Page 217 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 5-8

“Our marriage, of course.”

She laughed. “It has been memorable so far.” Her smile faded a little, and she added, “And I imagine it will continue that way.”

She lifted her chin, as if she was showing her defiance to the future itself. And part of him wanted to defy the future, too, but instead Gustav forced himself to focus on what he needed to do.

“I still don’t understand why you went along with your parents’ plans for a marriage with Edvin,” he said.

She frowned, and in that moment he wondered if he should have let it go—all of it—and spent the evening doing something infinitely more pleasurable.

When she didn’t answer, he found himself asking, “What do you want?”

Livia looked out into the dark clouds that had spread across the sky. “A few days after the first time my sister ran away, she went back to school, and for a while, everything seemed okay. Like it was just a blip. But nearly nine months later it happened again, and this time it was worse. That hollowed-out feeling stayed with her longer. I moved out of the dorms and into my sister’s room at home for a while, and that helped. But during that time, I would hear my parents talking late at night. Then we started to have visitors, and one time I recognized my roommate Amelie’s father. The next morning, when I asked my father why he was there, he said he was starting something new, something that would be good for all of us.”

A gust of wind swept through the room, and she shivered. He looked around and found a blanket over the arm of a chair by the fireplace and got it for her.

“Not long after, all four of us went out on a drive, up into the mountains,” she continued. “We drove for hours until we stopped in a valley. There was nothing around, but we all got out and looked up at the peaks, and my father said, ‘All of this will be ours.’ Then he asked my sister what she thought of it, and even before she answered, I knew the answer. She loved it.”

Livia sighed. “He got into business as some sort of land assessor for real estate development, and his wealth began to grow. At first my parents were satisfied with this, but satisfaction is a tricky thing. It’s not a destination. And it didn’t prevent the Incident from happening several months later, when Adele took those sleeping pills.”

Gustav could see how painful it was for her to talk about this.

“But my parents were already hooked. A bit more power and wealth was the answer to every new problem. So even as they amassed more and more money, they found the final step of status and respect were still out of reach. Which is why my mother conceived this plan for me to marry royalty. They are giving away a good chunk of their fortune for it, but their daughter would be married to a crown prince.” She glanced at him and lifted an eyebrow. “That part didn’t go as planned.”

“Your parents must be disappointed,” he said evenly, even though that stubborn jealousy still clawed somewhere inside him.

She shrugged. “As I said, I never intended to marry Edvin, so they actually got closer than they would have.”

Gustav felt the claws retract.

“Looking back, every time my parents had a new scheme to help my sister, I didn’t want to disappoint them. And Adele didn’t want to disappoint them, either, by saying that she didn’t want whatever they proposed. So it all just spiraled from there.”

“What do you think they should have done instead?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she said softly. “I think my sister would have struggled no matter what our circumstances were. She is just her own unique self, and there are always people who target anything they see as different. But it might have been easier away from this kind of life.”

She gestured at the stately main house.

“I knew that none of my parents’ ideas were good for her. You know better than anyone that a title doesn’t absolve you from feeling like you’re second best,” she said softly. “There always seem to be people who say you don’t deserve to be somewhere. There are always ways to make others feel low, and no amount of money will change that. I knew all of this, and I didn’t try to stop my parents’ endless pursuit of status. Not until it was too late.”

She looked at him, her gaze piercing his. “You asked me what I want? I want to find a way out of all of this.”

He felt the ache of her story. It was a web of hurt and complicated love, one that was not so different from his own. Despite all the things that set them apart. Were these touchstones behind why they had been drawn to each other from the start? Was this why he had pressured a woman he hadn’t seen in eight years into marrying him?

He froze. Was this love? The thought was an ice-cold dip into the sea, and he found himself gasping for breath. But instead of that ecstatic rush that came after a plunge into the water, there was only dread. He couldn’t be falling in love. Not now. Not with a woman who already planned to leave him. Soon she would be on an undisclosed Greek island, far away from anyone’s reach. Alone. Or…

The awful realization from a moment ago was quickly pushed out by another. Livia was protecting her sister.

The story about dropping out of college, about the night of their first meeting, about her parents’ misguided efforts to amass power and wealth… It was so obvious now that the puzzle had fit together in his mind. Why else would she have agreed to marry someone she didn’t know, in a position she had always hated? Of course it wasn’t for herself. She must’ve been doing this for Adele, though he had no idea what the threat to her sister was. Still, as he played back her reactions each time he had set them on a different course, he saw the fear in her expression. Genuine fear.

Why hadn’t she told him?

That answer was easier: She didn’t trust him not to weaponize that information. Even now, after they had opened up to each other. He had thought they were growing closer. Building a new connection. But clearly it didn’t mean the same thing to her.

Anger, his old friend, shuddered through him. The urge to tear down everything around him threatened to erupt, but he held it at bay with another urge that warred inside him: The urge to lay down his arms. To give up his fight in exchange for the woman in front of him.

He couldn’t have both, not really, but tonight he would pretend. One last time. And then it would end.

Dark clouds came in from the west, sweeping over the open sky in a thick gray blanket, blowing and expanding, closing in on the crimson of the dying day. Late into the night, when they boarded the boat and the rain began to fall, Gustav followed her down the stairs and into the bedroom. She said nothing as she undressed, and neither did he.