The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 158

Bianca’s POV

I held my breath until I was certain he was gone—until I heard his engine rev and then fade outside, and Darien checked through the curtains to ensure he wasn’t fucking with us.

“Alright,” Darien muttered, shutting the blinds. “He’s gone.”

Only then did I crawl out from under the bed, heart pounding. I took a moment to sit on the floor, leaning against the foot of the bed with my hand pressed to my chest.

“That was close, baby,” Darien said, sitting beside me. “Too close.”

“Don’t call me that.” I shoved his hand away from my shoulder and stood, dusting myself off. This felt like a wake-up call; coming here, to this shitty hotel in the middle of the night, was already humiliating enough—but having to hide under the fucking bed?

What kind of a princess would I be if I kept this up?

“We’re done,” I said, digging my keys and purse out from under the mattress and walking over to the door. I peeked out through the curtains, making absolutely certain that Callum was gone, then took the chain off the door. “It was fun while it lasted.”

Darien’s eyes widened. “Wait! Babe—”

“I said, don’t call me that.” I whirled on him and slapped his hand out of the way before he could touch my face.

“But I thought we had something,” he muttered, dropping his hand back to his side.

“Oh, Darien. You stupid, hot little idiot.” I trailed my fingers down his chiseled abdomen one last time. “What we ‘had’ was just fun. Nothing more. I made it clear that it would never be serious. Callum is my betrothed. You were just a placeholder.”

Darien’s face fell. “Oh. Right.”

The strand of amber-colored hair stuck to the top.

“Huh,” I muttered, plucking the hair out of the padding and holding it up to the light. It was long and wavy and the color of honey; a texture and color I knew all too well and hated with all my heart.

This was, without a doubt, Liora’s hair.

I furrowed my brow, thinking back to the strange thing I’d heard earlier; the thud in the back of my trunk when I’d run over a pothole in the parking lot. I hadn’t paid it much attention at the time, figuring it was just something rolling around, but now it made me wonder.

Callum had mentioned seeing pictures… Which meant that someone had followed me.

Someone with amber-colored hair and a grudge.