Sabrina“Reservation for Sabrina Wise.” It was her first time ever checking into a hotel, but Valetta had instructed her exactly what to say. Still, Sabrina felt nervous, but she was determined not to show it.“Certainly, Ms. Wise.” The hotel receptionist's fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard in front of her. “I see here that you have reserved our suite, as well as an adjoining room. Is that correct?”“Yes, that's right,” Sabrina replied.There was another flurry of keyboard tapping behind the desk. “How many room keys would you like?”“Just two will be fine,” Sabrina said, stumbling slightly. “Or, one for each room, I guess.”The girl behind the table nodded.After paying with the credit card Valetta had given her, Sabrina turned around to admire the rest of the lobby. It was immensely grand and spectacular, looking more like the inside of a castle than a hotel. From the ceiling hung an elaborate chandelier that reflected brilliantly off the marble floors. At one end was a massive
SabrinaMarco’s personal driver pulled up and stopped the vehicle in front of the stadium. As soon as the car stopped, Sabrina and Marco hopped out quickly, as if their exit were being timed. Marco pulled the brim of his plain cap down and put on his sunglasses.Their ride drove off, and the two of them joined one of many lines of people being filtered into the stadium. The massive crowds reminded Sabrina of ants funneling into a colony. She felt glad to have Marco by her side and never allowed herself to get beyond an arm’s reach away.Valetta had secured two club-level seats just to the right of home plate. From what she could figure, these were very good seats.I guess a lot of money makes most things possible, she thought.When the elevator opened on the club level, Marco stepped out and began walking as if he’d been there a thousand times. His type of confidence wasn’t conceited, but more of a levelheaded certainty, something that Sabrina found especially alluring.Without warnin
MarcoWhen Marco woke up the following morning, he was surprised by the mess in his hotel room. It looked like a clothes bomb had gone off. In his drunken state the night before, he had carelessly kicked off his shirt, pants and socks. His pants were hanging off of the TV stand, with one of the legs dropping over the edge. A black sock had landed over the lamp shade on the corner desk. His favorite white dress shirt was crumpled up and stuffed into the top drawer of the dresser.Clearly, Sabrina hadn't been the only one to enjoy a few too many drinks the previous night.Wow, he thought, as he sat up in his bed. What in the hell happened?The change of position caused blood to rush to his brain and a thumping headache filled his skull.“I probably shouldn't have had that last drink,” he whispered to himself. “Or even the last three drinks.”Wearing only his underwear, he walked over to the mini-fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. The cool liquid soothed his dry throat and made him fe
SabrinaThe morning sun pierced Sabrina's eyelids, sending an electric shock of pain all the way to the back of her skull. Her mouth was as dry as a cotton ball and her throat felt scratchy. She ran her tongue against the roof of her mouth, but even that didn't help to ease the dryness.Oh, my God. What happened last night? She thought, as she hesitantly opened her eyes.The sun, though it was barely coming in between the drapes of her hotel room, felt so bright that she had to look away. Slowly, she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, making sure her back was toward the window. When she glanced down, she noticed that she was still wearing the same outfit that she had had on during the baseball game the night before.“The game,” she whispered, her words sounding hoarse. “What happened?”She hardly remembered anything after the third cocktail. The last thing she remembered was being at the game, watching Marco attempt to sing the national anthem. After that, the evening
SabrinaWithin seconds, the woman had joined him. They were blatantly taking pictures of Sabrina and Marco. They seemed to have no shame at all.“We need to get out of here,” Marco said, grabbing Sabrina's hand. “Come on, let's hurry.”Marco pulled Sabrina away from the patio before she fully realized what was happening. Her hip hit the table, causing the to-go boxes to spill onto the concrete. The extra powdered sugar on their beignets exploded into a dust cloud.Good thing I'm wearing tennis shoes, she thought, as she squeezed Marco's hand and quickened her pace, leaving the beignets behind.The two ran as fast as they could down the sidewalk, away from the cameras. Sabrina had no clue where the people had come from or how they had found out that Marco was at the coffee shop. He'd been wearing his hat and sunglasses, but apparently it hadn't been enough to disguise him from the invasive eyes of the paparazzi. She wondered yet again who he was that other people knew who he was. She w
MarcoMarco and Sabrina sat in the back of the car as their driver chauffeured them across the city. After the fiasco that morning with the paparazzi, Marco was ready to do something fun and relaxing. So while Sabrina cleaned up the hotel room and folded his laundry, he sifted through New York traveling pamphlets and researched online.Finding his own itinerary wasn't something he usually did. Valetta took care of these sort of things. She usually got him the best of everything, but today, he wanted to do it. He wanted to choose something for him and Sabrina to do without Valetta's help.It took the better part of an hour, but he finally found something that he thought would be enjoyable, not only for him, but also for Sabrina. Even though he was excited about it, though, he didn't tell her what he had in mind. He considered surprises to be much more fun than a boring schedule of events.“Sir, we're here,” the driver said, as he pulled out of traffic and parked next to the curb. “Just
