“I always have something to do, but today, my biggest priority is to make sure you are safe and comfortable.” Brushing her hair way, I placed my face beside hers. “Whatever you need, someone shall get it. If you wish, we can have a whole salon come in here to help. So, take a deep breath.” I waited until she did before nodding. “Good. Now, what do you need?”
“I have some stuff. I will be fine. I’m just panicking.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“Okay. I have calls to take. If you need me, I will be in the living room.”
“Okay.” She nodded. Letting go, I moved back to the door to leave when she called out to me again, “Gale.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“What are husbands for?” I winked, and she smiled, shaking her head before facing the mirror again.
Closing the bathroom door behind me, I gave her space because it would be the last time she truly had it. Then I entered the living room where Iskandar was already inside, waiting for me.
“They know,” he said to me. “The press is already outside. We did our best to keep it a secret that you came here last night. However, it seems someone in the hotel leaked it.”
“I knew they would find out if we came here,” I replied, taking a seat at the table, flipping open the morning brief. I could see the grim look on Iskandar’s face out of the corner of my eye.
Last night was the first time he did not want to follow orders. He repeated he could bring her to the palace secretly, and there was no reason in his mind for me to come here. However, he was wrong.
“I know you would have preferred if I had brought her back to the palace last night, Iskandar.”
“It would have been easier to contain the situation.”
“She is a woman, not a situation,” I replied, signing the bottom of the page before glancing back to him. “I came here to grovel. The only way groveling works is if she is in her comfort zone, or at the very least, in a place that she considers hers and can make a choice without pressure. If you had brought her to the palace and I had begged her there, she would have gotten further upset because she did not know where she could go or how to leave. Here, if she really wanted to, she could have thrown me out.”
“Could she?”
I saw his point—who was going to force the prince to leave?
“There could have been another way.”
“There always is. But this was what felt right,” I said back to him. “And this worked. So, this is what we deal with. There is no changing it now.”
He merely nodded, and I picked up the second file. I simply loved how it did not matter where I was; these bloody things still found me. However, this time, it was not just work. It was my statement to the public.
I did not even have time to unpack my suitcases. I spent most of my time rushing back and forth, searching for the right outfit. Only it didn’t seem to exist. I changed five times because I knew the photos taken of me this morning would be everywhere by nightfall. I did not exactly have all my best clothes with me. But then again, most of my clothes were designer, so that wasn’t the problem. Right? Or were designers bad? Ugh. Whatever. I was just trying to find something that didn’t make me seem like I was trying too hard but also didn’t make it look like I wasn’t trying at all. Eventually, I went with what my mother always told me to do—get caught trying because it was better to be judged for doing too much than not doing enough. So, I went all out—Valentino yellow pencil dress with a low back, Christian Louboutin beige Follies Strass pumps, and black Chanel clutch.
And with my hair. I loved my curls, big and fluffy, and I had been growing them for almost ten years, but this morning, I had no idea what to do with them. I put them up and then let them down. Then back up and then back down until I became fed up and just left it down.
This was me.
Me glammed up a bit.
But me.
There wasn’t much more I could do. Nothing was going to make me less nervous. I needed just