ROCHELLE The gay prince kissed me!The air in the mansion shifted the moment Princess Annabella walked through the grand entrance. I could feel the excitement radiate from the staff as they rushed past me, their faces beaming with admiration. Herold stood nearby, his tall figure adorned in a perfectly tailored suit, wearing a mixture of pride and anxiety. Annabella had been away studying abroad for several years, and now she was finally home.As she stepped into the lavish entrance hall, her eyes darted around, taking in every detail with wonder. Dressed in vibrant colors that complimented her energetic aura, she looked every bit the princess she was. Her golden hair cascaded down her shoulders, and her enthusiasm was contagious. “Herold!” she exclaimed, her voice filled with joy as she spotted her brother. She rushed towards him, and I instinctively straightened my posture, trying to blend into the background. “Annabella!” He wrapped her in a warm embrace, lifting her off
ROCHELLE Annie found out!Pulling away from Herold felt impossible, and I succumbed to instinct, deepening the kiss. As warmth surged through us, everything else faded away. The outside world, our pretenses, the looming pressure—they turned to mere whispers, consuming me in a much-needed escape.His hands cradled my face, and I could sense the urgency behind our kiss, as if we were attempting to communicate everything unspoken, all the longing that bubbled beneath the surface. It felt so surreal yet intoxicating, and my heart raced with passion.Suddenly, it was as if time stopped. The warmth of the embraces transformed into something deeper, pulling me in waves until I felt breathless. We stumbled backwards onto the bed, the gravity of the moment sweeping us into a passionate embrace. As we fell onto the bed, the world faded, and all I could concentrate on was him—his kiss, the way his fingers tangled in my hair, and the heat radiating from his body. Everything burst int
DELIGHT Welcome to my world! I'm obsessed!I’ve always known that love could drive a person mad. But until Rochelle came into our lives, I hadn’t realized just how far I was willing to go for Aries and Adrien. They were mine. At least, they were supposed to be.Even now, I can see their faces, the haunting pain in their eyes every time Rochelle’s name is mentioned. It’s been three years since I got rid of her, but they still cling to her memory as though it’s a lifeline.I tried patience. I gave them time to grieve, to see me as more than the woman in their periphery. But time was cruel. It only solidified Rochelle’s place in their hearts. They loved her even more in death than they ever did in life.So, I had to change tactics. Subtlety became my greatest ally.It began with a woman named Rachael.The fact that their names sound alike makes it even more interesting.Rachael was a waitress at some dingy little café on the outskirts of town. I noticed her w
ADRIEN Rochelle?“You’ve been quiet for too long, Aries,” I said, breaking the silence that had stretched thin between us after we returned from our latest business meeting. “We need to talk about our next move.”He was seated across from me in the lounge of our office, his posture rigid as always, his sharp eyes scanning over some market analysis on his tablet. Aries had been like that lately—calculated, patient, and deliberate. But I could see it in his face; he’d been thinking about this too.“I’ve been thinking about it,” he finally said, setting the tablet down. “You’re right. We need to expand our reach.”“And?” I pressed, leaning forward. “You have an idea?”He looked at me, and for a moment, I thought he’d make me drag it out of him. But instead, he rubbed his chin, his eyes narrowing like he was already working out the details in his head.“Expanding outside the United States,” he said. “The market here’s becoming crowded. There's way too much compet
ROCHELLE Death wish!The night had started as an ordinary royal dinner: a sprawling table adorned with silver candlesticks, glistening chandeliers, and the soft hum of conversation punctuated by King Hernandez’s booming laugh.Herold sat beside me, his posture immaculate, occasionally leaning in to brush my hand in a way that was more for his family’s benefit than mine. Across the table, Annabella smirked, her knowing eyes daring me to break character.I felt out of place, as I always did in their world of extreme luxury, but I kept my expression neutral. It wasn’t the time to let my doubts show—not when King Hernandez seemed genuinely happy, sharing stories from his youth. He gestured animatedly, his fork hovering midair as he delivered the punchline of his latest tale. Everyone laughed, their smiles bright and easy.“Father, you must have been a comic character when you were young,” Annabella remarked, still laughing.“Yeah, I was, but my father never allowed me t
ROCHELLE A Reunion of FatesIt had been a quiet morning in the palace—too quiet for my liking. My life as Queen Consort to King Herold was anything but ordinary, but even the most extravagant existence had its lulls. I was still waiting for Herold to call an end to this pretense. It was choking, really.“I'm still mourning my father,” he'd always say whenever I brought up the issue.“Give him a little more time, please,” his sister would say whenever I brought it up to her.“What if you two end up falling in love with each other?,” she had asked me one day.“It's not happening,” I simply said and walked away. I didn't wanna think of that possibility. My heart didn't belong to him.One afternoon, I was in the middle of flipping through a magazine in the sunlit sitting room when Herold walked in, his expression as calm and regal as ever.“Rochelle,” he said, sitting across from me and crossing his legs casually. “I need to talk to you.”His tone set off an internal alarm.
