/Elena's POV/
"Whether my father wants to talk to me or not, I need to get my answers directly from the horse's mouth, even if that means triggering his ego, having him change his mind, and having him send me back to the silver city," I decide as I make my way out of the room because I will instead seek answers from my dad than keep on torturing myself to wrap my head around the confusing situation. Most importantly, I need to know why exactly my father went from being mad at me to wanting to bring in my nanny Olivia and her daughter Amelia over to Orion, which is so uncalled for because I came over here to spend time with my father, so I see no logical reason why my dad keeps making my nanny Oliva and her daughter Amelia follow me around like a shadow. "We suddenly went from having to host the crown prince in the house to having to prepare to host three more guests," I hear the servants mumbling, and the mention of the crown prince brings me to a halt. "Host the crown prince?" I question, unintentionally startling them. "I am sorry for eavesdropping on your conversation, but the mention of the crown prince caught my attention. Can you tell me more about the information you guys have at your disposal?" I ask them politely, but they look hesitant to tell me. "You guys won't get into trouble for this…. I promise," I promise them. "We don't really know much, but I heard from a legit source that there will soon be a wedding in this house, and the wedding won't just be an ordinary wedding but the wedding of the year, so preparations are being made to host the crown prince in this house to discuss the engagement procedures" one of them informs me. "Wow!" I fake gasp to sound surprised like them so that it will be easy to get more information from them some other times. "What are you guys doing there?" I hear Austin's voice, and as they all start to file out to their respective duty posts, I take the opportunity to blend in with them so that he doesn't catch me with them and blows my cover. After ensuring that Austin was off my radar, I returned to my room to freshen up and settle in, but while I was doing my thing, the only thing that kept on running through my mind was the perfect plan on how to make a fool of myself, my values, and my upbringing so that the crown prince will refuse to marry an uncultured girl like me since those members of the royal family are always big on manners. "The crown prince should be here anytime from now," I raise a cocky brow and chuckle as I take a look at myself in the mirror to be sure that my choice of skimpy flimsy clothing, low cut top that I had to DIY to fit the occasion. It makes me uncomfortable that I am braless at the moment, given that my boobs are a D cup, but I looked up how to dress and act like a slut online and It came highly recommended that I should not wear underwear, to make sure my ni**les show as much as possible to give the vibe that I am available and 'easy'; in that way, he will be very disgusted by the sight of me. I take one last look at myself in the mirror before making my way out of the room. Still, on getting to the hallway, I see the servants going back and forth, which is quite strange because if we are supposed to be hosting the nation's crown prince in this house, things are supposed to be more relaxed. "What is the situation report of things downstairs?" I stop one of the servants to ask. "Is the crown prince here?" I inquire. "The prime minister got a message at the very last minute that the meeting has been changed to a hotel, so everything is quite chaotic because we are trying to make plans for the prime minister to go out of the house to meet up with the crown prince so I have to go now," the servant says before dashing off. "How am I going to make a fool out of myself if my father is meeting the crown prince in a hotel?" I question myself, feeling frustrated that all the effort I have put into my dressing has gone down the drain. "If the crown prince won't come over here to see me make a fool of myself, nothing stops me from going over to meet him where he is, right?" An idea finally drops into my head. “It’s show time,” I mutter as I take calculated steps to sneak out of the house through the back door because it is to be expected that I will be stopped from going out if either my dad or Austin catches me lurking around. “Nobody does this better than I do,” I say proudly with a satisfied smile plastered on my face as I successfully get out of the house through the back door. I check around again to be sure that the coast is clear before making my move because I have invested a lot into my mission to make a fool out of my moral values and I can't allow things to go on at the very last minute. As soon as I clarify that everywhere is clear, I start to advance towards the parking lot, and on getting to the parking lot, I see the car that is likely for my father to be taking out being washed by the driver, so all that I have to do now is to divert the driver's attention so that I can hide in the car trunk. "Got ya!" I exclaim as an idea bulb suddenly lights up in my head. "You are?" I ask as I approach the driver. "I am Liam, ma'am," He answers politely. "Yes, Liam…..” I pretend to suddenly remember his name. “I heard the minister's right-hand man saying he has instructions to give you, so maybe you should check him inside to listen to what he has to say?” I lie. "Okay, ma'am," He says before dashing off. I look left and right to ensure the coast is clear before helping myself get comfortable in the car's trunk while waiting and praying my father arrives before I suffocate to death at the back of the vehicle. In no time, I hear my father giving Austin strict instructions to look after me. After that, the car starts to move, so I use my hair clip to open