I shook my head. “I’m saving my energy.”
I didn’t want her reminding me how crazy I was.
“You can always just pass me the phone.”
“No, I definitely cannot.” She would say things that might break his spirit. The only one who could go up against my mother was me, and even I lost most times.
“Okay, let’s go,” he said, squeezing my hand.
When we walked forward, Iskandar was already standing at the door. I hadn’t noticed him walk by and where my luggage went, I wasn’t sure, but he focused on getting us out of there.
“We will go through the private exit,” he said as we reached the front doors.
“We will go through the lobby,” Gale said to him with a smile. However, it was not one Iskandar shared.
Iskandar stared at him—maybe that was his way of begging—but Gale just nodded his head to me. “She needs to check out.”
“That can be handled by someone else, sir,” Iskandar said through almost clenched teeth.
“They know we are here. We are not hiding or sneaking away. It is not something shameful, so we leave as guests leave,” Gale stated back.
Iskandar’s jaw still wired shut, nodded. With all the energy in his body, he forced out, “As you wish, sir.”
He walked in front of us, opening the front door. When he opened it, two more men were standing there, neither of them Wolfgang. Both of them bowed their heads, with their hands over their hearts, to Gale. However, it wasn’t just them when we stepped out. There were more people in the hall.
“Were they all here last night?” I whispered to Gale as we waited for the elevator.
“No, only two, but I called for more this morning.”
“They got here fast,” I said when we stepped through the elevator doors.
“You did take almost two hours getting ready,” he whispered back.
“You told me to take as long as I like.”
“And you really did.”
I elbowed him, causing him to grunt and the two new guys to glance back, confused at what happened. Iskandar, however, seemed unbothered. I smiled at them, but it was only when Gale nodded that he was fine did they turn back around.
“I am a very precious person, you know,” he whispered before pushing my back, making me stumble a little bit.
I spun back to him, glaring, but he pretended not to notice, a grin on his lips. “How do we all fit in here with your ego, Mr. Precious?”
“By God’s grace,” he said with base in his voice.
I shook my head, trying to ignore him, which was hard with his hand in mine. However, I focused on the numbers as they went down.
“Ready?” He squeezed my hand.
“Yes.” No, not really. But what else could I do?
The doors opened, and there were guards down there, too, along with a few other guests in the lobby. The moment we stepped out, I could hear the press from outside. They couldn’t just come inside, but that didn’t stop the guest inside from holding up their cell phone, taking photos of us.
“Do not pay any attention to them. Come on,” Gale whispered, walking to the reception desk.
There, I saw the familiar faces of Annalena and Viktor. Yesterday, after they had realized their mistake, they had looked ashamed. Today, looking at me, then at their prince, then back at me, they looked mortified, their faces pale and their bodies stiff. You would think they had died standing up.
“My fiancée and I would like to check out,” Gale said, and I noticed his eyes narrowing angrily, directly on those two.