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“It was my pleasure to give them, and Willem, please.”

He expected her to refuse, like she usually did, but she didn’t.

Instead, he saw her take a deep breath and then she said, softly, almost warily, “Willem.”

Ah.

He stilled, and so did she.

It was just his name on her lips, and yet he felt his world shifting, and by the way she swallowed, he knew she had felt it, too.

A bond, chaining the two of them together, for better or for worse.

Because she was vulnerable, Willem was trying to reason to himself. She made him think of how gut-wrenching it would be, if any of his younger sisters suffered what she had gone through, and that was why they had this connection between them.

Because he was perfect, Serenity was trying to remind herself. Even if she loved him, it did not mean he would automatically love her back. And he wouldn’t. He was dating her older sister, and more than that, he was perfect – too perfect for someone selfish like her.

She jerked in her seat when the billionaire moved, and she couldn’t make herself relax even when she saw Willem de Konigh lean back against his seat.

“This changes things,” the billionaire murmured.

Her heart skipped a beat, but Serenity managed to keep her voice steady when she asked, “What things?”

“Things between you and me.”

She held her breath—-

“I don’t know how to explain it, but if I have to, I think it’s because you remind me of my younger sisters.”

—-and released it when she realized what the billionaire was saying.

So, so stupid, she thought. Had she really thought the billionaire would say he was in love with a fourteen-year-old kid?

“Do they limp too, Mr. de Konigh?”

His lips curved. “No. They’re just as politely impertinent as you are.”

“I have no idea what you mean, sir.”

His eyes gleamed even as he drawled, “Of course you don’t.” He came to his feet, and when she, too, had stood up, he slowly reached out to ruffle her hair. He gave her all the time in the world to move away. But she didn’t.

He stroked her hair.

She trembled but remained still, her blue eyes pinned to his.

Drawing his hand away, he said simply, “Keep in touch, engel.” He didn’t say anything else, knowing instinctively that Serenity Raleigh, despite her youth, would be smart enough to read between the lines.

With those words, he had promised that no matter what happened between him and her older sister, it would not affect the strange and almost-surreal bond between them.

With those words, he had given her his loyalty and protection.

With those words, he had demanded the same from her.

Slowly, Serenity nodded. “I will. Willem.”