Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
I don’t know what Natalia’s planning – I just don’t want Ilse to be hurt.
Gloria’s words pounded the billionaire’s mind over and over, and terror like Jaak had never known dogged him as he combed the streets of De Wallen, his blue gaze rapidly scanning his surroundings left and right for a brunette in a nurse’s uniform.
With every second that passed, he felt like he was taking a step closer towards redemption. This time would be different. This time, he would make it, this time he would save her.
But every second that passed in which he didn’t find her also made the billionaire feel like a fraud.
His soul shriveled at all the bad things that could happen. Men from her past trying to make Ilse feel ashamed of something she should be proud of. Men thinking they could do anything they wanted to just because of Ilse’s job—-
The billionaire’s fears did its best to cripple him.
Would he really be on time?
Could he really change the past?
Should he even try?
He had no fucking answer to these questions.
The only thing he knew and understood was that he had to try.
More minutes crept past him, and the billionaire struggled to hold on to the belief that he could still make it. Ilse needed him, dammit. And he would be there for her. He would be fucking there, no matter what—-
And that was when he heard her voice.
Beautiful, sweet, and so goddamn familiar because he had dreamt of it every night—-
The billionaire strained to hear it again, and he looked around wildly, trying to find where it was coming from.
And then he heard it again—-
“Oh lawd, the way you stare at me, sir!”
Ilse. That was Ilse. That was his Ilse.
“I’m not the one on display, sir. Please look here instead.”
The billionaire followed the sound of her voice, and soon enough he found himself just a few feet behind her tour group—-
Ilse.
Indeed, she was wearing a nurse’s uniform, and though her costumes had always been tight, this one was more so than usual, and his jaw clenched at the thought that this one could actually burst open given enough time.
She stood in front of a window illuminated with neon blue lights, and her voice was earnest as she explained to them that this was the place they should go to if they wanted to be friends with—-
He watched Ilse cock her head to the side, her brows furrowing as if she was trying to recall something.
“I think the word they use is, umm, ‘transsexual.’” She looked about her, wide-eyed. “I’m not sure what that means. Do any of you know what it means?”
Hands shot up, with almost every guy in the group looking eager to impart his knowledge to her.
“You, sir. Please tell me what a transsexual is,” she implored, her eyes fluttering.
“It’s a guy who got himself boobs and a pussy.”
The men laughed, but Ilse clapped her hands over her mouth, looking properly shocked. “Oh dear gawd, how can that be?”
And so it went on.
And everything gradually became clear.
Ilse. Ilse. Ilse.
The tension slowly eased from the billionaire’s powerful frame, and Jaak had the strangest urge to laugh.
Ilse, Ilse, Ilse.
How could he have forgotten this was Ilse, and that she was different?
He watched Ilse proceed with the tour, acting exactly as requested and without a hint of discomfort on her face.
According to Gloria, all these boys had once been Ilse’s friends, and most of them had huge crushes on her. But when push came to shove, all of them had turned their backs on Ilse. When Natalia had begun spreading lies about Ilse, making her seem like she was a manipulative bitch intent on leeching off everyone—-
All of Ilse’s friends had chosen to take the easy way out.
All of them had chosen to believe Natalia.
And yet—-
Even though Ilse had every right to call them a liar to their faces—-
The moment the tour ended, the guys begged for a chance to have their photos taken with her, and Ilse graciously acquiesced with a sunny smile, still very much in character.
Thank you, Mr. Grant, and you’re quite handsome, too.
Oh no, Mr. Morley, you flatter me too much.
She was neither proud nor humble, her tone friendly but professional at the same time.
She gave them no chance to feel guilty or ashamed about the past, but neither did she act like she found her line of work an embarrassment.
This is me, and this is reality, her every look, gesture, and word said.
He watched her, and he had never felt prouder or humbler.
He watched her, and the billionaire thought, Ilse was right.
They weren’t for each other...because he couldn’t possibly deserve her.
Ilse was right, but he also knew it no longer mattered.
Because he also knew he could never let her go now.
She was the only woman for him.
ISSAC WAITED UNTIL the last of their friends left before hesitantly approaching her. “Ilse?”