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Katie sat resolutely at the table in the café, waiting for Papazyan.
She wanted to get up and pace the room, but it was crowded, lunch hour in full swing. The chattering voices washed over her, rising and falling, rising and falling.
It was time to make a decision. That’s why she’d come early, leaving the girls at a special outdoor dance lesson their coach had arranged. They’d been giddy about dancing in the garden and neither of them had batted an eye when she’d said she had an errand to run in town and would be back before the lesson ended.
Easy enough.
Katie had hoped to give herself some time to think at the café.
A young woman stepped to the side of her table, delivering a piping hot cup of tea. Katie considered her options while she scooped in sugar and added milk until the tea was a delicious creamy color.
If she told Papazyan that she was done with him, he could run any number of stories. Some of the details she’d supplied him with would expose the fact that she’d been spying on Armin. There was no way around it. She’d been careful not to give him anything too personal, but the details themselves were not widely known and would be enough to signal to Armin what she’d done.
Of course, if she agreed to keep supplying Papazyan with information, those same details would come out in his stories that way.
Katie took a sip of the tea, still hot, and swallowed it down along with the lump in her throat.
It was over.
No matter what she chose to do—stand up to Papazyan or continue running defense for Armin and the girls from the inside—it was going to be the end of her relationship with the three of them. Armin in good conscience couldn’t keep her as his employee knowing what she’d done. And even if she bought herself a few more days or weeks, he’d know eventually.
Katie could keep kidding herself, or she could face facts.
She pushed the tea toward the center of the table and reached into her purse for a notebook and pen. It was one of her favorite notebooks, with thick paper and a bright red cover. She had to flip past several pages of notes on Armin to get to a clean page, which made her feel even worse.
Then she hesitated.
This was probably something she should say to his face, but the fact was that Katie didn’t think she could look him in the eye and do it. Just the sight of him warmed her all the way to her core. It made her giddy with excitement to think of the way he’d pulled her into hidden alcoves and rooms, unable to keep himself away from her. Saying these words to him out loud would shatter her heart.
A letter it was.
She bit her lip.
Prince Armin—
There. That wasn’t too sentimental, despite the way she felt nearly choked with how much she loved all of them.
I have something to tell you, and I can’t do it in person. It’s quite awful, and you might never forgive me. Even so. I’m a writer. I know I’m good with words. I’m perhaps less good with speaking them, particularly when it’s such a delicate subject.
The truth is that, shortly after you hired me, I was blackmailed by someone. I wanted to protect myself, yes, but I swear it wasn’t just about me. I was already smitten with the girls, and though I didn’t really know you as a man yet—a prince, yes, but not a man—I saw something in you that I couldn’t help responding to.
I thought I could protect all three of you while protecting myself at the same time.
The man who blackmailed me wanted information about you and your lifestyle. I wanted to give him just enough to keep him from going through with his threat, but not enough that any harm would come to you or the girls.
I care for you all so much.
She hesitated over the letter. I love you, she thought. Katie did love them, bu
t with Armin—well, with Armin it was something different, and here in this café, waiting for the moment of truth, there was no denying it.
The truth was that Katie wanted to be by his side more than anything. She wanted to see things through with those precious girls, and with Armin.
But that couldn’t happen now.
It broke her heart.
Which is why I have to leave.
