Previously, Maxim stopped the most incompetent sex traffickers from being incompetent and decided that he and Alessia will get married. He doesn’t talk to Alessia about this, but she does find out that–GASP–Maxim is a lord!
The Mister Chapter 22:
Alessia is shook by the revelation that Maxim is a lord.
But here … Mister Maxim is an earl.
No. Not Mister. He’s Lord Maxim.
Milord.
James, E L. The Mister (pp. 368-369). Random House. Kindle Edition.
Alessia comes to the conclusion that he didn’t tell her because she’s his cleaner and that she’s not good enough for him. I understand her being confused by this, upset even, but it strikes me as really odd that she’s just jumping to this conclusion. It makes it all the more obvious that she’s not really in love with Maxim, because if she was, if she knew him enough to be in love with him, she’d probably give the benefit of the doubt and think that maybe he was worried it would change things between them. It’s not excusing the omission, but you’d think she’d try to talk to him about it before jumping to all these conclusions.
But he never made any promises to her. Those were all in her head. He’s never told her he loves her … He’s never pretended to love her. Yet in the short time she’s known him, she’s fallen for him. Fallen from a great height.
I am a fool. A misguided fool in love.
James, E L. The Mister (p. 369). Random House. Kindle Edition.
Yikes.
She can leave.
She’s not going to stay here.
She doesn’t want to be with a man who has deceived her. A man who will cast her aside when he tires of her. She would rather leave than be sent away.
James, E L. The Mister (p. 370). Random House. Kindle Edition.
Like I said, totally get she’d want some answers, but I’m feeling weirdly bad for Maxim right now.
We jump to Maxim’s point of view and he both discovers that Alessia has found out his secret and that she’s left!
Alessia runs around the house and winds up in a room full of portraits. A room full of Maxim’s history. She hears Maxim running around, calling for her, and then he finds her in this room. I’m at the edge of my seat!
Alessia tells Maxim how one of the inept sex traffickers called her Maxim’s concubine/that she’s just his cleaner, and Maxim insists that his reasons for not telling Alessia about his family are nothing like that.
‘He said that I am your concubine.’ Her voice is hushed, full of shame.
No!
‘That’s … absurd. It’s the twenty-first century …’
James, E L. The Mister (p. 375). Random House. Kindle Edition.
I feel like I’ve written those very words here on the blog before.
Maxim gives Alessia a speech about how in this country she has choices. I do really like the sentiment bit, though:
‘You are here. I know you’re from a different culture, and I know we’re not economic equals, but that’s just an accident of birth … We are equals in every other way.
James, E L. The Mister (p. 375). Random House. Kindle Edition.
He tells her he wants her to be his girlfriend, but it’s up to her. He tells her he’s fallen in love with her. The chapter ends with Alessia crying in Maxim’s arms confessing her love back.