You are being provided with a book chapter by chapter. I will request you to read the book for me after each chapter. After reading the chapter, 1. shorten the chapter to no less than 300 words and no more than 400 words. 2. Do not change the name, address, or any important nouns in the chapter. 3. Do not translate the original language. 4. Keep the same style as the original chapter, keep it consistent throughout the chapter. Your reply must comply with all four requirements, or it’s invalid.
I will provide the chapter now.

17
BRIDGET
TWO DAYS LATER, WE LANDED IN COSTA RICA LIKE RHYS HAD PROMISED
and drove two hours from the airport to a small town on the Pacific
coast.
I stared out the window at the country’s lush landscape, my head
spinning from how fast everything had moved. I couldn’t believe
Rhys, Mr. Safety and Security himself, was the one who suggested a
last-minute trip, but I wasn’t complaining. I hadn’t visited Costa Rica
before, and four days in a tropical paradise sounded like, well,
paradise.
We’d finished packing the townhouse, and I’d turned in my keys
that morning. Everything else I needed to do, I could do online. I
was, for all intents and purposes, free until we returned to New
York.
“This is it.” Rhys pulled up in front of a sprawling, two-story vil-
la. “Bucket list number one.”
Go someplace where no one knows or cares who I am.
That was definitely the case here. The house was nestled high in
the hills and the only residence around. How had Rhys even found
this place?
My chest tightened with emotion as we unpacked our suitcases
from the back of our rental car and walked toward the entrance.
“How did you pull everything together so fast?”
Rhys would never let me go anywhere without doing the proper
advance work first, but it had only been forty-eight hours since I told
him about my list. For him to have researched the town, booked the
charter jet and villa, and handled the millions of details that came
with royal travel in such a short time…
“I cheated a bit,” he admitted, unlocking the front door. “An old
Navy buddy of mine moved down here a couple of years ago and
owns this place. He’s on vacation right now and let me borrow it for
a few days. I visit every year, so I know the town and people well.
It’s safe. Quiet. Under the radar.”
“Exactly what I need,” I murmured. The tightness in my chest
intensified.
Rhys showed me around the villa. The walls were all glass, offer-
ing gorgeous three-hundred-sixty views of the surrounding hills and
the Pacific Ocean in the distance. Everything was open, airy, and
made of natural stone and wood, and the house’s design made it
seem like it was flowing into its surroundings instead of dominating
them. My favorite feature, however, was the infinity pool on the sec-
ond-floor terrace. From a certain angle, it looked like it fed straight
into the ocean.
Rhys, being Rhys, also walked me through the security setup.
Tinted, bulletproof glass all around, state-of-the-art motion sensors,
an underground panic room stocked with a year’s supply of food.
That was all I gathered before I zoned out.
I appreciated the security measures, but I didn’t need a detailed
breakdown of the make and model of the security cameras. I just
wanted to eat and swim.
“Remind me to send your friend a big thank you,” I said. “This
place is incredible.”
“He loves showing it off, usually by letting people stay here,”
Rhys said dryly. “But I’ll tell him.”
It was already close to two, so the first thing we did after we fin-
ished the tour was change and head into town for lunch. The town
was a twenty-minute drive from the villa and, according to Rhys,
home to less than a thousand people. Not a single one of them
seemed to know or care who I was.
Bucket list number one.
We ate at a small, family-run restaurant whose owner, a round-
faced older woman named Luciana, lit up at the sight of Rhys. She
smothered him with kisses before embracing me too.
“Ay, que bonita!” she exclaimed, looking me over. “Rhys, es tu
novia?” How beautiful! Rhys, is she your girlfriend?
“No,” Rhys and I said at the same time. We glanced at each other
before he clarified, “Sólo somos amigos.” We’re just friends.
“Oh.” Luciana looked disappointed. “One day, you’ll bring a girl-
friend,” she said in English. “Maybe it’ll be you.” She winked at me
before ushering us to a table.
I blamed my blush on the heat.
Instead of ordering off the menu, Rhys told me to trust Luciana’s
judgment, and I was glad we did exactly that when the food came
out twenty minutes later. Olla de carne, arroz con pollo, platanos
maduros…all so delicious I would beg Luciana for the recipes had I
had any kitchen skills beyond scrambling eggs and making coffee.
“This is incredible,” I said after swallowing a mouthful of chick-
en and rice.
“Luci makes the best food in town.”
