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Serenity’s senses swam as the billionaire slowly lifted his mouth from hers, could only stare and follow him like a limp doll as he guided her back to her seat and took his place next to hers on the table.

“Tomorrow,” he said tersely under his breath. “I want you in my office at eight in the morning.”



















Chapter Four

MONDAY:Where are you?

Tuesday:Answer your phone.

Wednesday:Name any date, time, and place. We need to talk.

A scowl marred Willem’s forehead as he scrolled up to read his previous messages to Serenity for the past three days. Even now, it galled him how difficult it had been to limit himself to a single call and message for each day.

Dropping his phone back on his desk, Willem picked up his spoon and began to enjoy his soup. Or at least he tried to, but lately, everything tasted bland to his tongue. He surveyed his dining hall, a vast space decorated in rich luxury that spoke of the family’s old and respected history as one of Europe’s most powerful clans.

Whoever he married would have to be comfortable with this kind of setting, Willem thought. He tried to imagine Shane seated next to him on the twenty-foot table, glamorous and worldly, her conversation certain to be as sophisticated as the guests’, and it felt like the right and dutiful thing to do.

But then an unbidden image of Serenity came to his mind, of her soft, peaceful beauty and her quiet ways. She would never seek to dazzle like her half-sister did. Instead, she would just be herself, and that, too, felt right. But more than that, thinking about Serenity next to him made Willem...

He pushed his chair back and stood up, leaving the rest of his plate untouched. He walked away, intent on driving all thoughts out with more work. But even with the skies changing colors outside the windows of his private library, the word that he had tried to escape remained in his mind.

Happy.

It was what Serenity made him feel, and he hated himself and her for it.

Taking his phone out, he placed a call to Shane, knowing there was only one way to end this insanity.

****

WILLOW:Are you okay?

Serenity:Yes, Mrs. M. I am okay.

Willow:Now I know why Willem hates it when you call him Mr. De Konigh. You have this knack of making a person feel like they’re sixty.

Serenity scowled at her friend’s reply. She had explicitly warned her newly married friendnotto mention the Dutch billionaire’s name.