The Pretender and The Prince novel Chapter 61

At eleven-thirty in the morning, Ondine headed to the hospital to see her mother, an insulated container in hand.

The car was stuck in a long line of traffic near the Mansfield Hotel, inching forward at a snail’s pace. For over ten minutes, Ondine’s car crawled along the stretch of road by the hotel, where a traffic cop was now trying to direct the gridlock.

“Ma’am,” the Thorne family driver said, turning to her, “there’s an engagement party at the Mansfield Hotel today. The guest list must be huge. It’s shut down the whole street.”

Ondine glanced at the time on her phone. “I’ll just get out and walk. The hospital’s not far from here.”

“You’re right, Ma’am,” the driver agreed. “At this rate, you’ll get there faster on foot.”

“Alright, I’ll get out here then.”

The car was gridlocked anyway, so Ondine opened the door and stepped out, moving onto the sidewalk after a few steps. Lustrous Medical Center was only a five- or six-hundred-meter walk from where she stood.

She wore a cream-colored trench coat over a short woolen dress, and her long, fair legs disappeared into a pair of soft leather boots. She was so striking that passersby couldn’t help but turn their heads.

At that very moment, Melvin Ford sat stewing in the same traffic jam, his expression a mask of impatience as he vented to a friend on the phone. “I’m completely stuck. I should’ve had my driver take me. Now I can’t even get out of the car. Damn it.”

His friend jeered from the other end of the line. “You should’ve seen this coming. I was smart enough not to drive myself. Have fun sitting there, buddy, ha!”

“Shit, I’m losing my mind,” Melvin grumbled, slamming a hand against the steering wheel. As he looked up, his gaze suddenly froze.

He stared at a slender figure walking toward him on the sidewalk and rubbed his eyes. “Holy shit! Am I hallucinating from skipping breakfast?”

“What is it?” his friend asked.

“I think I just saw Ondine!”

“Who?”

“Ondine!” Melvin’s voice was a mix of shock and excitement as he fumbled for his phone and started recording. “The girl Ellis was playing poor for back at Riverdale University!”

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