ADRIEN Back from the dead!I couldn’t believe my eyes.The party was in full swing, yet my entire world came to a screeching halt the moment I spotted her. The woman I thought I’d never see again. Rochelle. She was alive. Breathing. Smiling. Laughing. I stood frozen, staring at her as she leaned into Prince Herold like a woman utterly in love.“Aries,” I said, tugging at my twin’s sleeve. My voice was low, urgent, almost breathless. “Look over there, by the fountain.”“What is it now?” Aries muttered, annoyed. He had been in the middle of charming some model whose name I hadn’t caught and didn’t care to know.“Just look,” I insisted. My hand was shaking as I pointed toward the prince and the woman beside him.Aries followed my gaze, his easy smirk fading into a stunned expression. His lips parted, but no words came out. Instead, he stared, wide-eyed, at the woman we had mourned for years.“No,” he whispered finally. “That’s not… It can’t be.”“It is,” I said firmly,
DELIGHT She's the one!I stood there, my glass of champagne trembling slightly in my hand. The words Adrien had just spoken echoed in my head, louder and louder until they drowned out the soft music and idle chatter of the housewarming party."She's alive, Delight. Rochelle’s alive," Adrien said, his tone serious, his dark eyes locked on mine.Aries stood beside him, nodding grimly. “She’s here. At the party.”I stared at them, my heart pounding in disbelief. "What? That’s not possible. You’re joking, right? Rochelle’s dead. We were all there at her funeral”Aries cut me off with a sharp shake of his head. “We thought she was. But look over there.” He gestured toward the far corner of the room, where a small crowd had gathered around none other than Prince Herold of Tijuana.And sitting beside him, in an elegant gown, was… her.I blinked, my pulse quickening as I took in the sight. The woman was smiling, her posture confident, her eyes shimmering under the warm glow
ROCHELLENo better way than this!Being back in Aries' and Adrien’s arms felt surreal. I had dreamed of this moment for so long, yet now that it was real, I didn’t know how to process it. My heart felt full, but my body was still weak from everything I had endured. The constant care and attention they gave me were overwhelming in the best way possible. It was as though they were trying to make up for every second of the time we had lost, every ounce of pain they had caused me in the past.Adrien sat beside me on the massive couch in their living room, fluffing pillows and tucking blankets
ARIES We fucking did it!The cold night air bit at my skin as Adrien and I crouched behind the black SUVs parked in the shadows outside the warehouse. The place was surrounded by her guards, all heavily armed, their faces masked with the determination of people who had pledged loyalty to someone as dangerous as Delight. My fingers tightened around the grip of my pistol as I looked at Adrien. His jaw was set, his eyes darker than I had ever seen them. He nodded at me, his silent signal. We were ready.The police had insisted on being part of this raid, but I didn’t trust anyone else to bring Rochelle home. Not after everything that had happened. Delight had taken too much from us already—her betrayal, her lies, her madness. This was personal.“Move in!” one of the officers barked out instructions to his colleagues, and the police stormed the front.“I'm coming with you,” Prince Herold said.“No way!,” I said.“Why?,” he asked.“We can't risk you going in there with
ADRIEN A tip off!The chaos that surrounded Prince Herold’s palace was suffocating. Broken furniture, shattered glass, and bloodstains painted a gruesome picture of the attack from the night before. The air reeked of smoke and sweat, and the sound of paramedics treating the wounded guards mingled with the murmurs of the police officers conducting their investigation.Everything was messed up, really!Aries stood to my left, his arms crossed, his expression a mask of fury barely contained. Herold paced back and forth, his usually regal demeanor now replaced with restless energy. He was mumbling under his breath, blaming himself for what had happened.“I should have saved her! I have let her down,” he kept on saying.I couldn’t argue with him. If we were being honest, we all felt responsible…guilty… almost like we had committed the crime.“Damn it, Adrien,” Aries muttered, his voice low but tight with anger. “How the hell did we let this happen? We had her, bu
DELIGHT I'm always steps ahead!The glass of wine in my hand trembled as rage coursed through me. They had done it again—Aries and Adrien. The brothers thought they were untouchable, didn’t they? Thought they could storm into my world, take Robert, and walk away like they owned the place. The audacity!I slammed the glass onto the table, the crimson liquid sloshing over the rim. My men flinched but said nothing. They knew better than to speak when I was like this. I paced the room, my heels clicking against the marble floor, my mind racing with possibilities.“They think they’ve won,” I said, my voice low and venomous. “But they underestimated me the last time.”One of my men, Marcus, stepped forward cautiously. “What’s the plan, boss?”I smirked, my anger shifting into something darker. “We’re going to hit them where it hurts. Rochelle must pay with her life.”The name tasted bitter on my tongue. Aries and Adrien might be brilliant strategists, but their Achilles’ heel was
