LylaWatching Rashid and his sister head into the kitchen, I let myself relax back on the couch.I was acutely aware of Javier's hands still hovering over mine, clasped around my own in a gentle hold that, if I didn't know any better, I would think was simply friendly and not anything else.Although, maybe it was. I'd spent so much time building up what he'd said to me the last time I'd been in Dubai, that I never stopped to consider if he'd changed his mind or come to his senses. Sure, he'd kissed me and confessed to liking me when he was still engaged but I was married now and had just had a child.Surely that changed things? Maybe it was just a random crush at the time and he's over it now. So much time had passed since I was last in Dubai, so surely he can't still feel the same way as he did then. Looking over at him, I smiled. At the very least, I wanted to keep the peace. "How have you been, Javier?"He smiled at me with that same boyish grin that I
LylaMy entire body went stiff at Javier's words. Did I just hear him correctly or is my mind playing tricks on me? "What… what do you mean 'go back home to Spain with you'?"Javier laughed softly, tracing his thumb over my bottom lip. There was an emotion in his eyes that I had a hard time coming to terms with recognizing—desire. He wanted me and apparently, he was going to use my baby as a means to get it. How sick to say that to a grieving mother.Then again, I'd kind of known this from our first time around. Javier played a jovial character, but there was something underneath all of those smiles that were a little bit sinister."What I mean to say," he pressed another kiss to my lips, startling me again, "is that once you and your baby are safe, I'm going to take you to Spain with me. You and Rashid haven't been married long, you still have time for an annulment."Biting my tongue was so fucking hard. Did he actually think my finding out about R
LylaRashid hated having to leave me alone in the house with Javier, but if we were actually going to get this plan to work, Javier needed to know I was all in.I didn't care if deep down, tricking him made me into a horrible person. A mother had to do whatever it took to keep her baby safe and that's what I was going to do. Whatever the fuck it took to bring Nasir home, that's the only thing I was focusing on.If Rashid ended up hating me in the end, not being able to stomach the fact that I was in a way 'cheating' on him, then so be it. He could hate me while we shared custody of our son who would safely be back in California with us where he belonged. There was a part of me that felt horrible that Javier had actually succeeded in putting a wedge between Rashid and me, but in the end, it didn't matter. What's done was done and all any of us needed to do was roll with the punches.Rashid had given me the green light to do whatever I needed in order to affirm
RashidThe moment I stepped back into the house, the tension in the air was palpable.Whatever had gone down in the time Salama and I had been out was something that I knew I wasn't going to be happy about. Lyla glanced up at me from the couch, her eyes filled with guilt as I made my way over to her. Javier was nowhere to be seen. If he'd forced her to do anything, I was going to lose my mind.Holding my hand to her, I helped her from the couch without a word. Her hand trembled in mine as I led her upstairs, her body pressed close to me the entire way up until we were behind our locked door.I brushed her hair back from her face. "Did he touch you?"She blinked up at me. "In… what manner?"I gave her a look. "Any matter, Lyla."She frowned. "He… held my hand…""And?"She blinked again. "And what?""That's it?""Yes? Rashid, I didn't suck his dick if that's what you're asking me."I blew out a breath, slowly dissolv
RashidI rolled out of bed the next morning, giving Lyla a tender kiss on the head before pulling on some pants and heading downstairs. My plan was to make her breakfast and bring it up to her, not exactly as a 'thank you' for last night but something close to that. I'm sure her throat felt raw, especially from the way I'd completely abused it last night. She hadn't complained at all, in fact, giving me a look that suggested she was up for more the moment I was.Funny enough, I'd thought about it. But getting us back into the swing of things slowly was going to be a long process that I wanted to do as carefully as possible. While I appreciated Lyla's vigor to please me, I also wanted her to rest as much as she could while she was still recovering.I'd always be grateful for any kind of love and attention she showered me with, and rolling around in the sheets with her had ignited that fire in me that I'd come to be familiar with the feeling of her under me. Did I mi
LylaIt wasn't long before Javier announced to us that we would be taking one of his private planes over to Abu Dhabi, an announcement that had every one of us living in the house excited and nervous all in the same breath. It had been just a little over two weeks since Nasir had been taken from the hospital, but it already felt like it'd been decades since I'd seen him last, felt him on my chest, and looked into those watery eyes of his as he drew in his first breathes of life.My heart was so empty without him here with me, and it was all I could do to keep from crying the moment Javier had pulled me aside privately to tell me he'd talked his advisors into giving us a decree to enter Abu Dhabi without a fight. I couldn't help but hug him out of gratitude, further selling the lie to him along with genuinely wanting him to know that I was truly grateful.I knew it was only leading him on further, but I didn't care at the time, nor did I now looking back at it. Even
