ESTEFAN'S POVAt the rising of the sun, we set out to leave for the Knight's house. I rode in the car with Esteban and Anna who were following behind my parent's car where Esmeralda was. Since we drove out of the hotel, Esteban kept on questioning why Rhea and I got divorced but I couldn't provide an answer. When I set out on that mission, it felt right at that moment but when someone got hurt because of it I was too ashamed to tell anyone what I did. Rhea must have told her parent what happened and I was sure they were livid. I didn't know what to expect when we arrived there. Worse, I didn't even know what to say, I was only going there because my parents wanted to mend a relationship that they didn't know how it broke in the first place.My heart thudded in my chest as the car drove into the Knight mansion. I climbed out of the car and made my way into the house behind Esteban. Each step I took was like walking on hot coal but it was too late to turn back. Whatever happened in the
ESTEFAN'S POVThe car stopped in front of Kensal Green cemetery and I stepped out with a bouquet of lilies in my hand. The bottom of my leather shoe sunk into the moist ground as I approached a familiar tomb. I stopped in front of the tomb and squatted, placing the flowers on it. With my hand, I wiped off the mud on the words engraved on it.'In loving memories of our dear sister and mother, Adina Perez,' it read. "Hi, Mom. It's me again. How have you been? You must be mad at me for not coming to visit all this while. I don't have an excuse, so I'll just apologise. I'm sorry." I sighed. "Do you remember the last time I came here? I told you I had come to London for a mission but I didn't tell you what it is because I knew you would be disappointed in me. Right now, I wished I had told you about it. Maybe you would have found a way to change my mind and make me give up that stupid plan. "The thing is, I went through with it and I'm regretting every second of it. She left me, Mom."
RHEA'S POVI sat in front of the mirror as Kim curled my hair, letting them fall on my back in waves. She proceeded to do makeup before helping me get into a deep blue laced dress that was pencilled to my mid-thigh. Then a light blue flare net beaded with blue pearls was attached from the waist down to my feet. A set of diamond jewellery was sent with the dress which Kim helped me put on before I paired my outfit with black pumps. When Kim was done with her job, she left the room to get her pay from her employer before she left.Walking out of the room, I met Grayson waiting for me in the living room with a big smile on my face. "Wow, I'm so proud of myself." My eyebrows scrunched together at his choice of words. "Don't you mean you look beautiful?" "Yeah, that too." He shrugged," but you only look beautiful because I picked that dress and jewellery to go with it, and I also got you the best makeup artist and hairstylist, so yeah, I'm proud of myself." A sigh escaped my lips as I
RHEA'S POVSome decisions made are capable of causing people happiness or sadness for a long time. But I was lucky that I made a decision that I was happy with in the end."Wow, you look so beautiful," Leah said as she walked into my room.I stood in front of the mirror, twirling in my white wedding gown. "I know, right?" I smiled. The door opened again as Anna walked in with a five-month-old baby bump and Esmeralda behind her. "Estefan won't know what hit him when he set his eyes on you," Esmeralda said with a smirk on her face.That's right, I chose to take Estefan's hand and start all over again. I didn't want to go through the pain of missing him and thinking would have happened if I had chosen to be with him which why was I chose to put my heart at risk. So far, I haven't regretted that decision and I hope I wouldn't in the future. When Estefan and I decided to start all over again, his father announced our divorce to the public which caused an uproar on social media. We kept a
RHEA'S POV A sigh escaped my lips when the private jet landed at the Madrid airport. It was then that the realization that my two-month honeymoon was over set in. “Are you that disappointed that you are back?” Estefan asked from beside me and I nodded. “I made sure we visited all the countries in your list and checked all the other things in your bucket list.” “I know, but I wish we stayed longer because I won't have you all to myself anymore when we arrive at the palace.” I pouted. “No matter how busy I get, you know I always make time for you.” He tucked my hair behind my ear and placed a kiss on my cheek. “Okay.” I smiled at him. He held out his open palm to me. “Shall we?” I took his hand and nodded before we stepped out of the plane hand in hand. We exited the Jet and got into the limousine that was waiting outside. A small smile crept on my face when the palace came in line of my sight. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I saw it. As we approached the
RHEA'S POVI was dressed in a white long-sleeved flare dress which was according to the color theme of the event.Anna joined me in the living room after I waited for almost ten minutes. She was putting on a white maternity gown as she could not fit in any of her clothes anymore. Esteban had insisted that she didn't attend the event but Queen Carina insisted that it was part of her duty as the future Queen to portray herself as the people's biggest supporter before she ascended the throne and the Charity event was the perfect opportunity to do that. Queen Carina further promised Esteban that Anna would not be going out to any more events after the Charity until her baby arrived. “I'm ready, let's go,” she said and we made our way out.We took the limousine that was waiting outside to the event venue and I was surprised at the large number of people present. As we stepped out of the car to make our way to the podium where the females of the Royal Court were sitting, the Royal guard
