Chapter 1

"Carson!" Aurora shouted as she flew down the hall.

In a flash of black curls and brown skin, she leaped onto the grown man that was standing guard in the living room. Ever since she was seven Carson had been her personal bodyguard and was honestly like a second father to her. She loved to jump onto him and have him carry her wherever she wanted. She was the Princess of the house and she loved when he treated her as such.

With her legs around his waist ad her arms around his shoulders she patted him. "To the kitchen my noble steed."

Even at twenty-two Carson was still her favorite person. He was a big man. Since he was the bodyguard for a weapons cartel family he had to be in good shape. Even in his fifties. He was bald and had brown skin that was clean of tattoos but had scars here and there. When they first met Aurora was scared of him until she realized he was a big softy. 

"Yes ma'am." he chuckled and walked with her to the kitchen.

They passed through the creme marble threshold from the living room to the kitchen and he walked around the island and stood up in front of the fridge. Aurora opened it in search of any delicacies. For her entire life, she had been spoiled and got whatever she wanted whenever she wanted it. That made her a little bratty at times but she wasn't too bad.

Once her eyes laid on the pork dumplings in the back of the fridge she quickly grabbed them and impatiently started eating them cold.

"Want one?" she asked him and he nodded.

Since his hands were full she happily fed him the dumplings and they remained in the kitchen like that.

"How cute," a voice suddenly said.

When they turned to look she saw her mother standing across the island from them. She had some papers in her hand and was dressed like she was going to a business meeting but in reality, she was probably going to her father's study.

Aurora was born mixed race, with her mother fully Indian and her father black. She was blessed with their nice brown skin, her mother's button nose, and dad's eyes, and the best of all the combination of hair that made up her perfectly curly mane. She had jet black hair that went down to the middle of her back and the curls on her head were as wide as her thumb. She loved her hair the most and always made sure that it was looking the absolute best.

"Alright. I need you two to pause on being cute for a second and come to Anthony's office okay,"

Carson put Aurora down and they all walked to her father's office. They passed through many corridors before they finally arrived. Once inside and seated did he speak up from behind his desk.

He was also a muscular person like Carson but he was more lean. He had curly hair cut short on his head and stubble. Aurora's mom always went on about sexy he was with his stuble and so he always liked to keep it that way.

"Aurora, my Princess, we have to tell you something and I need you to be as understanding as possible, alright sweetie."

She cringed a bit at the tone of voice they used. Yes, she acted all childish and princessy but when they talked to her in a voice meant for little children it really irked her.

"What is it?" she raised an eyebrow

"Carson, he's getting older as you know, and with time comes change. So what I'm saying is that Carson will be leaving us soon. He will be returning to his family in the UK." her mom said.

She froze, unable to process the words for a moment. And then it hit her, and her heart broke. She could feel her eyes fill with tears and her lip quivered ever so slightly. Her parents always told her that she could cry at the drop of a pin and with such heavy news how could she not.

"Wait. Hold on. Your not serious right." she chuckled and snuffled. "This- this has to be some kind of joke right?"

Her parents looked at her in complete seriousness. Carson gave her a look of sorrow and shook his head.

Fifteen years. They had been together for fifteen years. And now he was leaving her.

"No... no. I won't allow it." she scooted closer to him and grasped his arm. "No! He won't be leaving. He's supposed to stay with me forever. You're supposed to be with me forever."

"Princess," Carson said softly. "I am getting older and thankfully the reason for my leaving is not my health. Which is surprising since you've been jumping on me for so long." he chuckled. "And I've decided that it's time for me to return to my family and be with them."

"But we're your family." her voice barely came out.

She felt a warm hand soothing her head.

"You are my family and I have been with you so that you can grow. But now that you're an adult my work here is done."

"When Carson leaves we will be assigning a new bodyguard to you. He's going to be responsible for getting you ready for the real world. Another reason why Carson can't do that job is because he babies you too much." her mother said.

"Who cares if he babies me. Everyone babies me." Aurora said. "And I don't want a new bodyguard. If Carson leaves then I don't want anyone other than him."

"Sorry, Princess but that isn't up to you." her dad said.

Her cheeks felt wet and her heart felt heavy. She never even considered the day would come when they had to part. It was foolish, a children's dream, but she imagined being with him forever. Not even death separating them. He was her best friend. Her mentor. They were barely separated. And now he would be moving to another continent.

Carson was set to leave at the end of the week and Aurora attached herself to him more the usual. And on the day of his departure, she wailed and wailed until she ran out of tears.

It was also the day that she was introduced to her new bodyguard and she made sure not to spare a single glance at him.

His name was Caden Reynolds. He was Asian-American, twenty-three, and around six feet tall. That was all Aurora cared to know about him.

She spent the next week in her room moping and crying about losing Carson. Her mother would try to coax her out of her misery but nothing worked.

"Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?" she said, stooped next to her bed.

Aurora turned to face her. "Bring him back." she croaked out.

Her mother sighed. She walked right into that one.

Aurora had a constant headache from the crying and it got to the point where even moving her head made it hurt worse. It throbbed as she got up from her bed. It was around ten o'clock when she decided to do something about her headache. She had been laying on her bed for hours, all out of tears and with a pounding headache which seemed to get more painful each time it pounded.

Her room was fairly large. She slept on a king-size bed that was situated in the middle of the room against the wall. On the other wall were her closets, vanity, tv, and door to her bathroom. To the right of her was her balcony and window along with her desk. She also had her very helpful escape route that leads from her balcony to over the wall without being caught by security.

When she opened her door she saw her new bodyguard standing on the opposite wall. He was standing straight up and looking right at her. Aurora would be lying if she said he wasn't attractive. He was built and had long black hair that was tied back into a bun. He was chiseled, had stubble, and nice full lips. She also would be lying if she said she liked him.

With a strong glare, she walked out of her room and went to the kitchen to look for some painkillers. He followed her.

After searching the cabinets and trying her best to be as quiet as possible to ease the throbbing she found them and swallowed them down with water. As Aurora stood, trying to ease the pain the man spoke up.

"You are very childish,"

That was the first thing he ever said to her. And with her current mental and physical well-being she was not in the mood to keep up her gracious act.

"You have absolutely no right to talk to me that way. I can get you fired for saying that. And by Jesus I just might." she mumbled.

"I actually do. My job is to get you prepared for the real world and toughen up your skin since it seems like you're far from there, Princess."

Aurora was facing away from him and she could not help the smirk that made its way onto her face. Her number one rule of life was to always be underestimated. If her targets underestimate her then they would lower their guard and therefore make the job easier for her.

She had been treated as Princess her entire life and grew up pampered and praised. But there was some point when she decided to change it up a bit. She still enjoyed being treated like one and acting like a baby sometimes but outside of the house, she was a completely different person.

Aurora ignored his words and went back up to her room. When she laid down for a bit, she drifted off. The constant buzzing of her phone was what woke her up.

Annoyed she, turned it on to see what it was about. "Shit," Aurora swore and sat up quickly in her bed.

It was her manager texting her. She had a fight tonight. And with all that had happened recently, she completely forgot.