Chapter 10 - Back to the roots

Lily hadn't seen so much luxury for a long time. To be exact, since she left home.

Of course, Elodie wanted to support her monthly, but Lily didn't want it. She wanted to stand on her own. Even if it meant that life had to be hard. With three jobs, she bravely stayed afloat. During the day she filled the shelves, in the evening she served the guests in a restaurant and on the weekend she mixed the cocktails in a club.

The whole thing went well for two years. Until this terrible event.

But Alexandre didn't miss out on anything.

After their dinner together, he had sent Adrien and her with a private jet back to enemy territory. She knew exactly what would be waiting there. Lily got a headache. And she wanted nothing more than to bury her head in sand.

Nervously, she bit her lip. Alexandre had explained all the small details. He explained all the expectations Lilly had to fulfill. After negotiating all contract details with their lawyers, they were on their way to a meeting with her grandparents. There they would drop a bombshell.

The elegant lady-blue evening gown pinched in some places or it was rather the shapewear underneath. She did not know. After all, it had been ages since she had to pimp up like that. Lily was not perfect, even though everyone else thought so. She was a master of illusions. And only her family knew the real Lily. She had to admit her parents had provided the right genes for Lily to have the perfect mask to maintain her disguise over all these years.

She looked like a charming nymph rising out the floods in the moonlight. The blue dress fell gently down her graceful silhouette. Let Alexandre guess only what was underneath. It nestled softly, like water around her soft curves and it hid her neck and shoulders under transparent blue lace. Her dress was very simple, but it made Lily all the more mysterious. With her big blue cat's eyes she peered at Alexandre innocently.

His eyes automatically fell on her rosy lips, reminding him of delicate sakura blossoms. Which invited him to taste it once. Her face was reddish peach pink. Her whole body radiated a mysterious charm. She looked innocent and sexy at the same time. Alexandre could not help thinking how it would feel if she were underneath him.

Soft.

Tender.

Impressed, he opened the door for his little rebellious goddess. He wrapped his arm possessively around her slender waist, pulling her close to him as he strolled leisurely through the room with her at his side. He felt all eyes on them. How they twisted their necks and wondered.

Alexandre looked down at his new achievement and saw how beautifully she were fitting in his arms. He took her to a private back room in the Red Mill, one of the finest restaurants in Dijon, the capital of the Archduchy of Burgundy.

There, her grandparents would be waiting for her.

Lily's nerves were raw.

She would see her grandparents again. After two years. She did not know what to say. Should she try to explain it to them? She was so insecure. Lily loved her grandparents.

She knew her grandparents had only good intentions. Who could have guessed that Pascal intended to poison her.

Lily had tried her best. She had spent her entire life trying to establish a relationship with Pascal. And somehow she had loved him.

Until her nineteenth birthday.

She had discovered his affair. He and Nadine had thought she would not notice how they always exchanged caresses behind her back.

He broke her heart.

Lily knew she could not cling to him anymore. He would kill her, as in the novel. So Lily decided to escape.

Silently and secretly.

She still wondered every night how her grandparents felt when they learned of her escape. Were they angry or hurt? She did not know. But she wanted to ask. But never dared.