RHEA’S POVI peeped over Estefan's shoulders as he searched for the trending news on his phone just like Anna was doing with Esteban.My mouth hung open when all the popular news from that afternoon was about Anna and me at the Charity. I glanced at her to see her face fall when she realized that the little she had stepped away from was becoming a huge problem. Who knew that my kind attitude to carry the boy would make the citizens condemn Anna and demand that I should be the next Queen?“Anna, I'm so sorry. I didn't know…” I started but I got cut off by King Estevan.“Why are you apologizing? You did the right thing by helping that boy,” he said before he turned to Anna who was staring down at her finger. “Do you have anything to say?” She glanced at Esteban before she replied, “I didn't mean to make him fall. His hands were dirty, so I didn't want him to stain my dress,” she explained. “I had no idea that it would end up being a problem.” “That’s not a good enough excuse.” He rai
ESTEFAN'S POVI woke up to Rhea's naked body wrapped around mine and her hair in a complete mess. A smile spread on my face as I stared at her beautiful morning face. Every time I woke up to her beside me, it brought great joy to my heart that I was the first and only man to see her like that. I didn't know how I would have coped if I had let her slip off my fingers and end up in the arms of another man.She stirred in her sleep when I kissed her forehead and carefully detached her body from mine, trying not to wake her after the long night we had. I got prepared for the day and went to my study to get some work done. Thanks to Esteban, I had an extra load of work to do because I wasn't satisfied with all the ones he handled while I was gone. ‘No wonder dad was on his neck.’ I thought as I shook my head. After an hour of working nonstop, I decided to take a little break and check out social media. I was hoping the issue with Anna at the Charity event would have gone down a bit. M
ESTEFAN'S POV “Estefan,” Rhea yelled from inside the room and I glanced at Mrs Dutchman who was standing with me in the kitchen, before leaving the pan on the burning stove and running to the room.“What's wrong?” I stepped into the room to see Rhea standing with her legs apart in front of the closet. “My water broke.” Her eyes widened as she stared at the water on the ground.“Okay, no need to panic,” I said but I was the one panicking because I had no idea what to do.“She'll go into labour soon, we need to get her to the hospital.” Mrs Dutchman walked past me who was standing at the entrance, looking confused. I shook my head and got myself together before moving close to Rhea. She placed one hand on her huge baby bump while I held the other hand and supported her back with my other arm as we walked out of the room.“Fuck!” She cried out and squeezed the hand that she was holding. “That hurts.” “I'm so sorry.” I caressed her back as she kept walking.“We need to hurry up, the
LEAH'S POV “Asher, there's something I want to talk to you about,” I started as I sat next to him on the couch while he was busy typing away on his laptop. A few days ago, Asher brought up the topic of our wedding. He wanted to talk to my parents so that we could finalize the wedding date and start preparing for it. Like I told Rhea, I wanted to discuss the issue of not having babies yet before we proceeded. “Okay, but check this out first.” He placed his laptop on the table so that I could see what he was doing he was looking at.I raised my eyebrows when I saw that it was a picture of a house, a beautiful house at that. “What do you think about it?” He asked.“It's a beautiful house and I love the design too.” I nodded.“Would you love to live there someday?” He continued. My face scrunched in confusion. “Why are you asking me that?” He scratched the back of his head. “I'm thinking of buying the house for us. I don't want us to live in this apartment when we get married.” “
RHEA'S POV ONE WEEK LATER.“Do you think we should go with the Spiderman theme for the nursery?” I asked as we drove to the hospital because Esteban was getting discharged.“Why would you want to use a Spiderman theme for a baby girl?” Estefan looked up from his phone with raised eyebrows.“It's not a girl, it's a boy. I know that because I'm the one carrying the child.” I folded my hands. “It's called mother's instinct.” “It doesn't work that way.” “It does.” I countered. “Why don't we ask Mom when we get to the hospital?” “Fine.” He averted his eyes from me and focused on his phone.The car stopped in the hospital parking lot. We stepped out and made our way inside, heading straight to Esteban’s room.Esteban was heading out of the room with Mom and Esmeralda when we got there. “I told you not to waste your time coming.” He rolled his eyes at us.He had insisted that we didn't make his discharge a big deal and just meet him in the palace later. But Estefan and I being the adaman