SabrinaSabrina smiled the entire ride back to the hotel. The ghost tour had been amazing and she couldn't stop thinking about it. But her joy was caused by more than just the tour. Her happiness was mostly due to the man sitting next to her in the backseat of the car. Marco, the wealthy foreigner who could have been an underwear model in a different life, had just taken Sabrina on something that very closely resembled a date.She knew that probably wasn't really his intention, and in all actuality, Marco had likely just wanted to check out a ghost tour for his own entertainment. But the thought of it being something more than that made her happy. The idea that a simple, penniless girl like herself could be taken out on an actual date with a man like Marco had her smiling from ear to ear, and kept her heart thumping loudly behind her rib cage.“That was so much fun,” Sabrina said, as the two of them stepped off of the elevator and walked down the hallway toward their hotel rooms. “I s
SabrinaSomewhere, in the very back of her mind, Sabrina knew that she was falling for this guy. And she realized that it put her at risk of getting hurt. She'd had her heart broken before, and she understood that it could likely happen again. But Marco was different. She wanted to believe that he would never hurt her.She felt his hands slide down her sides, gliding easily along the smooth fabric of her shirt to the band of her pants. His touch turned her on, and a surge of excitement pumped through her. She breathed in, letting the soft scent of Marco's cologne fill her nose. She placed her hands onto his face. His beard stubble scratched at her fingertips as she drew her hands downward, all the way to his neck and then to his chest.Marco slowly broke their kiss and looked into her eyes. Sabrina saw that his pupils had dilated and he was breathing harder now. Her hands were still on his chest and she noticed the rise and fall of each breath.He wrapped one arm around her waist and
SabrinaAunt Faye connected the top clasp on the back of the Sabrina's wedding dress, then glanced into the mirror in front of them.“How does it feel?” Faye asked.Sabrina brought her hands down the sides of the dress. An intricate design was hand-sewn throughout, with millions of tiny stitches creating a beautiful pattern.“It feels expensive,” Sabrina said, with a smile. “But also really good.”“I can tell you're nervous,” Faye said, spinning Sabrina around to face her. “Am I wrong?”“I'm nervous, but in a good way.” Sabrina let out a sigh, calming the anxiety in her gut. This wasn't going to be any ordinary wedding. It was super formal, and held many traditions that were foreign to Sabrina. She’d been told the ceremony could last up to three hours, and she had no idea how she would sit through it without bursting from excitement and nerves.“Just take a deep breath,” Faye said, her eyes glowing from the daylight that poured in through the window. “And if that doesn’t work, try to
MarcoThree weeks later...Marco stepped out of his bedroom at the same time his father was walking down the hallway.“Marco, you startled me,” Carlo said, his voice still a bit raspy, but getting better. “I just woke up from a nap. I can’t believe how drowsy these pain medications make me.”“You look like you're feeling much better, though,” Marco said.“Indeed I am,” Carlo said. “The tests yesterday went well, too. I'm told that I am completely cancer free, at least for the moment. That's good enough for me.”Marco pulled his father close and hugged him, breathing out a sigh of relief. He'd been waiting anxiously to hear about the test results.“I'm so glad to hear,” he said, squeezing his father affectionately. “Let's keep our fingers crossed that the results continue to stay that way. What do you say?”“I'd say that's a fine plan,” Carlo said, with a smile.Carlo was starting to act like his old self again, and Marco couldn't have been happier. Just three weeks after the surgery,
SabrinaThe town car pulled up to the Palace and Marco was still shaking his head in awe from the story that Faye had shared with him about her origins.“The universe does like to use her favorite characters,” Marco commented.A guard opened the rear door and the three of them stepped out. Sabrina walked up the stairs, with Marco on one side and Faye on the other. Her heart was beating through her chest as they neared the front entrance.“Are you sure Magdalena isn't going to kill me?” Sabrina said, with a half-smile.“I'm positive,” Marco said. “Don't you worry about her. Besides, my father needs us now during his recovery. I don't want to waste any extra energy on Magdalena.”Oh my God. Carlo's surgery. I completely forgot about that, since I've been so absorbed in my own feelings, Sabrina thought.“Marco, how did everything go with the surgery?” she asked, as the guard opened the front door for them and they stepped inside.“It went okay, given the circumstances,” he said. “He had
