My heart felt as if it were going to burst from my chest. Talking with Matt only made it more real. He was as giddy as I was. I hung up the phone and let out a long sigh. Was this shit really happening?

I knew that we would end up in the tabloids eventually, but not this soon. It felt like an invasion of privacy for my face to end up in a newspaper without my consent. I knew better than most that consent didn’t matter in a lot of situations. The article didn’t show any sign of libel. At least, not yet. That was why I purchased the paper, so I could take a closer look once we were out of the public eye.

How did anyone know who or where Luke was? Mr. Fraser had sent me away to England to find the story. Did Mr. Fraser have someone tail me the moment I quit? Knowing Luke and I were involved, my old boss would know it was only a matter of time until I exposed what I’d been doing with the prince turned king. I didn’t think Mr. Fraser would stoop that low, but I had no idea what people did when they were desperate. He had tried to get the story on Luke for some time and eventually had sent me. What if he was in the hole with money and could use a story like this to boost papers?

Even though Luke wasn’t well known in the States, people loved a good fairy tale. Luke plucking me out from the masses of women would have been lucrative fodder for any newspaper.

“Over here,” Luke said as we exited the cafe.

The sun shone brightly, not offering any cover for us to escape. If anyone had seen the paper that morning, they would recognize us. I wasn’t ready for people to recognize me at all.

It was something I would have to get used to. Eventually, when I became Luke’s queen, the entire country would know what I looked like. Eventually, I would be dining with royals from other countries and appear in photos with them as well. Would I become a household name? Would people in Dallas remember me as just another queen in a foreign land or the Southern girl from America?

The possibilities swam through my mind. I had to get to the bottom of it.

Once we were safely inside of our Uber, I opened the newspaper. Since the photo was so big, the article was a few pages in, a desperate attempt to force readers to read through the whole paper to get to the meat of the story.

“The New Royal Family,” the title read, and I gripped the paper tighter in my hands. I hadn’t been engaged for twenty-four hours yet, but Luke and I already had this ridiculous moniker.

Glancing at the byline, I let out a string of curses, enough that the Uber driver’s ears started to redden.

“What is it?” Luke asked.

“That backstabbing bitch,” I said through gritted teeth. “Natalia wrote the article.”

Luke shrugged. “Do I know her?”

“No,” I said. “She worked at a nearby desk when I was at the Post. She wanted to know every single detail about me going overseas.”

“Was she fishing for information?” Luke asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “At that point, the article about you was still mine.” Reading through the article, there were several mentions of my past and a lot of information that I didn’t want public. I wondered if they would find Matt and interview him too. I knew Matt wouldn’t say anything, but he deserved a heads-up at least.

After reading a bit about Luke and his father’s death, I put the paper down in my lap, unable to take in any more information. “Your mother is going to hate me even more than she already does.”

Luke slipped the paper out from under my hands and folded it. He placed it on the other side of him. Taking my hand in his, he twined his fingers with mine. The ring on my finger pressed harder into my hand.

“How are you so calm?” I asked him.

“This is part of the job,” he said. “I didn’t quite expect it to go this way, but these things do happen. At least we weren’t caught doing other things.”

I noticed a look from the driver at Luke’s remark.

“It’s creepy and unnecessary. If they wanted an interview, they could have asked.”

Luke laughed at that.

“What’s so funny?” I asked him.

“The tabloids never ask,” he said. “They do what they want and apologize later.”

“But the Dallas Post is a reputable paper.”

“They still need to sell papers to keep the lights on,” he said.

“Never in my six years with them had I ever seen something like this before,” I said.

“Well, you didn’t give them the story they wanted,” Luke said.

He was right. Mr. Fraser wanted a certain story, and when I didn’t deliver and Luke’s father passed, there wasn’t a story. He had to fill the space somehow.

I had never felt so happy that I left. If they were going to resort to intrusive stories like this, then I didn’t want to be a part of it. Reporting wasn’t ever going to be in my life again. Not that I minded. I supposed I enjoyed the job when a promotion was on the horizon, but taking a step back and meeting Luke had altered the way I thought about my life. Now, I could affect an actual change in others’ lives. With Luke ruling by my side, there was no end to the good we could do together.

“If you don’t want to deal with things like this, I understand,” Luke said to me.

“Who does?” I asked.

“No one,” he said, turning my engagement ring around my finger. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise you that.”

From his frown to the crinkles in the corner of his eyes, something was churning in his brain.

“Luke, I still want to be with you,” I said. “I don’t want you to ever think otherwise. This is just disgusting to me, and I’m not sure how to feel about it. I don’t doubt us, but I wished this news would have come out differently.”

