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"But--"

"Holy shit!" Olivia screeches And jue rat!"

"Don’t hurt hi him I already naonna be so cute when he’s eating your toes while you sleep," I tell her

She points her finger at "

Olivia starts repacking boxes

Ellie leaps towards her "Wait, Liv! Back me up--sister code"

"You can’t stay here, Ellie There’s no way"

"But it’s got character written all over it," Ellie whines

"I think you’re e the serial killer wrote on the wall in blood, after he du sister, shaking her head, "Marrying a prince has h for Reo"

She then follows her husband and Toht out the door

While I close up a box at my feet and lift it, Ellie stands in thein a half circle She’s quiet and seemstiny in the empty flat Dejected

I step up behind her "There’ll be other places, Elle"

Her purple tipped blond hair sways across her back as she shakes her head "Not like this"

"No, they’ll be better Nicer, safer places You deserve better"

She spins around then, with a burst of righteous energy The tips of her ser

"You ratted me out to Nicholas," she hisses

And there’s a devil insideon a girl’s braids--just to see how she’ll react when I do

"Yeah, I did"

Ellie folds her ar fury--a pretty pussycat who just discovered her claws "I didn’t take you for a narc, Logan"

I shrug "Now you know"

She jaer towards my chest "You are on ive you for this Never"

I lean in close, dropping my voice "Since now you’ll actually be alive for all those years that you’re busy not forgiving onna put this one down as a win"

She sticks her tongue out, then twirls around and stoue is cute

Somebody fuckin’ punch me

Six months later

FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, Ellie stays put--at the well-secured penthouse with Prince Nicholas and Olivia Their lives go on--there are social events and announcements and the occasional royal duty The rest of their ti the Amelia’s charitable diners Eric Hammond, almost two years sober now, has thrown himself into the venture and works every day at one of the three locations--cooking, washing dishes, interacting with e whatever needs to be done to keep the places running smoothly

The press still swar articles that have no truth to them But Nicholas settles in happily to married life and his mostly civilian American existence While Lady Olivia, her father and Ellie adjust fully to their celebrity-by-association status

And Ellie occasionallydates

It’s a sore subject Mostly because it irks the fuck out of me

Her preference seems to be scrawny, self-important, worthless little twats Ellie Hammond is a delicate prize, with soherself too bloody short

My mood is black whenever a new one arrives on the scene, and blacker during the feeeks they tend to hang around Tommy always asks me if it’s my time of thethe jokester, but he’s sharp; he notices things