LylaShane and I ended up migrating to the living room after finishing our tea in the kitchen. I was grateful that he seemed to not want to leave me by myself, as restless as I still was. A few times, I'd tried to shoo him away back to bed but he'd been kind enough to refuse me and put on another movie that we'd both ended up falling asleep to.Finding myself tucking into his side had been a surprise but a welcomed one. I hadn't noticed how apparently touch-starved I was until I'd forced myself to move off the couch, my body instantly missing the warmth that radiated from Shane's side.He seemed peaceful dozing with his head rolled back against the couch, so I grabbed one of the blankets that had fallen onto the floor and wrapped it around him before stepping outside with my phone in my hand.Shane's words echoed in my ears over and over again. 'You should tell him.'I should. I needed to. Even if I feared the answer. Rashid was a good man, no on
RashidThe water was hot when it ran over my hands, scalding me slightly. In the mirror, my scowl stared back at me, the annoyance from earlier still prevalent on my face. I'd excused myself to that bathroom less than ten minutes ago and still, I couldn't get myself back down to a neutral standpoint. Whatever it was about Hafsa that drove me up a wall was something I would consider impressive if it wasn't so fucking irritating to deal with.It wasn't even the way she acted in her mannerisms—which were completely normal, if not regal in a sense. Her presence grated me without her even trying to; my pent-up anger pin-pointedly focusing on her and boiling so hot inside of my stomach that I considered getting checked for ulcers with how much stomach acid must be bleeding into my system by now.No matter how many times we did these stupid dates, and tried to get to know one another, it was never going to work. I was never going to change my mind or my feelings for he
Lyla"I'm so sorry. I wish I could be there." I smiled softly at the strain in Melanie's voice. "It's okay, seriously. Don't worry about it."There was an answering sigh on the other end of the line, one that I knew very well was accompanied by Melanie's infamous frown that creased the spot between her brows. Early this morning, she'd gotten a call from immigration about a request for additional paperwork for her Dubai visa.As she explained it to me, it sounded all too complicated and convoluted that I ended up simply nodding my head and pretending like I could understand what she was talking about. She'd apologized profusely afterward, immediately feeling guilty about it since today was supposed to be my first OB/GYN appointment to see how my pregnancy was going and to discuss my options. I'd told her to go and take care of what she needed to. Expecting her to put her life on hold for me was ridiculous. Her happiness was way more important than hav
LylaThe paper under me crinkled when I shifted on it. It was cold in the small room I'd been brought to. With only a hospital gown to cover me and my socked feet dangling off the edge of the table, all I had left to do while I wrung my fingers together was wait.There were so many questions swirling around in my head that it was hard to sort through the chaos as I watched the clock above the door tick by slowly. When I'd been filling out my paperwork in the waiting room, there'd been a part of me that had wanted to get up and leave. Regardless of whatever I chose to do in the end, making that choice freaked me out.There were so many things that on either side of the coin I'd be sacrificing whatever way I decided. But what part of my life was I willing to sacrifice more than the other?I wasn't sure. The door to my room opened with a sharp knock. I jumped at the sound, putting a hand over my heart as it beat rapidly against my sternum. "J
Lyla"Hm, how strange," Melanie murmured into her cup."I know."My finger hooked around the string of the tea bag, using it to twirl it around and soak more into the hot water inside of my mug. The ceramic was warm in my hand, soothing me better than the hot shower I'd just gotten out of.Melanie had gotten the brilliant idea to feed me tea before cooking me anything to eat. She's apparently been researching a bunch of mommy blogs while she'd been stuck at customs trying to get Zayed's paperwork faxed over to get him his visa. She'd gone down some kind of rabbit hole and had found a bunch of anti-nausea recipes that she'd been dying to give me the second she'd gotten home.It was so fucking cute that I squeezed her immediately.Bringing the mug up to my lips, I gently sipped the hot liquid, letting it burn my throat and warm me from the inside. It felt nice to be able to keep something down without worrying about it coming back up. Throwing up every da
RashidA few months later…Tightly rolling the last of my shirts, I shoved it into my suitcase and tucked the side flap over to zip it closed. I'd packed lightly for some reason, not wanting to bog myself down with unnecessary things to travel with. An unusual thing for me, considering that most of the time I tended to overpack for comfort.It wasn't that I minded having to buy new things if I ended up missing something along the way, but I preferred not to. A creature of comfort was my natural state and getting anything that I tended to gravitate toward when visiting somewhere foreign was never an easy task.However, this trip was much different.Behind me, Zayed rattled on about our travel itinerary—most of which I barely paid any attention to. It wasn't that I didn't care to not listen, my mind was simply too preoccupied with where we were going to be landing in less than twelve hours.California. Our destination repeated in my head over and over aga
RashidWe ended up getting completely trashed on the flight, much to my staff's dismay. I barely cared, having the time of my life with my best friend as we fucked around and did what any normal set of troublemakers did while on a luxury flight over to a different country: acted like fools.It'd been nice to let go for a while and drown in the feeling of change that was so readily welcomed. It was much different than what had been forced upon me for so long that it felt like a foreign concept to be able to laugh so freely as Zayed, drunkenly play video games on the TV in the back of the plane's suite and chase each other up and down the cabin while one of the stewardesses tried to wrangle us in.After we'd crashed a few hours later and slept most of our hangover off, we'd arrived in California right as the sun was setting over the horizon. Getting through customs was easy; my ID being flashed made the transitions much smoother and quicker than if Zayed had
LylaOh my god.Oh my god.Oh. My. Fucking. God.This can't be happening. Panic flooded into my system, making my entire body go numb with shock. Every sound inside the restaurant was drowned out by the heavy pounding in my ears; my pulse blasting through my skull and giving me a dizzying headache that practically wiped me off my feet.My hand came over my belly unconsciously, and Rashid's eyes darted down to it immediately with the movement. I watched them widen slightly, coming back up to crash into mine once more. There were so many questions swirling around in his head, visibly drawn all over his face as he tried to come to the reality of seeing me in the flesh with a very obvious baby bump.An irrational part of me wanted to desperately know what he was thinking. How he was reacting to seeing me. Was he happy? Angry? Excited? Put-off? Was he concerned at all about me being pregnant or did the sight of my bump—our bump—disgust him?
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