the boot so that I can still be alive to make a fool of myself in front of the crown prince. After driving for a very long time, the car finally stops, so I close the boot slightly so as not to give myself away. After giving my dad some time, I step down from the boot of the car to find myself in front of a luxurious hotel with Silver Crest Hotel on the hotel signboard. I try to follow my dad's trail by approaching the hotel entrance. Still, on getting to the door, the security guard blocks me from entering. "I am sorry to inform you that the whole building has been reserved for a meeting between the cream de la cream of the society, so you will have to come back another time." The security guard informs me. "Thank you very much" I smile politely as I move away from the door, even though I am crying internally. I walk around the premises, trying to figure out how to sneak into the hotel without being embarrassed by the security guard. "Ouch," I yell as I collide with someone. "I am sorry…. I was in such a rush to meet up with someone," the blue-eyed hot specimen in front of me with sandy blonde hair lets out in an apologetic voice as he steadies me in place. "Did he just say that he is in a rush to meet someone?" the alarm in my head goes off as he goes towards the door, so I rush after him. "In this hotel?" I run after him, making him stop in his tracks, not caring that it makes me sound stupid. "Yeah…." he nods, sending me a calculative look. "Can I ask you for a favor?" I go straight to the point, and he raises an eyebrow snobbishly at me. "I know we are meeting for the first time, so it sounds inappropriate for me to ask you for a favor. So can we strike a deal instead?" I ask him, but he still keeps staring at me, looking up and down at my appearance. "I have a situation at the moment, and the only way to salvage the hot mess that I am in is by getting into the building to meet my dad so that he doesn't ruin my life by making me get entangled in an arranged marriage so can you take me with you?" to plead. "Why will I do that?" he questions, looking me dead in the eyes. "Why do I have to help you?" he questions me. "You can help me because you are a good person…" I try to play the good person card. "How are you so sure that I am one?" he questions with a mischievous glint in his eyes, so I gesture for him to come closer. "My father is the prime minister of Orion, so consider this as doing a good deed for a family member of one of the ministers that has committed tirelessly to serving the nation" I play the patriotism card on him instead. "If you claim your father is the prime minister of ORION, then my father is the king of ORION," he says as he starts to walk away from me again. On getting to the door, the security opens the door wide for him, so I quickly go to drag him to talk to me. "You don't have to help me, but I need your help, so how about a deal with a stranger?" I question him as I take off the diamond bracelet that my father gave me for my 17th birthday because that is the only valuable thing that I have on me. "A deal with a stranger?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "I am sure that you must be someone powerful and influential for them to grant you entry into the hotel, but in my case, my life will be ruined if I don't get in, so I am offering this diamond bracelet as compensation for the inconvenience that it will cost you" I offer, and he inspects my bracelet. "It is a sweet deal, right?" I ask him, wriggling my brows at him. "Once I help you enter the hotel, will you let me be right?" he inquires, and I nod eagerly. "Fine….. let's go," he agrees, and I eagerly link my arms with him for the security to think we are together./Elena's POV/ Despite his hesitance, the hot specimen and I walk into the hotel with our arms linked together. Instead of the hotel security that stopped me earlier to bombard us both with questions or stop us from entering the hotel, we are properly ushered into the hotel, so I am guessing that this hot specimen must be one of the creme de la cream of the society. "Now that I have helped you get into the hotel like you wanted, our deal is off," he speaks up, disengaging himself from me as soon as we approach the elevator. "I hope we can go our separate ways and never cross paths again," he adds, punching the elevator button. "I need the elevator to find the person that I am looking for," I say with an awkward smile, hinting in the direction of the elevator, even though I don't know where to start searching for my dad and the crown prince in such a big hotel. Still, right now, I am not about to look clueless and stupid in front of this hot guy so that he
/Elena’s POV/I make my way to the ground floor and on getting to the ground floor I could see that someone was thoughtful enough to get the ambulance over there while I was trying to explain things to the incompetent bastard in a security uniform. “What do I do now,” I start to pace around the front of the hotel after trying to get close to accompany the ambulance to wherever my dad had been taken to in vain.“Let’s get my father's right-hand man here,” I decide as I make a run for the parking lot where my dad's car was parked earlier. “Liam right?” I inquire on recalling the driver whom I messed with his intelligence just to be able to get myself into the car trunk and he nods. “What are you doing here ma’am,” he inquires. “My father was gunned down in that hotel so you will have to take me home so that we can get Austin here ….. that way, I will be able to stay with my dad since everyone around knows him but not a single person knows me,” I instruct. “Why don’t we just give hi
