LylaRashid carried me inside all the way up to his room, not once wavering and accidentally dropping me. I knew he was strong, but I wasn't exactly lightweight. He brought me into his room and tossed me onto the bed, pressing a knee into the mattress and making it dip towards him. Biting my lip, I lifted myself up on my elbows to watch him slowly pull my sandals from my feet. He ran a thumb along the bridge, massaging where my arch was and dragging it up to my spread toes.Fuck, his fingers were incredible. He did the same thing to my other foot as well. Something about the way he treated me sometimes… it really made me feel like a princess.My gut stabbed with jealousy. Would he be treating Hafsa like this too once they were married? Would they have intimate moments together that would erase my memory from Rashid's mind completely?I knew this experience with him had changed me as a person for the rest of my life. There was no going back to regul
Lyla"Tell me something."My eyes slowly opened, although my body felt like it had been run over by a truck and simultaneously on cloud nine. I could still feel the vibration patterns from the vibrator Rashid had used on me. The phantom touches of it still tingling deep inside me. I wanted to crush my thighs together at the memory. His hand rested on my head, gently stroking back my hair from my face. After we'd finally settled down, I'd crawled over to him and draped my entire body over him like a blanket. His flushed skin was warm under me, but not enough to make me feel sticky. I could hear his steady heartbeat thrumming in my ear."You never told me what you're studying in college."The out-of-the-blue comment made me raise my brow. He never seemed interested in my life back in the States. Other than the occasional comment from me about my day-to-day life or something related to what was going on around us. I'd seen plenty of his life, but I
RashidKissing my way along Lyla's shoulder, I watched her stir as she slowly woke up from her peaceful dream. I curled my arms tighter around her form, pressing her against my chest, so she was tucked in safely and securely.Plenty of times in my life, I've had the opportunity of being this close to a woman—of being this intimate with her. I'd never taken it, though, always feeling too vulnerable and raw. Exposing myself too much in the face of a stranger, who I had no intentions of seeing again after spending time together.Yet, here I was. Curled up close with a woman whose virginity I bought over the internet. Her gentle breath tickled my chest, and the warmth from her skin seeped into mine while we lay here together as the mid-morning light streamed through my curtained windows.Was this what it meant to be happy with someone? To feel so content to lay here all day and shirk off all of my duties and responsibilities because I simply didn't want to disturb
LylaI paced around my room for what felt like hours. Rashid's haunted expression hammered inside of my head so loudly I wanted to throw up.What did I do?I've never seen him look at me that way. Like he didn't even recognize me.Bending over, I clutched my head in my hands. Fuck. My anger had gotten the better of me. I should've told him to leave me alone, so I could run back here and cool down. But, of course, my stupid mouth had to keep going, accusing him of things I didn't even care about. I didn't care if he spent money on me or took me to fancy restaurants. None of that mattered in the grand scheme of things. What mattered to me more was he wanted to do those things in the first place because he wanted me to spend time with me.It made me feel special. Important. Like I mattered to him and wasn't just a very expensive booty call.Across the way, my phone buzzed on the bed, lurching my heart. I slowly uncurled myself and walked ove
LylaA date.Those words rang in my ears the entire way out of the palace. Javier led me around the back entrance Rashid and I had used all those nights ago to sneak around the palace and avoid prying eyes. He didn't say anything about it when we passed by it, not even to glance over at the innocuous door to acknowledge it was even there in the first place.Had Hafsa come around on her own, or had Rashid called her out of spite—out of anger—at what had gone down between us?I couldn't help but imagine it wasn't a coincidence. The timing was too perfect, and he'd made no indication to me this morning before I'd flipped out about her coming around.So either he or his parents had called her over. Either option made my blood boil. How petty was he?I looked down at the grass, letting it toil over my exposed toes. "Tell me what's going on, Lyla. You look miserable."I guess I shouldn't be surprised at Javier's worried tone. Despite
TW: Dark Sexual Content, Heavy Bondage, ChokingRashidClenching my hands at my sides, anger rose in me when Lyla and Javier jumped away from each other quickly. Lyla's shoulders were hunched, guilt coloring her face. "Answer me.""I… we were just…"Javier stepped forward. "We—"I put my hand up, cutting him off. I kept my eyes fixed on Lyla. "I don't want to hear anything from you."There was an awkward pause I didn't care to fix. My annoyance from earlier in the day had only grown steadily throughout my lunch with Hafsa. And now it was tenfold. For Lyla to run to Javier after our spat—confess to him, or whatever it was they were doing that caused her to be intimately close to him—I couldn't forgive.Enough was enough."Come here," I demanded.Neither of them moved, though Lyla's shoulders stiffened. I waited. I wasn't going to repeat myself.Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she moved away from Javier's side and walked over to me. As soon as she got close enough, I grabbe
LylaStaring at my ceiling unblinkingly, my phone vibrated next to my arm as my alarm refused to snooze on its own.The light from the sunrise bathed my room in a soft orange glow, completely counteracting my depressed mood.I hated how nice it looked outside because all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball. Except I couldn't. I had nothing left in me now that I was alone once again. Even after Rashid brought me home to bathe afterward, I still felt numb. Like last night had been the final nail in the coffin of whatever we had between us.I wanted to sink down into that bath water and never come back up. My mind replayed that sorrowful sound in Rashid's voice repeatedly. How he cradled my face and whispered his apologies to me after taking me down from the rack. How sore my body still was from his whippings and the ache between my legs from where he'd pounded into me with vibrators and his cock. How raw my voice was from screaming for him.
LylaI don't remember when I'd finally gotten off Rashid's floor or walked out of his room, but when I finally blinked and came to again, I was heading down the stairway to the foyer.I could vaguely recognize I was hungry—maybe the reason why I'd finally started moving again. How many hours had passed by me while I sobbed on his floor, I had no idea. I half hoped he'd come in and happen upon me, distraught over seeing me lay in the fetal position and carry me to his bed, where he'd lay with me for the rest of the day, comforting me.Obviously, my wishful thinking hadn't happened, and I'd ended up feeling the shame of taking up space in his room when I know I shouldn't've been. Honestly, I was probably lucky no one else had caught me in there instead.When I reached the bottom of the stairs and hit the marble floor of the foyer, I looked up and blinked a few times—not exactly recognizing what I was seeing. In front of me stood the guards always stationed at th
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