Luke sighed and nodded.

I dropped my head to his shoulder and squeezed his hand. I wasn’t sure how else to comfort him and let him know that I was going to be with him through it all.

“Once they find another celebrity sex tape, I’m sure this news will be on the back burner,” he said.

I snickered. “Sex tape? What are you, back in the 2000s? No one cares about those anymore. You’d be hardpressed to find a celeb without one.”

Luke laughed. “At least I got a smile out of you.”

“You did,” I said, holding on to his arm. We were going to get through this, but we had to get over the hurdle of telling Gia in person first.

---

When we arrived at my apartment, stacks of boxes leaned against the wall outside my door, along with rolls of bubble tape and other packing materials. A few of the stacks blocked the hallway. My neighbors wouldn’t appreciate that when they got home. Good thing I was leaving.

“This seems like a lot of boxes,” I said.

“I wanted to be sure we had enough to pack everything,” Luke said, grabbing my keys and opening my door.

I knew I was going back to the palace with Luke, but going through the process was much different than I expected. This was the first place that I’d lived without roommates. In a way, it was my bachelorette pad, and here I was, just letting her go in a day.

Everything moved too quickly for me, and I wasn’t sure how to slow it down.

I went inside and dropped my purse onto the table, as I always did. Glancing around the room, I asked, “What about the bigger furniture?”

“Whatever you don’t want to bring to the palace will go into storage for now. Unless you want to donate your things right away?”

I had no doubt that I was going to be with Luke for the long haul, but donating everything I wasn’t taking to Qatar was a little too much, too quickly.

Luke started pulling in the folded boxes into the apartment, along with the packing tape dispensers.

“I’ll keep everything in storage for now,” I said, making at least one decision. Since going to the cafe, I’d felt as if my life was out of control. If I could hold on to something, it would be my cherished belongings.

“Perfect,” Luke said.

“Do I need to call anyone?” I asked.

“Nope,” he said. “I have it all taken care of. We’re going to be gone before the movers come. I have the landlord taking care of it.”

“You do?”

“Is that all right?” he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I’m a take-charge kind of guy, and I thought it would be an easier transition.”

“Sure,” I said. There was no going back anyway. Luke had thought of everything.

“Where would you like me to start?” he asked.

“How about the kitchen?” I suggested. “All of that can go to storage. I’m not sure your mother will appreciate any of my chipped plates and bowls.”

He smirked and started putting together a few boxes while I went into the bathroom. Most of the products that I used would be necessary for now, at least until they ran out and I would have to figure out how to get more. In the time I had spent in Qatar, I kept my head covered, so that would affect the amount of mousse and hairspray I used. For now, I packed all the products into my toiletry bag. Somehow, it comforted me to have them with me.

Grabbing my only two suitcases from the closet, opened them both, and laid them next to my bed. For now, everything I wanted to have in Qatar would have to fit into these cases. The other stuff would arrive later.

It took only a half hour to finish packing my bathroom. Walking inside to do a final inspection, the room looked as if I had never been there. My heart pinched at the thought. Someone was going to move into this place, and there wouldn’t be any of me left. It was a sad thought. At the same time, it gave me a little boost knowing that I was about to go off on a new adventure with the love of my life.

When I finished my bedroom, Luke was almost done with the kitchen. He was patient as he asked what I wanted to keep—nostalgic, yet old chipped plates—and what I wanted to toss—all my cleaning supplies that had barely anything left in them.

We ordered food in for dinner, and by the time the pizza arrived, I could barely contain myself. I grabbed a slice from the box before Luke placed it on the table.

I caught his eye and said, “This is a lot of hard work.”

“I know,” he said, showing me his hands, which were covered in dust.

I hadn’t cleaned the top half of my cabinets in some time.

The only spot not covered with boxes was the couch. We snuggled together and ate for a few minutes. We had a lot more to do in a short amount of time.

Since I wasn’t moving around, my anxiety about leaving crept through my brain again. I wanted to confide in Luke, but hearing his nervousness when he thought I didn’t want to do this wouldn’t help either of us. I was the one who had the problem. Keeping it in my head was best for everyone.

Luke kissed my cheek as he went into the box for another slice. We locked eyes, and for that brief moment, I knew that everything was going to be okay. Warmth moved through me at the thought. We were going to be okay, no matter what. Just as long as Luke was by my side, we could get through anything.

Anything, including his mother. It was hard to imagine that she would be okay with our engagement, especially days after she had set him up with another woman.

There was no reassurance in Luke’s eyes about that.