A cold truth (part 2)

Maximus stared blankly at her for some time before walking back to the window again.

"Well love, if we are going to start digging into the truth, then let's do it properly shall we?" he said and Meryl detected amusement in his voice. She was glad that he was enjoying this. At least one of them was and she hated him for it, she hated most of all how he was comfortably calling her love. It sounded devilishly sexy to her ears and she hated feeling that way.

He pulled out something from his packet. It was her phone, she thought she'd lost it. By now people were aware that she was missing and knowing her mom, she must have the entire police force in their region looking for her. She couldn't imagine the number of text messages and phone calls that would be blowing up her phone if it was on.

He brought it forward. It was dead it seems.

"I'm sure you ask yourself how you got that message that night and why your boyfriend was a no show when you arrived," he said boyfriend with so much distaste she could also taste it.

"Your friend, Hannah is it?" he asked and continued without waiting for a reply. "Yes her, she was more than happy to help send you that message if it meant she could have your boyfriend for herself," he continued stretching on boyfriend as he twirled the phone in his hand.

She was floored for the second time since their bizarre conversation started after he explained to her how he had approached Hannah with the intentions of wanting to know her(Meryl) through one of her closest friends. She knew Hannah was the type to talk trash about literally everyone and everything including her own life so it didn't come as a shock to her that she would sell her out to strangers. Most especially one that was smoking hot with the face of a fallen angel. But to think that she would betray her by sleeping with Brandon behind her back was so extreme even for someone like her.

But he sounded so convincing. She payed attention to whatever he said, even though it sounded so so made up. She noticed how his eyes were distant one or two times as if he was reliving his encounters with her friend and his confident claims.

"I made her a deal to get you out of town for good," he added casually. He talked to her as if she was supposed to be okay with everything he said. Why would he take her out of town?

Wait could it be that he had an obsession about her? Could he be one of those sociopaths that stalked and gathered information about women they had an unhealthy obsession with you from a distance?

No, she shook herself out of that idea immediately; he was a crown prince for crying out loud, he could get any woman he wanted, if not for nothing, his killer looks will make everything way too easy for him. He hasn't showed any interest in her so far. All he's done is be insensitive to her feelings; he had nothing but blankness in his eyes whenever he looked at her; his voice was stiff as a dead beat whenever he talked to her.

What Meryl could not understand though was why he would go through so much trouble to get to her. If he wanted to know her he could have just come to her and him told him that.

"If you needed something from me, you could have just asked. Why go through all that trouble?" she asked.

And he looked at her for a moment as if he was about to say something but decided against it. That confused look on his face looked so familiar, like they met before, not in the dining hall but somewhere else. She couldn't quite put her hands on where exactly.

"Oh, it wasn't that much of a trouble. You are worth all the trouble love," he said in his very stiff deep voice again.

What was that about? His words held so much hidden meanings she would need to decipher.

"You can have it back," he said and threw the phone towards her on the bed and brought his attention back to the window. Meryl was so confused as she picked the phone up, why was he giving it back? Did he think she would not call anyone for help?

"You are not a prisoner here," he said after a while. "You are more important to me than you think and I don't want you getting yourself killed. You'll be no use to me if you're dead and we both don't want that, so try and stay in the safe confines of the castle," he said in a dead serious voice, his gaze focused on something outside the window.

She was important to him and he didn't want her dead? What was that even supposed to mean? Was it supposed to make her feel better? He has done nothing but crush her with informations that would possibly change her life for good, without giving her a chance to catch her breath. And now he goes on to say she's important to him?

Although she was not ready for another emotional beatings she still couldn't help but ask about it. She didn't know how true all of this was but something inside her couldn't let this one go. After all what could be worst than having the people she trusted with her life betray her.

"How did you get samples for the DNA test?" she asked eyeing him at where he stood by the window. What was he ogling at? "I suppose Hannah, or was it Brandon this time," it was more of a statement than a question.

"You catch on very fast love," he smirked, revealing a set of white teeth.

"What did you promise her this time around? My head on a plate?" she muttered, although loud enough for him to hear.

"Nothing actually. I told you we are friends," he said lazily. Meryl didn't know which one of them to hate even more; that bitch she called a friend or this odious crown prince.

"I know you might feel the need to call your parents, but I hate to break it to you that you can't.

Right, that explains why he would give it back to her, she thought. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm her emotions down. She was surprisingly feeling better after that. Since when did she get so good at keeping her emotions in check, she thought. When she opened her eyes he was already by the door. Was he leaving already? She thought they had just began.

She was not done with him yet so she couldn't let him leave yet.

"Can we get to the part where you tell me what exactly you want from me without being ambiguous?" she asked stopping him in his tracks.

He turned to face her. Caught of guard for a splitting second as he caught the anguish in her smokey grey eyes.

"I want you to come to the ball tomorrow night. That is all I need from you for now, the rest you'll find out at the right time."

He grabbed the door knob before adding, "Get some rest, tomorrow will be a long day," and left before Meryl who felt like they were playing broken telephone the whole time could respond.

He wanted her to go to a ball? That was it? Talk about not being ambiguous. This man was insufferable.