RashidAfter finally getting Lyla to calm down, I tucked her into bed to sleep for a while.Since my sister and Javier had come over from Dubai, she'd barely slept at all, which was something that I didn't blame her for. She was too nervous for what was to come, worried that this plan, as solid as it seemed it was, would fail and we would be forced to go back home empty-handed.In the back of my mind, I was worried about that too. The thought of leaving Nasir here with Hafsa was gut-wrenching.I understood Javier's reasoning behind meeting with the advisors first. It would show them we were here for personal reasons and that there was no point in getting diplomatic unless we absolutely had to. We had Spain under our belt as a backup but hopefully, that would be a last resort and not a card we needed to pull the moment we stepped into that boardroom.Closing the door behind me, I headed back down the hallway to find both my sister and Javier missing. I suspected
Lyla Waking up the next day to Rashid's grave face sent me into a small panic attack that I ended up locking myself inside of my bathroom to deal with it while he got the rest of our stuff ready to head out.I didn't want to bother him with more of my head-shit, having seen him stressed way too much about the other things on his plate he had very little control over. It wasn't fair of me to monopolize him with all of my problems when he had his own to sort out too. Dumping everything onto him, especially right before we were going to be heading out, was a shitty thing to do.Finally, after what felt like an hour, I gathered myself and splashed some water on my face before finally leaving the bathroom and heading out to join the rest of our group in the living room. Surprisingly enough, they all looked just as stressed as I felt, even Salama who I'd suspected only came on this trip to supervise her fiance looked like she'd barely slept all night. I didn't know whet
RashidThree Months Later…"Rashid! Can you come grab the milk out of the microwave!" Lyla called out through the house.I looked up from the laptop resting in my lap, my eyes readjusting from looking at the screen for too long and watering slightly. "I got it," my sister said, pulling herself up from the floor."Thanks." I stretched my arms over my head, feeling my shoulders crack as I did so. Who knew trying to find accommodations for a former princess was going to be this much of a hassle?Salama and I had been working on finding her a place to live on her own while Lyla and I's house was being built. After her breakup with Javier, my parents had disowned her as well, cutting her off before she had a chance to explain that he'd masterminded an entire campaign into trying to steal my wife away to Spain with him.According to our parents, Salama was just as much of a failure as I was and since she'd gotten back into contact with me and come ov
LylaJavier smiled at me. "I told you that. Remember?"I shook my head at him, trying to move backward but was only met with the hard bodies of the guards surrounding me. In my arms, Nasir began to cry. The sound made my heart ache. It fucking sucks that my newborn child has been put into this situation. It's not fair. "What is going on!" Salama tried to jerk away from the guards surrounding her too. "Javier, what are you doing!"He sighed. "I'm sorry to tell you, but I have to break off our engagement. Don't worry, I won't make it look like you were at fault.""I don't care about that!" she snapped back. "You're not actually taking her back to Spain with you, right?""I am, actually."I shook my head. "I'm not going anywhere with you, Javier. You know that."He frowned at me. "Lyla, we had a deal. I help you get your baby back and you come with me to Spain. You agreed to that.""I got my own baby back! No thanks to you!" I cried, holding m
RashidI wasn't completely familiar with the palace but I had a general sense of where things were from the copious amount of times my father had gone into great detail about the intricacies of how this palace had been rebuilt after he'd become king.Why my father had been so obsessed with discussing architecture with me was beyond my comprehension at the time, but today I was grateful for it. Thankful even. Maybe I'd send the old bastard a thank you card after this was all said and done.After we'd closed Hafsa inside the nursery, we hurried down the hallway on the opposite side of where we'd come up from the staircase. I remembered there being a door to the outside toward the back of the palace, used for any of the waitstaff that came and went as they needed to.I didn't have any worries getting past them. By the time any of them realized who we were and what we were doing in order to call someone, we'd be long gone in a car to my jet sitting in the hangar w
