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 was fine with that.
Unfortunately, the world wasn’t, and this man standing before her was proof of it.
“I see.” But Serenity saw that he was having trouble seeing it. She could almost feel his frustration, his anger that she had to suffer such a handicap.
And for a second, she was tempted to explain it wasn’t that at all. His anger...touched her, made Serenity want to make the billionaire see that her limp was her way of atonement, a much-needed reminder of what could happen if she were selfish again.
But in the end, she didn’t. There was no point. She was sure that the billionaire’s interest in her was just fleeting, a rich man’s whim that would inevitably fade.
“Does it still hurt?” she heard the billionaire ask.
She shook her head, yet another half-truth. It almost never hurt, but the billionaire didn’t have to know that either.
“Your shoes,” the billionaire murmured. He was staring at her feet as he spoke, and it was almost as if her choice of footwear – a pair of two-inch wedges – offended him. She was still debating whether to feel insulted or not when he asked, “Don’t they add to your discomfort?”
Oh. She could feel her cheeks turning pink as she half-lied in a flustered voice, “N-not really.” She couldn’t help feeling guilty that she had thought so badly of his words when in reality he had only been concerned.
His lips suddenly twitched, and she had a bad feeling the billionaire knew exactly why she was blushing. His voice, however, was polite and formal as he said, “This time, I truly won’t keep you any longer. Have a good day, Sere.”
It startled her so, his use of a nickname, that by the time she recovered and thought of telling him how everyone but him called her Serenity, he was already walking away.
He left her staring after him, left her struggling not to surrender to whimsical dreams that had no place in reality.
He was Willem de Konigh, a man who was fourteen years older than she was.
He was Willem de Konigh, the man whose kisses made her older sister Shane sound almost like she had a heart.
He was Willem de Konigh, the Dutch billionaire everyone wanted to marry.
Serenity did her best to remember this and forget him.
And she almost did, until she went back to boarding school and found a beautifully wrapped parcel waiting for her.
Inside it was the most exquisite pair of pumps, and with shaking hands, she lifted one shoe up. When she ran her fingers on its insole, tears stung her eyes. The feel of the material, as well as its design and construction, told Serenity that these were shoes specially made for someone like her.
She was about to return the shoe into the box when she saw the card lying at the bottom, half-hidden under the other shoe.
When she had first been hospitalized, people had sent her gifts and cards, and all of it had alluded to her return to the world of dancing. It made her stomach curl up in dread, thinking that this card could be the same.
Inhaling deeply, she flipped the card to read its handwritten message.
To make you soar.
~ WDK
Chapter Three
SERENITY’S DAYS AT boarding school melted into one endless stream of activities, all of which she performed like an automaton. She might be there physically in every class, but in almost every second of the day, her mind was lost in dreams and her heart in uncontained hopes.
Every night, she found herself secretly scouring the Internet, trying to find out everything about Willem de Konigh. She memorized everything she could about his businesses, but every time she would see photos of him with another woman, she would unhesitatingly click on the X button to make it go away. Those photos, she wanted to forget, and especially when they were of her older sister and Willem de Konigh together.
Some days, Serenity prayed that she would stop being so obsessively infatuated. She was sure it was just that, an agonizing first crush when before the Dutch billionaire, she had lived a rather carefree life without ever feeling any kind of interest in the opposite sex.
Other days, she wanted to cry because of how much she ached.
There was no other word for the growing, invisible pain inside her, no other way to explain the way the world felt so dreadfully empty every time she remembered that Willem de Konigh existed and he was not with her.
He was not with her.
Oh, how her fourteen-year-old heart ached at this truth.
By the time fall began to give way to winter, Serenity had almost convinced herself that her feelings for the Dutch billionaire were a whim as well. Because she had felt so alone, and he had been the first man to be so kind to her, it was only natural that she would imagine she was infatuated with him.