|ELENA’s POV| “Is there anywhere you would like to drop by before going home?” The driver inquires after driving me away from the hotel. “I don’t want to go home, but at the same time I don’t know anywhere in town so can you keep driving around till we get to a place where we can grab a nice drink?” I inquire. “Okay ma’am …. I know the best place for you” he says as he ignites the car engine and drives away. I try to relax in the car, thinking about what is going to happen to me now that my father is dead……. I barely have a life, and being another lock and key is the only thing I have gotten used to over the past fifteen years since my father thought that it was going to be a wonderful idea to hide me away. I wanted change so badly, but if I had ever taken a peek into a 30-second trailer of my life and found out that getting the freedom that I wanted would make me lose my father, I would have compromised my freedom. Right now, I feel so numb because I don’t know if I am suppo
/ASHER HARRINGTON’S POV| “It’s bad enough that the prime minister and I finally decided to be seen together in public to finalize a whole lot of things after years of coded communication so that our plans don’t get exposed to the wrong people by using the arranged marriage between the Harringtons’ and the Grayson’s that I have been trying to find a way around because I was not comfortable with getting trapped in an arranged marriage when there are other ways that I can get stuff one, why did I have to walk into the hotel to find Dylan Grayson’s body on the ground when I already made preparations to tighten the security of the hotel in advance?” I ask myself for the umpteenth time. “Can you just stop blaming yourself already?” Malcolm, 3 in one groans from the driver’s seat. “How won't I blame myself?” I question him. “The prime minister lost his life over my carelessness, and it is more than annoying that he got killed right under my nose, and that too when everything that my fat
|Asher’s POV| “What is going on here?” I ask the waiter. “This lady is a new customer that I was trying to introduce to our facilities at RIL, and she seemed like a promising customer, so I talked to my colleagues to allow her to do her thing since she seemed to be in a really bad mood, then come back to proceed with the formalities when she feels a little bit better,” the waiter starts.“Was was her take on that?” I further ask the waiter “She was fine with the suggestion, and she even gave us her premium card to made payment for her membership so I was 100% sure that she is legit,” one of the waiters involved in the commotion explains. “Who says I am not legit?” the stranger from the hotel suddenly jumps in front of the waiter as if she wants to start up a fight. “How can I not be legit when my father is the prime minister of Orion,” she argues. “This is the problem that I have with her, she remembers every other irrelevant thing, and she keeps claiming to be the daughter of th
|ELENA’S POV|The soft morning light filters through the curtains, casting a warm glow on the space while I struggle to open my eyes and slowly sit up, feeling a mix of regret as a result of my pounding headache, dry mouth, and desperate need for water.I notice the rumpled sheets and the faint scent of cologne lingering in the air as I wrap the duvet around my naked body and I stumble out of bed. I groan and hold my head trying to shake off the remnants of the previous night’s activities as I try to search for an aspirin to help dull the pain with a tinge of uncertainty in me, but it turns out that I didn’t return home yesterday night.I feel a mix of emotions, like excitement, curiosity, and maybe a hint of nervousness as I look around the room, trying to take in the details while trying to piece together the events of the previous night.After realizing that I had thrown myself at a stranger and lost my virginity when I was supposed to be mourning my father just because I was in d
/Asher’s POV/My eyes flutter open to the room bathed in a soft morning glow. As I stretch, a hint of nostalgia, a touch of excitement, and perhaps a tinge of guilt dances across my face as Memories of the passionate night before linger in the air, like the fading scent of perfume on our skin.“Fuck!” I exclaim in realization.“The situation just got really messy,” I remark as I take a moment to reflect on my thoughts but a whirlwind of intimacy and connection overshadows me so I scramble to locate my clothes instead.After managing to put on my clothes, I scramble out of the private lounge, trying not to wake my supposed fiancé that I just had a one-night stand with because I didn’t know how exactly to face her, and I start to dial Malcolm's number.“Where did you keep your phone?” He suddenly starts to nag, forgetting that I called him because I have something to say to him.“Where are you right now?” I answer his question with another question.“I am in the palace, trying to conceal
|ELENA’S POV|“How do I navigate my way around a city that I barely know with a frozen bank card, in that skimpy clothing that is all over the news with this face card of mine that is on the decline after I was declared as the prime suspect of my father’s murder case,” I pondered as looked around the room bathed with soft light with a pitcher of water, a chair in the corner, monitor beeping softly, creating a rhythm in the soft room.“At the time that I was brought into this hospital, my face was swollen which was quite distorted from the pretty face that was all over the news, but if I don’t get out of here soon, all my effort at putting my life in danger will be in vain,” I told myself as I carefully removed the iv that was connected to my vein as I got down from the bed and packed up my valuables and the only outfit that I had before I made my way to the door.I opened the door slightly, looked around, and ensured that nobody was watching, and on confirming that the coast was clear