RHEA'S POVThat afternoon, I wanted to prepare lunch myself but I realised there was nothing in the fridge, so we had to order room service. After the meal, I tried to convince Estefan to get some groceries because I wanted to cook dinner myself but he blatantly refused, saying he couldn't stress himself with trivial things like that. The most annoying part was that he didn't even have to go himself, he just had to send someone to get them for him, but that seems like too much stress to him.Cooking had become a hobby of mine since when I was young but I didn't get to do much of it since I entered the palace. I usually felt more satisfied with a meal when I prepared it myself. Since I had an entire suite to myself, I planned to use the opportunity to cook my food for as long as I was there. But Estefan refused to get me the foodstuffs, so I had no choice but to stick with the hotel service.I was sitting on the couch with my legs crossed and my laptop on top of it. My fingers had be
RHEA'S POV"Are you ready?" Estefan asked as he stopped the car in front of the gate. "Yes. It's just my parents, there's nothing for me to be scared or nervous about," I replied as the gate slid open. He drove the car inside and stopped in front of the main door. A guard opened the door for me to climb down as Estefan came down and moved to stand beside me. He intertwined his fingers with mine as we walked toward the entrance. The door opened and the head maid stood in front of us. "Welcome, Your highness," she said to Estefan before turning to me. "It's good to have you back home, Miss, I mean Your highness." "It's good to see you too, Mrs Anderson." I smiled at her. "My parents are in, right?""Yes. They didn't go to work because you were coming." Estefan must have informed them earlier, if not, they would have left for work. Mrs Anderson walked back in and we followed behind her.My parents met us halfway to the living room. Mom moved closer and pulled me into a tight hug. "M
LEAH'S POVThe sound of a car driving into the compound caught my attention, making me climb down from the bed I was huddled up in. I knew it wasn't my parents because they didn't go to work that morning. I didn't know why nor did I care to ask, but it seems that they stayed behind for the person who just drove into the compound. I stood upstairs by the rail, looking down at my parents welcoming Rhea and Estefan with smiles on their faces oblivious to my presence. Estefan glanced up and our eyes met for a split second before he looked away. He said something to my parents before turning to Rhea and kissing her forehead. My hands tightened on the rail as anger coursed through before I made my back into my room. I laid back on my bed, trying my possible best not to think of those two but that seems impossible as the scene of Estefan kissing Rhea's forehead kept playing in my head.For someone who claimed not to want to get married, Rhea seems comfortable with Estefan touching and kiss
ESTEFAN'S POVStopping in front of Rhea's parents, I glanced up to see Leah glaring down at us. I turned to Rhea, caressing her hair as I kissed her forehead. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed Leah's hand tightening on the rail with her face red in anger. I walked out of the house with a satisfied smile on my face. There was an unbelievable joy in my heart whenever I saw her angry, jealous and miserable, it was even more satisfying to know that she had no idea why she was going through all those problems. It didn't matter if she ended up finding out the truth because I already got what I wanted and nothing could reverse it.Getting into my car, I drove to Empire fashion house where the board of directors and Mr Darlington stood at the reception to receive me. After receiving handshakes from every one of them, we went into the conference room where we concluded with the signing of the contract. As we exited the conference room and walked toward the elevator, I noticed a dark-hair
RHEA'S POVEver since the incident yesterday, Estefan has been breathing down my neck, asking me every minute if I was in pain and reminding me when it was time for me to take my medications. It got annoying because he was treating me like I was involved in a fatal accident and not someone who took a small hit on the head.At the same time, I was enjoying the experience of a sweet and caring Estefan. Sometimes when I look at how he behaves with me, I wondered if he was the same Estefan I used to know. I remembered clearly the first time we met in the palace when he accused me of trying to seduce his brother and the other time when he said I should feel grateful to him for bringing me out of my miserable life. It pisses me off every time I thought about those moments, but I decided not to bring it up again.The whole point of it was that Estefan has changed a lot in the few weeks of us being together. It felt like someone has taken over his body and the real Estefan was somewhere else
ESTEFAN'S POVAfter Rhea had successfully locked herself in the bathroom, I had to threaten to stop editing her book for her to come out. She found her act embarrassing but I found it cute. I had to admit that he took all the willpower in me for me to leave her on the bed and walked out. The way she moaned out my name ignited something in me and I knew if I didn't stop that moment I wouldn't be able to control myself anymore.Rhea was still behaving awkwardly around me when she came but with time, she got over it and returned to her usual annoying self. The following morning, Rhea and I sat on the couch as she began to fill in the form for the writing contest on her laptop. Our bags were standing at the entrance of the suite because our plane departs for Spain in two hours which was enough time for Rhea to enter her book for the contest. I made sure I finished the editing before the day break because I knew I would be occupied once we returned to Spain. Rhea finished filling out the
RHEA'S POVAfter Estefan and his father left, Queen Carina led me to sit on the couch as she settled beside me. "Tell me what happened and I want the truth this time," she ordered.I sighed, knowing there was no point in lying to her. "Estefan took me to London so I could reconcile with my parents. After I spoke to my parents that day, I decided to talk to Leah too and try to sort out the misunderstanding between us. During our conversation, I brought up Estefan's partnership with Empire Fashion house which she used to model for. I told her I could help talk to Estefan to put in word for her to the CEO, so they could sign her back. But before I knew it, she threw a mug at my head, claiming that I was rubbing my marriage to Estefan in her face." "Okay, that is so cruel," Esmeralda exclaimed. "How can a person be so wicked? What if something worse happened to her?""We should be thankful that it didn't get worse than this," Anna replied."You know, the hurt I'm feeling in my head is not
ESTEFAN'S POVAnna and Esteban's wedding was in two days which is why her parents were in Spain. The rest of their family was to arrive the following day along with their guest that would be attending the wedding. Anna's family were close friends with ours but I had taken a dislike to Damien since the first time we met during Anna and Esteban's engagement ceremony. He was a playboy who sleep with anything that has a vagina and the fact that he has been eyeing Rhea since he met her fuelled the hatred I had for him.We all sat around the dining table, having dinner as our parents talked about the preparation for the wedding. Rhea shifted on her chair when she noticed the lustful look that Damien was giving her. Taking her hand that was resting on her lap, I squeezed it and whispered in her ear, "Relax, I'm right here."She smiled at me before focusing on her food. I narrowed my eyes at Damien but the idiot ignored me and kept staring at Rhea. Andrea must have noticed what was going on
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