Chapter 1

    Alejandro’s

    "In a marriage, there are three kinds of a ring, engagement ring, wedding ring, and the highlight suffering." Matias Roman said as we watched our friend, Andres Felipe, dance with his radiant bride, Alejandra Sancho, my sister.

    The reception was taking place at the garden inside the Castillo De Sancho, where Alejandra and I were raised and born. 

    "Wait till Andres hears that," I said while sipping the fine red wine on my goblet; the familiar taste of bittersweet runs through my throat. I already know that I'm drinking expensive wine.

    "What? Just look at them. It is almost enough to make you believe in the fine institution of marriage. Where in fact it's just in the first phase later on suffering will take its place."

    "Bud, I know you suffer from multiple failed marriages. But spare Andress and Alejandra on your bitterness. Andres already tastes his own suffering. Have you already forgotten about that?" I said. I am shaking my head in disbelief. Why am I hanging with these Bitter people? I'm starting to doubt myself.

    I'm glad that finally, Alejandra chooses the right man. Andres is a good man. I know that because I see it myself, besides he is my friend. And just one look on Alejandra's eyes, she is positively happy and glowed, and the swell of her belly added to her beauty. They stood in the middle of the makeshift dance floor, Alejandra tucked into Andres's protective hold, and they were so focused on each other that I doubted the world around them existed. Andres looked like he'd been holding the universe, and maybe he had.

    "I agree with Signore Matias. They look disgustingly happy, You Highness." Damian, my trusted right hand man, is standing right next to me.

    Matias chuckled and looked up to Damian. "Yeah, they do. Glad that I'm not alone with this. Fist bump, buddy," and they bumped their fist in front of me. I absentmindedly rolled my eyes.

    "You want me to deliver that message to Alejandra, Damian? She's willing to send you six feet underground." I don't want that to happen, but I know Alejandra, she's a sweet but wicked kind of princess you don't want to mess around with.

    "Lo Siento, I'm shutting my mouth, Your Excellency." and Damian stands straight and starts to scout around.  

    "You're so mean, Your Highness," Matias said.

    "And you're bitter." I retorted back.

    "Is that a compliment? Truly, you're a good friend, Your Excellency." Matias said, half laughing. I shook my head.

    "Whatever. I still have some work to do. I'll leave you both here, succumbed with your bitterness," and I stood up, walking straight to my study room.

    "I have good news, Your Highness," Damian said. He was following me and walked right next to me. I keep my head straight. But Damian already got my attention, "I have the information you need, Your Highness."

    Finally, I thought with satisfaction. I open the door of my study room and walk straight to the table. I grab the bottle of my favorite red wine and pour half of it in a goblet with gold lines on the top.

    "Still no word on Cameron?" I heard Matias's sympathetic voice. I didn't bother to look at him, I wanted peace, but they already invaded my personal space. I mentally shrugged it off. I guess he already had enough of his bitterness and decided to bug me.

    "No. But I only just started looking. I know she'll turn up." I said as I surveyed the land that spread to my view from my study room in Castillo De Sancho, which my family has owned for centuries here in the Valley in Andalucia, Spain.

    "Why are you looking at her, Bud? Why would you even want to go back down that road? Forget about her. Move on. You're better off without her. You're out of your mind for pursuing this." 

     

    I curled my lips and turned my back at the majestic view, and looked at my friend, who is sitting perfectly fine at the massage chair. "I have no doubt I'm better off. I'm not looking at her so I can welcome her back into my life." 

    I saw Damian move further inside the room as he silently closed the heavy wooden door.

    "Then why did you hire an investigator to find her, por favor amigo? You'd be better off letting the past stay in the past. Get over her. Move on. You have a lot of women bending their knees in front of you. 

    I was silent for a long moment. It wasn't a question I could entirely answer. How could I explain the burning desire to know where Cameron was? What she was doing. If she was alright, he shouldn't care, damn it. He should forget all about her, but he couldn't.

    "I want some answer," I finally muttered. "Cameron never cashed the check I gave her. And I've heard that she never goes home, even to her mothers' house, after she leaves. I'd like to know that nothing has happened to her."

    The excuse I gave sounded lame even to him.

    Matias raised an eyebrow. "After what she pulled, I'd imagine she's feeling pretty damn stupid. I wouldn't want to show my face either."

    "Yeah, maybe." I shrugged. But I couldn't shake the feeling that it was something more. And why was he even worried? Why should he care?

    "We found her, Your Excellency." Finally, Damian said the words that I want to hear.

    "Where is she?"I asked. 

I can't hide the excitement in my voice.

    "according to the news that I gathered, Sir. Senorita Cameron Bailey is in the Philippines right now."

    "Philippines?" I looked at Damian. My eyebrows snapped together.

    Damian nodded, looking straight into my eyes. "Yes, Your Excellency. She's in Manila, to be precise."

    Manila? So the woman that haunted me. For six months, he had cursed her, lying awake at night, wondering where she was and if she was safe. And he hated that he cared, even though I convinced himself he'd worry about any woman under the same circumstances. The last time I checked, Cameron doesn't have any connection or even deep feelings about that country. I thought she's in Russia right now, hiding. Half of her life is loved by that country. So why the Philippines?

    "What do you want to do now, Your Excellency?" Damian asked.

    "Yeah, What are you going to do now? lover boy."

    I smiled thinly at the man sitting lavishly at my massage chair. I wonder what Camero would do when she sees his former lover standing in front of her doorstep.

    "Have my plane to be readied, Damian," I announced with a smug face. "We will go to the Philippines to visit the Senorita."

    Meanwhile, inside the plane...

    "I hate to say this, but I'll interrogate that woman. I won't stop until she tells me. What is wrong with her? And what happened to the money that I gave her? After all, that's what she was after, right?" I muttered those words as if I was asking myself. A million questions hovered in my head, but I knew I wouldn't have the answers to any of them until I confronted her. I couldn't wait for this plane to touch down on the Philippines' soil.

    "So promising, Alejandro." I heard the familiar sarcastic voice of Matias Roman From the other side of the private plane.

    I glared at Damian, who was busy reading a daily newspaper. "Remind me again, why is he with us on this journey?"

    "Oh, I will be delighted to remind you," Matias announced cheerfully from the other side of the aisle. "I'm here because you need my resources. Andres's plane is busy as of this moment. By now, the happy couple would be off on their honeymoon, someplace where blue skies were abundant. And I don't want to spoil his sexy time, and his testosterone is high as of this moment. At the same time, your plane has a schedule for maintenance. That only leaves my plane to be in service in finding your lover slash ex-fiance."

    "She's my ex-fiance but not my lover. Thank you very much for keeping that in mind, Matias." I glared at him vehemently.

    "Oh, really? Right, my bad. Your Excellency." Matias said insincerely.

    "And also, Remind me to not throw you outside the window." 

    Matias's laughter boomed inside the plane. While I'm sending him a deathly glare, this man has no control with his mouth "The Audacity. This is my plane, Your Highness."

    Damian finally managed to remove his damn eyes from the newspaper he'd been reading. "I'm sorry, Your Excellency. I accepted his offer because he considers me his friend after I agreed to his statement on marriage." Damian said apologetically.

    "Yeah, Whatever." I took a deep breath and stared outside the window. I pointedly ignore him; I don't want to suffer from his out-of-this-world sarcastic remark. Seriously, I don't know what madness had possessed me to agree when he offered his service. I knew that he would not hesitate to unleash his sarcastic manner.

    But at the same time, I'm grateful that he is always there to help me.