ESTEFAN'S POV That morning, the doctor confirmed that my father had slipped into a coma and had no idea when he would be awake. Some of the court members visited the hospital to confirm it before they decided to proceed with their plans of making Prince Eugenio the ruling king.Princess Antonella contacted the officer and he told us the arrest warrant would be issued soon.I made Esmeralda and Mom stay in the hospital with Rhea and Esteban while I went to the appointment ceremony with Princess Antonella and her husband. We were sitting in the front row reserved for the member of the Royal family and the court members proceeded with the ceremony when everyone else was present.My feet bounced and I kept looking at the entrance of the palace Grand Hall, waiting for the police to walk in. “What's taking them so long?” Princess Antonella asked as Prince Eugenio was invited to the podium.“I have no idea.” “They have to arrest him before the ceremony is over or else he will be untouch
ESTEFAN'S POV Esmeralda and I were standing in the hospital reception when medics rushed my father who was lying unconscious on the stretcher into the hospital. My heart stopped when I saw the blood all over his white shirt. “Mom, where is Esteban?” Esmeralda ran toward Mom who was following Dad's stretcher with tears rolling down her cheeks.Before she could reply, Esteban's stretcher was rolled in by the medics. He was still conscious and groaning in pain. “Esteban, hang in there. You're going to be fine.” I followed the nurses as they pushed him toward the emergency room.“Please, make sure Dad is okay.” He groaned in pain as he spoke.“Dad will be fine, just worry about yourself.” I stopped as they went into the emergency room.Mom broke down in Esmeralda's arm and they sank to the ground while I watched them, trying so hard to control my tears. We sat outside the waiting room, watching nurses going in and out. “Where is Estevan?” Princess Antonella shouted and she ran towa
ESTEFAN'S POV“Go back there and check for the CCTV camera,” I ordered the bodyguards. “We need to find the people who left her there.” My bodyguards reported that they found Rhea lying in an alley. If I could get footage of the person who left her there and get him arrested, we might be able to get him to mention Prince Eugenio's name and add it to the list of his crimes. “Yes, Your Highness.” They bowed and left the room.Esmeralda walked into the hospital room with Mrs Dutchman who was holding a basket of food. I made her go back to the palace last night, even though she insisted on staying. I should have expected that she would be early the next morning. “Your Highness, I brought you some food.” Mrs Dutchman placed the basket on a small table and dragged me to sit on the chair in front of it. “I'm very sure you didn't get anything last night. Her Highness would get mad at you if she found out you have been starving yourself.” She was right. I didn't get anything to eat the wh
ESTEFAN'S POV I drove like a maniac to the palace and rushed into the living room where everyone was sitting. “Where is she?” I asked, breathing heavily. My father stood up with a dejected look on his face. “Prince Eugenio has her, and he won't release her unless I announce him to the Crown Prince.” My heart dropped at the mention of Prince Eugenio's name, and my shoulders slumped in defeat. After everything I did to save my family’s legacy, everything was going to go down the drain because I couldn't protect Rhea. If only I had chosen to let that maid go and follow Rhea to the hospital. I pulled on my hair before I picked up a vase beside me and smashed it against the wall. “Fuck!” I yelled. “Estefan, calm down.” Esteban rushed to hold me. “How can I calm down? I don't know what that bastard is doing to her. She must be scared all by herself.” I cried as I spoke. “I should have gone with her to the hospital. This is all my fault.” Esteban wrapped his hands aroun
ESTEFAN'S POV “Thanks for your help.” I walked toward the elevator with my bodyguards behind me. I took one of the regular elevators to the second floor. As if luck was on my side, the elevator stopped to reveal the kitchen maid holding two suitcases with her mother behind her. Her eyes widened upon seeing me, and she turned to make a run for it, but she stopped in her tracks when her eyes landed on her mother. I smirked, knowing she couldn't leave her mother behind to save herself. “Help them get in,” I ordered my bodyguards, and they stepped out of the elevator to usher them in. Gabriela shook in fear as she and her mother stood behind me in the elevator. The door closed, and I held the elevator before turning to her. “What's going on? Why isn't the elevator moving?” Her mother raised an alarm, looking at me and my bodyguards in fear. Gabriela kept her head down in fear, tugging on her mother's skirt. “What is it? Why are you quiet?” She turned to her daughter, e
ESTEFAN'S POV “You have a phone call,” Rhea brought my phone to me in the bathroom. She answered it and put it on speaker since I couldn't answer it in the shower. “Good morning, Your Highness, its Doctor Enzo,” the caller said. “The DNA results are ready, you can come pick them up.” “Thank you, doctor,” I replied and he hung up. Rhea left the bathroom and I finished up before joining her in the room. She sat on the bed, typing away on her laptop while I got dressed.“I have an appointment with my obstetrician today, do you think you can come along?” She asked as she closed the laptop. “What time?” I stood in front of the mirror and buttoned my shirt. “11:30, can you make it?” She stood up to help me with my tie that I still haven't gotten the hang of. “I'm not sure, but I'll try.” I wrapped my hands around her.I had to get the test results and explain everything to my father before the meeting which I was informed was scheduled for 2pm.“If anything comes up and I can't make