“Yes, but that’s not what I meant. I meant this.” I gestured at my
surroundings. “The trip. The whole thing. You didn’t have to do
this.”
Especially since Rhys was paying for everything out of pocket. I
assumed his friend let him borrow the villa for free, but the flight,
the car rental…they all cost good money. I’d offered to reimburse
him, but he’d responded with such a dark glare I hadn’t brought it
up again.
“Consider it my goodbye present,” Rhys said, not looking up
from his plate. “Two years. Figured it was worth a trip.”
The chicken that had been so delicious a second earlier turned to
ash in my mouth.
Right. I almost forgot. Rhys only had two weeks left as my
bodyguard.
I stabbed at my food, my appetite gone. “Do you have a new
client already lined up?” I asked casually.
Whoever it was, I already hated them for getting a beginning
with Rhys instead of an ending.
Rhys rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I’m taking a short
break. Maybe I’ll come back to Costa Rica, or head to South Africa
for a bit.”
“Oh.” I stabbed harder at my chicken. “Sounds nice.”
Great. He’d be playing world traveler while I was attending
queen lessons at the palace. Maybe he’d meet some beautiful Costa
Rican or South African girl and they’d spend their days surfing and
having sex—
Stop it.
“What about you?” Rhys asked, his tone also casual. “Know who
your new guard is yet?”
I shook my head. “I asked for Booth, but he’s already assigned to
someone else.”
“Funny. I thought they’d be more accommodating, considering
you’re the crown princess.” Rhys cut his chicken with a little more
force than necessary.
“I’m not crown princess yet. Anyway, let’s talk about something
else.” Our conversation was depressing me. “What fun things are
there to do around here?”
The answer was, not much. After lunch, Rhys and I walked
through town, where I picked up some souvenirs for my friends. We
checked out an art gallery featuring local artists, took a cafe break
where I had the best coffee I’d ever tasted, and shopped for groceries
at the farmer’s market.
It was a simple, ordinary day, filled with mundane activities and
nothing particularly exciting.
It was perfect.
By the time we returned to the villa, I was ready to pass out, but
Rhys stopped me before I could crash. “If you can stay up a while
longer, there’s something you should see.”
Curiosity won out over exhaustion.
“This better be good.” I followed him out onto the terrace and
sank onto one of the wicker chairs by the pool, where I stifled a
yawn. “I get cranky when I don’t get enough sleep.”
“Trust me, I know.” Rhys smirked. “Good of you to admit it
though.”
I watched as he turned off all the lights, including the outdoor
floodlights.
“What are you doing?” He never turned off all the lights until
right before he went to bed.
He sat down next to me, and I spotted a flash of his teeth in the
darkness before he angled his chin up.
“Look up, princess.”
I did. And I gasped.
Thousands upon thousands of stars splashed across the sky
above us, so numerous and densely packed they resembled a paint-
ing more than real life.
The Milky Way, right there in all its sprawling, glittering glory.
It hadn’t occurred to me we could see it so clearly here, but it
made sense. We were high in the hills, miles away from the nearest
big city. There was no one and nothing around except us, the sky,
and the night.
“I thought you might like it,” Rhys said. “It’s not something you
see in New York or Athenberg.”
“No. It’s not.” Emotion gripped my chest. “And you were right. I
love it. Worth staying past my bedtime and getting cranky for.”
His low chuckle settled in my belly and warmed me from the in-
side out.
We stayed outside for another hour, just staring at the sky and
soaking in the beauty.
I liked to think my parents were up there, watching over me.
I wondered if I’d turned out the way they’d hoped, and if they
were proud. I wondered what they would say about Nikolai’s abdi-
cation, and whether my mother knew I was the one who should’ve
died that day in the hospital, not her.
She should’ve been queen, not me.
At least she and my father were together. They were one of the
lucky couples who started off in an arranged marriage and ended up
falling in love. My father had never been the same after my mom’s
death, or so everyone told me. I’d been too young to know the
difference.
Sometimes, I wondered if he’d lost control of his car on purpose
so he could join her sooner.
I turned my head to look at Rhys. My eyes had adjusted to the
dark enough that I could make out the tiny bump in his nose and the
firm curve of his lips.
“Have you ever been in love?” I asked, partly because I really
wanted to know, and partly because I wanted to pull my thoughts
off the morbid path they’d taken.
“Nope.”
“Really? Never?”
“Nope,” Rhys said again. He cocked an eyebrow. “Surprised?”