SabrinaSabrina had taken Faye's cell phone and stepped into the other room of the motel to make her call. She knew Marco's personal number by memory and she dialed quickly. She couldn't wait to finally hear his voice again and looked forward to clearing things up.It only rang once, before Marco picked up on the other end.“Hello?” he said, his voice instantly putting a smile on Sabrina's face. “Who's this?”“It's me,” Sabrina said.“Oh, my God, Sabrina,” Marco said, clearly relieved. “Where in the hell are you? We've been searching the island non-stop. I haven't slept in days.”“I'm so sorry,” she said. “I shouldn't have done this to you, but I had to get away.”“Are you still on Orsino?” he asked. “Where are you calling from?”“I'm using my Aunt's phone,” Sabrina said.“You went back to Memphis then?” His voice broke slightly.“No, I'm not in Memphis,” she replied. “I'm using my Aunt's phone, because she's here with me on Orsino. She came out to see me.”“Thank God,” Marco said, re
MarcoMagdalena lounged on the queen's throne. There was no one to see her, yet she still sat in the chair decked out to the nines. It made Marco sick to see her so blatantly on the throne as his father lay upstairs recuperating.The doctors said the surgery had gone well, but King Carlo was still weak and exhausted from the ordeal. It frightened Marco to see his father like that.“Marco,” Magdalena greeted her stepson as he approached.“Do you really believe that you have the power to stand between Sabrina and I?”“Of course I do,” she said, as though it was such an obvious fact. “I have all the power I need, because it's in the law. And royalty must obey the laws just like everyone else.”“Laws can be changed,” Marco replied.Magdalena scoffed. “You can't change anything, Marco. Don't deceive yourself.”“And why not?” Marco asked.“Because if you do, I'll be sure to point out to the public that their Prince is not a law-abiding member of this country,” she said, casually glancing do
SabrinaSabrina woke to the sound of rain outside her window. She opened her eyes and slowly sat up on the love seat. A pile of wrinkled tissues was next to her, which she had been using to dry the tears from her cheeks for the past two full days. She looked across the motel room, noticing a drip of water coming down from the ceiling and landing with a soft thud into the carpet. To have gone from spending time in a beautiful palace to this rundown motel at the edge of the island was quite a change for her, but it was the only place she could afford.She'd managed to get away from Orsino Palace two days before. And after walking for over an hour along the highway and then hitchhiking several times, she found this motel. It was a total dump, but she knew that it would have to do. After what had happened at the ball, Sabrina wasn't ready to face any of the royalty again. In fact, she was still toying with the idea of leaving the island altogether and pretending like this part of her life
MarcoMarco stood with his arms crossed and his eyes glaring. Magdalena was in front of him. Rage pumped through his veins and all he wanted to do was to let it all out on her. After seeing what she had done to his beautiful fiancée in front of everyone, he was beginning to care less that Magdalena happened to be the queen.“How dare you embarrass Sabrina like that,” Marco said, keeping his eyes locked with hers. “And for what? What point were you trying to make, Magdalena?”They were still standing next to the outer wall in the grand room. The music was playing once again and people were dancing. The ball continued on, even though the hosts weren't currently participating.“Marco, please, we need to keep this civil,” Carlo said, placing a hand onto Marco's forearm. “Come on, let's go somewhere quiet so we can discuss things.”“Father, how can you expect me to remain civil after seeing what Magdalena is capable of?” he asked. “You saw it, too. She attacked my fiance in front of the en
SabrinaAfter dancing for three full songs, Sabrina needed a break. She pulled Marco to the side of the room, walking with a new-found confidence. Not only did it turn out that she was a decent dancer, but she was also going to be getting married soon. There was an obvious spring in her step.“Marco, this is so much fun,” she said into his ear, having to speak loudly because of the music. “I still can't believe you asked me to marry you in front of everyone. That was the most romantic experience of my life.”“I was so nervous,” he admitted. “I'm unbelievably relieved that you said yes.”“I can't wait to tell everybody,” Sabrina said, bringing her hands to Marco's chest. “My parents are going to be so excited.”She took a moment and thought about her parents and how they would benefit from her new position as princess.I can save them from their misery, she thought. I can give them the kind of life they deserve.“You've made me the happiest man on earth, you know that?” Marco said, lea
SabrinaDressed to perfection, Marco and Sabrina made their way downstairs and to the back of the building, where the grand hall was located. Winston had walked her by it earlier that day, but they weren't able to go inside due to preparations for the celebration that evening. But now the place was filled. Elegant people, with elegant attire, were lined up out the door. They turned to look when Marco and Sabrina walked toward them and the ones who weren't wearing a green or purple pendant on their collar stepped to the side and dropped to a knee out of respect.“Good evening, everyone,” Marco said, as he and Sabrina walked by.The two made their way into the main room and Sabrina's gaze moved toward the very back, where the King of Orsino sat on his throne. He looked regal and proud as he gazed out at the audience. Seated next to him was Queen Magdalena. She sat with a smug expression on her face, as though she was too good for even her own party.Surrounding the royalty were guards,