t step in, we will have to hand over our country to distant family in Poland, and it will mean nothing. Everything we have done will be for nothing."

I sigh. I had learned about the distant family when I was young. I was encouraged to dislike them due to their heritage. If something were to happen to me before I have an heir, they'd become the leaders of something that's been in our family for centuries.

"You have made it clear how serious this is," I say. "I know I have to come back. I made a deal with you, and I will honor it. You don’t need to treat me like a child."

"We’ll make a king of you yet," my father says. "For now, you are just a prince. I will see you on Tuesday morning after you have refreshed yourself."

The line goes dead. I stare at my phone’s screen. This is my future. This is what waits for me on the other side.

Great.

I don't have many loose ends to tie up. I have a few friends and little else now that I'm done with my studies.

It's only Nicole left in my life now. I'll have to lose her, though. I won't tell her who I am. I can't take her with me. There's no way she'll give up her life for me, and I wouldn’t ask her to do that. It's her independence that has drawn me to her, among so many other things that I’ve fallen for.

Yes, I’ve fallen for her. Fallen in love. I've never cared about any of the women in my life, and God knows there's been a lot of them. But just as my life here in America is coming to an end, I've come across the one woman I would have liked to spend more time with.

I hate the fact that I’ve fallen in love. She's everything a woman should be, kind, generous, and compassionate, but completely herself, too. And I have to lose her. Why couldn’t she just have been a booty call? Why did we meet at all? When I’d looked into her gray eyes, eyes that had reminded me of the sea, I should just have kept walking.

I’d been arrogant, though. Arrogant and confident. I was sure I could make her my own. And instead, she had stolen my heart. Was this punishment for all the women I’d messed with? All the one-night stands? All the times I hadn’t cared?

It feels like it.

I drop my head into my hands. I should've told her what was going on. Maybe not the part about me being a prince. That's a bitter pill to swallow. Maybe not for her, but for me, and that's enough. But I could've told her that I was leaving. I'd be gone in four days’ time, and she doesn't even know about it.

A pang of guilt shoots through my chest. I don't even know how to do it. How can I break it to her that I’ve known for a while that I'm leaving? That I’d known before I’d really pursued her, in fact? How can I tell her that and still let her down easy?

She'll be upset with me. Hell, I'm upset with me.

I rub my hands down my face. There's no way I can do that to her. Not now. I'll wait until the very end before I tell her. I can't ruin what we have now. It's all I have left of a life I'm about to lose. I want it to be perfect until the end.

It's going to hurt her. I know that. I'm a dick for thinking of doing this to her. But I'm also selfish, and I’ve never been in love before. I don't want to suffer through heartbreak until it's completely necessary.

Am I doing it wrong? Probably. But I haven't done a lot of things right, and I don't know how to fix it.

I'm torn. I know I have to go back. Deep down inside, a very small part of me is patriotic, and I care about what becomes of my country. I don't want it to fall into the hands of distant relatives who don't care what happens to my people. I have only recently realized I feel that way about it, right around the time Nicole pointed it out, in fact.

Until then, home has just felt like a punishment. I can't stay here. I can't ditch my parents and my people like that. But I want Nicole. I want to be with her, and not just for a couple of booty calls, either. With her, I see something long term. I've never thought I would get to this stage, but there it is.

And now I'm about to lose everything but my country.

At least that's something.