Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
She made her way up silently and when she reached the top of the steps, she heard her half-sister’s voice. “I’m telling you, Mother,” Shane was saying confidently, “I’ve got him hooked. He will be mine. It’s just a matter of time, and then I’ll be Mrs. de Konigh, and it will be so heavenly.” Shane giggled. “Maybe even more heavenly than his kisses, which are just so...”
Serenity didn’t wait to hear any more. She felt sick without understanding why and rushed towards her room. She was just about to reach her door when she heard Melanie’s door open, and her heart sank.
She turned around just as her stepmother and half-sister came out into the hallway.
“Why are you here?”
Shane’s voice was always rude, Serenity thought absently as she started to make her explanations. Did the billionaire know about her sister’s shrewish side?
When she was done speaking, Melanie asked incredulously, “Are you telling me you have to stay here for the weekend?”
“I’m afraid so, ma’am.” Knowing what they were most concerned about, she added quietly, “But I’ll be spending most of my time in the library.” It was her polite way of saying that she knew they hated having her underfoot, and she would make it easy for them to forget she existed.
Both women visibly relaxed after she spoke.
“That’s good to hear,” Melanie murmured in relief.
“We’re both too busy to babysit,” Shane said, “so I really hope you don’t give us any problems while you’re staying here.”
“Of course,” Serenity said politely.
An impatient expression crossed Melanie’s face. “Then we have nothing to talk about.” She gestured for Shane to go back inside her room, and as she followed her daughter in, Melanie slammed the door shut behind her.
Serenity entered her bedroom, closing her door quietly.
She thought about Willem de Konigh as she took a shower and changed into her pajamas. After, she lay on her back, stared sightlessly in the darkness of her bedroom, and still thoughts of the Dutch billionaire persisted.
How odd, Serenity thought. She had never thought of a member of the opposite sex before.
She remembered Shane talking about Willem de Konigh, and something even stranger happened.
Pain, ripping into her heart, at the thought of Shane marrying the billionaire.
Painful...but odd.
It was Serenity’s last thought as she slipped into an uneasy sleep haunted by images of her half-sister dancing in the billionaire’s arms.
Chapter Two
AS SOON AS WILLEM’S limousine started to move, he didn’t waste another second, pulling out the foldable laptop table from the side of the car, where his MacBook Pro was attached with a specially designed mount.
He typed Serenity’s name on the search box and was stunned a moment later when dozens of archived news reports showed up. He scanned the text swiftly but thoroughly, and questions he hadn’t even thought of asking were answered.
He had reminded her of her father, Willem realized grimly, when he had reached out to ruffle her hair. Apparently, it was a rather familiar gesture of the late and psychotic Daniel Raleigh when expressing his approval of his student’s performance.
Closing his laptop, he asked his bodyguards how long they had been speaking to Serenity.
There was a moment’s hesitation before Smit answered, “Almost an hour, sir.”
Willem was skeptical. “Almost an hour?”
“Forty-eight minutes to be exact, sir.” It was Molen’s turn to answer. “It’s SOP for us to take note of the time whenever we make contact during our shift. It could prove important later.”
“And what did you two talk about?”
“Nothing in particular, sir. It was mostly the young girl asking the questions.” The first bodyguard paused. “We did notice, however, her apparent reluctance to enter the home the moment she found out about her family entertaining a guest.”
“I see.” How...curious, Willem thought to himself. And then his phone rang, and as he became involved in a discussion about the current crisis hounding the continent and its economic impact, thoughts of Serenity Raleigh were forgotten. He would probably have never spared her another thought after that if fate hadn’t intervened the next day.
Willem was on the escalator descending to the central library’s ground floor, his security in front and behind him, when he heard a scuffle from the opposite escalator. He looked towards the sound curiously and saw a mother scolding her child for hanging half of his body off the rail.
Behind them was Serenity.
She was dressed in a pale blue short-sleeved shirt, tucked inside white embroidered shorts, and was on her way up on the opposite escalator. As if sensing his eyes touching her, she looked up, and blue eyes met blue.
She reached the top and stepped off the escalator.
He reached the bottom and promptly stepped off, went around, and took the escalator back up.
It threw his security off, all of them scrambling to follow him, but Willem paid none of them any heed. He was in a contemplative mood, his gaze never straying from the girl standing serenely at the side of the escalator, her own eyes unblinking as they met his.