ARIES A step ahead…The room was dark except for the faint glow of Adrien’s laptop screen. He was hunched over it, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he brought up satellite images of the city. The tension in the air was thick, heavier than I had ever felt before. We had dealt with a lot of dangerous situations over the years, but this one was personal. Delight had crossed the line by kidnapping Robert.I leaned against the wall, arms crossed, trying to keep my thoughts in order. “You sure you’ve got the right location?” I asked, breaking the silence.Adrien glanced up at me, his eyes cold and calculating. “Positive. The signal from his watch showed up at this abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. She’s using it as her base.”I nodded, pacing the room. “She’s getting bolder. She must know we’d come for him.”“That’s what she’s counting on,” Adrien said. “But we’re not walking into this blind. I’ve already mapped out the weak points in their security. We’
ROCHELLE She threatened to kill him!I stood frozen, my phone trembling in my hand. The moment Delight’s voice cut through the silence, everything around me blurred.“I have your father,” she had said, her tone dripping with malice. “If you ever want to see him alive, you’ll do exactly as I say.”Her words echoed in my mind long after the call ended. My heart pounded in my chest, and my breath came in short, panicked gasps. How had it come to this? My father, an innocent man with no connection to my tangled past, was now a pawn in Delight’s twisted game.I turned to Herold, my mind racing. “She has my father,” I said, my voice cracking. “We need to do something.”Herold’s calm exterior faltered for a moment, his brows knitting together. “What does she want?” he asked, his voice steady but laced with concern.“She didn’t say,” I replied, pacing the room. “She just… she just wanted me to know that she has him. Oh God, Herold, what if she hurts him?”“Calm down,” he said firmly
DELIGHT Playing the death game my way!The party had become a nightmare I barely escaped.I had seen her. Rochelle. The corner of her lips curled in a triumphant smirk as she leaned toward one of the guards obviously attached to her. My heart raced as I watched her whisper something into his ear.The guard’s expression darkened, and I saw him gesture subtly to a group of men stationed near the exit. My breath hitched. They were coming for me, I knew it.I knew I needed to do something, else I'd be the one begging to have her life spared.I couldn’t afford to panic. Not here, not now. Years of being on edge had taught me to think fast. As the guards started moving in my direction, I casually slipped behind a group of chatting guests. I smiled politely, pretending to laugh at a joke I didn’t hear, before slipping through a side door that led to the kitchen.Inside, I found the catering staff busy with trays of different delicacies.“You need something, ma'am?,” one of them asked
ARIES The devil was our housemate!The air in the study felt suffocating, even though the windows were cracked open to let in the cool evening breeze. Adrien paced the room, his polished shoes clicking against the hardwood floor. I sat on the edge of my desk, my arms crossed, trying to keep my temper in check.The party was over. Everyone had left, but Rochelle’s face, her voice, her very presence, was still vivid in my mind. She wasn’t just a memory anymore. She was here, alive, but hunted.We couldn’t let whoever tried to kill her succeed a second time.She had refused to tell us who it was… Or maybe she didn't have a clue who. That made our task even more complicated than it already was.Adrien stopped pacing and looked at me. “We need to start somewhere, Aries. But this isn’t just about finding the truth—it’s about protecting Rochelle. She’s already been through enough.”I nodded, my jaw tight. “Agreed. But finding the truth is the only way we can protect her. Whoever did th
ROCHELLE Finally, the truth!The more I looked at her, the more convinced I was that she was the one. It wasn’t just a resemblance. It was her. Rochelle. The woman we’d loved and lost, the woman we had mourned, the woman we’d failed to save. Yet here she was, standing next to Prince Herold as if the last three years had been nothing but a cruel dream.Beside me, Aries went rigid. His glass of whiskey trembled in his hand before he set it down on the bar with a sharp clink. “Adrien,” he whispered, his voice taut with disbelief, “tell me I’m not seeing things.”“You’re not,” I muttered, my eyes glued to her. Rochelle. Alive. Breathing. Laughing softly at something Herold said. The sight of her felt like a punch to the gut and a balm to my soul, all at once.Delight’s honeyed voice interrupted my thoughts. “Gentlemen,” she purred, sidling up to us. “You’re staring. Quite rude, don’t you think?” Her tone was light, but her eyes glinted with suspicion.Aries barely spared h