LylaI instantly wanted to cry.All of my emotions over the past few days that I'd bottled down in favor of trying to remain headstrong were finally coming up to the surface at the mere thought of finally being able to see my child again. Was this it? Was this really it?"Is he…?" Rashid asked from across the room.Before I actually broke down though, I reached over the side of the crib and gently folded my hands under the bundle lying there, lifting him gently until I had him out of the crib and tucked into my chest. He made a small noise as he readjusted himself, pressing his face into my neck and sighing softly against my skin.Oh my god.Finally.My hand came up to curl around the back of his head, my entire body folding around him to protect him from everything. Like I was his own personal human meat shield. My baby. My son.Finally, back in my arms.I rocked him gently, feeling that familiar weight I remembered on my chest
LylaDucking and weaving around corners to remain hidden was more annoying than I thought it would be.With Salama guiding us through the palace, she was constantly grabbing my arm and yanking me into a dark room, the sounds of others passing by or even the remnants of someone moving down a corridor had us both spooked beyond belief.I wasn't sure as to why Salama's parents wanted her back just as badly as they wanted Rashid, but I tried to stop understanding them a long time ago. It was easier to just assume the worst at this point.We wandered around what felt like every single damn hallway we could find. Having no clue as to how we were supposed to get out of here, or where to find Rashid in all of this as well as where Hafsa had run off to. Both of us were slowly growing more frustrated with each hallway we stumbled upon."This place is so horribly mapped," she spat as she dragged me down another corridor. "Who in their right mind would design a palace like
LylaI had no idea how long I sat there on the floor before I remembered I had my phone still tucked into my jeans pocket.Sometimes past-me really had future-me's back. That was for sure. I had no idea who the hell I was going to call, but I had to try someone.Pulling my phone out, I dialed Melanie first. Her groggy voice answered me only a moment later."Mmm… Lyla?"I gasped into the phone. "They have me locked in a room!""What?" There was rustling on the other end. I sobbed into the phone, my entire body shaking as I spoke. "They locked me in a room! They took Salama away too! Javier's going to take me to Spain with him and I'm never going to get to see my baby again!""Hold on, I can't—hold on." There was a groan on the other end from Zayed before Melanie came back on the phone. "Lyla, where are you?""The palace in Abu Dhabi," I choked out. "They… I don't know, had this plan to give me to Javier to take back to Spain. I don't k
LylaI pushed past Salama to get into the room, a gasp leaving me the moment I laid my eyes on the scene in front of me.My heart pounded so wildly in my chest that I was afraid it was going to split my ribcage open and jump out. It felt like a dream to see what was in front of me—to finally lay my eyes on the one person who'd completely ruined my life and the one that had completely changed it too.There was Hafsa, seated in a large round chair with her arms cradling a small bundle. She smiled down at it, rocking slightly as she murmured something softly. The scene was so domestic and sweet looking that for a moment I felt delusional. There was no way that someone looking that content with life could have done all of this.But as soon as I heard a soft cooing sound, my dream-like state crumbled, forcing me back into the reality that was and not the one that my brain wanted me to believe in.I stumbled forward toward her, a hand quickly jerking me back from the
RashidWe followed the attendant to an unmarked room away from the waiting room we'd been kept in for a little over half an hour. I wasn't surprised they were all taking their time. It was normal for officials to draw these kinds of things out, either for their own benefit by starving their clients, or making them too aggravated to think properly.And while normally it had the potential to work, both Javier and I were above falling for such things. We'd been trained in it, after all.Although, I am becoming a little jittering having to wait for so long. Because I know that if all goes well with this meeting, I'll be one step closer to getting my son back and holding him in my arms, and witnessing Lyla be a wonderful mother to him like it's second nature and she was born to do it.We're missing out on so many firsts with our newborn baby all because of that selfish fucking woman. The thought of Hafsa with Nasir caring for him like Lyla and I should be at this t
Lyla Waking up the next day to Rashid's grave face sent me into a small panic attack that I ended up locking myself inside of my bathroom to deal with it while he got the rest of our stuff ready to head out.I didn't want to bother him with more of my head-shit, having seen him stressed way too much about the other things on his plate he had very little control over. It wasn't fair of me to monopolize him with all of my problems when he had his own to sort out too. Dumping everything onto him, especially right before we were going to be heading out, was a shitty thing to do.Finally, after what felt like an hour, I gathered myself and splashed some water on my face before finally leaving the bathroom and heading out to join the rest of our group in the living room. Surprisingly enough, they all looked just as stressed as I felt, even Salama who I'd suspected only came on this trip to supervise her fiance looked like she'd barely slept all night. I didn't know whet