My Dutch Billionaire - Tee Marian. Страница 2

Beholden

Reviled

Unclaimed

My Werewolf Professor

What I know about Alessandro Moretti: he’s the most beautiful professor alive, and I’m his plainest student. I need to let him know I want him, even if he’s likely to dump me. What I don’t know about Alessandro Moretti: he’s a werewolf…and he may just want me, too.

My Werewolf Professor 1

My Werewolf Professor: 4-in-1 Boxed Set

To All My Constant Readers:

Thank you for sticking with me all this time.

MY DUTCH BILLIONAIRE

(Willem & Serenity, Part 3)

by Marian Tee

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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PART I

Six Months After Book 2

“He’s busy right now, but he told me we can meet up in Milan.”

The words came from Shane, her elegant drawl drifting from the hallway and into the living room, where nineteen-year-old Serenity was. Through the open door, Serenity saw her half-sister pout in front of the mirror even while on the phone. It was as if the model in Shane never rested, and every second had to be spent posing.

“I’ve got a one-night gig there. Oh, you know, the usual. They just want me to make an appearance in the newly opened club, and that’s it. Yes, totally, I agree – my value’s gone up since someone let the cat out of the bag about me and Willem marrying.”

At the mention of Willem’s name, Serenity’s fingers tightened around the edges of her book.

From the hallway, she heard Shane let out a laugh. “Oh, my goodness, you don’t know either? I thought it was an open secret.”

Serenity lowered her head. An open secret, she thought numbly. Whoever Shane was talking to, she definitely wasn’t alone in thinking that nothing serious had been going on between Willem and Shane Raleigh.

Serenity had thought the same thing, until that night.

From her room, Shane smiled in vicious satisfaction as she caught the flash of pain on her sister’s face through the mirror. I hope she dies in misery, Shane thought. Even now, she couldn’t see what had attracted the Dutch billionaire to Serenity. The girl was like a paler version of herself, in every way. She was a total bore, with nothing to say to anyone. How could Willem de Konigh want someone like her?

Perhaps it was her innocence, Shane thought. Even she couldn’t deny how her sister was the very picture of propriety. Maybe it was the novelty of enjoying a girl’s virginity. The thought made Shane mentally shrug. Well, there was no doubt Willem had already deflowered Serenity. She had been awake the whole time Serenity had cried out for the billionaire to wait, cried out for Willem not to leave.

Shane’s lip curled. Pathetic. It just showed how little Serenity understood men. True love was wasted on sought-after billionaires like Willem de Konigh. It was all about sexual conquests and asset protection, and Serenity was a fool to believe she would get someone like Willem de Konigh to fall for her just because he was the one to tear her hymen with his cock.

Pathetic, Shane thought again. Pathetic little idiot. I hope you stay miserable forever.

****

Routines and regimes had always made Serenity feel normal. Since she was a child, she had become accustomed to strictly adhering to a fixed timetable for her day, and in the years that followed her father’s death, she had found herself drawing comfort from the repetitive patterns that shaped her days in the institution. Precise mealtimes, medication every six hours, and meetings with the counselor every Friday – everything had a place and time, and Serenity had liked it that way because it allowed her not to think.

When she had first left Willem’s employ, it had been the same. Routines had also come to her rescue, with most of her days spent in the library and cycling around town.

But it was different now.

She had tried so very hard to create her own timetable, to find things that would occupy her mind and get her heart to start beating again. But nothing worked. The memories didn’t care about the time or place. She could be enjoying breakfast alone in the dining room. She could be in the car, listening to another one of Melanie’s scathing reprimands. She could be shopping for clothes in a nearby boutique. There was just no telling when and where it would happen.

They would simply pop out of nowhere—

And in the blink of an eye, Serenity would be back on that awful, awful morning.

Like now.

She was only ten minutes into the half-hour train ride to Amsterdam-Zuid when suddenly an image of Willem superimposed itself on her mind. He had his back to her, and even though she knew it was unreal, her throat started tightening up—

The imaginary Willem began to walk away.

Her lips started to tremble, and she deliberately sank her teeth into it, trying to keep herself from reacting.

In her mind, he was still walking away.

Wait. Please. Wait. Her mind screamed the words, and her eyes started to sting.

Her heart was bleeding, her chest heaving at the pain that was trying to tear her apart.

“Miss? Are you okay, Miss?”

With a start, she realized she was crying, the tears blurring her gaze forcing her to blink rapidly until her vision cleared. Embarrassed, she wiped the tears away hastily as she mumbled a reply. She could feel people’s gazes on her now, staring and no doubt wondering why she had broken down in tears out of the blue.

Serenity fixed her gaze numbly on the windows.

Because I loved, she thought dully. It was that simple, agonizingly so. She had loved, but it had not been returned.

****

Serenity’s melancholic mood did not leave her even when she had made it to the VU and was surrounded by lively chatter and laughter from students her age. She saw but didn’t really see them. It didn’t feel right, to be here, and she had a terrifying fear that Netherlands would never feel right again, not as long as she knew the Dutch billionaire was also living in the same country, breathing the same air she did.

She was supposed to go to the university’s admissions office, but instead she found herself drifting to the university’s library. There was a newsstand, and right in the center of the front pages was a photo of Willem himself. Before she knew what she was doing, she had already plucked the newspaper off, her eyes quickly scanning the article.

One word jumped out of her.

Milan.

According to the report, no one had expected Willem to be at the Milan business conference, and his presence had sent everyone in a flurry. Analysts voiced out their wildest predictions, which ranged from the Dutch billionaire being interested in rescuing an iconic but financially struggling Italian company to simply being there because he had a dalliance with an Italian starlet.

They hadn’t known at all, Serenity thought, but Shane had.

Her sister had known as early as yesterday.

And suddenly, she’d had enough.

****